"Historical linguistics, also termed diachronic linguistics, is the scientific study of language change over time."
This subfield focuses on the study of how dead languages evolved over time, their grammatical structures, and vocabulary.
Phonetics: The study of speech sounds and pronunciation in a language, including their articulation and acoustics.
Phonology: The study of the sound system of a language, including the patterns and rules governing its use.
Morphology: The study of the structure of words and how they are formed, including inflection and derivation.
Syntax: The study of the structure of sentences and the rules governing their formation.
Semantics: The study of the meaning of words and sentences in a language, including the relationship between form and meaning.
Etymology: The study of the history and origin of words, including how they change over time and across languages.
Linguistic typology: The study of the common structures and features shared by different languages, as well as their diversity.
Language change: The study of how languages evolve over time, including the causes and mechanisms of change.
Language contact: The study of how languages influence each other through contact, including borrowing, pidgins, and creoles.
Comparative linguistics: The study of the relationships between different languages, including their genetic or genealogical relationships, as well as areal relationships.
Paleolinguistics: The study of language beyond recorded history, using archaeological and genetic evidence.
Archaeolinguistics: The study of linguistic evidence in archeological documents, including inscriptions and tablets.
Epigraphy: The study of inscriptions on monuments, coins, and other objects, including their linguistic and cultural significance.
Historical semantics: The study of how the meaning of words changes over time, including its cultural and contextual implications.
Dialectology: The study of regional variations in a language, including their history, evolution, and social significance.
Historical Phonetics: Study of the changes in the sounds of a language over time.
Historical Morphology: Study of the changes in the structure of words over time.
Historical Syntax: Study of the changes in the way words are arranged in a sentence over time.
Historical Semantics: Study of the changes in the meanings of words over time.
Historical Lexicology: Study of the changes in the vocabulary of a language over time.
Historical Etymology: Study of the origins of words and their historical development.
Historical Dialectology: Study of the regional variations and changes in a language over time.
Historical Sociolinguistics: Study of the social factors that influence language change over time.
Historical Discourse Analysis: Study of the changes in the use and function of language in various historical contexts.
Historical Pragmatics: Study of the changes in the meanings and functions of language in specific historical situations.
"The principal concerns of historical linguistics include: to describe and account for observed changes in particular languages, to reconstruct the pre-history of languages and to determine their relatedness, grouping them into language families (comparative linguistics), to develop general theories about how and why language changes, to describe the history of speech communities, to study the history of words, i.e. etymology, to explore the impact of cultural and social factors on language evolution."
"To reconstruct the pre-history of languages and to determine their relatedness, grouping them into language families (comparative linguistics)."
"To develop general theories about how and why language changes."
"To explore the impact of cultural and social factors on language evolution."
"Historical linguistics is founded on the Uniformitarian Principle, which is defined by linguist Donald Ringe as: Unless we can demonstrate significant changes in the conditions of language acquisition and use between some time in the unobservable past and the present, we must assume that the same types and distributions of structures, variation, changes, etc. existed at that time in the past as in the present."
"Unless we can demonstrate significant changes in the conditions of language acquisition and use between some time in the unobservable past and the present, we must assume that the same types and distributions of structures, variation, changes, etc. existed at that time in the past as in the present."
"To describe the history of speech communities."
"To study the history of words, i.e. etymology."
"To describe and account for observed changes in particular languages."
"Reconstructing the pre-history of languages and determining their relatedness, grouping them into language families."
"Exploring the impact of cultural and social factors on language evolution."
"The scientific study of language change over time."
"Also termed diachronic linguistics."
"To develop general theories about how and why language changes."
"The study of the history of words."
"By observing and describing changes in particular languages."
"By reconstructing pre-history, studying the history of speech communities, and analyzing etymology."
"Determining the relatedness of languages and grouping them into language families."
"The Uniformitarian Principle, which assumes that the same types and distributions of structures, variation, changes, etc. existed in the past as in the present, unless demonstrated otherwise."