- "Linguistic reconstruction is the practice of establishing the features of an unattested ancestor language of one or more given languages."
Linguistic reconstruction is the process of inferring or deducing the characteristics of an unattested ancestral language by analyzing its descendants.
Sound change: The study of how sounds in a language change over time and how these changes can be traced and analyzed.
Comparative method: Comparing languages and identifying similarities and differences in their structure and vocabulary to determine their relationships and how they evolved.
Etymology: The study of the origins of words and how they have evolved over time.
Reconstruction: The process of developing a hypothesis about the pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary of a proto-language based on linguistic evidence from its descendant languages.
Phylogenetics: Using the tools of evolutionary biology to model the relationships between different languages and their ancestor languages.
Lexicostatistics: Using statistical methods to study the similarities and differences between the vocabularies of languages and how they have evolved over time.
Language typology: The study of the similarities and differences between different languages and how they are structured.
Sociolinguistics: The study of how language use and varieties change over time in different social, cultural, and historical contexts.
Historical sociolinguistics: The study of how sociolinguistic factors contribute to language change over time.
Morphology: The study of the internal structure of words and how they change over time.
Syntax: The study of sentence structure and how it changes over time.
Phonology: The study of the sounds of language and how they are used in different languages.
Indo-European studies: The study of the history and evolution of the Indo-European language family and its various branches.
Language contact: The study of the ways in which languages influence and are influenced by each other through interaction and borrowing.
Dialectology: The study of regional and social varieties of a given language and how they change over time.
Phonological reconstruction: This involves using similarities in sound systems across related languages to reconstruct the pronunciation of proto-languages or ancestral forms of speech.
Lexical reconstruction: This involves using similarities in words across related languages to reconstruct the vocabulary of proto-languages or ancestral forms of speech.
Morphological reconstruction: This involves using similarities in word structures across related languages to reconstruct the morphology of proto-languages or ancestral forms of speech.
Syntactic reconstruction: This involves using similarities in sentence structures across related languages to reconstruct the syntax of proto-languages or ancestral forms of speech.
Semantic reconstruction: This involves using similarities in meaning across related words or phrases to reconstruct the semantic changes that have occurred in the evolution of a language.
Pragmatic reconstruction: This involves using knowledge of the social and cultural environment in which a language evolved to reconstruct the communicative functions of proto-languages or ancestral forms of speech.
Etymological reconstruction: This involves tracing the history and origins of individual words or phrases to explore their development and evolution over time.
Comparative reconstruction: This involves comparing linguistic features of related languages to establish their genetic relationship and construct a family tree of languages.
Topological reconstruction: This involves reconstructing the geographical distribution and movement of ancient linguistic communities based on linguistic evidence.
Orthographic reconstruction: This involves reconstructing the spelling systems used in ancient languages and scripts based on available evidence.
- "There are two kinds of reconstruction:"
- "Internal reconstruction uses irregularities in a single language to make inferences about an earlier stage of that language – that is, it is based on evidence from that language alone."
- "Comparative reconstruction, usually referred to just as reconstruction, establishes features of the ancestor of two or more related languages, belonging to the same language family, by means of the comparative method."
- "A language reconstructed in this way is often referred to as a proto-language (the common ancestor of all the languages in a given family); examples include Proto-Indo-European and Proto-Dravidian."
- "Texts discussing linguistic reconstruction commonly preface reconstructed forms with an asterisk (*) to distinguish them from attested forms."
- "An attested word from which a root in the proto-language is reconstructed is a reflex."
- "More generally, a reflex is the known derivative of an earlier form, which may be either attested or reconstructed."
- "Reflexes of the same source are cognates."
- "Comparative reconstruction, usually referred to just as reconstruction, establishes features of the ancestor of two or more related languages, belonging to the same language family, by means of the comparative method."
- "Internal reconstruction uses irregularities in a single language to make inferences about an earlier stage of that language – that is, it is based on evidence from that language alone."
- "Texts discussing linguistic reconstruction commonly preface reconstructed forms with an asterisk (*) to distinguish them from attested forms."
- "A language reconstructed in this way is often referred to as a proto-language (the common ancestor of all the languages in a given family); examples include Proto-Indo-European and Proto-Dravidian."
- "Comparative reconstruction, usually referred to just as reconstruction, establishes features of the ancestor of two or more related languages, belonging to the same language family, by means of the comparative method."
- "Internal reconstruction uses irregularities in a single language to make inferences about an earlier stage of that language."
- "Comparative reconstruction, usually referred to just as reconstruction, establishes features of the ancestor of two or more related languages, belonging to the same language family, by means of the comparative method."
- "Texts discussing linguistic reconstruction commonly preface reconstructed forms with an asterisk (*) to distinguish them from attested forms."
- "An attested word from which a root in the proto-language is reconstructed is a reflex."
- "Comparative reconstruction, usually referred to just as reconstruction, establishes features of the ancestor of two or more related languages, belonging to the same language family."
- "Texts discussing linguistic reconstruction commonly preface reconstructed forms with an asterisk (*) to distinguish them from attested forms."