HIST LING midterm

Question 1

What is sound change?

Answer 1

Change in pronunciation, phonetic change that can have phonological consequences.

Question 2

What does the term ‘sound law’ refer to in the context of sound change?

Answer 2

Regular, systematic phonetic change involving systematic rules.

Question 3

What is the Neogrammarian Hypothesis?

Answer 3

Sound laws suffer no exceptions and operate uniformly and simultaneously on all instances of a phoneme.

Question 4

What is the distinction made by sound change in historical linguistics?

Answer 4

It distinguishes loanwords and supports testable hypotheses.

Question 5

What does ‘lexical diffusion’ challenge in sound change?

Answer 5

The idea that regularity in sound change occurs uniformly across all words.

Question 6

What is the notation for sound changes?

Answer 6

x>y or x>y/a_b or y<x.

Question 7

What does ‘ease of articulation’ refer to in sound change?

Answer 7

The similarity and strength of sounds, affecting articulatory effort.

Question 8

What is ‘weakening’ or ‘lenition’ in sound change?

Answer 8

A process where consonants become closer to vowel-like sounds.

Question 9

What are the types of sound change?

Answer 9

• Unconditioned change
• Conditioned change
• Phonetic change
• Phonological change

Question 10

What is an example of unconditioned change?

Answer 10

ME /a:/ > ModE /ey/, as in ‘FACE’.

Question 11

What is an example of conditioned change?

Answer 11

ME /a/ > ModE /o/ in specific environments like /w_, _r/.

Question 12

What is the difference between phonetic change and phonological change?

Answer 12

• Phonetic change: No effect on phonemic status
• Phonological change: Change in number or type of phonemic contrasts.

Question 13

What is assimilation in sound change?

Answer 13

Adjacent sounds become more similar.

Question 14

What are the dimensions of assimilation?

Answer 14

• Total or partial
• Anticipatory or perseverative
• Contact or distant

Question 15

What is palatalization, and give an example?

Answer 15

A type of assimilation where sounds become more palatal. Example: English /tsh/ in ‘chin’.

Question 16

What is umlaut in Germanic languages?

Answer 16

A front mutation of vowels, e.g., foot – feet.

Question 17

What is dissimilation?

Answer 17

The process where adjacent sounds become less similar.

Question 18

What is Grassman’s Law?

Answer 18

A dissimilation rule in Proto-Indo-European where aspirated stops lose aspiration.

Question 19

What is fusion in sound change?

Answer 19

Two phonemes become one.

Question 20

What is the process of weakening or lenition?

Answer 20

Sounds become less forceful, often following a hierarchy.

Question 21

What is strengthening or fortition?

Answer 21

Less common than lenition, where sounds become stronger.

Question 22

What are whole segment processes in sound change?

Answer 22

• Loss: aphaeresis, syncope, apocope
• Addition: prothesis, anaptyxis, excrescence, paragoge

Question 23

What is apocope?

Answer 23

Loss of final syllables in words.

Question 24

What is prothesis?

Answer 24

Addition of sounds at the beginning of words.

Question 27

What is metathesis?

Answer 27

A phonological phenomenon where sounds switch places, e.g., Lat. miraculum > Spanish milagro. ## Footnote Examples include sound changes in different languages, showing how sounds can shift positions over time.

Question 28

How do assimilation and lenition differ from whole segment processes?

Answer 28

Assimilation and lenition are lexically regular and phonetically gradual; whole segment processes are lexically specific and phonetically abrupt. ## Footnote This distinction helps in understanding different types of phonological changes.

Question 29

What is a chain shift in phonology?

Answer 29

A systematic change in vowel phonemes occupying a 2-dimensional vowel space, leading to shifts or mergers. ## Footnote André Martinet (1955) discusses the phonological space and the dynamics of vowel shifts.

Question 30

What types of changes can vowels undergo?

Answer 30

Vowels can undergo changes in quantity and quality, including: * Shortening * Lengthening * Raising * Lowering * Backing * Fronting * Centralization * Diphthongization * Monophthongization ## Footnote These changes affect pronunciation and phonemic distinctions.

Question 31

What is Grimm's Law?

Answer 31

A historical phonological rule that describes the shift of PIE stops to Germanic fricatives and other changes: * */p,t,k/ > */f,th,h/ * */b,d,g/ > */p,t,k/ * */bh,dh,gh/ > */b,d,g/ ## Footnote This law illustrates systematic sound changes across languages.

Question 32

What is phonological change?

Answer 32

Changes to the set of phonemic contrasts in a language's phonology, including mergers and splits. ## Footnote This affects the phonemic inventory of a language over time.

Question 33

What is a primary split in phonology?

Answer 33

A change in phoneme distribution where instances of one phoneme become instances of another without changing the inventory. ## Footnote This can occur under specific phonetic conditions.

Question 34

What is a secondary split in phonology?

Answer 34

A process where one phoneme becomes two, often starting as a conditioned phonetic change. ## Footnote This leads to previous allophonic alternation becoming phonemic.

Question 35

How did English fricative voicing change from Old English to Modern English?

Answer 35

In Old English, fricative voicing was allophonic; it became phonemic in Modern English. ## Footnote Example: [baθ], [baðjan] > /baθ/, /beyð/.

Question 36

What is German umlaut?

Answer 36

A process in which fronting of stem vowels occurs, leading to minimal pairs in Modern German. ## Footnote Example: ModG fallen ‘to fall’ vs fallen (

Question 37

What is the result of the primary split of Latin /k/ in French?

Answer 37

Early French allophones of Latin /k/ produced: * cor > cœur * clara > clair * quando > quand * centum > cendre * cantare > chanter * causa > chose ## Footnote This illustrates how Latin phonemes transformed in the French language.

Question 38

What is a conditioned merger in American English?

Answer 38

The merger of /ae,e,ey/ before /r/: marry = merry = Mary. ## Footnote This shows how phonetic environments can influence sound changes.

Question 39

What is an unconditioned merger in American English?

Answer 39

The merger of /o,ah,oh/ in words like bother, father, cot, caught. ## Footnote This type of merger occurs without specific phonetic conditioning.

Question 40

What is relative chronology in phonological change?

Answer 40

The concept that sound changes have limited historical periods of application and can interact based on their order. ## Footnote Order of application can affect the outcomes of phonological rules.

Question 41

What is a feeding order in phonological rules?

Answer 41

A sequence where one rule creates inputs for another rule. ## Footnote This can lead to more complex sound changes in a language.

Question 42

What is a bleeding order in phonological rules?

Answer 42

A sequence where one rule removes inputs from another rule. ## Footnote This can prevent certain changes from occurring.

Question 43

Fill in the blank: A primary split produces instances of one phoneme becoming instances of _______.

Answer 43

[another phoneme].

Question 44

Fill in the blank: An example of a phonological change in vowels is _______.

Answer 44

[diphthongization].