Synchronic vs.

Diachronic Linguistics
Synchronic linguistics is concerned with the
current state of a language or languages (the unconscious
knowledge of native speakers about their language)

Diachronic linguistics studies how languages change over

time.

Language Change
All languages change, all the Bme.
All aspects of a language change
(phoneBcs,
phonology, morphology, syntax,
semanBcs)
Language change cannot be prevented
or stopped.
Language change is not deterioraBon.
Language change is not due to
sloppiness or laziness.
 There is no original, pure state of the
language to which we should try to
return.

Language Age
Since languages constantly
change, it doesnt make sense to
ask how old a language is
unless its a pidgin or creole language!
Language change is gradual, so
you cant say when English
began.

A language family is a group of

languages that all developed from the
same ancestor language.
 The ancestor language of the Indo-
European language family is called
proto-Indo-European.

Family Trees
Other branches of Indo-European include:
Romance (French, Italian, Spanish, all descended
from LaBn)
Slavic (Russian, Ukrainian, Polish, Czech, Serbo-
CroaBon, .)
Cel/c (Breton, Gaelic, Welsh, Irish, )
Greek
Indic (Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, Bangla, -- all descended
from Sanskrit)
Iranian (Farsi, Kurdish, Pashto, Tajiki, )

Cognates
 Word that have the same origin are
called cognates.
But not all cognates are due to a
genetic relationship between languages
some cognates are due to borrowing.
English has borrowed words like kimono and
tsunami from
Japanese, but this does not mean that English
and Japanese are genetically related.
The term accent is used to refer to pronunciation features only, whereas
dialect covers features of grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation.

An isogloss represents the limit of an area in which a particular linguistic feature

is found among the majority of speakers

A creole has native speakers, a pidgin has none.