31.1969, Review: Historical Linguistics; Sociolinguistics: Hock, Joseph (2019)

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Subject: 31.1969, Review: Historical Linguistics; Sociolinguistics: Hock, Joseph (2019)

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Date: Mon, 15 Jun 2020 16:36:56
From: Matteo Tarsi [matteo.tarsi88 at gmail.com]
Subject: Language History, Language Change, and Language Relationship

 
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Book announced at http://linguistlist.org/issues/30/30-3136.html

AUTHOR: Hans Henrich Hock
AUTHOR: Brian D. Joseph
TITLE: Language History, Language Change, and Language Relationship
SUBTITLE: An Introduction to Historical and Comparative Linguistics
SERIES TITLE: Mouton Textbook
PUBLISHER: De Gruyter Mouton
YEAR: 2019

REVIEWER: Matteo Tarsi, University of Iceland

SUMMARY

Hock and Joseph’s textbook Language History, Language Change, and Language
Relationship was published in a third, revised edition in 2019. The book
comprises eighteen main chapters. An additional chapter is dedicated to notes
and suggested readings. A list of references, together with a language and a
general index are given at the end of the book. In the following, a brief
description of each chapter is given.

Chapter 1 “Introduction” eases the reader into historical linguistics. In it,
the authors give a brief, yet effective, presentation of language change and
the mechanisms which are at its foundations. The concept of linguistic
relationship is then explained in a very accessible way. The role of the
speaker, and that of the idiosyncrasies of the speakers’ community, is
discussed in a specially dedicated section.  A guide to the principles of
transcription and the terminology used throughout the book is the object of
the last section. An appendix to Chapter 1 provides further treatment of
phonetics, with definitions and examples.

Chapter 2 “The discovery of Indo-European” provides a more detailed
introduction to language relationship together with a historical framing of
the discovery of Indo-European as a language family. The basics of the
reconstruction of Proto-Indo-European are outlined in Section 2, which is then
followed by a detailed description of the different branches of the language
family (Section 3). A list of abbreviations of Indo-European language names is
given at the end of the chapter.

Chapter 3 “Writing: Its history and its decipherment” offers an account of the
development of writing and of various typologies of writing systems around the
world together with a history of some of the most famous decipherments such as
that of cuneiform scripts. A specific section (4) is devoted to the principles
at the basis of the decipherment of scripts. A last section is dedicated to
other notable scripts such as the Chinese, the Korean, and the writing systems
of India.

Chapter 4 “Sound change” describes sound change as one of the main tenets in
the study of historical linguistics. The phenomenon is explained by means of
an exposition of Grimm’s and Verner’s Laws. The mechanisms at work in Grimm’s
Law are compared to other similar sound changes inside and outside
Indo-European. Verner’s Law is contextualized and the difference of its
outcomes contrasted with other members of the Indo-European language family,
chiefly Latin and Sanskrit. The exposition then moves on to explaining the
regularity hypothesis and to inscribing it in its historical context.
Different typologies of sound changes are defined and described in Section 5
(assimilation, weakening, loss, epenthesis, chain shifts, etc.). The
explanations for sound change given in earlier scholarship are surveyed in
Section 6, culminating in Labov’s view of socially-conditioned linguistic
change. In the final section of this chapter, the authors provide
counter-evidence to attempts to undermine the principle of the (overwhelming)
regularity of sound change, thus re-establishing its inescapable validity.

Chapter 5 “Analogy and change in word structure” deals with analogy and
morphological change. The two main typologies of (mainly) systematic analogy,
leveling, and four-part analogy, are  described in Section 2. Non-systematic
analogy is the focus of Section 3. A number of sporadic analogical processes
are described there, e.g. blending, contamination, reinterpretation. The
interface between analogy and phonology is further explored in Section 4.
Here, examples are given on regular analogical changes. This section nicely
counterbalances the previous ones on analogy, which, according to the
neo-grammarian view, is inherently irregular (although leveling and four-part
analogy were recognized as more systematic than other processes).
Hypercorrection as a source of analogy is surveyed in Section 5. Section 6 is
dedicated to morphological change and its relation to sound change and
analogical changes. A memorable didactic example is given, namely that of the
disappearance of cases in English. However, the authors go on explaining,
morphological innovations are not only triggered by sound change, for other
mechanisms, such as borrowing or syntax, can play a role. Easy-to-understand
examples are provided in the discussion.

Chapter 6 “Syntactic change”
This chapter surveys changes which are mainly of a syntactic nature. However,
the authors rightly point out at the beginning of the chapter, linguistic
changes have multiple connections across different “parts” of the linguistic
system. Section 2 gives a brief, punctual account of what is style and not
wrong syntax. Section 3 provides an analysis of hopefully and a reassessment
of the syntactic arguments against its usage in Present-Day English. Sections
4 revises the uses of personal pronouns, especially me and I, in light of
syntactic changes. Section 5 gives an overview of word order shift from Old
English to the present day.

Chapter 7 “Semantic change”
The chapter opens by providing an overview of the problems related to “the
inherent fuzziness of meaning”, as the authors word it. In Section 2 and 3
they illustrate in plain words the major intricacies related to the study of
meaning: polysemy, semantic overlap, metaphor, synonymy, and  homonymy. From
this, they move on to further analyzing the relationship holding between sound
and meaning. They briefly, and yet precisely, touch upon false cognates. From
having demonstrated in such a way that the relationship holding between sound
and meaning is totally arbitrary, they procede on to showing that this is so
even in the case of onomatopoeia. Section 5 reviews the factors which are
generally responsible for semantic change: metaphor, taboo, avoidance of
excessive homonymy or synonymy, reinterpretation, etc. Having described the
causes of semantic change, the authors move on to describing its effects in
Section 6.

Chapter 8 “Lexical borrowing”
The chapter is devoted to introducing the main tenets of word borrowing. The
chapter first describes what is borrowed (2), then how the borrowed material
is adapted to the recipient language (3). Section 4 describes the phenomenon
whereby a foreign word is “hyperforeignized” in force of the fact that it is
felt as foreign and, hence, it is made even more similar to those foreign
elements of the lexicon with which it is associated. Section 5 deals with the
motivations for borrowing and for not doing so (nationalism, linguistic
purism, etc.). Icelandic, alongside Chinese, is used as an example of
avoidance of borrowing. Albeit it is undeniable that Icelandic, in comparison
to other languages, shows a lesser degree of loanwords, the outcome of
linguistic nationalism have always been to some extent inconsistent also in
that language (see e.g. the use of numerous Danish loans in 18th- and
19th-century Icelandic also in the writings of those who campaigned for a pure
language). What is different is possibly the shared linguistic belief among
Icelanders that a word made up of native word-stems is always, or nearly
always, better than a loanword. Needless to say that this general principle is
contradicted on a daily basis. Nowadays, the main source for borrowings is, as
one might expect, English, whereas until the 40’s Danish was the main source
for loans. As a result, today older generations may find themselves using
loans where younger generations would use a “pure Icelandic” word, e.g. altan
: svalir ‘balcony’, ske : gerast ‘to happen’. Conversely, younger generations
are more prone to use English borrowings instead of older generations (e.g.
beisiklí [Eng. basically] : í rauninni, í raun og veru, etc. ‘in reality,
basically’). Section 6 illustrates the effects and the differents facets that
lexical borrowing has on the word stock of a given language, here English.

Chapter 9 “Lexical change and etymology”
In this chapter’s introductory words, the authors collect the aspects
described in the preceding chapters and provide a way of application of that
knowledge, namely the study of word history. The chapter is in large part
dedicated to coinage. A specific section is of special interest in that it is
dedicated to the study of the origin of proper names and toponyms. A
concluding section addresses special kinds of language use: argots, jargons,
and slang. The section nicely fits in the bigger picture of this chapter, for
these special kinds of linguistic usage heavily rest on a host of mechanisms,
such as coinage and re-semanticization, which were described earlier in the
book.

Chapter 10 “Language, dialect, and standard”
In this chapter, the authors start with problematizing the definitions of
“language” and “dialect”. This is done first by providing the general view
that languages are superordinate to dialects and vice versa, and subsequently
by somewhat rationalizing this view in relation to how linguists approach the
issue. The authors provide numerous examples from different English-speaking
communities and briefly touch upon other cases. The following two sections in
the chapter are dedicated to different environments and shapes dialects can
assume (social dialects, professional jargons [cf. also Ch. 9, Sect. 4]).
Section 5 extensively treats the notion of “standard language”. In particular,
the authors address cases of pluricentric standard languages and of multiple
standard languages in one country. Diglossia is the focus of Section 6,
whereas dialect borrowing is dealt with in the concluding section (7).

Chapter 11 “Dialect geography and dialectology”
The chapter is devoted to the study of dialects. After the introduction, the
authors give two examples of dialect interaction, the first of which, the
Chicago sound shift, was already familiar to the reader from Ch. 4 on sound
change, and the other being /ū/ in the Low Countries. These two examples allow
the authors to introduce the concepts of focal, transition, and relic areas in
the subsequent section (3). The usefulness of dialectology is addressed in
Section 4 in the light of Indo-European linguistics. This section constitutes
a bridge to Section 5, on isoglosses and regional dialects. Here, an
illuminating example is drawn from the German-speaking area (Second Sound
Shift). The example is, like any throughout the book, of a highly didactic
effect. Section 6, which concludes the chapter, deals with one of the effects
migration can have on language, i.e. dialect leveling.

Chapter 12 “Language spread, link languages, and bilingualism”
After having provided discussion on dialects, dialect continua, and similar
phenomena, the authors rightly move on to considering link languages, i.e.
linguae francae. They provide several examples from different times and from
all around the globe (e.g. English, Hindi, Sanskrit), including artificial
languages such as Esperanto and Volapük. The phenomenon of interference is
addressed in Section 2, and this serves as an introduction to the subsequent
section (3) on code switching and code mixing. Substratum languages and
related issues are presented in Section 4. The chapter ends with a discussion
on koinés  and an outlook section, which summarizes the themes discussed in
the chapter and introduces the reader to the themes of the next one.

Chapter 13 “Convergence: Dialectology beyond language boundaries”
This chapter is dedicated to the phenomenon of dialectal convergence in larger
areas, i.e. across language boundaries. The authors first introduce the notion
of convergence and related concepts. In the subsequent sections, they provide
actual examples of convergence: Kupwar (South-East Asia, Section 2), the
Balkans (Section 3), South Asia (Indian subcontinent, Section 4). A very brief
section (5) is dedicated to Europe in general. The concluding section (6)
links this chapter to Ch. 11 and highlights the similarities of themes and
approaches treated.

Chapter 14 “Pidgins, creoles, and related forms of language”
Having treated dialects, link languages, and dialect/language convergence in
the preceding chapters, it was most natural to move on to treating pidgin and
creoles in this chapter. The authors begin with dedicating a section to
definitions (2) before moving on to addressing the origin of pidgins (3). In
this section, earlier and later ideas on how pidgins arose are reviewed. Trade
jargons and similar other manifestations of language are addressed in Section
4, with numerous examples. Creoles are analyzed in Section 5 and
decreolization in Section 6. In both sections, reference is made to cases
treated in the preceding chapters, so that the readers can better orientate
themselves.

Chapter 15 “Language death”
This chapter, as the title eloquently shows, deals with language death. The
chapter comprises only one section, where the authors present how languages
die out, providing examples from different historical and linguistic
scenarios. The chapter also deals with “language resurrection” and concludes
with ethical considerations on the role of linguists in society.

Chapter 16 “Comparative method: Establishing language relationship”
After a multiple-chapter section on dialects, dialectology, and related
phenomena, the authors return to the heart of comparative linguistics. Being
aware of the several-pages-long hiatus, the authors start this chapter with a
repeated quotation from Ch. 2, thus establishing a bridge between the initial
part of the book and this final bit. A list of lexical correspondences between
different European languages eases the reader into the subsequent discussion,
where the authors review the possible, and actual, relationships among the
languages listed in the table. Also, they importantly stress that some
similarities may be (and in a host of cases actually are) accidental, whereas
other words which, at first sight, do not look anything like each other, are
actually cognates. The methods used here draw from those introduced in the
chapter on sound change. Section 2 focuses on chance similarities,
onomatopoeia, and so-called “nursery words”. Linguistic contact, and the
similarity effect due to it, is the focus of Section 3. Section 4
counterbalances Section 2 inasmuch it reviews systematic correspondences. Some
discussion is offered on shared idiosyncracies in Section 5 before moving on
to Section 6 “Reconstruction”. Here, the authors discuss the main tenets and
procedural rules of linguistic reconstruction, i.e. the minimum requirements a
linguistic reconstruction should satisfy in order to be plausible.  Section 7
is dedicated to the epistemological question of what can be reconstructed and
how confident can we be of any given reconstruction. This section is important
in that at this point in the book, the very same questions must have occurred
to the student! The final section is then devoted to other linguistic families
and reconstruction within them (Finno-Ugric, Turkic, Sino-Tibetan,
Afro-Asiatic, etc.).

Chapter 17 “Proto-World? The question of long-distance genetic relationships”
This chapter deals with the interesting ultimate question of language
relationship across the boundaries of linguistic macro-families. A review is
given of the most notable proposals concerning pre-historical language
relationship (e.g. the Nostratic theory). A step further is moved in Section
2, which reviews longer-distance comparison of languages, e.g. the case of
Dravidian and Uralic. Section 3 briefly touches upon the issue of
“unrelatableness” of languages. Lexical mass comparison (and problems related
to it) is reviewed in Section 4. It is concluded that there is no other viable
method than the traditional one presented in Ch. 16, Sect. 6. Again, the
didactic method the authors use is of great merit. The concluding section (5)
explores the topic of the origin of language among humans.

Chapter 18 “Linguistic paleontology: Historical linguistics, history, and
prehistory”
The last chapter of the book is dedicated to the interface between historical
linguistics and cultural history, i.e. what can the historical study of
linguistic forms tell us about cultural history, and vice versa, how can
cultural history help us in shedding light on the historical study of
languages. The chapter opens with two caveat sections. Firstly, on the term
Aryan and its history, and secondly on the internal chronology of
Proto-Indo-European. Section 4 focuses on religion, poetry, mythology,
society, and comparative law. It provides a glimpse into several points of
contact between what could be interpreted as a pretty arid area of study,
historical linguistic reconstruction, and a lively one, the study of how our
forefathers lived, what they did, how they thought. These two fields are
inextricably intertwined. Material culture is dealt with in Section 5, with
examples from the Indo-European language family. Economy is the subject of
Section 6. In it, it is further shown how historical linguistics sheds light
on prehistory. And this is also the aim of the subsequent section (7), where
linguistic evidence for words for ‘wheel’ and ‘horse’ is provided and linked
with archaeological findings. Section 8 reviews different theories on the
original home of Proto-Indo-European. After having considered pros and cons of
the theories presented, the authors conclude that “an origin in the Eurasian
Steppes (as opposed to Anatolia, my addition) is the best hypothesis, given
the linguistic and archaeological/archaeozoological evidence available.”
Section 9 deals with genomic studies and historical linguistics. It first
describes the use of the word “race” in linguistics and its misuse during Nazi
rule, and it subsequently contextualizes it and provides evidence against said
misuse, the danger of which is, given the times we live in, always behind the
corner. This is important, also in relation to the ethical issues raised
earlier and the role of linguists in society. It is indeed encouraging, and
didactically relevant, to let the student know that linguists do not
necessarily (and, as a rule, should not) live in a ivory tower of knowledge.
Subsection 9.2 presents recent scientific findings in genomics and how these
relate to questions of language relationship. Section 10 somewhat pulls the
strings together on the issues of ideology and comparative linguistics. In it,
the authors further contextualize examples from the preceding sections (e.g.
the use of Aryan, the original abode of the Indo-Europeans, etc.). The final
section (11) shortly summarizes the main themes of the chapter.

Chapter notes and suggested readings
In order to make the reading of the book user-friendlier, the authors decided
to avoid footnotes in the text but rather to write a separate chapter in which
notes and suggestions for further reading are given. The chapter does not
feature endnotes, as one might expect, but is rather divided according to the
main chapters. Under each of them, single (or multiple) sections are listed,
together with the relative suggested readings.

EVALUATION

Hock and Joseph’s handbook is structured in a coherent and logical way. The
chapters are written in an essential and effective way. As the authors explain
in the preface, they have made a certain number of improvements to the text in
this third revised edition. They expressly point out that these changes are,
at least in part, due to suggestions and critiques to the previous edition(s).
In addition, the authors explain that the content, and reference to the
literature, have been updated, in keeping with the more general undertaking of
publishing a revised edition of this textbook. This is, in fact, rightly
pointed out, as authors of textbooks bear perhaps a greater burden than those
of specialist books, for the audience is different. In the latter case, the
expected readership is the author’s own peers, who have the necessary
knowledge to critically evaluate the content of what they read. In the former
case, the readership is entirely different, namely students, be they absolute
beginners or advanced. The author is therefore called to fulfill a chiefly
didactic role, for the readership is, in all likelihood, in the process of
acquiring the knowledge which will, later on, make them specialists in the
field of knowledge which they are diving into by reading a textbook. Hock and
Joseph’s book is very well planned and, in my opinion, it carries out its
didactic purpose to an above-average level. The explanations are very plain
and several examples are repeated throughout the book, thus making it possible
for the readers not just to orientate themselves better, but also to see how
the very same example touches different areas of interest. In addition, the
authors added a novelty (as far as I am concerned), namely some discussion on
sign languages. In particular, they show how some of the mechanisms at work in
those languages are similar to those at work in spoken languages. Apart from
the book’s content, one can say that the authors’ merit is the style in which
the book is written, as they achieve their didactic goal by using a lively
language, not seldom colored with humor or personal, yet never uncalled for,
anecdotes. The style of the book makes it also accessible to a general
audience, yet without over exemplifications or trivializations.

Typos are very few throughout the book, and the same is valid for inaccuracies
(e.g. the Icelandic word sími and its compounds is cited as síma, which is not
the nom. sg.), which nevertheless do not diminish the didactic value of the
book. I am sure that they will be corrected, should a fourth edition be
published.


ABOUT THE REVIEWER

I am a last-year Ph.D student in Icelandic Linguistics at the<br />University
of Iceland, Reykjavík. My research focuses on the<br />interplay between
loanwords and native words in Old and<br />Middle Icelandic. Among my other
research interests are:<br />history of linguistics (especially in the 18th
century),<br />etymology, loanword studies, comparative Germanic
linguistics<br />and language planning and policy studies.





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