Subject and Aims of The History of English. Chronological Divisions in The History of English
Subject and Aims of The History of English. Chronological Divisions in The History of English
Subject and Aims of The History of English. Chronological Divisions in The History of English
Linguistic
changes are usually
slow and gradual. They proceed in
minor, imperceptible steps
unnoticed by the speakers.
Unlike human society, language
undergoes no revolutions or
sudden breaks. The slow rate of
linguistic change is seen in the
gradual spread of new features in
language space.
Different parts or levels of
language develop at different
rates
vocabulary of a language can change
very rapidly.
This is true only if we compare lexical
changes with changes at other
linguistic levels, e.g. grammatical
Lexical changes are easy to observe
The system of phonemes
Norwegian – in Norway;
Icelandic – in Iceland;