Language change

Language change is the process of alteration in the features of a single language, or of languages in general, across a period of time.

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D

  • We know that two neighbouring languages can evolve at different rates: Danish. for instance, developed much more rapidly than German, or even Swedish.
    • J. Duchesne-Guillemin, quoted in The Problem of Aryan Origins by K.D. Sethna, Aditya Prakashan, New Delhi, 1992.

J

  • いつ、どこの言語でも、完成したものはなく、言語は、すべて生々発展の途上にあるものである。 [...] 実は、われわれの弱さ、どうかすると、日常のことに心が慣れて、この見やすき事実を見忘れ、知らず知らず言語の「変化」否定する誤りに陥ることがある。

L

  • Changes [of language] are quicker in unsettled communities than in more settled ones.
    • W.B. Lockwood 1969: 43: Indo-European Philology. quoted from THE ṚGVEDA AND INDO-EUROPEANS Author(s): Nicholas Kazanas Source: Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Vol. 80, No. 1/4 (1999), pp. 15-42

P

  • Languages change at different speeds, and English has certainly changed more quickly than, say, Lithuanian or Icelandic.
    • Simeon Potter. quoted in The Problem of Aryan Origins by K.D. Sethna, Aditya Prakashan, New Delhi, 1992.

W

  • As regards the kinship of the languages, it is quite impossible to state definite chronological limits within which languages change. Some languages change very rapidly , others remain more or less unaltered for a long period. It is true that hieratic languages, like those of the Vedic hymns and the Avesta, can remain unaltered much longer than spoken languages.
    • Moriz Winternitz, quoted in The Problem of Aryan Origins by K.D. Sethna, Aditya Prakashan, New Delhi, 1992.