Ancient Languages

Ancient Languages

Historical linguistics (also called diachronic linguistics) is the study of language change. It has five main concerns:

  • to describe and account for observed changes in particular languages
  • to reconstruct the pre-history of languages and determine their relatedness, grouping them into language families (comparative linguistics)
  • to develop general theories about how and why language changes
  • to describe the history of speech communities
  • to study the history of words, i.e. etymology.

Read more about Ancient Languages:  History and Development, Evolution Into Other Fields, Conservative, Innovative, Archaic

Famous quotes containing the words ancient and/or languages:

    “Still green with bays each ancient altar stands
    Above the reach of sacrilegious hands,”
    —Alexander Pope (1688–1744)

    “I am always sorry when any language is lost, because languages are the pedigree of nations.”
    —Samuel Johnson (1709–1784)