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:
“He stood bewildered, not appalled, on that dark shore which separates the ancient and the modern world.... He is power, passion, self-will personified.”
—William Hazlitt (17781830)
“It is time for dead languages to be quiet.”
—Natalie Clifford Barney (18761972)
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