Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Figures
- List of Maps
- List of Tables
- Acknowledgments
- Transcription, Symbols, and Abbreviations
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Methodology: Principles and Practice
- 3 Gender
- 4 Education
- 5 Social Stratification
- 6 Religion and Ethnicity
- 7 Language Change
- 8 Spatial Variation
- 9 Contact and Diffusion
- References
- Subject Index
- Place Index
- Name Index
7 - Language Change
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 July 2022
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Figures
- List of Maps
- List of Tables
- Acknowledgments
- Transcription, Symbols, and Abbreviations
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Methodology: Principles and Practice
- 3 Gender
- 4 Education
- 5 Social Stratification
- 6 Religion and Ethnicity
- 7 Language Change
- 8 Spatial Variation
- 9 Contact and Diffusion
- References
- Subject Index
- Place Index
- Name Index
Summary
The chapter explains the basic principles of linguistic change from a sociolinguistic variationist perspective. It begins with an explanation of the inextricable relationship between linguistic variation and change, and proceeds to demonstrate how language change can be observed, investigated, and explained. Sociolinguists can document and analyse language change using either the real-time method or the apparent-time construct; these methods and their advantages and pitfalls are explained and exemplified.
Keywords
historical linguisticsdiachronic linguisticscomparative methodlanguage familiesproto-languageSemiticcorrespondencereconstructionsound changeapparent-timereal-timelifespantrendpanellongitudinal studieschange from abovechange from belowvariation without changechange in progressstable variationtypes of change
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Arabic Sociolinguistics , pp. 131 - 155Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2022