James Milroy: Some new perspectives on sound change: sociolinguistics and the Neogrammarians.

146-160.

Answer the following questions using the book and other sources.

Why does Milroy say that sound change appers to have no “obvious function or rational motivation” (146)?

Because in a change form [e:] to [i:], for example (as in such terms as need, meet, keen in the history of English), it is impossible to see any progress or benefit to the language or its speakers – the use of one vowel – sound rather than another is purely arbitrary: there is apparently no profit and no loss.

What is/are the main difference/s between Milroy’s approach and that of the Neogrammarians (147-148)?

The main differences are these:

- They tend to be dichotomous

- They are non social in character

- Neogrammarians recognize the importance of present dialects (in listening way) although they have written sources.

According to Milroy, what is language change dependent on (149)?

The change depends on the degree of internal cohesion of the community, and change from outside. It has to be maintained by social acceptance and social pressure.

Why does Milroy say that sound change actually doesn’t exist (150)?

Because we must consider the possibility that sound change is not triggered at this level: a sound change perceived by observes at the segmental level may be secondary phenomenon (e.g.: as a change from [e:] to [i:], what we can observe it at the micro-level)

Why does Milroy disagree with Neogrammarians when they say that sound change is “blind” (150)?

Because it’s obvious that sociolinguistic approaches, which necessarily deal with speakers, are not very likely to give support to the idea of “blind necessity” and he mentions that dichotomies are very relevant to sound change.

What is meant by “lexical diffusion” (151)?

In historical linguistics, lexical diffusion is both a phenomenon and a theory. The phenomenon is that by which a phoneme is modified in a subset of the lexicon, and spreads gradually to other lexical items. For example, in English, /uː/ has changed to /ʊ/ in good and hood but not in food.

The related theory is that all sound changes originate in a single word or a small group of words and then spread to other words with a similar phonological make-up, but may not spread to all words in which they potentially could apply. The theory of lexical diffusion stands in contrast to the Neogrammarian hypothesis that a given sound change applies simultaneously to all words in which its context is found.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lexical_diffusion

What does dialect displacement mean? Give an example. (152)

Dialect displacement is when a dialect is being displaced by another which is dominant at a stated time.

A very good example would be the displacement of the Valencian dialect in favour of Spanish in Valencia.

What are “community” or “vernacular” norms? What term that we have used in class is similar (152)?

Community or vernacular norms are those observed by speakers and maintained by communities often in opposition to standardizing norms. The similar term used in class is “non-standard”.

What does Milroy mean when he says that h-dropping may not ever reach “completion” (153)?

Milroy explains that a change can persist as a variable state for seven or eight centuries without ever going to “completion” in the traditional sense. What he wants to say here is that although the h-dropping phenomenon is commonly used speakers will never consider this usage as normative.

Explain what Milroy means by “speakers innovation” and change in the system. How are they connected (153)?

He means by speakers innovation as the act of innovation of the speaker in a language, whereas change is manifested within the language system. When innovation is taken up by speakers, the process involved is fundamentally a borrowing process; therefore, the implantation of a sound change depends on the borrowing of an innovation.

Why isn’t borrowing from one language to another and the replacement of one sound by another through speaker innovation with language as radically different as the Neogrammarians posited (154-6)?

Because the distinction between true sound change and phonological borrowing is poorly motivated.

What is necessary for a sound to spread (157)?

The implementation of a sound change depends on the borrowing of an innovation: all sound change is implemented by being passed from speaker to speaker, and it is not a linguistic change until it has been adopted by more than one speaker. A change is not a change until it has assumed a social pattern of some kind in a speech community.

Why does believing in the ideology of standardization lead to believing in “blind necessity” (158)?

Because standard languages are created by the imposition of political and military power, hence the sound patterns in them and the changes that come about do not come about through blind necessity.

What does Milroy mean by “clean” and “dirty” data (158)?

When he speaks about “clean” data he refers to that provided by standard languages, is data already normalized, and the vernaculars that we encounter in the speech community, which are relatively intractable are dirty data.