Sound change includes any processes of language change that affect pronunciation (phonetic change) or sound system structures (phonological change). Sound change can consist of the replacement of one speech sound (or, more generally, one phonetic feature) by another, the complete loss of the affected sound, or even the introduction of a new sound in a place where there previously was none
Arbitrary: To be decided by one's liking; dependent upon will or pleasure; at the discretion or option of any one. Derived from mere opinion or preference; not based on the nature of things; hence, capricious, uncertain, varying. Unrestrained in the exercise of will; of uncontrolled power or authority, absolute; hence, despotic, tyrannical.
Synchronic: Pertaining to or designating a method of linguistic study concerned with the state of a language at one time, past or present; descriptive, as opposed to historical or diachronic
Diachronic: Pertaining to or designating a method of linguistic study concerned with the historical development of a language; historical, as opposed to descriptive or synchronic lasting through time, or during the existing period.
Assimilation is a common phonological process by which the phonetics of a speech segment becomes more like that of another segment in a word (or at a word boundary). A common example of assimilation would be "don't be silly" where the /n/ and /t/ in "don't" become /m/ and /p/, where said naturally in many accents and discourse styles ("dombe silly").
Neogrammarians were a German school of linguists, who proposed the hypothesis of the regularity of Sound change. According to this hypothesis, a diachronic sound change affects simultaneously all words in which its environment is met, without exception.
Structuralism is an approach to the human sciences that attempts to analyze a specific field as a complex system of interrelated parts. It began in linguistics with Saussure
vowel shift is a systematic sound change in the pronunciation of the vowel sounds of a language.
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. The theory of lexical diffusion stands in contrast to the Neogrammaria hypothesis that a given sound change applies simultaneously to all words in which its context is found.
dialect displacement Displacement of one dialect for another which is for some reason socially dominant at some particular time. --> new zeland english --> south brit type --> australasian type
pidg·in
A simplified form of speech that is usually a mixture of two or more languages, has a rudimentary grammar and vocabulary, is used for communication between groups speaking different languages, and is not spoken as a first or native language. Also called contact language.
ablaut: The morphological variation of a root vowel in Germanic and other Indo-European languages;
standarization: Codification is the process of standardizing and developing a norm for a language. Codifying a language can vary from case to case and depends on the stage of standardization that already exists. It typically means to develop a writing system set up official rules for grammar, orthography, pronunciation, syntax and vocabulary as well as publishing grammar books, dictionaries and similar guidelines.
vernacular : Of a language or dialect: That is naturally spoken by the people of a particular country or district; native, indigenous.
Usu. applied to the native speech of a populace, in contrast to another or others acquired for commercial, social, or educative purposes; now freq. employed with reference to that of the working classes or the peasantry.
Dichotomous:
AAVE n. Linguistics African-American Vernacular English Amer. Speech.
Diglossia. In many speech communities two or more varieties of the same language are used by some speakers under different conditions.