Hale Mark. Historical Linguistics: Theory and Method

Blackwell Publishing, 2007. — xiv, 269 pages. — ISBN13: 978-0-631-19661-7; ISBN13: 978-0-631-19662-4.The optimal reader of this book would probably have been exposed to the basic methods and practices of historical linguistics - sound change and reconstruction problems, issues in subgrouping, and the like - as well as to the basics of modern theoretical linguistics.2 In general, I think of this book as a maximally useful follow-up to the type of historical linguistics to which one might be exposed in a good “Introduction to Linguistics” course, or perhaps in a one-semester undergraduate “Introduction to Historical Linguistics” course, or for the student who has worked his/her way through one of the standard, brief, introductory textbooks to the field. While I realize that most historical linguists would be loath to sacrifice the already limited time allotted in a standard historical intro course to material which goes beyond that of the standard texts, as this one clearly does, it is my hope that the kinds of issues raised in this volume would spark the kind of serious “big-picture” consideration of the tcchnicalia introduced in the course of the semester which would allow students to come to a much deeper and more firmly-grounded understanding of the historical linguistics enterprise.The book should not, however, be used without serious consideration of the following fact: virtually no one agrees with most of what follows, whether they come primarily from the “theoretical” or “traditional” sides of the historical linguistics continuum. If you are an instructor seeking a textbook for purposes of the type outlined in the preceding paragraph, do not hastily grab this book based on its size, price, writing style, or overall simple appearance thinking you’ve found the perfect solution to your textbook needs unless you’re prepared to engage with the controversial ideas which are presented here. This book does not depict the current “state of the art” of advanced or intermediate level thinking in historical linguistics, nor does it attempt to.“Language” and “ Language Change” : Preliminaries
What is “ Language”?
Synchronic “Language” vs. Diachronic “Language”
“Language” as a Synchronic Object
“Language” as a Diachronic Object
Discussion Questions and Issues
Linguistic Artifacts: Philology
Objects vs. “Texts”
“Texts” and “Languages”
Discussion Questions and Issues
What is a “ Descent” Relationship?
The Nature of Linguistic “Descent”
Further Remarks on “Change”
DiffusionDiscussion Questions and Issues
Phonological Change
Galilean-Style Phonology
The Grammar, Production, and Perception
What is a “ Phonological Object”?
Phonological Change
Discussion Questions and Issues
The Traditional Approach
Marshallese Historical Phonology
Summary of Marshallese Developments from Proto-Micronesian
Discussion Questions and Issues
In-Depth Consideration of Selected Issues
Phonetics, Phonology, and Sound Change I: The Marshallese Velars
A Digression on the History of Research
Phonetics, Phonology, and Sound Change II: The Marshallese Vowels
Phonological Change without Phonetic Change
Discussion Questions and Issues
The Regularity of Sound Change
The Neogrammarian HypothesisDiscussion Questions and Issues
Syntactic Change
What is Syntactic Change?
“Regular" Syntactic Change
Some Comments on Lightfoot’s Model of Parametric Change
“Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics”: Some Models of Variation and ChangeDiscussion Questions and Issues
The Diachrony of Clitics: Phonology and Syntax
Wackernagel’s Law: Traditional Diachronic Syntax
What Can(’t) be a Clitic?
What Can(’t) be a “Syntactic” Clitic?
Discussion Questions and Issues
Reconstruction Methodology
Reconstruction MethodologyThe Genetic Hypothesis
Trivial vs. Nontrivial Innovations
Subgrouping
Democracy and Reconstruction: Is “Majority Rules” a Principle?
Recent Criticisms
“ Realist” and “Formalist” Views of Reconstruction
Final Remarks
Discussion Questions and Issues
Concluding Remarks
Synchronic and Diachronic Linguistics
The Mirage of Apparent IdentityDiscussion Questions and Issues