Normand, do you or anyone know about this?
Years ago when I taught linguistic-based English in 8th and 9th grades, I remember something that was so interesting that I mentioned it to Heaven Admin who also found it very interesting. I no longer have the book I used then, and I haven't found anything about this on the internet.
Here's what I remember:
Language changes. For example, hundreds of years ago, people from England who naturally spoke English came to the United States. Over the years, we now have British English and American English. The pronunciation is different, and some of the vocabulary is different. Language changes, and, over time, it also changes according to where the language is spoken.
Change in language was compared to change in sheep who were transported to other areas of the world.. After so many generations, the sheep that started out exactly the same are noticeably changed. For example, in some countries the sheep are much smaller, and in other countries larger. They are still sheep but not exactly the same as they started out.
I remember that this was called biologic or biological progression.
Does anyone know where to find out more about this? My special interest is in language.
Normand, I have a feeling you might know about this.
Linguistic variation or variability
Dear Gloria, the answer to your quest is not easy.
First, to find something significant on Internet you need to use certain keywords that pertain to the scientific vocabulary of Linguistics like LINGUISTIC VARIATION or VARIABILITY, LINGUISTIC OR DIALECT GEOGRAPHY, LANGUAGE AND COMMUNICATION, MORPHOLOGICAL or LINGUISTIC CHANGES or SHIFTS, DIALECTOLOGY, etc.
Most of the information for your quest are written mostly in Linguistic Periodicals or Journals, or theoretical books. You surely can find with the keywords mentioned above articles that would also give you a bibliography.
I can also give you few hints. First the questions have to be more specific. We can start first by positioning an example: how did Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese emerged from Latin, or how did English, German, Norwegian emerged from Germanic? English itself rose from Middle English and Old English... We could go on and on.
Another factor is linguistic Contacts. Some languages stayed for centuries in ISOLATION. But most of them experienced contacts. So changes in language are both INTERNAL according to their basic structure (semiology and semantics) and EXTERNAL according to human and environmental factors.
Variability is a constituent of all human languages. That means that it is bound to experiment changes while maintaining a structural coherence.
Language is spoken both by linguistic/cultural communities as a whole and also by individuals. A single speaker will use different linguistic forms on different occasions and different speakers of a language will express the same meanings using different forms. So individuals and communities make CHOICES in pronunciation, morphology, word choice and grammar depending on a number of non-linguistic or environmental factors.
Pronunciation can itself be affected by geography, climate which impact on hearing and speaking.
All I can say as a generalization is that Language is a living phenomenon which also has genetic grounds. It is made of both inheritance and individual and collective variations.
Thank you, dear Normand.
Thank you, dear Normand.
The biologic or biological progression I referred to was the expression used in an 8th grade linguistic text. Now if I could only remember the authors. I remember the text showed the photos of the original sheep that were sent to different parts of the Earth. And then, so many generations later, there were pictures of the sheep in the different areas. They were still sheep, yet each area's sheep were different. The point of this was language change itself. At one time, British English and American English were the same, and then, over time, in different geological areas, the original language changed, apparently in all the ways language can change. This always fascinated me. I will try again, using your suggestions. Glad to have you back!