Linguists Can use a variety of methods that allow them to trace the origins of words and ULTIMATELY Discern their relationships.
Firstly, I think that it should be established that etymology, ˌetəˈmäləjē, is the study of the origin of words. Now that that's out of the way, as previously stated, linguists have many methods in which the use to learn about origins of words. August Schleicher, an important linguist, is the man who is the founder of the historical linguistic theory, one of the most used methods in discovering origins of languages. This method is commonly used by linguists, it is the concept of languages in a "family tree".
Another way that linguists can discern a language's origins are through the comparative method. When using the comparative method, linguists compare phonological systems (speech sounds), morphological systems (structures of words, especially consistent patterns of combinations and inflections), syntax (structure of words in sentences), and lexicons (vocabulary) of two or more languages.
Now looking at all of this as a whole can seem terribly confusing, so here's an example that might make things seem clearer. One of the best examples of using the historical linguistic theory is the word "doubt". Many people are curious why the letter "b" is in doubt. Well, using August Schleicher's method, we can discern why. The word "doubt" comes from the Latin origin of the word "dubitare". Later this word changed into the French word "doute". Finally, it became the English word "dout", but scribes who knew both English and Latin began to add the letter "b" back in, to connect it with its original Latin root. Also, this allows the word to be connected to other English words such as "indubitably" and "dubious". Another good example can be found in the video below.
This relates to Chapter 5: Languages because the historical linguistic theory is one of the main methods in which linguists discern origins of words, which uses the ideas or language branches, language families, and language groups. Using these different grouping methods of languages, linguists can find the cognates of words within other languages to trace their evolution to their original word.
I chose this topic because I found the chapter over language the most interesting. The reason I chose the research question I did was because I was curious to see how linguists could connect words to similar words in other languages, as well as discover their origins.
I chose this topic because I found the chapter over language the most interesting. The reason I chose the research question I did was because I was curious to see how linguists could connect words to similar words in other languages, as well as discover their origins.
Works Cited:
Cooke, Gina. "The True Story of "true"" TED-Ed. TED, n.d. Web. 27 May 2014.
Cooke, Gina. "Why Is There a "b" in Doubt? - Gina Cooke." TED-Ed. TED, n.d. Web. 27 May 2014.
"Morphology." The Free Dictionary. Farlex, n.d. Web. 27 May 2014.
"Phonological+system." The Free Dictionary. Farlex, n.d. Web. 27 May 2014.
Images:
http://www.thehistoryofenglish.com/pics/indo_european_tree.gif
http://www2.hawaii.edu/~sford/research/tutoring/japcons.jpg
Cooke, Gina. "The True Story of "true"" TED-Ed. TED, n.d. Web. 27 May 2014.
Cooke, Gina. "Why Is There a "b" in Doubt? - Gina Cooke." TED-Ed. TED, n.d. Web. 27 May 2014.
"Morphology." The Free Dictionary. Farlex, n.d. Web. 27 May 2014.
"Phonological+system." The Free Dictionary. Farlex, n.d. Web. 27 May 2014.
Images:
http://www.thehistoryofenglish.com/pics/indo_european_tree.gif
http://www2.hawaii.edu/~sford/research/tutoring/japcons.jpg