what is proto languages in linguistics course

by Alexandre Kautzer Published 3 years ago Updated 2 years ago 6 min read

In the tree model of historical linguistics, a proto-language is a postulated ancestral language from which a number of attested languages are believed to have descended by evolution, forming a language family. Proto-languages are usually unattested, or in some cases only partially attested. They are reconstructed by way of the comparative method.

In the tree model of historical linguistics, a proto-language is a postulated ancestral language from which a number of attested languages are believed to have descended by evolution, forming a language family.

Full Answer

What is the meaning of proto language?

Proto-languages are hypothetical languages that are the result of linguistic reconstruction. They represent what expert linguists believe the ancestral language of a group of related languages was like hundreds and even thousands of years ago. The function of a proto-language is 3-fold.

What is a proto language tree?

A proto-language is a hypothetical or reconstructed language from which a number of known languages are believed to have descended in historical linguistics. Proto-language (glottogony), primitive language-like systems or forms of communication posited in theories of the origin of language. Proto-Human language, a hypothetical ancestor of all ...

What is the oldest proto language in the world?

Languages as superficially different as English, Greek, Latin, and Sanskrit in fact all developed from a single “proto-language,” called Proto-Indo-European. This course will explore the following questions: What was this proto-language like? How do we know what it was like? By what processes did it develop into the various daughter languages?

Is it possible to date proto-languages?

Aug 23, 2015 · Proto-Niger-Kongo (not yet constructed, but assumed to be feasible to reconstruct) is ca. 10.000 BC. On more secure grounds, there are: Proto-Sino-Tibetan: 6.000 BC Proto-Austronesian: >4.000 BC I could not find dates for proto-Tai-Kadai or proto-Pama-Nyunga. Proto-Dravidian is surprisingly young, estimated at 500 BC.

What are the main proto languages?

The common ancestor of English, Latin, Greek, Russian, Gaelic, Hindi, and many other languages spoken in Europe and India is known as Proto-Indo-European, whereas the more recent common ancestor of just English, German, Dutch, Norwegian and the other Germanic languages is known as Proto-Germanic.Aug 21, 2014

What is Protolanguage in simple words?

/ (ˌprəʊtəʊˈlæŋɡwɪdʒ) / noun. an extinct and unrecorded language reconstructed by comparison of its recorded or living descendantsAlso called: Ursprache.

What is proto linguistic development?

Pre-linguistic language development is when a child is learning to control the sounds he can produce and to string these sounds together in vocal play. In this stage, the child is not yet able to manipulate these sounds into proper words.

What is proto-language and language families?

A language family is a group of different languages that all descend from a particular common language. The one language that generated those other languages in its family is known as a protolanguage. Some languages do not come from a protolanguage.Aug 20, 2020

How are proto languages reconstructed?

Protolanguages are typically reconstructed using a painstaking manual process known as the comparative method. We present a family of probabilistic models of sound change as well as algorithms for performing inference in these models.Feb 15, 2013

Is there a proto-language?

“A proto-language is a language which was the common ancestor of related languages that form a language family. “ Examples would be: Proto-Indo-European, Proto-Bantu etc. rapidly from single-word utterances to sentences including infection, tense, prepositions, quantifiers, determiners , embedded clauses, etc.

What is the oldest proto-language?

Linguists estimate that the Proto-Indo-European language was spoken around 5,500 years ago. But they have dated another ancient language, Proto-Afroasiatic — the grandparent of languages like Ancient Egyptian, Hebrew, and Arabic — to 10,000 to 20,000 years old.Mar 24, 2017

Is pidgin a language?

The Oxford English Dictionary definition of Pidgin is: A language containing lexical and other features from two or more languages, characteristically with simplified grammar and a smaller vocabulary than the languages from which it is derived, used for communication between people not having a common language; a ...Nov 16, 2016

What are the 5 stages of language development?

The Five Stages of Learning a New LanguageStage 1: Pre-Production.Stage 2: Early Production.Stage 3: Speech Emergence.Stage 4: Intermediate Fluency.Stage 5: Advance Fluency.Mar 15, 2022

Is Sanskrit a proto-language?

Origin and development Sanskrit belongs to the Indo-European family of languages. It is one of the three earliest ancient documented languages that arose from a common root language now referred to as Proto-Indo-European language: Vedic Sanskrit ( c. 1500–500 BCE).

What is a Creolized language?

: a language resulting from the acquisition by a subordinate group of the language of a dominant group, with phonological changes, simplification of grammar, and an admixture of the subordinate group's vocabulary, and serving as the mother tongue of its speakers, not solely for communication between people of different ...

Who spoke Proto Germanic?

It is a descendant of Proto-Indo-European. It was spoken in north mainland Europe and southern Scandinavia, more or less during the time of the Roman Republic and also in dialectal form during the early period of the Roman Empire (up till about the 1st century CE).

What is proto language?

A proto-language in the tree model of historical linguistics is a language – usually hypothetical or reconstructed, and unattested – from which a number of attested, or documented, known languages are believed to have descended by evolution, or slow modification of the proto-language into languages that form a language family.

What does "alt" mean in linguistics?

(context linguistics English) A language which is reconstructed by examining similarities in existing languages to try to deduce what a common ancestor language, no longer known, would have been like. n. (context linguistics English) A language which is reconstructed by examining similarities in existing languages to try to deduce what a common ancestor language, no longer known, would have been like.

Overview

Definition and verification

Typically, the proto-language is not known directly. It is by definition a linguistic reconstruction formulated by applying the comparative method to a group of languages featuring similar characteristics. The tree is a statement of similarity and a hypothesis that the similarity results from descent from a common language.
The comparative method, a process of deduction, begins from a set of characteristics, or charac…

Proto-X vs. Pre-X

Normally, the term "Proto-X" refers to the last common ancestor of a group of languages, occasionally attested but most commonly reconstructed through the comparative method, as with Proto-Indo-European and Proto-Germanic. An earlier stage of a single language X, reconstructed through the method of internal reconstruction, is termed "Pre-X", as in Pre–Old Japanese. It is also possible to apply internal reconstruction to a proto-language, obtaining a pre-proto-language, su…

Accuracy

There are no objective criteria for the evaluation of different reconstruction systems yielding different proto-languages. Many researchers concerned with linguistic reconstruction agree that the traditional comparative method is an "intuitive undertaking."
The bias of the researchers regarding the accumulated implicit knowledge can also lead to erroneous assumptions and excessive generalization. Kortlandt (1993) offers several examples …