A Language Unwritten
Faculty Mentor
Julia Smith
Presentation Type
Poster
Start Date
5-8-2024 11:15 AM
End Date
5-8-2024 1:00 PM
Location
PUB NCR
Primary Discipline of Presentation
Anthropology
Abstract
Linguistic reconstruction is the practice of recreating the features of an unattested ancestor language by examining its daughter languages. This allows us not only to hear the sounds of long dead languages, but to examine the culture of the peoples who spoke it. It is through linguistic reconstruction that linguists have “discovered” Proto-Indo-European. This language was spoken on the Pontic-Caspian steppe of Eastern Europe some 6,000 years ago and was never attested in any meaningful way. Despite this it was not lost to the sands of time, through thorough examination of Proto-Indo-European’s daughter languages – which include languages as far-flung as English, Hindi, Russian, and Greek – Linguists have recreated the sounds and meanings of Proto-Indo-European.
This research explores an example of the ways in which we reconstruct Proto-Indo-European – and what that reconstruction tells us about the development of words in modern daughter languages like English. To do this, we have to look at phonetic changes, but also the social processes that create meaning shift over the years. I will be looking at, specifically, the Proto-Indo-European root *gʰostis, which meant both guest and host. This word is fascinating, because it has evolved into the modern English words “guest”, “host”, “ghost”, “hospital”, and “hotel.” This study allows us to consider both the ways in which sounds change, but also the ways in which historical linguistics reveals important ideas about ancient cultures and how they might have functioned.
Recommended Citation
Wilson, Devon J., "A Language Unwritten" (2024). 2024 Symposium. 43.
https://dc.ewu.edu/srcw_2024/ps_2024/p2_2024/43
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
A Language Unwritten
PUB NCR
Linguistic reconstruction is the practice of recreating the features of an unattested ancestor language by examining its daughter languages. This allows us not only to hear the sounds of long dead languages, but to examine the culture of the peoples who spoke it. It is through linguistic reconstruction that linguists have “discovered” Proto-Indo-European. This language was spoken on the Pontic-Caspian steppe of Eastern Europe some 6,000 years ago and was never attested in any meaningful way. Despite this it was not lost to the sands of time, through thorough examination of Proto-Indo-European’s daughter languages – which include languages as far-flung as English, Hindi, Russian, and Greek – Linguists have recreated the sounds and meanings of Proto-Indo-European.
This research explores an example of the ways in which we reconstruct Proto-Indo-European – and what that reconstruction tells us about the development of words in modern daughter languages like English. To do this, we have to look at phonetic changes, but also the social processes that create meaning shift over the years. I will be looking at, specifically, the Proto-Indo-European root *gʰostis, which meant both guest and host. This word is fascinating, because it has evolved into the modern English words “guest”, “host”, “ghost”, “hospital”, and “hotel.” This study allows us to consider both the ways in which sounds change, but also the ways in which historical linguistics reveals important ideas about ancient cultures and how they might have functioned.
