1. Proto- Indo-European
Balto-Slavic Indo-Iranian
Germanic Celtic Italic Hellenic Baltic Slavic Indic
Iranian
(Latin) (Ancient Greek) (Sanskrit)
German Gaelic Italian Greek Latvian Russian Hindi
Persian
English Irish Spanish Lithuanian Polish Bengali
Dutch Welsh French Czech
Danish Portuguese Bulgarian
Swedish Romanian
Norwegian
Family Connection
Some common features Cognates
Father
Pitar (Sanskrit) / Pater (Latin ) (English Mother / Germanic Mutter)
Comparative Reconstruction The majority principle (Cavallo – Caballo – Cheval =Horse)

2. Language Change divided into three major periods.
The Old English Anglo-Saxons were Christianized Latin Words
came into
English
(7th to 11th century) (Angel – Candle –
Church -etc.)
Englisc : Mann - Man
Cild - Child
Drincan – Drink
Vikings (Old Norse) words like Give- law- leg-
skin-
sky-etc.
Middle English Norman Conquered England (1066)
(1100 to 1500)
French became the upper class words like Army –
court –
prison
came
into

3. Modern English
(1500 to nowadays ) Internal changes within the historical development of English.
Sound Changes Syntactic Changes Lexical Changes
Old- E. Modern- E. Old English text = Subject + verb+ object Broadering Holy day - holyday
/hu:s / /haws/ (house) (Common in Modern English) (as a religious feast to break
/spo:n/ /spu:n/ (spoon) from work)
Differs from modern English: ferde he –
he traveled As he hine geseah – he saw him. Narrowing: (use for some
Metathesis chang specific things) ex. Wife
(Involves a reversal in position Loss of inflectional affixes (sealde / sealdest : (could be used of any woman
of two adjoining sounds) he gave / you gave) but in narrow could be use just for married woman)
Acsian – ask
Frist – first
Hros – horse
Epenthesis
(The addition of a sound to the middle of a word)
Aemting – empty
Spinel – spindle
Timr – timber
Prothesis (not founf in english)
(the addition of a sound to the begginig of a word)
Schola – Escuela (school)
Spiritus – Espiritu (spirit)
Note:
Some changes can be linked to major
social changes caused by wars,
invasion, and cultural transmission