UNIVERSITY OF ESWATINI FINAL EXAMINATION PAPER: NOVEMBER 2019 B.A, DEGREE TITLE OF PAPER: HISTORICAL AND COMPARATIVE LINGUISTICS: INDO-EUROPEAN COURSE NUMBER: ALL303 TI ALLOWED: ‘THREE (3) HOURS INSTRUCTIONS: 1. ANSWER FOUR (4) QUESTIONS IN ALL. 2, CHOOSE TWO (2) QUESTIONS FROM SECTION A. 3. CHOOSE TWO (2) QUESTIONS FROM. SECTION B. THIS PAPER IS NOT TO BE OPENED UNTIL PERMISSION HAS BEEN GRANTED BY THE INVIGILATOR.SECTION A Choose two (2) questions from each section, Each question is worth 25 marks total. Question 1 Define each of the following terms: (i) historical linguistics, (ii) phonological split, (if) phonological merger (15 marks). Give one (1) example of phonological split and one example of phonological merger (2 marks). Show how each of your examples fits the definitions that you have given (8 marks). Question 2 Name eleven sub-branches of the Indo-European language family (11 marks). For each sub- branch, name two (2) attested languages that belong to it (11 marks). Which sub-branches are currently considered to be extinct? (3 marks) Question 3 Deseribe three (3) stages of one (1) syntactic change that took place between Old English and Modem English (15 marks), Describe the construction in which this change took place (5 marks). llustrate each stage with examples (5 marks). SECTION B Question 4 Explain why convergence is an exemple of language contact rather than genetic relatedness (10 rmatks). Give one (1) example of an area in the world in which convergence has talcen place (1 matk). Explain why this area represents an example of convergence (5 marks), Deseribe two (2) linguistic characteristics of languages in your convergence area that illustrate convergence (9 marks). Question 5 Define four of the following terms: (i) semantic change, (ii) backformation, (iii) geographical variation, iv) analogy, (v) class variation (20 marks), Give one (1) example of each term that you define from any Indo-European language (5 marks). Question 6 What is Grimm's Law? (5 marks) What type of historical change does Grimm's Law describe? (2 marks) Name the language family and proto-language affected by Grimm’s Law (3 marks), State each change of Grimm’s Law (9 marks). State taree (3) generalizations about these changes (6 matks) END OF QUESTION PAPERALT303 (MAIN UNIVERSITY OF ESWATINI DEPARTMENT OF AFRICAN LANGUAGES AND LITERATURE MAIN EXAMINATION PAPER NOVEMBER 2019 TITLE OF PAPER: INTRODUCTION TO HISTORICAL — AND COMPARATIVE INDO-EUROPEAN LINGUISTICS COURSE NUMBER: IDE-ALL303 TIME ALLOWED: — THREE (3) HOURS INSTRUCTIONS: 1. | ANSWER FOUR (4) QUESTIONS IN ALL. 2. CHOOSE TWO (2) QUESTIONS FROM SECTION A. 3. CHOOSE TWO (2) QUESTIONS FROM SECTION B 4. LINGUISTIC EXPRESSIONS AND FORMALISM SHOULD BE USED WHENEVER APPROPRIATE. 5. ALLEXAMPLES SHOULD BE GLOSSED ‘THIS PAPER IS NOT TO BE OPENED UNTIL PERMISSION HAS BEEN GRANTED BY THE INVIGILATOR. 1[Pagego) SECTION A Choose two questions from this section Question 1 a) Discuss briefly the contributions made by the following scholars towards the development of Historical and Comparative linguistics: i) Gottfield Withem Von Leibniz; ii) J.J. Sealiger (15 marks) iii) J. Von Herder b) Dante attributed the development of different languages to “the passage of time and the geographical dispersion of speakers of a given language”. Discuss. (10 marks) [25 marks] Question 2 a) Sir Williams Jones’ February 1786 statement was a major break-through to the development of Historical and Comparative linguistics. Discuss. (10 Marks) b) Word order patterns in languages are derived from simple declarative sentences. With two examples, briefly discuss problems that would be encountered if any type of sentence would be used to suggest the word order pattem of English. (6 Marks) ©) There are four morphological systems found in human languages. These are: i) Isolating or analytic i) Agglutinating/Agglutinative Synthetic or Inflectional iv) Polysynthetic Using relevant examples, explain how the following languages may be placed in more than one of the above morphological systems. 1, The English language 2, Bantu languages (9marks) [25 Marks] Question 3 and critically evaluate Grimm’s Law then evaluate how Verner’s Law complemented i. Dis« [25 Marks] 2|PageQuestion 4 a) Distinguish between the following types of sound change. Give for each argument an ‘example from any language: i) apocope and syncope; epenthesis and metathesis; iii) aphaeresis and prothesis; (20 marks) iv) phonetic unpacking and vowel breaking; v) Regressive assimilation and progressive assimilation. b) What is phonetic fusion? (S marks) [25 Marks] SECTION B Choose two questions from this section Question 5 a) Describe two (2) strategies used in the reconstruction of proto sounds. (4 marks) ) Distinguish between the methods of internal reconstruction and that of comparative reconstruction. (3 marks) ©) With the use of examples, distinguish between a proto language and an attested parent language. (5 marks) 4) When listing the sound correspondences between languages that you are comparing, when might you use; i) Azer morpheme (4 marks) ii) Adash ©) When reconstructing proto sounds, the phonemic inventory of the proto language being reconstructed should be taken into consideration. With illustrations, support the authenticity of this statement. (5 marks) 1) What is the difference between fortition and lenition? (4 marks) [25 Marks} Question 6 Consider the data below from Spanish, Sardinian, and Rumanian, all of which are Romance languages, and answer the questions which follow: Spanish Rumanian hilo fir “thread” vida vita ‘lite’ vino vin “wine? ripa “bank? riu stiver’ ris “ugh? 3/Pageii) Using the comparative method, reconstruct proto-words for each of the six items provided in the data. (6 marks) iii) Wherever the proto-word has changed in the daughter language, name the daughter language and state the phonologicel process which took place during the development of the daughter language. (8 marks) iv) Using distinctive features, formalise the processes that took place in the development of the following words from the proto language: i) (vida) ‘life’ (Spanish). ii) [ris] ‘laugh’ (Rumanian). (7 marks) ¥) Given that [muta] is the Sardinian word for ‘change’, what would be its cognate form in i) Spanish ii) Rumanian (4 marks) [25 Marks] Question 7 a) Examine the data below from Bislama (spoken in Vanuati) and do the tasks which follow: Root Transitive verb rit ‘read? ritim ‘read bon “burnt” bonem sbum smok ‘smoke? smokem ‘smoke’ skras ‘itch’ skrasem ‘scratch’ slak ‘loose’ slakem loosen” stil ‘steal? stilim “steal” rus ‘barbecue’ rusum “barbecue” ‘ait ‘tight taitem ‘tighten’ boil “boil” boilem “boil” ciki “cheeky” cikim ‘give cheek to” pe ‘payment’ pem ‘pay for? rere ‘ready’ rerem ‘prepare’ drai ‘dry’ draim ‘ary’ draun ‘sink? draunem ‘push under water’ melek ‘milk? melekem “squeeze liquid out of level ‘level’ levelem ‘evel out” State what you think the original form of the transitive suffix might have been, (mark) 4|PageOne) ii) Identify the words whose suffixes have undergone changes and then give a step-by-step derivation of the surface forms to show why they have changed. (9 marks) Identify the words that have retained their forms of suffixes and give good reasons why they have retained such forms, (12 marks) b) When might you want to use the method of Internal Reconstruction instead of the Comparative Method? (3 marks) [25 Marks} Question 8 The Family Tree Model and the Wave Theory Model are both used in representing relationship between languages. Discuss these two models, providing evidence for each one of them. Which model do you think is more plausible and why? [25 Marks} 5|Page