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A Basic Course in Anthropological Linguistics (Studies in Linguistic ...

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46 A BASIC COURSE IN ANTHROPOLOGICAL LINGUISTICS<br />

and time depth, the current work on language orig<strong>in</strong>s is shedd<strong>in</strong>g some valuable<br />

light on how language and culture might have orig<strong>in</strong>ated <strong>in</strong> tandem.<br />

Often, the l<strong>in</strong>guist must delve <strong>in</strong>to the history and evolution of cognate<br />

forms <strong>in</strong> order to establish what they mean. Historical change can affect all<br />

components of language. Consider, as one last example, how some Lat<strong>in</strong> words<br />

have changed <strong>in</strong> mean<strong>in</strong>g after they developed <strong>in</strong>to Italian forms:<br />

~ ~~ ~~~~ ~ ~<br />

word Orig<strong>in</strong>al Mean<strong>in</strong>g Italian Form New Mean<strong>in</strong>g<br />

DOMU(S) “house” duomo “dome”<br />

CASA(M) “shack” casa “house”<br />

CABALLU(S) “work horse” cavallo “horse<br />

(<strong>in</strong> general)”<br />

Incorporat<strong>in</strong>g the diachronic dimension <strong>in</strong>to the description of a language<br />

has, <strong>in</strong> fact, always dist<strong>in</strong>guished anthropological method from other l<strong>in</strong>guistic<br />

approaches.

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