Book contents
- Inventing Languages
- Inventing Languages
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations and Glossing Conventions
- IPA Alphabet
- 1 What Are Constructed Languages?
- 2 World Building
- 3 Designing Vowel Inventories
- 4 Designing Consonant Inventories
- 5 From Sounds to Syllables
- 6 Stress and Tone
- 7 The Lexicon
- 8 The Morphology of Nouns
- 9 The Morphology of Verbs
- 10 Word Order
- 11 Statements, Questions and Commands
- 12 Negation and Evidentials
- 13 Complex Sentences
- 14 Writing Systems
- 15 Semantics and Pragmatics
- 16 Variation in Space and Time
- 17 Language Channels and Modalities
- 18 Wrapping Up and Moving Forward
- Appendix A Natlangs Mentioned
- Appendix B Conlangs Mentioned
- References
- Index
16 - Variation in Space and Time
Published online by Cambridge University Press: aN Invalid Date NaN
Book contents
- Inventing Languages
- Inventing Languages
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations and Glossing Conventions
- IPA Alphabet
- 1 What Are Constructed Languages?
- 2 World Building
- 3 Designing Vowel Inventories
- 4 Designing Consonant Inventories
- 5 From Sounds to Syllables
- 6 Stress and Tone
- 7 The Lexicon
- 8 The Morphology of Nouns
- 9 The Morphology of Verbs
- 10 Word Order
- 11 Statements, Questions and Commands
- 12 Negation and Evidentials
- 13 Complex Sentences
- 14 Writing Systems
- 15 Semantics and Pragmatics
- 16 Variation in Space and Time
- 17 Language Channels and Modalities
- 18 Wrapping Up and Moving Forward
- Appendix A Natlangs Mentioned
- Appendix B Conlangs Mentioned
- References
- Index
Summary
This chapter focuses on language variation and change. It discusses criteria used to distinguish dialects and languages, discusses standard and vernacular dialects, and previews various types of dialectal variation, including geolects, genderlects and sociolects. In addition, it examines language change and the intrinsic and extrinsic factors that are conducive to it. This chapter also addresses aspects of variation and change in Esperanto, Lojban and Tolkien’s Elvish languages. In addition, it provides conlanging practice and a set of guided questions to incorporate aspects of variation in a conlang, and exemplifies dialectal variation and historical change in the Salt language.
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- Inventing LanguagesA Practical Introduction, pp. 301 - 317Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2025
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