On Thu, 29 Jan 2004 10:16:09 +0000, alexandru_mg3 <
alexandru_mg3@...>
wrote:
> >Now the question is : How long could take to a BASIC sound like /s/
> >to GLOBALLY spread along a whole language in ALL PHONETIC CONTEXTS?
>
> >>The answer is: one generation.<<
>
> Really? so we need for a word like "mouse" or "television" between
>40 and 50 years IN OUR TIMES for their global spreading, but for a
>global s->sh a single generation? ONLY about 30 years ? Sounds like a
>SF for me...but I will change my mind if will post valid arguments...
>
> Please sustain you afirmation!
In the first place, you're comparing apples with oranges. The spread of a
lexical item like "mouse" or "television", or rather the spread of the
technological devices they denote, has little to do with the way a sound
change comes about.
Within a single speech community, a sound change usually takes place within
a single generation. So that's how long it can take.
If the "language" consists of more than one dialect/sociolect, the time it
*can* take for a sound change to spread to every single speaker may vary
from "one generation" to "forever" (that is to say, not until the death of
the language in question). It depends on the number of speakers, their
distribution, and other geographical and social factors.
Now if a sound change is eventually adopted by _all_ speakers of a
language, it doesn't matter, for most purposes, how long it took. The
change has become global, so even if there were dialects/sociolects that
didn't adopt the change immediately, for the purposes of the change in
question, those dialects are now dead, and all that matters is how long it
took in the originating dialect (the prestige dialect, most likely), and
the answer to that question is: one generation, perhaps a few more.
How long it took may matter only if isolated items containing the unshifted
sound are borrowed back into the prestige dialect, or if such items are
borrowed into other neighbouring languages that are not (yet) in contact
with the prestige dialect.
=======================
Miguel Carrasquer Vidal
mcv@...