Historical Linguistics

Ojas Patil suggested long ago that I write a post about causes of language change. I had forgotten it until E, who’s already given me post fodder once via a comment on a Linguistrix post, asked me a follow-up question on my reply to his comment-question. It was heartening to see that E appeared reasonably convinced by my answers to his first question, and his question is quite interesting— So how does language or grammar evolve (Because it certainly _does_ evolve)?

[I am writing a series of articles on Languages and Linguistics for a magazine for school kids, EducationEdge, that a friend of mine has started recently. These articles are targeted at students of classes VIII to XII. I will keep posting those articles on Linguistrix once they are published. Here's the first in the series.] “Those who know nothing of foreign languages know nothing of their own.” —Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Every human possesses an innate ability to acquire language.