| Every living language changes through time, but no records of linguistic changes have ever been kept, as most changes pass unnoticed by the contemporaries.
Therefore, the main source for the history of any language is written documents that have come down to us. And on the basis of these documents a language history is reconstructed.
As for documents themselves, they give a clear picture of the vocabulary and grammar of a certain period. As for phonetic structure, such documents do not always give clear enough information, for, as we have already discussed, sound may change but spelling remains or, as often as not, one letter may denote different sounds, etc. So in this sense written documents may be misleading.
Nevertheless, study of pronunciation of a particular period may be helped by illiterate spellings which are found in private letters and diaries as they are mostly phonetic. (Remember the example with lite = light). So they can give a clue to the pronunciation of this or that word.
Some hints are proved by rhymes. For example, careful study of words, which in spite of similar spelling, do not rhyme together, may help to establish phonetic differences hidden by the spelling. For example, a rhyme light – write gives good reason to suppose that digraph gh was no longer pronounced at the time the text was written.
In many instances the availability of extant texts is not sufficient to explain some phenomena of the language in question. That is why scholars may resort to studying related languages,(the comparative method) which have older written records as is the case, for example, with Gothic, namely the translation of the Bible made in the 4th century AD, while the earliest documents written in Old English date about 7th century AD. Besides related languages, English can be compared to other languages of the Indo-European family, namely those which came into contact with. For example, Latin and French.
Certain information about the early stages of English and Germanic history is to be found in the works of ancient historians and geographers, especially Roman. They contain descriptions of Germanic tribes, personal names and place-names. Some data are also provided by early borrowings from Germanic made by other languages.
Another way of looking into the history of a language is the method of internal reconstruction (Note 6). It is based on comparing different forms of the language at different linguistic levels taken during different periods in the history of its development. Its adherents maintain that a language is a well organised and well balanced structure of elements. Hence, if among the productive systems of the language there occur some smaller, non-productive systems, once can assume that they are relics of preceeding stages of development. When traced into the past, these systems appear more numerous and more productive. For example, modern irregular plurals like oxen, teeth, etc. were found in larger groups of nouns at an earlier period. It follows that the past history of a language can be reconstructed by considering its dialectal varieties, since dialects often preserve forms, words or pronunciations which have become obsolete in the literary standard.
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misleading –
confusing
digraph-
äèãðàô
extant-
still existing in spite of being very old
internal reconstruction
adherent –
someone who supports a particular belief, plan, political party etc
assume-
suppose
relics-
traces, remains of smth
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