1. Center for PersonKommunikation P.1 Comparing natural languages NLP: –Natural languages versus formal/artificial languages Linguistics: –“Indoeuropean” vs. e.g. “Altaic” languages –“Germanic” vs. e.g. “Slavonic languages” –“inflectional” vs. e.g. “isolating” languages

2. Center for PersonKommunikation P.2 Comparative Linguistics Comparative Linguistics (similarities): –Analysing genetic relationships: Phonetics (sound changes) –Analysing typological relationships: Syntax and morphology Contrastive Linguistics (differences): –Foreign language pedagogy, analysing interference errors.

3. Center for PersonKommunikation P.3 Language Families Definition: –Group of languages which originates from the same (hypothetically assumed) language. The development from the original language can be described by means of rules for sound changes.

4. Center for PersonKommunikation P.4 6 Larger Language Families Indo-European (Europe, India, North/South America, Australia) Semitic languages (Northern Africa) Bantu languages (Southern Africa) Uralian languages (Finland, Lapland, Western Sibiria, Hungary) Altaic languages (Turkey, Mongolia, Eastern Sibiria) Sino-Polynesian languages (China, Indo-China etc.)

5. Center for PersonKommunikation P.5 Indo-European Languages 1. Germanic languages: Italic (Roman) languages: – East Italic: e.g. *Umbrian. –West Italic: *Latin, Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Rumanian, Rhaeto-Romanic Slavonic languages: –East Slavonic: Russian, Little-Russian. –South Slavonic: Bulgarian, Serbo-Croat, Slovenian –West Slavonic: Czech, Slovakian, Polish

6. Center for PersonKommunikation P.6 Indo-European Languages 2. Celtic languages: Gaelic (Scots, Irish) Hellenic languages: Greek Baltic, Albanian, Armenian, Iranian, Indian (Sanskrit), Hittite, + fragmentary relics of extinct languages.

7. Center for PersonKommunikation P.7 Germanic Languages North Germanic (= Old Norse = "urnordisk"): –North East Germanic: Danish, Swedish, “Bokmål” –North West Germanic: Icelandic, Faroese, "Nynorsk" West Germanic: English, German, Dutch, Frisian East Germanic: *Gothic (Ulfilas Bible translation)

8. Center for PersonKommunikation P.8 Danish Indo European Roman Germanic Slavonic... Northern (=Old Norse) Eastern Western Eastern Western Danish Swedish Slide 9 Slide 10 Slide 11 Slide 12

9. Center for PersonKommunikation P.9 Indoeuropean > Germanic Before 400 B.C.: Bound accent and "Grimm's Law”: IE *p *t *k >Germ. f Þ x ( x > h) IE *b *d *g>Germ. p t k IE *bH *dH *gH >Germ. v/b ð/d  /g Greek/Latin > Old Norse: –pater > faðir, tres > Þrir, cornu > horn, cimbrer > himber, kánnabis > hampr, daman > tamr, gena > kinn, phero/fero > bera, thyra > dyrr, hostis > gestr

10. Center for PersonKommunikation P.10 Germanic->Old Norse Ca. 3rd-7th century: Syncopation of 'w' before 'o’/ 'u'. Intervocalic Germanic 'w' and 'j' to 'g': English/German > Danish: –worm/Wurm>orm, word/Wort>ord, (swort)/schwarz >sort, wolf/Wolf > ulv, wound/Wunde > ondt, Wotan > Odin (Odense) –brew/brauen>brygge, show/schauen>skygge, bauen>bygge, treu>tryg, Ei > æg (egg Danish loan!)

11. Center for PersonKommunikation P.11 Old Norse > Eastern Norse 9th-10th cent. Monophthongization in Eastern Scandinavia: Old Norse ai ei >Eastern Scand. e Old Norse au ou >Eastern Scand. ø Old Norse oy >Eastern Scand. ø Norwegean (nynorsk) > Danish: –stein > sten, bein > ben, haug > høg, øy > ø, løysa > løse

12. Center for PersonKommunikation P.12 Eastern Norse - modern Danish From 13th - century. Weakening of consonants in Danish especially after vowel: p>b >v >u t>d >  k>g >  >u / i Swedish > Danish: –bada > bade, räkor > rejer, stekar > steger, baka > bage, smaka > smage, kakor > kager,

13. Center for PersonKommunikation P.13 Language Typology Word definitions –Linguistic definition: The smallest segment of the sentence capable of changing position. –Definition in speech technology: The smallest segment of the sentence that can be pronounced naturally in isolation.

14. Center for PersonKommunikation P.14 Basic Language Types 1 1) isolating (Classic Chinese): –Words are unalterable. Grammatical properties are expressed either through word order or through insertion of independent words (e.g. "book - many book” for "book - books"). 2) agglutinative (Turkish) –Grammatical properties are expressed by adding sequences of suffixes to words. Each suffix expresses only one grammatical category.

15. Center for PersonKommunikation P.15 Basic Language Types 2 3) inflected (Latin) –The boundary between root and suffix is not always clear. Each suffix expresses a bundle of grammatical categories. The root itself can be changed (umlaut, ablaut). 4) polysynthetic (Greenlandic) –Grammatical properties are expressed by adding or changing separate roots. No segments of the sentence can change position. In other words: The sentence often only consists of one word, e.g. kavfìliorniarumagaluarpunga (I would like to make coffee)

16. Center for PersonKommunikation P.16 The Language Type of Danish 1 Inflected language properties in Danish of the runic age (ca. 1000) Sing.masc.fem.neutr.Plur. masc.fem.neutr nom:langrlånglangt langirlangarlång acc:langanlangalangtlangalangarlång dat:langumlangrilangulangumlangumlangum gen:langslangrarlangs langralangralangra Modern Danish. Simplified system reflects that the language has become more isolated: Sing.utrum.neutr. Plur. langlangt lange

17. Center for PersonKommunikation P.17 The Language Type of Danish 2 Agglutinative tendencies in modern Danish? stemnumberdefiniteness*case student000"student" student0en0"the student" student00s"student's" student0ens"the student's" studenter00"students" studenterne0"the students" studenter0s"of students" studenternes"of the students" * suffix includes information about gender number

18. Center for PersonKommunikation P.18 The Language Type of Danish 3 Isolating tendencies in modern Danish are reflected in a well-structured word order. Cases (nominative, accusative etc.) are defined topically Prefield central field final field *vna 1,2... V 1,2 N 1,2 A 1,2... Øharhanaldrigglemtbogenhjemme? hanharØaldrigglemtbogenhjemme bogenharhanaldrigglemtØhjemme aldrigharhanØglemtbogenhjemme

19. Center for PersonKommunikation P.19 What is Danish? A Northern Germanic language A Scandinavian language An inflectional/isolating language Special indications: –huge number of diphtongs due to weakening of consonants –a special word accent “stød”