historical linguistics

A branch of LINGUISTICS which studies the development of LANGUAGE and languages over time; also known as DIACHRONIC linguistics. The data of study are identical to that of COMPARATIVE PHILOLOGY, viz. the extant records of older states of languages; but the methods and aims are not the same. Historical linguistics uses the methods of the various schools of SYNCHRONIC linguistics (including SOCIOLINGUISTICS and PSYCHOLINGUISTICS, especially in considering the reasons for language change). One thus encounters such subfields as ‘historical PHONOLOGY/MORPHOLOGY/SYNTAX’, etc. It also aims to relate its findings to GENERAL linguistic theory.