HISTORICAL LINGUISTICS

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HISTORICAL LINGUISTICS, also diachronic linguistics. The branch of linguistics that deals with changes in language through time. Like PHILOLOGY, from whose later forms it is virtually indistinguishable, it studies language records, but may also include methods of synchronic linguistics in its approach to sounds, forms, meanings, or the social motivation of language change. See DIACHRONIC AND SYNCHRONIC LANGUAGE FAMILY.

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HISTORICAL LINGUISTICS

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HISTORICAL LINGUISTICS