diachrony

di·ach·ro·ny

D0192800 (dī-ăk′rə-nē)n.1. Diachronic arrangement or analysis.2. Change occurring over time.

[diachron(ic) + -y.]

diachrony

(daɪˈækrənɪ) n (Linguistics) a change over time, esp in languages

di•ach•ro•ny

(daɪˈæk rə ni)

n., pl. -nies. 1. a. a diachronic approach to language study. b. change or development in a language over a period of time. 2. historical change. [1955–60]

diachronism, diachrony

the comparative study of a development based on its history. — diachronic, diachronistic, diachronistical, adj.See also: Time

the study and description of the change or development in the structural systems of a language over a stated period of time. Also called historical linguistics. Cf. synchronic linguistics. — diachronic, adj.See also: Linguistics

Thesaurus

Noun

diachrony - the study of linguistic change; "the synchrony and diachrony of language"diachronic linguistics, historical linguisticslinguistics - the scientific study of languagesound law - a law describing sound changes in the history of a languagederiving, etymologizing, derivation - (historical linguistics) an explanation of the historical origins of a word or phrase

Translations

Diachrony

enUK

Diachrony

(1) A set of methods of linguistics intended for the analysis of the historical development of a language.

(2) The corresponding area of general linguistics, which is opposed to synchrony. According to F. de Saussure, the subject of diachronic linguistics is the relations that connect elements in a historical sequence that is not perceived by one and the same collective consciousness—the elements replacing one another but not forming a system. The subject of synchronic linguistics is the logical and psychological relations that connect coexisting elements and form a system (how these elements are perceived by one and the same collective consciousness). C. Bally accepted Saussure’s view of synchrony and diachrony. The majority of linguists, while accepting the opposition of synchrony and diachrony itself, reject its absoluteness (the Swiss scholar A. Sechahaye, the Belgian scholar E. Buyssens, E. Coseriu). N. S. Trubetzkoy, R. O. Jakobson, and others, following Baudouin de Courtenay, believe that diachronic study does not exclude the concept of system and that synchronic description cannot entirely exclude the concept of evolution. Most modern linguists share this opinion. From the very beginning, the categorical nature of the opposition of synchrony and diachrony has been alien to Russian linguists, although this opposition is, in itself, justified as a methodological technique.

REFERENCES

O sootnoshenii sinkhronnogo analiza i istoricheskogo izucheniia iazykov. Moscow, 1960.
Saussure, F. de. Kurs obshchei lingvistiki. Moscow, 1933. (Translated from French.)
Coseriu, E. “Sinkhroniia, diakhroniia i istoriia.” In the collection Novoe v linqvistike, issue 3. Moscow, 1963.
Budagov, R. A. Problemy razvitiia iazyka. Moscow-Leningrad, 1965.
Baudouin de Courtenay, I. A. Izbrannye trudy po obshchemu iazykoznaniiu, vols. 1–2. Moscow, 1963. (Translated from French.)

A. A. LEONT’EV

diachrony

di·ach·ro·ny

diachrony

di•ach•ro•ny

diachronism, diachrony

Diachrony

Diachrony

REFERENCES

diachrony

Synonyms for diachrony

noun the study of linguistic change

Synonyms

Related Words