This course is an introduction to the what, the how, and the why
of language change.  Particular attention centers on innovation,
alteration, and loss among the elements and patterns of sound-,
word-, and sentence-structure, plus semantic and other lexical
changes.  A major focus is on how even data limited to
contemporary modern languages can be used to draw solid
conclusions regarding the existence of a shared ancestral
language (and even, though more speculatively, regarding
specific reconstructed forms).  Hypercorrections and other
analogies, along with regular sound-changes, receive due
attention, as does language contact as a source of linguistic
innovation (both life and death).  Given that all languages
undergo changes without ceasing to function, innovations
must spread comparatively gradually, via competition
between variants, and so change and variation must be
studied together.  After all, language change always takes
place in the present, and so it can be detected and
investigated even now.