< Conlang < Intermediate < History
Grammar changes occur when a part of the grammar of a language changes over time, so that the language evolves a new way of expressing the same idea. For example, when French evolved from Latin it did not have a fixed word order, while it now does; much information that in Latin was conveyed by use of case, is conveyed by word order in modern French. In other words, while Latin conveyed relationships between words using morphology, French does so with syntax.
- Latin: Parva mensa rufa non est.
- French: La petite table n'est pas rouge.
- English: The little table isn't red.
Processes of Grammatical Change
Grammar changes may take place in a variety of ways:
- Sound changes
| Latin | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| aqua, -ae water f. |
agricola, -ae farmer m. | |||||||
| Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | |||||
| Nominative | aqua | –a | aquae | –ae | agricola | –a | agricolae | –ae |
| Genitive | aquae | –ae | aquārum | –ārum | agricolae | –ae | agricolārum | –ārum |
| Dative | aquae | –ae | aquīs | –īs | agricolae | –ae | agricolīs | –īs |
| Accusative | aquam | –am | aquās | –ās | agricolam | –am | agricolās | –ās |
| Vocative | aqua | –a | aquae | –ae | agricola | –a | agricolae | –ae |
| Ablative | aquā | –ā | aquīs | –īs | agricolā | –ā | agricolīs | –īs |
| Locative | aquae | -ae | aquīs | –īs | agricolae | -ae | agricolīs | –īs |
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