Language

Can someone point me in the direction of literature that tries to develop a philosophical understanding of how language change over time? Or is there not much literature on the subject?

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The topic of the philosophical significance of language change is very interesting, yet it has not received much philosophical attention. There are distinct ways, however, in which one might understand the topic, which need to be distinguished in order to isolate distinctively philosophical aspects of the question. One might be interested in the evolution of particular languages, the way in which, for example, English developed over time (Latin is, I believe, the source of the greatest percentage of English words): this topic, however, is a subject for the investigation of the historical linguist and is therefore an empirical subject. (Such investigations may have philosophical implications, but I'm not inclined to see them as intrinsically philosophical investigations.) Such an investigation, which could focus not only on the entrance of particular words into a language, but also on the evolution of the meanings of particular words over time, does closely neighbor a fascinating philosophical topic, namely that of how speakers of a language might fix the meanings of the words that they use in various ways--which might imply, for example, that language is not static, but dynamic--and hence illuminate (one aspect) of the nature of language. This topic has been investigated relatively recently by the philosopher Jamie Tappenden, most notably in "Some Remarks on Vagueness and a Dynamic Conception of Language" and "Negation, Denial, and Language Change in Philosophical Logic." Depending on what aspect of this general question you are interested in, you might find these papers and the references contained therein in exploring this fascinating topic.

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