A synchronic
approach (from Greek συν- "together" and χρόνος "time") considers a language
at a moment in time without taking its history into account. Synchronic linguistics aims at
describing a language at a specific point of time, usually the present. ... Historical linguistics is
typically a diachronic study.
Diachronic linguistics is the same thing as historical linguistics. Diachroniclinguistics is the
study of the changes in language over time. Synchronic linguisticsis the study of the linguistic
elements and usage of a language at a particular moment. ... The diachronic analysis...
Concerned with the way in which something, especially language, has developed
and evolved through time.
‘the census is also a diachronic data set’
Often contrasted with synchronic
‘linguistic change is the diachronic aspect of linguistic variation’
More example sentences
o ‘In essence, then, Steck calls for both a diachronic and synchronic reading of
Isaiah.’
o ‘The strands of causation comprising this web, as I have termed it, interact with
one another in time: there is a diachronic and contingent aspect to causation that must be
accounted for.’
o ‘It's clear, from diachronic and synchronic investigations, that all known
languages give similar descriptions of the world.’
o ‘From a diachronic viewpoint, languages seem to change from being more
pragmatic to more syntactic; from a synchronic perspective, different languages may simply
be at different stages of this evolutional circle.’
o ‘The relationship between these optimistic and pessimistic strains can be seen,
in diachronic terms, as a struggle for ideological dominance throughout the nineteenth
century.’
o ‘In addition to placing English in a diachronic chain of invader-turned-native
languages, Rao argues for an Indian English in a synchronic relation with American English
and Irish English.’
o ‘However, if a thematic rather than diachronic approach is chosen, historical
events have to be recapitulated to explain the setting of individual subjects.’
o ‘This definition exemplifies the turn towards a more diachronic and sociological
focus in textual scholarship, and offers a conceptual rubric marked by bibliographic and
theoretical rigour.’
o ‘What is missing from such an approach is a diachronic perspective that can
explain how this distribution evolved.’
o ‘Rapley balances this diachronic argument with a more synchronic survey of
convent life and the teaching activities of the nuns.’
o ‘The distinction between ritual and ceremony as pointed out by Alan Wald can
then be analysed from a diachronic and a synchronic point of view.’
o ‘The relation between the selves is synchronic, not diachronic; it is also a
relation of chiasmic exchange, like that between eye and text, or voice and ear.’
o ‘The diachronic study of language, or study of the structure of language over a
period of time, prevailed over the synchronic study of language, or study of language at a
moment in time.’
o ‘Garin approached history in the diachronic mode, paying special attention to
dynamism and change, and seeking to illuminate the relationship between particular origins
and particular outcomes.’
o ‘‘Romanticism’ is the interpretive sense we make of Romantic-era literature by
means of diachronic and synchronic narratives.’
o ‘Again, all of this was fundamental to the epistemological changes by which
Western natural science was established, and the reorganization of attention in the 19th
century thus had deep diachronic roots.’
o ‘Though let me stress that what I have offered here is not an expert opinion; I
have done no serious quantitative work on this topic, and I have no real expertise in
diachronic lexical semantics.’
o ‘But, unfortunately, economics isn't good at diachronic comparisons (ones
between points in time), for much the same reason as it hasn't been very good with such things
as the environment.’
o ‘Utilizing both a diachronic and synchronic analysis, one can note the respective
contexts and then further describe how these synchronic tensions have served readers of a
collection.’
o ‘Currently, linguists generally prefer the synchronic study of spoken language
to the diachronic comparison of words in texts, and have tended to regard philology as pre-
scientific.’
Origin
Mid 19th century: from dia- ‘through’ + Greek khronos ‘time’ + -ic.
Pronunciation
diachronic
/ˌdʌɪəˈkrɒnɪk/
