2.01 English: Language Change Flashcards
“Language changes and moves in a different direction evolving all the time. Where a lot of people see deterioration, I see expressive development”
“At any one time language is a kaleidoscope of styles, genres and dialects”
“The only languages which don’t change are dead ones”
“Swearing makes an excellent relief mechanism”
“Anyone interested in language ends up writing about the sociological issues around it”
“Although many texters enjoy breaking linguistic rules, they also know they need to be understood”
David Crystal’s views on language change
Change in the meaning/use of a word
Lexical change
Change in grammatical features of a language over time
Grammatical change
Evolution of word usage
Semantic change
Change in spoken language
Phonological change
Spelling change required to maintain the sound of the original infinitive
Orthographical change
• When telephones were introduced, people didn’t understand
• Broadcasting was thought to brainwash people
• New technologies are developing into new styles of English
• Technology influences language in specific ways
• Takes a long time for ‘trends’ to influence language
• The vast majority of English is the same as it was 20 years ago
David Crystal’s thoughts on technology’s influence on language
Suggests that language changes according to the needs of its users
Mainly covers lexical change
Tends to take the form of new discoveries and inventions, technological words and slang
Can’t count for all language change since it only focuses on lexical change
Michael Halliday: Functional theory
Debate over whether to support borrowings (borrowing words from other languages) and coinages (creating new words)
Support:
• Allows acknowledgement of other languages
• Allows new words for things that don’t have a specific meaning
Challenge:
• May change meaning of the original word when borrowed
• Some new words may be unnecessary
Inkhorn Controversy
A type of semantic change that happens when a word’s meaning improves or becomes more positive over time
Amelioration
A type of semantic change that happens when a word’s meaning becomes more negative
Pejoration
When a group of people reclaim a word that was previously used negatively towards them
Can gain power from this - now proud of the word
For example: “gay”
Semantic reclamation
Language affects how we perceive and think about the world around us
Sapir Whorf hypothesis
Language determines how people think and feel
Linguistic determinism
Language simply reflects the needs, views and opinions of its users
Linguistic reflectionism