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
Describes a period of change in the basic phonology of the English language
This change documents a shift of long vowel sounds to shorter vowel sounds
• It also saw vowel letters correspond to different vowel sounds
Danish Linguist Otto Jespersen was the first to coin the term
• He suggested it occurred between the 15th century to the 18th century in his book ‘A Modern English Grammar’
The Great Vowel Shift
Believes that pre-existing grammar rules are correct and the ‘standard’ - any variations from this are incorrect
There are standard and specified sets of grammar rules
Prescriptivism
Language can change according to the speakers - doesn’t consider any form ‘correct’
Rules are made according to the daily usage of the language by the speakers
Descriptivism
Some believe language change is caused by sloppiness and laziness
Jean Aitchison’s damp spoon metaphor
Some see language as a beautiful old building which needs to be preserved
Implies language once peaked, but is there any proof of this?
Jean Aitchison’s crumbling castle metaphor
Suggests we somehow ‘catch’ language from those around us, and we ought to fight such diseases
Challenge: People pick up changes because they want to
(EG: Wanting to fit in with social groups - Jocks and Burnouts study by Penelope Eckert
Jean Aitchison’s infectious disease metaphor
‘Random’ errors and events significantly influence language change
Language change occurs due to the unstable nature of language itself
His theory suggests that changes that occur within language do so because of the constant changing context of the language itself and its users
Suggests that errors occur in language and we tend to pass these errors on to other users
• Evidence to support this can be seen in technology where errors have been adopted as an acceptable feature
Charles Hocket: Random fluctuation (1958)
Focuses on the influences of different language forms that can come into contact with English - mainly through the languages of non-native speakers or regional dialects
They use a ‘substrata’ of English, as dialects are often thought of as less socially prestigious than Standard English - as is the language use of non-native speakers
Can be argued to be at work in the emergence of MLE and MUBE
• Both have been heavily influenced by different immigrant communities - now spreading to young people of all ethnicities
Substratum theory
Based on the idea that language change can occur at a slow pace creating the initial curve of the ‘S’
Then it increases speed as it becomes more common and accepted in the language
This can slow down again once it is fully integrated into the language and is widely used
Chen (1968/72): S-curve model
Shows that geographical distance can have an effect on language change
A person closer to the epicentre of language change will pick it up, whereas a person/group further away from the centre of the change is less likely to adopt it
This idea is now weakened due to the advancement of electronic communication through social media and the internet in general
• Means that people everywhere have almost-immediate access to events and changes
Bailey: Wave model (1973)
Examined Norwegian dialects that emerged in two towns - Odda and Tyssedal
Both towns drew migrants from different parts of Norway
Those in
Odda: came predominantly from Western Norway
Tyssedal: 1/3 came from Western Norway, 1/3 came from Eastern Norway and 1/3 came from other parts of the country
Therefore, the dialects that evolved in both towns were very different from each other
Kerswill: Koinésation
Dr Samuel Johnson recorded and described the words in use at the time in the first major dictionary
Was published in 1755
Johnson’s dictionary (1755)
The attitude of policing the correct use of a language and scolding or correcting if usage is incorrect or illogical
Sticklers adhere to this attitude
EG: Lynne Truss (2003) went correcting grammar use in grocers such as the inappropriate apostrophes - for example ‘Potateo’s’
Sticklerism
