Aitchison Metaphors

Question 1

Crumbling Castle view (2)

Answer 1

Treats English language as a beautiful old building with gargoyles and pinnacles which need to be preserved, assumes at some point the language was perfect. Without care, the language will crumble away

Question 2

Damp spoon syndrome

Answer 2

Implication that sloppiness and laziness cause much of language change (glottal stop disputes this)- prescriptive approach

Question 3

Infectious Disease Assumption

Answer 3

View that changes are caught from those around us and infect the language, particularly related to Americanisms- prescriptive approach

Question 4

Argue against crumbling castle

Answer 4

Not all change is bad- some makes improvements in diversity and expression of ideas

If we ‘preserve the castle’ suggests there was a time where language was perfect- However it is not possible to preserve something that is constantly changing- prescriptive approach

Question 5

Argument against infectious disease

Answer 5

There’s choice whether to use a word- ie to belong to a particular group (conscious decision)

Question 6

Arguments against damp spoon

Answer 6

Omission- sounds may be left out to make language more fluent and flow more clearly