Attitudes To Language Change Flashcards
When has prescriptivism been taking place from?
As early as Caxton in the 1490’s
What are an example of some prescriptivists from history?
Lowth- grammar text books
Dr Sam Johnson - Third dictionary
Cawdrey - first ‘Dictonary’
How does Millory describe prescriptivists?
He says the ‘complaint tradition’ is a very long practice of people complaining about the supposed decay of language
Who’s an example of a descriptivist writer from history?
William Barnes - a poet who wrote in the Dorset dialect in the 18th and 19th century
What are 3 criticisms of prescriptivism?
Focusing on artificial and technical aspects of language
Causing discrimination against non-standard forms and users
People are accused of ‘sticklerism’ , as they criticise and correct other people’s work
What is a strength of perscrpitivism?
It forms a centeral or ‘common currency’ of English
What are the 5 ‘goals’ of perscritvism?
Restrict varation
Control future changes
Impose standardise rules
Reject non-standard
View non-standard as inferior
What are the 5 ‘goals’ of descriptivism
To describe forms of varation
Present changes without preference
Record change as it happens
Avoid interfernce with change
Understand its use in context
What are two worries that descriptivism may cause?
It could threaten SE and create a lack of fixed meaning (linguistic attrition)
It could result in children not being able to use SE in contexts which depend on it (e.g school, hospital)
What may occur if we continue to use features of American English according to prescriptivists?
Linguistic attrition
Who suggested that MLE be renamed to MBE?
Drummomd
Why did Drummond suggest that MLE should have its name changed?
As he found evidence of MLE being used as far as Manchester, meaning it is bigger than just London
What percentage of the UK are estimated by Drummond to speak a form of Standard English?
35%
Why was spork formed?
Due to a lexical gap
How do some older people view non standard English?
As sloppy, often using verbs such as ‘cringe’ and ‘grate’ or adjectives such as ‘appaled’ or ‘horrified’
What are the 5 discourses that MacKinnon (1996) highlighted that are used to criticise language use?
Language use as correct or incorrect
Language use as pleasant or unpleasant
Language use is socially acceptable or unacceptable
Language use is morally acceptable or unacceptable
Language use is appropriate or inappropriate for the context
What 3 metaphors does Jean Aitchison highlight in her Reith Lecture (1996) that prescriptivists use to describe non-standard language?
Damp spoon
Crumbling castle
Infectious disease
What is a Glottal stop? (Phonetically speaking)
Its Substitution of the Alveolar plosive ‘t’ with a Glotis sound
How does Aitschson describe language change?
‘Good Housekeeping’ - it tidys up old forms and allows people to ‘pick’ changes as they wish, just as they would a hair style
How does Giles’s ‘accommodation theory’ link to Aitcheson’s ‘good housekeeping’ analogy?
People willingly pick either convergence or divergence as Aitcheson would argue that change is a choice
What is slang?
Slang is informal subject-specific sociolect
What are the 5 arguements against prescriptivism?
Lexical gap theory
Dr Sam Johnson’s - ‘Tounges like government erode’
Expressiveness theory
Ease of articulation
Semantic narrowing
