Change Flashcards
Descriptivists.
Seek to describe objectively and accurately how language is used in different contexts. They do not focus on labelling particular usages as ‘correct’ and ‘incorrect’.
Prescriptivists.
Favour rules that identify ‘correct’ language and disapprove of usages which break these ‘rules’.
Caxton’s Printing Press (1476).
One of the main contributors in standardisation. Meant that a standard form of English was available for everyone to see as texts were duplicated.
Samuel Rogers (1809).
‘CONtemplate is bad enough, but BALcony makes me sick.’
King James Bible (1611).
Gave us many idioms that are still in use today - e.g. ‘salt of the Earth’.
The Inkhorn Controversy.
This controversy upset people greatly and the arguments were particularly vehement from the writers like John Cheke and Thomas Wilson who hated the idea of foreign words being included in English - they thought the language was huge and awkward as it was.
Robert Cawdrey A Table Alphabeticall
The first dictionary published solely in English in 1604, with other 2500 words.
Nathan Bailey.
His dictionary of 1703 included 48000 words. It was not only the number of words that was increasing, but also the range of meanings they contained.
Dr Johnson.
His dictionary of 1755 was the main influence in the shift to an era of standardisation.
1870 Education Act.
With the growth of education, which eventually became compulsory for all children up to the age of 12, there was another force for the spread of a standard variety of English.
The Oxford English Dictionary (OED).
‘As soon as a standard language has been formed, which in England was the case after the reformation, the lexicographer is bound to deal with that alone.’
The BBC and the ‘spoken word’.
Brought the spoken word to the people. Radio in 1922 and television in 1932. ‘BBC English’ was born - and this was Standard English spoken in RP.
Kings College (2000).
A study of colloquial language recorded at King’s College London at the turn of the 21st century. A number of ‘new’ words used by them in a variety of semantic areas.
Jean Aitchison.
A descriptivist. Came up with three metaphors to describe how prescriptivist view language change - damp spoon, infectious disease, crumbling castle.
Functional Theory.
Language changes according to the needs of it’s users.
