Change Over Time Flashcards
What is Hallidays Functional theory?
Language changes to meet new needs for language. Words often fall in and out of use, in hyper-consumeristic societies
What did Haugen believe
Schizoglossia- an anxiety about which is the correct form of language to use at particular moment
What did Trudgill propose
Language change is inevitable as society changes, misuse of grammar and words doesn’t effect the meaning, as its implied through context
What is random fluctuation by Hockett
Language is relatively unstable, unpredictable and changes due to contextual change
What is the wave model
Explains how language change spreads through geographical and social spaces
David crystal asynchronous and synchronous
Asynchronous- online texts
Synchronous- chat in real life
(Older texts would be synchronous as there was not online forms)
Whats proposed by Substratum theory
How a dominant incoming language is altered by contact with a native language
Aitchisons PIDC
Potential- need for a new word
Implementation- start of use of the word
Diffusion- starts to spread
Codification- enters the dictionary
What did Goodman propose
Informalisation - language forms that were used for close relationships are now used in wider society, so language becomes increasingly informal
What is the process of economisation
Where language becomes more compressed to communicate and write language more effectively and efficiently
What did David Crystal propose
Fewer words lead to greater clarity
A* understanding of economisation
Still using standard English, just adapting it to meet face needs or communicate effectively. So standard english has been implemented
What is an analytic language
A language that organises words and grammar by a strict word order instead of inflections or word endings that show grammar
Elite women writers A* concept
Gender played a significant part in shaping texts, therefore women who could write emphasised feminine ‘weakness’ and ‘frailty’ to elicit favourable male responses
What is the significance of religious context
Fear and persuasion tactic to highlight what they are informing about, due to heavy Biblical influence which reflects the beliefs at the time and that language came from god
How Aitchison described different prescriptivist views
Damp spoon- rejecting language and its becoming lazy
Crumbling castle- refutes the ‘golden age’ of language
Infectious disease- contests that inaccurate use of language is contagious
What ate Haugens (1950) stages of standardisation
Selection- existing language chosen as basis of language
Codification- reducing variation and establishing a norm
Elaboration- standard can be used for a range of functions
Implementation- pride in standard, standard used
What is a lingua franca
The most dominant language
What caused irregular spelling
Christian missionaries tried to use a 23 letter alphabet (from the classical latin alphabet- new testement) to represent 35 phonemes
Tridialectual future (Crystal)
we will adopt and adapt between standard and regional dialects depending on geographical location because there is greater mass movement as we interact with the wider world.
Morphological features common in older texts
-‘ye’ 2nd person ending
-‘eth’ and ‘est’ 3rd person singular ending
Grammatical features
Double negatives often used or you can see evidence of the ‘rules of grammar’ where it stops being used
Fixed word order patterns
New verb constructions
Text messages
What confirmed standardisation of spelling
The creation of the dictionary, Johnson’s Dictionary (1755)
What influenced the norms of spelling
Magic ‘e’ rule for spoken language, if an e is at the end and is silent then the vowels are pronounced a certain way (Mulcaster 1582)
Societal and technological impacts on spelling
Texting and text language
Phonetic spelling influence from America
Common graphological features
Interchangeable vowels
U/v/y/i/j
Lexical influence
Inkhorn terms ‘thou’
Science, medicine and art (latinates)
Latin used in government and church
French influence still seen after norman invasion
Neologisms
Politically correct forms
Influence from the BBC
BBC formed in (1922) strictly used Received Pronunciation or the ‘Queens English’ therefore making it viewed as the standard
Semantic changes
Broadening and generalisation
Narrowing and specialisation
Amelioration (more positive)
Pejoration ( more negative)
Metaphors
Idioms
Euphemisms
Profanities
Grammatical changes
Syntax - word order rather than inflections (analytical language)
Complex sentences
Coordinating conjunctions
Embedded clauses
Quotes
Direct commands
Conditional clauses ‘if’
Shorter sentences
Noun verb phrases
Impact sentences
Lexical changes
Borrowing - taken from a language as no equivalent
Coinings - inventing new words
Clippings- alters long words to shorten them
Acronyms
Compounding- two existing words put together ‘space ship’
Morphology - a word and something added to make a word ’dissapoint’
Blending- parts if words joined together ‘smog’
Deletion/ archaic/ obsolete- words fall out of use
Influence of where words came from
English is a germanic language
Laminates
Norse - everyday outdoor words ‘window’, ‘sky’
Saxon/ Celtic- words around family relationships
French
Reasons influencing language change
Blurring class structure
Proliferation of tv and film
New technology
Youth culture
Broadcasting (media/public)
Foreign invasion or immigration
Printing press (caxton 1476)
Merchant classes
Science
King James bible
Prescriptivists
Humphrys - dislikes text speak and conversion if nouns to verbs like texting
Walker- RP, disliked other accents
Lowth- advocate of latin words
Johnson- first dictionary 1755
