charles hockett's random fluctuation theory (1958)

Question 1

what does the linguist Charles Hockett propose in his Random Fluctuation Theory?

Answer 1

linguist Charles Hockett proposed that random errors occur in language and when these errors are shared or passed to other users, our language is changed.

Question 2

what does Hockett suggest about how language change occurs?

Answer 2

Hockett suggests that language change occurs due to the unstable nature of language itself and that changes that occur within the language do so to the constant changing context of the language itself and its users.

Question 3

what are examples of this theory?

Answer 3

examples:
- due to predictive typing, book became a replacement for the word cool.
- common misspelling of owned as pwned has become a common term implying humiliation, for example ‘you just got pwned.’