Critics/quotes For Language Change Flashcards
David Crystal - Language refelcts…language change…
Language reflects society; language change reflects social change.
Laura Barton 2014 - It is irregular…it does not…
It is irregular, contrary, crooked as our teeth. It does not behave.
Daniel Defoe - Your Roman…
Your Roman - Saxon - Danish - Norman English (to describe the English language)
David Crystal (The Story of English) - A standard language both…
A standard language both facilitates and is facilitated by a national literature.
John Humphrys - They are destroying it…
They are destroying it: pillaging our punctuation; savaging our sentences; raping our vocabulary. And they must be stopped.
David Crystal - They appear as no more than…
They appear as no more than a few ripples on the surface of the sea of language (in reference to text messages)
David Crystal - It’s an…
It’s an evolution
David Crystal - It helps…
It helps not hinders literacy (text-speak)
German philosopher-linguist Wilhelmina Von Humboldt, 1836 - The vocabulary of a language can in no way be…a constant generation and…
The vocabulary of a language can in no way be regarded as an inert completed mass…the vocabulary is constant generation and regeneration of the word-making capacity.
Jean Aitchison - Words, then, are continually… But words do not necessarily…
Words, then, are continually coming into English. So is the language getting bigger and bigger? Yes, it is. But words do not necessarily stay for ever. They may fall out of use and die away.
Melvin Bragg - Language was…
“Spreading” and “absorbing”
David Crystal - Language changes and moves in…where a lot of
Language changes and moves in a different direction evolving all the time. Where a lot of people see deterioration, I see expressive development.
John Humphrys - Language…
Language obesity
John Humphrys - Tautology is the…
Tautology is the equivalent of having chips and rice?
Susie Dent - Is English…
Is English going to the dogs?
Susie Dent - Continuing creativity in a…
Continuing creativity in a language that has a momentum like no other.
Susie Dent - The linguistic landscape of the…
The linguistic landscape of the future will bear very little resemblance to that of today.
Emma Thompson - Just don’t do it. Because it makes you…
Just don’t do it. Because it makes you sound stupid and you’re not stupid. (In reference to slang)
Emma Thompson - There is the necessity to have…
There is a necessity to have two languages - one that you use with your mates and the other that you need in any official capacity.
Robert Lane Greene - Language is changing constantly…
Language is changing constantly; printing and modern education have slowed it but have not stopped it.
Ratcliffe - Language is going…
Language is going to pieces before our eyes.
David Crystal - Languages do not get better…
Languages do not get better or worse when they change. They just - change.
Guy Deutscher- Language destruction and…
Language destruction and creation are ultimately entwined (2005)
Laura Barton - a muscular, pulsing…
(Language is) a muscular, pulsing thing, wild and alive
Jean Aitchison - Change is…
Change is one thing. Decay is another. (1996)
Jean Aitchison - Yet no year can…
Yet no year can be found when language achieved some peak of perfection (1996)
Jean Aitchison - Social contact can trigger…
Social contact can trigger a change, only if it was already likely to happen (1996)
Jean Aitchison - Our linguistic… (which we) suit…
Our linguistic wardrobe… we suit to the occasion (1996)
Susan Herring (1996) (CMC) - a form of communication that…
Refers to CMC as a form of communication that takes place between human beings via the instrumentality of computers.
David Crystal - People have been initialising…
People have been initialising common phrases for ages. IOU is known from 1618
Simon Heffer, Daily Mail (2014) - Every act…
Every act of violence done to the English language (attitudes towards semantic change)
Samuel Daniel (1599) Spoke of English as…
The treasure of our tongue
John Humphrys in reference to emojis - Those absurd…
Those absurd little smiley faces with which texters litter their messages
John Sutherland (2002) in reference to texting - bleak… Linguistically… it masks… Texting is…
Bleak, bald, sad shorthand. Drab shrinktalk… Linguistically it’s all pig’s ear… it masks dyslexia, poor spelling and mental laziness. Texting is penmanship for illiterates
