Language And Change Flashcards
Diachronic variation
Variation through time
Synchronic variation
Variation across society at a single point in time
Borrowing
Incorporating words and phrases from another language
External factor
A factor to do with external forces. Eg. French terms came into English after the Norman conquest of 1066
Internal factor
A factor to do with the internal structure of the language system. Eg.
English used to have different sing and plural forms of you: thee and thou to address an individual or to express closeness, and ye and you to address groups or to express respect to a powerful individual
Blending
Using parts of existing words to create a new word. Eg. Bromance, shark ado
Compound
Adding two existing words together to create a new word. Eg. Laptop, headache
Functional theory
The idea that language changes because society does
Infix
A particle added to the middle of a word. Ironic twist. Eg. Hoo-bloody-ray
Amelioration
Process whereby a word or phrase develops more positive connotations
Determinism
The idea that language determines the way we think and behave
Reflectionism
The idea that language reflects the society that produces it
Pejoration
Process whereby a word or phrase develops more negative connotation
Sapir Whorf hypothesis
Language constructs our view of the world and that it is difficult or even impossible to think beyond it
Linguistic relativity
Language shapes our thinking but does not completely control it
John Mcworther
Spoken language has become more like written language. Tendency to save effort in communication
Semantic reclamation
Taking language that has had negative connotations and trying to overturn them by using the language in new ways. Eg.slut
Broadening
Process by which words acquire a broader reference. Eg. Hoover (vacuum cleaner/ brand)
Hegemonic
Culturally dominant
Narrowing
Process by which words acquire a narrower reference. Eg. Deer (used to refer to animals in general/not a specific animal)
Inflection
A morpheme on the end of a word to indicate a grammatical relationship or category
GVS
Great Vowel Shift (14-17 Century)
Random fluctuation theory
The idea that language change is not a logical and ordered process
Driving forces of language change
Movement of people, technological change, war, politics, youth culture, expressive new and creativity, media, social acceptance
Libfix
A liberated suffix or one which has been taken from its original content and applied to new situations. Eg. ‘-gate’ hugely productive, denotes any kind of scandal or political outrage like plebgate
Deutscher
Language changes for reasons for expressiveness. People are always in the search for inventive ways of saying things that are common to human experience
Reasons of language change according to Deutscher
Economy: tendency to save effort in communication. Eg. Shortening longer words, ellipsis- unnecessary grammatical elements, short cuts
analogy: tendency to regularise language use. Eg. Coined New nouns-regular pattern of pluralization, adding -s rather than -en
Language reform
A term used by liberal commentators, to support the idea of conciously changing language because it is considered unfair to different groups
Political correctness PC
A term used by conservative commentators to object to the idea of conciously changing language because it is considered unfair to different groups.
Standardisation
The process by which a form of language is developed and used as a common code
Codification
Took the form of establishing rules of spelling, drawing up definitions of word meanings and agreeing norms of grammar usage. This has remained something of a sticking point ever since, because some of the earliest grammarians often turned to Latin for grammar rules. English grammar were often not addressed head-on
Stages of standardisation
Selection, elaboration, codification and implementation
Selection
East Midlands dialect, area’s power-key universities, cathedrals
Elaboration of SE
Used in government, science, and education
Implementation
Control and maintain it. Promotion of SE- prestige form built up through the publication of books, pamphlets and newspapers, dismissal of non standard forms as inferior or uneducated.
Jonathan Swift 1700
Language use must be regulated
Coinage
The creation of a new word
Acronym
Made up of the first letters
Initialism
Letters are said individually eg. NASA
Prescriptive attitude
Language is better pure, standard forms (based on dictionary and grammar books) are good whereas new language is bad
Descriptive attitude
Accepts that there are many forms of language. Change is necessary in the language process
Jean aitcheson’s language change: progress or decay
He is a descriptivist himself: research misses out on the tiny bits of detail and therefore fails to acknowledge the changes in progress in Lang.
Prescriptivism-slow decay:
- Damp spoon syndrome: language change due to laziness. “
- the crumbling castle view: language is crumbling and needs to be preserved
- the infectious disease assumption
Damp spoon syndrome
- Drunken speech: alcohol affects coordination, and English is not getting like drunken speech
- Faster speech: we are more likely to use more words
- Slow speech: jerky and careful means we miss out on words we see are unnecessary to convey meaning. Eg: dunno
Crumbling castle view
English was a once great castle, but over time it has decayed and crumbled.
She states this is false because the description of English as a ‘once fine language ‘ is a particularly inaccurate one, as language is constantly changing and evolving. “No year,” she said, “can be found when language achieved some peak of perfection.”
The infectious disease
the careless, unthinking assimilation of the floating germs which envelop us.”
Douglas Bush – Writer – 1972
This argues that bad English is a disease and it spreads from person to person. We have no control or vaccine. Aitchison suggests that the idea that changes are caught or spread is technically correct. But it is no disease. People pick up changes in language because they want to.
Samuel Johnson
1775- first dictionary- regulate and control English and secure it from decay was as pointless as trying to lash the wind. Standard English is still not officially prescribed, but discussed and debated by its users.
David Crystal
‘Language has no independent existence apart from the people who use it’. Shares the same perspective as Aitchison. He created his win tide metaphor to explain language change. In this, he suggested language is like a tide, constantly changing. It flows, bringing in new words, taking out other in a natural, progressive way. Changes are not for the better or for the worse, just changes.
Lesley Milroy
Described the slipping standards of English as complaint tradition when she wrote about Standard English in authority in Language in 1989. The blame for decline is often laid at the door of young people, technology and immigration. There has never been such a time period of language excellence.
Linguistic relativity
Language shapes our thinking but doesn’t completely control it. Link to Sapir short hypothesis
Example of random fluctuation theory
The spread of a new form of language eg. Lit which took off in use recently.
What does language change consist of?
- innovation- the creation of a new word, phrase, meaning or way of saying something, sometimes initially perceived as a mistake
- diffusion- the spread of a feature from the original user to a wider population
Example of language reform
Link to language reform:Avoid- the handicapped. Use instead- disabled people
Avoid- sub normality. Use instead- learning disability/ difficulty
If negative language could be challenged, if people could be made to think about their language choices and the implications of them, then attitudes towards this would be altered, social and political change would follow
Give a quote from John Humphrys that argues about language change
The SMS vandals…are destroying our language, salvaging our sentences and rapping our vocabulary
Complaint tradition
A tradition of complaining about the state of the language
Declinism
The idea that language is in constant decline
Sticklerism
An intrusive concern with correcting others’ language use
Prescriptive-descriptive attitude metaphor
A tug of war- there is always a tension between the forces of innovation and conservatism(change and stability) just as there is always tension between the view of descriptivists and prescriptivists about what is happening, or should be happening, to language. As in a tug of war, one side may achieve dominance for a while, before the other side pulls them in the opposite direction.
