Language Change Flashcards
External language change
External language change - the result of outside influences on speakers e.g. invasions, immigration and media.
Internal language change
Internal language change - happens because of the need for simplification and ease of articulation e.g. the removal of the inflection -eth.
How ‘To Do’ got standardised
In Old and Middle English, the verb ‘to do’ had inflected endings e.g. I doth, he dost.
• In Middle English, poets often added ‘do’ to a main lexical verb often by poets and
playwrights who wanted to add an extra syllable without affecting meaning e.g. ‘And
soonest our best men with thee do go’ by John Donne Death Be Not Proud.
• It peaked in the mid 16th century then declined to become almost obsolete by the
18th century- again only really seen in religious texts or poetry.
• 18th century grammarians dictated its current usage, described as NICE:
• N- negatives: She did not take it well.
• I- interrogatives: Did she take it well? (Inversion of subject and auxiliary.)
• C- code usage: She cried whilst watching the film, but her friend did not. (Avoids repetition of
lexical verb.)
• E- emphasis: She did find it very moving.
Panlectal knowledge of language -
‘panlectal’ knowledge of language, i.e. part of the awareness of inherent variation in a language which people acquire with their particular variety of the language in question.
Pidgins
a language with no native speakers; it’s no one’s 1st language bit it’s a contact language (acts as a lingua franca). Pidgins are a mixture of 2 languages that are spoken in particular social contexts, non-pidgin speakers are unlikely to understand. E.g. Hawaiin Pidgin English was created by immigrant workers who worked for English speakers. A pidgin, or pidgin language, is a grammatically simplified means of communication that develops between two or more groups that do not have a language in common: typically, its vocabulary and grammar are limited and often drawn from several languages.
Creole
a pidgin that’s become the 1st language of a new generation of speakers e.g. the Jamaican Creole exists in a range of forms along a continuum from standard Jamaican English (acrolect) to the most colloquial form (basilect) with the mesolect in the middle. People view creoles and pidgins as inferior form of a language or a ‘broken English’. This is an unhelpful deficit view as pidgins and creoles fulfil a communicative need at a given time and change quickly, so they’re a practical and functional form of language.
Diachronic linguistics
Diachronic linguistics - study of language change over time
Synchronic linguistics
Synchronic linguistics - study of linguistic elements and usage of a language
Cameron (1995)
wrote a book entitled ‘Verbal Hygiene’ where she stated that PC language causes anxiety as it challenges majority power groups assumptions; thus the main language system is under attack.
I think it is Halliday- Functional theory
language changes because society does, to suit the needs of its users. So as new words and modes of communication arrive, old words drop-out of use.
Hockertt Random fluctuation theory
Random fluctuation theory- language change isn’t a logical and ordered process. 1958. language changes owing to its instability, because of random errors and events within the language system, as a response of the ever changing context of language use and its users. E.g. Why has “book” become a synonym for “cool” (predictive texting) – a pretty random occurrence.
Debate on Standard English SE
SE is a social dialect associated with the educated middle and upper classes. Prescriptivists see it as the ‘correct’ form of language, whilst other varieties are corruptions of it. In the middle of the 20th century, education became universally and freely available in England. As our world has become increasingly reliant upon literacy, the adult population has become more literate. Children are taught to read and write in SE as it’s the variety of English required for educational purposes and other realms of public life. At one time, variation from SE in regional dialects was considered idiosyncratic, illogical and thus ‘incorrect’. Linguistic investigation into regional accents and dialects has shown hat all varieties of English are rule-governed, so SE is not a linguistically superior variety of English and its prestige lies in the social value, given to it as the language of education.
Fairclough
Changing language is not enough, we must also change society. Cameron agrees, calling non-sexist language a ‘cosmetic change’ which fails to reduce women’s oppression alone.
Kachru’s Circles Theory (1922) -
classified the varieties of English found across the globe in the inner circle (ENL countries e.g. USA and UK), outer circle (ESL countries e.g. India) and expanding circle (EFL countries e.g. China and Russia). Limitations of this model include: there’s a grey area between the inner and expanding circles, bilingual/multilingual speakers aren’t taken into account and the term inner circle implies speakers from ENL countries are central, and may thus be interpreted a superior. Norm providing (the varieties by which others are measured), norm developing (countries’ own varieties become developed), norm dependent (ENGLISH is used for practical purposes rather than for cultural integration). Before rise of internet
Biologist Pagel
Interviewed on the Word of Mouth. There’s a general rule for predicting how fast words will be replaced by unrelated words in the lexicon e.g. dogs were once called hunds. Nouns, verbs and adjectives evolve much faster than numerals.
Phonological change RP
RP was seen as the standard English accent and is referred to as ‘Queen’s English’. It’s a prestigious accent associated with being well-educated, whilst regional accents are seen as socially inferior. RP was adopted as the official accent of the BBC in 1992, so became the accent of authority. RP lost some desirability due to the emergence of celebrities with regional accents that many young speakers wanted to imitate. Some linguists claim that RP is being replaced as the most acceptable accent by Estuary English, as it’s used in the entertainment industry and is seen as commercially acceptable.
Aitchison’s S-Curve
language change often follows an s-curve, where the new form of speech is just 1 of many in existence, competing against others for prominence. The new form is slow to take off at first and then the rate of increase starts to accelerate rapidly. Once the curve flattens out the innovations has become dominant.
Pinker (2003)
wrote a book called ‘The Blank Slate’ where he coined the name ‘euphemism treadmill’, referring to the process whereby words that are introduced to replace offensive words, over time gain pejorative connotations and will need to be replaced.
Thornborough (2004)
Thornborough (2004) - “one of the most fundamental ways we have of establishing our identity and shaping other people’s views of who we are, is through out choice of language.”
Aitchison’s Crumbling Castle Metaphor (1996)
In a series of lectures for the BBC, she proposed the ‘Crumbling Castle’ model, using metaphors to explain how perceptions of decline exist. People with this worldview look upon English as a language that has reached its peak of perfection, from which it’s now in decline. Aitchison, as a descriptivist, attacked this prescriptivist view by stating that the ever-shifting nature of language keeps it flexible, so it can cope with changing social circumstances.
Aitchison’s Infectious Disease Metaphor (1996)
suggests many prescriptivists view language change as something harmful than can be transmitted. She counters this by stating that many forms of change are deliberately picked up by users, who make a conscious decision as to what they say and write.
Aitchison’s Damp Spoon Metaphor (1996)
explains prescriptive concerns about language change. The damp spoon represents some people’s ‘queasy distaste’ for certain usages. By equating views about language use to wider views about manners and social etiquette, she makes a valuable point about the links between language and social practice.
Mencken
is an American journalist, he argued that the American language has ‘outgunned’ ours as they have more citizens.
Archaisms
Archaisms - words that have become obsolete and aren’t used in modern English e.g. durst (dare). Remember neologisms
Daily Mail
‘Don’t Talk Garbage’, a survey of 74,000 short stories written by British children revealed Americanisms as destroying traditional British words. The Oxford University Press revealed that British kids no longer know the difference between English and American.
American English
in the 20th century, America’s political, economic and cultural influence has maintained the importance of English as a world language. American English is accessible all over the world due to the influence of the media and American brand names are internationally recognised due to advertising. American lexical terms include: trash (rubbish), gas (petrol) and soccer (football). In American grammar there is more use of the subjunctive e.g. ‘I wish I were’.
Freeborn
book ‘Varieties of English’, summarised how regional accents are often judged by people’s attitudes. In the incorrectness view, SE is perceived as the one and only correct accent. Freeborn refutes this and cites evidence that accents popularity originated in fashion and convention e.g. RP became the standard due to social prestige.
Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
PC based on the idea that language shapes thought and that if we change a word that had pejorated, it can also change negative thoughts associated with what it signifies. Our language constructs our view of the world and it’s impossible to think beyond it.
Linguistic Reflection Theory
suggests our thoughts are reflected in language, so if we change language thoughts will prevail. The idea was 1st expressed by 19th-century thinkers e.g. Wilhelm von Humboldt, who saw language as the expression of the spirit of a nation.
Saraceni
challenges the idea that English has ‘spread’ to the wider world as describes it instead as a ‘relocation’ of English. He argues that ‘spread’ presupposed a ‘centre-periphery’ relationship between the inner and expanding circle.
Algeo
there’s a central contention, doesn’t believe American forms are ruining English but expanding it. He stated that they both came from a different form of old English that went on different routes.
Greene (2012)
book ‘You Are What You Speak’, refers to the idea of language being in constant decline as declinism. The picture of decline is odd as literacy rates are much higher in the 21st century. He states that some commentators finger-wagging approach is sticklerism (tendency to correct others language use).
Deutscher (2006)
suggests that reasons of expressiveness can cause language change. We are always searching for inventive new ways of saying things common to human experience and different youth cultures and communities of practice use particular terms as markers for social identity. Language changes for reasons of economy (save effort in communication e.g. shortening) and analogy (tendency to regularise language use).
Miller and Swift (1980)
PC makes a difference to sexism by coining more gender neutral terms to replace marked terms e.g. authoress. In their ‘Handbook of Nonsexist Writing’, they advocated practical reforms to improve equality. They mentioned the pronoun problem, job titles and non-parallel treatment.
Canagarajah
commented on Kachru’s model by saying “The circles are leaking” due to human migration (historical and current) and technology (connects people e.g. call centres).
Language change wave modelNEED TO LOOK UP THEORIST
likens language change to throwing a stone into a pond. The ripples represent the change spreading from a central point. As the rippled spread they become weaker and this might be reflected in fewer people using the new feature further from the centre. This could be related to geographical distance etc.
YOLO
an acronym which is an example of diachronic variation ( a new coinage) and synchronic variation (used more by youths).
Hitching’s Descriptivist Quote
“Rather than thinking of this as degeneration, we can see the diversity of languages in a different way; as permitting through its richness greater possibilities for creativity and adaptability”.
Johnson’s Prescriptivist Quote -
“Tongues, like governments, have a natural tendency to degeneration”.
Aarts and Wright
changes have occurred to the verb system of English. Modal verbs have changed a lot and the difference between shall and will has recently changed as younger people don’t use shall a lot. If we lose shall then will carries 2 meanings (strong intention and one of future).
The Great Vowel Shift (1350-1600)
a period of time in England, all vowels articulation was gradually altered, with different stages taking place at different times. /ii/ has raised into the diphthong /iə/ and /u:/ has raised into the diphthong /əu/. This shift creates a chain shift that affects all vowel placements and pronunciations. The rise of Caxton’s printing press, which brought about a standardisation of spelling and pronunciation, coincides with the great vowel shift.
Bolton (2006)
“The expression ‘world Englishes’ is capable of a range of meanings and interpretations” and it’s “an umbrella label referring to a wide range of differing approaches to the description and analysis of Englishes worldwide”.
5th Century Old English
before English everyone spoke Celtic. Old English developed from Anglo-Saxon. Roman invasions, spoke Latin (overt), different areas of settlement resulted in different dialects. Dialects were preserved as there were few transport mediums (closed networks), no standards as isolated. It was a phonetic language with no consistency (audible history).
11th Century Middle English
Norman invasions (1066) led to the inclusion of French terms into the lexicon. French was the verbal language of the court and administration (overt), language of the law. Latin remained the language of the church. English developed prominence in the 14th century and there’s still no standard. Chaucer wrote in English not French.
15th Century Early Modern English
standardisation occurred. Caxton introduced the printing press and chose to write in the South East dialect, which became the standard form. There was a growing pride in English as a language so it gained more prominence and prestige. Shakespeare produced his work in English and James I authorised the English version of the bible.
18th Century Modern English
Johnson’s ‘A Dictionary of the English Language’ contained around 40,000 words and backed-up definitions with quotes from famous writers like Shakespeare. He provided the etymology of words (how they entered the language) and his dictionary helped standardise spelling and meaning by acting as a reference point.
Borrowings
Borrowings - loan words borrowed from another language e.g. barbeque = Spanish
Affixation
Affixation - new prefixes and suffixes are added to existing works e.g. the Greek word hyper
Compounding
Compounding - 2 words combined e.g. thumb+print = thumbprint
Conversion
Conversion - an existing word changes class e.g. Google (noun), to Google (verb)
Initialism
1st letter stands for a word itself e.g. FBI (Federal Bureau)
Acronyms
Acronyms - initial letters create a new word e.g. NASA
