Language Change Flashcards
Johnson’s dictionary
To regulate and control English
Secure his language from corruption and decay
It was a hopeless task because words just kept getting invented
Johnathan swift
English academy
Unsuccessfully made
Like in France
He disliked clipping and contracted words used by poets
Declinism
Idea that language is in a constant decline
Jean aitchison
Crumbling castle
Damn spoon
Infectious disease
Descriptivist view
If a language feature is regularly used it cannot be wrong
Steven pinker
‘Euphemism treadmill’
Negative semantic connotations
David makinnon
Ugly and incorrectness view
Subjective opinion
David Crystal
Tide metaphor
Language ebbs and flows like a tide
Natural process
Fairclough
Self regulated process driven by conversationalism
Can be harmful in multi media texts eg social media
Standardisation
Rules of 18th century grammar are still influential today
Murray
Shouldn’t split infinitives
Grammatical change today
Blurred boundaries between grammatical and spoken language today
Grammatical change today
Blurred boundaries between spoken and written language today
Change if prepositions ‘bored of’ influences from American English
Robert Lowry 18th century
Bishop
Rules of grammar
Linguistic purity
Arguing for preservation of language