Language Change and Diversity Flashcards
Globalisation
Technology is becoming multilingual, people no longer need to learn English to use the internet etc. American films are increasingly available in a range of subtitled or dubbed languages
Common features of pidgin
Uncomplicated clausal structure Simple sentence structure Simple connective use Reduction or elimination of some syllables Basic vowels Separate words indicating tense
Acronym
A lexicalised word made up from the initial letters of a phrase (spoken like word)
Initialism
A words made from inital letters each being pronounced
Broadening
A word loses its original meaning but acquires others
Narrowing
Becomes more specific in its meaning
Weakening
A word loses the strength of its original meaning
Peter Trudgill Norwich Study 1974
Found that class is more of a determiner in the use of Standard English than gender, women of each class use the prestige variant more than men of the same class. Using non-standard variable is not just a working-class thing it also a male thing
John Honey
children are being disadvantaged by not being equipped with an accent that will help them succeed in life. Damaging to teach children that their accent and dialect is a key part of identity as it stops them climbing social ladder
Montgomery
foreigners have no preference over different regional accents, our preferences are due to what we associate the accent with
Robert Lane Green
“Nearly all modern dictionaries are descriptive in that they seek to find the words people actually use and record them”
- Including a neologism too soon is risky as the word may have fallen out of fashion before the dictionary is printed
- Online dictionaries can include new words faster than printed ones
Prof. Wyv Evans
Emojis acts our natural speech prosody
Received Pronunciation
Rates highly on authority, confidence, intelligence and determination but rates lowly on approachableness, attractiveness and sense of humour
Estuary English
Close to Standard English but has pronunciation and dialect features from Cockney and South England. His classless and non-regional. Growth due to its use in broadcasting and media and social mobility
Unmarked form
The measured form, against which marked lexical items can be compared
Marked form
That which stands out as different from the norm, the standard, the hegemonic
Overt marking
Often occurs through the addition of the suffix-ess
Swales’ 6 characteristics of a discourse community
- Broadly agreed set of common public goals
- Has mechanisms of intercommunication among its members
- Uses it’s participatory mechanisms primarily to provide information and feedback
- Utilises and hence possesses one or more genre in the communicative feedback of its aims
- Has acquired some specific lexis
- Has a threshold level of members with a suitable degree of relevant content of discourse expertise
Teun Van Dijk
Knowledge device: Factors such as age gender and occupation are no sole reasons for speaking how we do. We use language appropriate to our audience in that we know they have the knowledge of what we are talking about
Martin Joos - Level of Formality
Frozen Level Formal Level Consultative Level Casual Level Intimate Level
Frozen Level
Characterised by the use of set phrases in ceremonial, ritual and or very conventional situations
Formal Level
Normally used by a speaker addressing an audience without interaction and interruption
Consultative Level
Normally used between people who are not family, friends and acquaintances but where interaction between and among speakers is the norm
Casual Level
Used between people who know each other reasonably well in informal settings. Features can include the use of colloquial forms, with interruptions being permitted and even expected
Intimate Level
Reserved for private communication such as between family members and close friends
Types of Power
Political power Personal Power Social Group Power Instrumental Power Influential Power Power in Discourse Power behind the Discourse Ideology
Political Power
Power held by those with the backing of the law
Personal Power
Power held by individuals as a results of their roles in organisations
Social Group Power
Power held as a result of being a member of a social group
Instrumental Power
Power used to influence of persuade others
Power in Discourse
The ways in which power is manifested in situations through language
Power behind the Discourse
The focus on the social and ideological reasons behind the enactment of power
Ideology
A set of belief systems, attitudes or world views held by an individual or group
Regularisation
Occurs when we change language in order to make it more consistent, people look for rules and patterns in language and will change words or construction if they seem odd
Key historical changes to language
Shakespearean English - 1564-1613 English Renaissance - 1485-1620 Printing Press - 1476 First Dictionary - 1755 The KJB - 1611 Trading - 16th and 17th century
Back formations
the removal of an imagined affix from an existing word
Overt Prestige
Putting on an accent that is generally recognised as being used by the ‘culturally dominant group’
Covert Prestige
Putting on an accent to show membership to an ‘exclusive community’ in the area, rather than fit with the ‘dominant culture group’
Hypercorrectness
A pronunciation, word form, or grammatical construction produced by mistaken analogy with standard usage out of a desire to be correct. May sometimes be a sign of language change
Robert Lowth
Prescriptivist
Tried to order language into a standard, prestigious form based on using Latin rules
Lakoff’s Politeness Principles
Don’t impose: Similar to the concept of negative politeness. E.g “I’m sorry to bother you”
Give options: We avoid forcing the other person into a corner. E.g “It’s entirely up to you”
Make your receiver feel good: We says things that flatter others and show that they are appreciated. These include “What would I have done without you”
Grice’s Maxims
Quality - be truthful
Quantity - be concise
Relevance - be relevant
Manner - be clear
Hypermasculinity
The belief that in order to be a man you must in no way resemble a woman; being even remotely feminine strips you entirely of your masculinity
Implicature
An implied meaning inferred as a result of a conversational maxim being broken
Speech acts
Communicative acts that carry meaning beyond the words and phrases e.g apologies
Hegemony
How one social group can use language to get other people to accept its way of seeing the world as natural
Reappropriation
Cultural process where a group reclaims terms that were previous used as a way disparaging of that group
Political correctness
A movement to change language and redress some of the perceived inequality in how language represents traditionally less powerful groups in society
Mary Talbot Synthetic Sisterhood
Producers use power to create artificial bonds with readers. Power comes from knowledge of their readers values and interest derived from market research. They create ‘imaginary communities’ which readers consider themselves to be members
Dennis Freeborn
- Incorrectness view
- Ugliness view
- Impreciseness view
Incorrectness view
All accents are incorrect compared to Standard English and RP. Accent’s popularity comes in fashion and convention. RP became standard because social prestige rather than correctness
Ugliness view
Some accents don’t sound good and so are linked to stereotype and negative social connotations
Impreciseness view
Some accents such as ‘Estuary English’ are regarded as lazy and sloppy where sounds are omitted and changed. Offers the glottal stop as an argument that some sound changes are logical and fit into linguistic views
Damp Spoon Syndrome
Language changes because people are lazy - presupposes that one type of language is inferior to another
Crumbling Castle View
Language must be preserved - Language has never been at a pinnacle and a rigid system is not always better
Infectious Disease Assumption
Bad/poor language is caught like a disease and we should fight it - but people pick up language changes because they want to, perhaps in order to fit in with certain social groups
Prescriptivism
Favours rules that identify ‘correct’ language usage. They disapprove of use of language that breaks these rules
Descriptivism
Seek to describe as accurately and objectively as possible, how language is actually used. They do not label particular uses of language ‘correct’ or ‘incorrect’
American English
1st English settlement - Virginia 1607
English spoken by newcomers developed over years by groups; German, Italian, Irish and Jewish
Guy Deutscher
Modern prescriptivist
Argues children of the 21st century will not learn proper english - there will be more archaisms, slang, and colloquialisms
Paradigmatic
Meaning based on association, the fixed value of signs based on their immediate associations with other signs
Members Resources - Fairclough
- A readers background knowledge used to interpret texts
- Same knowledge drawn upon by producers to manipulate reader
Four main ways people change their speech
- May use an accent or change the way they pronounce things; veering away from S.E or generally accepted by region
- They may change their lexis
- They may alter their grammar constructs so that it’s non-standard
- Observe a group to pick up on particular linguistic rituals
Considered Middle Class Speech
- Complex sentences including subordination
- Extended vocab
- Use of the 1st person
Considered Working class speech
- Simple sentences
- Limited vocab
- Frequent use of “you know”
Anglocreep
The gentle drift of British English terms in the US English vernacular i.e “cheers” for “thank you” “ginger” for “redhead”
Steven Pinker - on language change
Once we accept that the “rules” are not rules at all and instead “tacit conventions” we realise that it’s all a matter of appropriacy
Diachronic Change
the study of language change occurring over a span of time
Synchronic Change
the study of language at a particular point in time without considering historical context
5th-10th Century
Old English - influenced by Germanic and Viking Invaders
11th-14th Century
Middle English - French after Norman Conquest
15-17th Century
Early Modern English - Older English forms discarded, Latin added
18th - Present Day
Late Modern English - Age of Standardised English
Amelioration
A word that takes on a different more positive meaning, gaining status i.e Pretty - Old English meaning - cunning skilful Mid 15th century - beautiful in a slight way
Pejoration
A word takes on a different more negative meaning, losing status i.e Notorious - Medieval Latin - well known 17th Century - negative connotations
Factors that have influenced language change
War and Invasions Migration, travel, British Empire, globalisation Science and technology Travel, working practices and inventions Social, ideological and cultural changes Media
