Language Change Class Notes Flashcards
Reasons for language change
Technology, social changes, travel, science
Political correctness
Refraining from causing emotional harm
Prescriptivism
Belief that one type of language is acceptable - judgemental
Descriptivism
Belief that all types of language are acceptable - non judgemental
Borrowing
Taking words from other languages
Examples of borrowing
Judge - France, opera - Latin
Affixation
Adding a prefix or suffix to a word
Compounding
Two-words combined together
Blending
Two words merged together (e.g. smog = smoke + fog)
Functional shift
The conversion of one word class to another
Neosemic shift
Gaining a new meaning (gay used to mean joyful)
Clipping
Clipping part of a word (omnibus to bus)
Pejoration
The process by which a word gains a negative meaning (e.g. awful)
Amelioration
A word gains a more positive meaning (pretty, went from cunning to beautiful)
Euphemism
An indirect, less offensive way of saying something that is considered unpleasant
Samuel Johnson’s dictionary
1755
Samuel Johnson
Created the first dictionary of the English language, took 9 years and was written by hand
Haugen
Process of standardisation
Haugens four stage process
Selection - this is the choice of a language variety for specific purposes. It Isa associated with official status or national roles in status planning.
Codification - this step is related to the stabilisation of the norm selected. It is also related to the standardisation process in corpus planning.
Elaboration - this step involves the expansion of language functions and the assignment of new codes, such as scientific and technical. It is also called language modernisation by fishman.
Implementation - this step involves the actions of government agencies, institutions, and writers in adopting and using the selected and codified norm. Adopted by mass media
Aitchisons metaphors (1996)
Three metaphors: crumbling castle, infectious disease, damp spoon syndrome
Swift (theorist)
Our language is extremely imperfect and suggested we should make rules to follow
Webster
The British spelling system is illogical and inconvenient and made an American English dictionary in 1832
Caxtons printing press (1476)
Spelling needed to be accesible to anyone. Caxton set up a printing press in the vicinity of Westminster abbey and began to print books, some in Latin as had been traditional, but Caxton also printed books in English. Because there was no standardisation in English spelling. Caxtons choices often became the standard
Chen’s S-curve model
S-curve is the model based on the idea that language change can occur at a slow pace creating the initial curve of the ‘S’ and then increases speed as it becomes more common and accepted in the language. No change is 100% effective
Hallidays functional theory
The idea that language changes because society does: So, to take an example, technology.
Linguistic reflectionism
Language reflects the needs, views and opinions of society
Bailey’s wave model
The wave model works on the same basis as a drop of water hitting the surface of a lake - it creates ripples. Essentially, the closer you are to the drop of water the stronger the ripple
Trudgill
Challenges the wave model - he believes that change comes from big cities, is passed to big towns, missing out country dwellings. He believes that the core case study of this is Yorkshire, where the archaic ‘thee’ and ‘thou’ are still in use in place of ‘you’
David crystals tide metaphor
He created his own tide metaphor to explain language changes. In this, he suggests that language is like a tide - constantly changing. It ebbs and flows, bringing in new words and taking out others in a natural, progressive way. In using this metaphor, crystal claims that changes are not for the better. “Just changes” he says. In addition, no two tides are exactly the same, therefore describing that all change is different, lasts different amounts of tie and will effect different groups of people. David Crystal 2011
David crystal 2011
‘ all living languages change. They have to. Languages have no existence apart from the people who use them. And because people are changing all the time, their language changes too, to keep up with them. The only languages that don’t change are dead ones’.
Hockett
Random fluctuation theory - unpredictable changes in language change, compares to fashion
Kachru’s circles
Inner,outer, and expanding circle
Synchronic change
The study of language change at a particular moment in time
