Language change theories Flashcards
Who is Kachru (1985) and what is his theory about?
Circles of english:
Inner circle- UK, USA (traditional speakers)
Outer circle- India, Nigeria (creole/Pidgin English speakers)
Expanding circle- China, Asia (where English is not normally spoken
What is the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis?
the structure of a language affects the user’s view of the world
perceptions are relative to their spoken language
Language determines thought and linguistic categories limit and determine cognitive categories.
Who talked about the Euphemism Treadmill and what is it?
Stephen Pinker
words are introduced to replace an offensive word, and over time become offensive themselves, endless cycle
What are Jean Aitcherson’s 3 views of language change?
decay(crumbling castle, perscriptivist)
progress (partially descriptivist)
inevitable (descriptivist)
What did William Caxton do?
Invent printing press
Standardised English through printing
what is the belief that the oldest or original meaning of a word is correct?
Etymological fallacy
what is the Inkhorn debate?
an inkhorn is any foreign borrowing into english. The inkhorn controversy is whether to have these terms in the english language (16-17th century debate)
What did Jean Aitcherson say about language change?
“Changes aren’t random. They take hold only if language is predisposed to move in a particular direction. It is no sense wrong for human language to change”
What is David Crystal’s tide of change theory?
Tide of Language change- language is constantly going in and out of use with new words, like the tide on the shore
Who is Charles Hockett, and what did he say about language change
random errors and event have an influence on language change. For example, predictive text messaging is the one example of random fluctuation.
(Random fluctuation theory)
What is Michael Halliday’s functional theory, and what did he say about language change
Functional theory- Language changes to meet new needs
He also explains the use of archaisms and slang
Who is Samuel Johnson, and what did he create?
First publication of the dictionary, to stabilize the English Language
Who made “a proposal for correcting, improving and ascertaining the English tongue”
Johnathan Swift
What is the queens English Society?
a charity that aimed to keep the sanctity of the English language from borrowings and language change. Mostly old white men
What is the Academia Frances?
A charity aimed at keeping the sanctity of the French language, Like the QES but more successful
What is the positive version of language decay?
Evolution- the idea that language has developed and adapted rather than decayed
What is the negative (Perscriptivist) version of evolution?
Language Decay- language has gotten worse and more primative over itme
What is Descriptivism
A language ideology that seeks to describe without judging
What is Perscriptivism
A language ideology that makes judgments about what is right and wrong
What is the young cuckoo process?
New words slowly get used more than the old and eventually the new word will replace the old
What are Jean Aitchison’s 3 metaphors about language decay?
The crumbling Castle- view that the English is like a castle and should be preserved (she argues- change is constant, when was the perfect castle in existence?)
The Damp Spoon Syndrome- new forms arise from sheer laziness, like dipping a damp spoon back into sugar. (she argues- only true lazy speech is drunken speech)
The infectious Disease- changes in language are somehow contagious. (she argues- people adopt new words/forms of speech because they like them)
What term did David crystal use?
Uses the term ‘asynchronous’ to describe groups where postings are placed on boards in chat-rooms and ‘synchronous’ to describe groups who chat in real time. Pragmatically, in a face-to-face encounter, if someone is silent their presence is still registered.
What did Jean Aitchison say about Prescriptivism
Argues against a prescriptive view of language, which identifies a vast network of rules and checks usage against these rules. Complaints by prescriptivists are often not about failure to communicate but failure to communicate in a certain way. People are only lazy in their speech when they are drunk and lose full control.
canagarajah
Commented on Kachru’s circles theory, said that the circles were leaking and blending over time
From last blurt
Definition of Sapir Whorf Inkhorn debate/ inkhorn words Hocket-Random fluctuation theory Halliday's functional theory Wrong about Swift-Johnson made dictionary Academia Frances/ queens English society Damp spoon is for laziness 7 ish mistkes/ didnt remembers
John Humphreys
Said that texting and emoji are signaling a decay of language
From last blurt
Sapir-Whorf hypothesis- perceptions are relative to spoken language
William Caxton- printing press, standardisation of language
Inkhorn debate
Jean Aitcherson + Charles Hockett (both sound like random fluctuation theory)
Michael Halliday’s functional theory
Samuel Johnson- Dictionary
Jonathan swift-a proposal for correcting, improving and ascertaining the English tongue
young cuckoo
Crystals asynchronous
From last blurt
Sapir Whorf Aitcherson's 3 views of lang change inkhorn controversy random fluctuation Samuel Johnson Crystal's asynchronous idea
John McWhorter
Described texting as a “linguistic miracle” and said it was more like speech than writing
