Language Change Theorists Flashcards
What is lexical gap theory?
The idea that new words only enter the language when there is space for them
E.g - internet (1970’s) a blend with the prefix ‘inter’ and clipping ‘net’ from network
How did Jean Aitcheson describe language change? (Funtional explinations of change)
As ‘Good housekeeping’, meaning that language changes to fit our needs, words become obselete or are coined to fit lexical gaps as society changes
What are Aitchson’s 4 stages of language change?
Potential - existence of a need for change
Diffusion - awareness of the development starts to spread
Implementation- more speakers start to use the varients and its incorperated into peoples sociolect
Codification - written down and subsequently standardised through offical texts, dictonaries and grammar books
Describe Chen’s S curve model (1972) (Functionalist explanations of change)
Chen suggested that language change beigns slowly, then increases in speed as change becomes more widespread and accepted, it then slows when fully intergrated into language is widely used
What is an example of Chen’s S-curve model (1972) in contemporary Britain?
‘Brexit’ - a blend of ‘Britian’ and ‘Exit’ which was first coined by political commentators, then taken up by the media, spread quickly across the uk
What is Baileys wave model? (1973) (Functionalist explanations of change)
Change is like a stone being dropped into a pool, a person or group close to the centre of change will pick it up, whereas those further away are less likely to adopt it. The effect of change weakens as it diffuses.
What is Charles Hockets (1958) random fluctuation theory?
Language changes due to its instability, random errors and events within the language as a response to the ever-changing context of language use.
What is example of Bailey’s wave model ? (1973)
Esustary English - cockneys moved out of London during the war, merged with RP to create Estustary, others use features of Estustary but it is weaker
What is substratum change?
Change from bellow
Often when the language of a colonised or minority people influences the language of the colonisers or the majority
Ex: Jews in New York, hyper correctness of words leading to Dialect being adopted
What is superstratum change?
Change from above
Often when the language of a colonised or minority people is influenced by the language of the colonisers or the majority
What are the two different views between political correctness or language reform?
Political correctness is conservative and against the idea
Language reform is liberal and in favour of it
Why is political correctness or language reform an important part of language change?
Because its politically motivated influence on language change that seeks to reduce or remove the offence caused to particular induviduals or groups through prejudice or discrimimation
What is the Euphemism treadmill theory by Stephen Pinker? (PC or LR)
Pinker claims that terms that replace offensive terms often become themselves , circular like a treadmill
E.g special needs came from retard but is now offensive
What does The Plain English Campaign do?
It urges governments and businesses to avoid the use of Jargon and use neutral register English, with their stamp of approval on our 24,000 documents worldwide.
What is an argument against Political correctness?
That it is going too far and creating issues that are not a problem. May be becoming insensitive to a larger group of people than it originaly was
E.g ‘ba ba rainbow sheep’
What is the difference between linguistic determinism and reflectionism?
Determinism believes that language influences us to think in specifc ways, whilst relectionism believes that we use langauge to reflect the way we think
What is lingustic determinism also know as?
The Sopir-Whorf hypothesis
