Language Change Theorists Flashcards
What does John Humphrys (2007) discuss within ‘I h8 txt msgs’?
Humphrys sees text speak to be falling into ‘sloppy habits’.
What does David Crystal (2001) identify within ‘Language and the Internet’?
Crystal refers to the ‘dialogic character of e-messaging’. The word dialogic suggests many e-mails are part of an exchange of communications in the way traditional letters are not. E-mails have a sense of immediacy of reply. Crystal claims it is the dialogic nature of e-mail, which is more significant than lexical informality.
What does David Crystal (2009) identify as a ‘global language’?
A language becomes a global language because of the power of the people who speak it. English first became international because of political power, military power and the power of the British Empire more specifically. English is a language of science, roughly two thirds of the people who invented things that made modern society as it is, did so through the medium of the English Language. In the 20th century, English was used for most of the inventions which gained a lot more cultural power.
What does David Crystal (2010) discuss within ‘Texts and Tweets: Myths and Realities’?
Technology and mobile phones have given younger generations more motivation and opportunity to write and read than ever before.
What does Grant Dillard (2010) discuss on ‘communication quality’?
Technology makes communication easier, more convenient, and faster, but at the same time, it oversimplifies the way we communicate, degrading its quality. Technology related to communication continues to upgrade, and we reach the point that we express emotions on our conversation using virtual symbols.
What is the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis (1929)?
The idea that the structure of language affects a speaker’s perceptions of reality and thus influences their thought patterns and views of the world.
Reflectionism: based on a theory that a person’s language reflects their way of thinking.
Determinism: based on a theory that if people can be persuaded not to use such terms and instead use more acceptable ones, a new way of thinking can be determined, political correctness.
What did Charles Hockett (1958) suggest language change is caused through?
Devised a theory that put significance on random errors and events as having an influence on language change. Suggesting that language change occurs due to the unstable nature of language itself.
The theory suggests that changes that occur within language do so to the constant changing context of the language itself and its users.
What did Strevens (1980) identify within the spread of English?
Strevens’ world map of English is one of the first attempts to model the spread of English around the world. This model illustrates not only the dominance of English, but also the separation of British English and American English, and the different parts of the world that have been influenced by these two varieties of English.
What does Robert Phillipson (1992) argue on English as a Lingua Franca?
Some regard English as a Lingua Franca as common sense, with a streamlining of English to create a comprehensible accessible and usable for a global communication, while others have reacted against the challenge to what may be seen as the authority of British and American English standards. Others, such as Robert Phillipson have argued that the spread of English as a global language disadvantages other languages, causing them to lose prestige or to die out.
What was Braj Kachru’s (1992) model of the English language?
One of the most influential models for considering world variations of English was devised by Braj Kachru in 1992, the inner circle, outer circle and expanding circle. Kachru devised his model in 1992, before the rise of the Internet, and thus has perhaps affected how we now see it. The circles model does not address the diversity of the varieties of English within the circle, or the proficiency of English usage within the outer and expanding circles. It also does not take into account the grey area that exists between the inner and outer circles, or between outer and expanding circles. The labels ‘inner’ and ‘outer’ suggest value judgements about ‘better’ usage.
What does Dennis Freeborn (1993) identify attitudes to accents to be?
Regional accents are often judged against people’s attitudes and feelings about them, summarising the views:
Incorrectness view: all incorrect compared to standard English and RP. Freeborn refutes this, stating that it has social prestige rather than being more correct.
Ugliness view: some accents do not sound nice, (stereotypes).
Impreciseness view: some accents are described as laze where sounds are omitted. Freeborn suggests that the glottal stop is governed by linguistic views.
What does Donald Mackinnon (1996) categorise attitudes to be?
As incorrect or correct.
As pleasant or ugly.
Socially acceptable or socially unacceptable.
Morally acceptable or morally unacceptable.
Appropriate in context or inappropriate in context.
Useful or useless.
Change generally takes place over time but Political Correctness involves a conscious process. Donald Mackinnon’s fourth category – moral acceptability. Whilst thought of as a positive thing because of the word ‘correct’ in its title, it is largely associated with the negative and there is no neutral way of seeing this term.
What does Sharon Goodman (1996) argue we are living in?
Goodman notes that we are living in a time of increased Informalisation = the process whereby language forms that were traditionally reserved for close personal relationships are now used in wider social contexts. Some would argue that increased ‘Informalisation’ in a range of contexts breaks down barriers between ‘them’ and ‘us’. Others would argue that barriers remain.
What is Edgar Schneider’s (2007) ‘dynamic model’ of English?
The dynamic model stresses the manner in which overseas varieties of English have evolved in specific ecologies and strives to account for how certain features have emerged. The model stresses the essential interaction of social identities and linguistic forms, the nature of which accounts in large measure for the profiles of post-colonial varieties of English. Contact occupies a central position in Schneider’s model, both between dialects present among settlers as well as between English speakers and those of indigenous languages at various colonial locations. Contact-induced change produced differing results depending on the social and demographic conditions under which it took place.
What does David Crystal (2011) suggest on ‘living languages’?
Believes that living languages change and that they have to. Languages have no existence apart from the people who use them, and people change. The only languages that don’t change are no longer in use.
What does Paul Postal (1968) suggest on the ‘randomness’ of language change’?
“There is no more reason for language to change than there is for automobiles to add fins one year, then remove them the next”. Refers to language changed due to non-functional stylistic change.
Why does Jean Aitchison (2006) criticise both Hockett and Postal’s ‘radom theories’?
“Language would soon end up in chaos, instead, language remains a well-organised patterned whole and never disintegrates into the confusion implied by random fluctuation theories”
What does John Mcwhorter (2016) suggest on ‘random fluctuation theories’?
“Language is for communicating, and this simple fact bars words drifting in an incoherent way that would impede understanding”.
What does Celia Schneebeli suggest on the phrase ‘LOL’?
“Overtime ‘LOL’ has undergone pragmaticalisation” referring to when language becomes a pragmatic marker, “based on the context and placement of ‘lol’ can change the tone or attitude of the phrase. It can mitigate or soften potential aggression, or it can be used for empathy or complicity”.
