Mechanisms for Language Change

Question 1

Technology:

Answer 1

LOOK AT TECHNO UNI

From printing press 1476 till now.

First emails- 1971
Hotmail-1996
www- 1989
internet- 1991
Social media- 2003-linked in
Insta- 2011
TikTok- 2018
Speeds up rate of change- quick and wider audience.
Mix of accents, slang and words. -‘global village’.

Question 2

Arts and Fashion

Answer 2

The influence of new ideas and young people- new slangs- new jargon, new music, new artists, new designers and leisure activities.
Create and coin a name.

Question 3

External Influences

Answer 3

Colonialism, impact of USA culture esp TV e.g. Stranger Things, Riverdale, Shadow Hunters.
New words and ideas from abroad.
English is a magpie language: multicultural society.

Question 4

Social Changes (ideologies and political attitudes)

Answer 4

Attitudes to royalty and religion.
Legal system, education, academic focuses.
Anti-communism.
Film and TV.
Feminism, anti-racism, PC in general. PC issues: conscious effort to modify people’s lang use.

Question 5

Standardization

Answer 5

The process of standardisation was brought around by the codification of the EL in dictionaries and its use in education.

Has overt prestige- refers to dialect used by powerful people.

Question 6

Milroy and Milroy (1999) Descriptivist

Answer 6

Standardization is an ‘idea of the mind rather than reality’.

Assert that there is ideology of standards that believe in the need for an unchanging, protected language that provides a benchmark for other language forms to be measured against.

In public discourse, the media, schools and the give has evidently gone a process of standardisation.

They argue that SE is an assertion of social power and the social hierarchies of power. Many linguists agree with this such as Crystal, Fairclough and Trudgill.