REAL AND APPARENT TIME

Question 1

Riddleyspeak

Answer 1

• Novel, Hoban, 1980
• south-east england, post-apocalyptic future
• fictional, to show everything the. world has degenerated, including communication
• non-standard modern English + CMC
• some words will explain themselves when sounded out -> quasi phonetic spelling
• phonetic spellings, folk etymologies, contractions, simplification of clusters, intrusive r, th to f or v

Question 2

Riddleyspeak features

Answer 2

• homophones (stone, agen, no 1)
• no apostrophes (theres, dont)
  reduction of punctuation (commas)
• double negation (nor we aint never seen no year)
• cluster simplification, elision (stannings/standings, dint/didnt)
• devoiced final lenis plosive indicated as voiceless fortis (startit)
• folk etymology (mincery=ministry)

Question 3

Stable variable

Answer 3

• no evidence that one variant is pushing out another
  Example: alternation between the non-standard alveolar nasal (n) and the standard velar nasal (ɳ) in word-final -ing
• double negation: exhibit age-grading
  Example: avoidance of a stigmatised variant in adulthood

Question 4

Age-grading

Answer 4

• Language change as one progresses through life
• Reasons:
  > being part of an adolescent group who uses certain features
  > Less slang and more standard speech at adult work places
• small children in some southern parts of Canada call the letter (z) “zee” and later change over to “zed”
  Reasons:
  > Influence from pre-school US TV programmes, where “zee” is used rather than Canadian english “zed”

Question 5

lifespan change

Answer 5

• well-attested over vocabulary
• Critical period: language learning seems to be easiest (childhood + people going into early adolescence)
• Lifespan changes: changes to a speakers pronunciation or grammar that take place after the critical period
• Lifespan changes in pronunciation appear to be severely restricted in their form
  > move in the direction of the community overall
  > constrained to certain input or starting points for a speaker

Question 6

generational change

Answer 6

• changes taken place on the basis of apparent time
• glottal stop for /t/ in bottle spreading from cockney to younger speakers
• replacement of dear with hi in written forms by younger speakers
• slang term: groovy (1960), cool (1970-1990), lit (recent)

Question 7

Community-Wide Change

Answer 7

• Entire group of community switch to use a new variant at the same time
  Reasons:
  > Taboo: victorian era (leg =taboo=limb)
  > spelling reforms
  > new word of meaning (loanwords)
  > inclusive language

Question 8

Grammaticalisation

Answer 8

• new grammatical functions may develop from lexical items
• OE villain -> villain > will > ‘ll
• content word > grammatical word > clitic > inflectional suffix
• possible origin of English past suffix -ed from OE to do

Question 9

Internally vs externally motivated change

Answer 9

• categories of motivation for language change
  -Internally: motivated by the process which rely on structures within the language (grammaticalisation)
• externally; motivated by contact with other languages/varieties (loanwords)

Question 10

Language and aging

Answer 10

• Deficits: memory decline, hearing loss
  Example
  > Stereotype: elderly person always tell the same story
  > reality: reinforcing connection, preserving identity, pride, part of the conversation

Question 11

Language change: progress

Answer 11

1. adaption to new realities: language evolves to reflect societal/technological changes
2. increased inclusivity: gender-neutral pronouns/terms
3. simplification and efficiency: phonetics shifts, grammatical simplifications, reduced irregularities (loss of thou and thee) -> easier to learn

Question 12

language change: decay

Answer 12

1. Loss of nuance and richness: as words lose their original meanings/are replaced by simpler terms, subtle distinctions in expression may disappear. Example: thou and ye reduces english’s ability to mark formality and plurality in second-person pronouns.
2. Degradation of grammar and standards: linguistic shortcuts (LOL) erode proper grammar and foster laziness. > communication breakdowns/misunderstandings between speakers of different generations/background
3. Cultural erosion: loss of historical and cultural identity.
   Example: minority languages borrow heavily from dominant ones, unique linguistic features and traditions may disappear.
   > global influences, such as the dominance of english, homogenize languages and dilute their indiviiuality