SHHS Language Change all areas Flashcards
What is diachronic change?
The historical development of language over time.
What is synchronic change?
The study of language change at a particular moment in time.
What is prescriptivism?
The notion that language should be fixed, prescribing to a set standard of rules for language usage, with any shift away from these rules or standards being seen as incorrect.
What is descriptivism?
Where no judgement or negative attitude is imposed on language change, but an examination of language as it is and how it is used.
In Samuel Johnson’s preface to his 1755 Dictionary of the English language he claimed what?
‘Tongues, like governments, have a natural tendency to degeneration.’
What does Henry Hitchings claim in ‘The Language Wars: A History of Proper English’ state?
‘Rather than thinking of this (language change) as degeneration, we can see the diversity of languages in a different way: as permitting through its richness greater possibilities for creativity and adaptability.’
Define ‘Old English’
Language used in England around 5th Century. English developed from speech of Angles, Jutes and Saxons (Anglo-Saxon). Also significant: Viking raids which began in 793. Latin also hugely influential at this time.
Define ‘Middle English’
Language in England around 11th Century. Norman invasion 1066. French became the language of the court and administration, while Latin remained important for written documentation, especially by the church.
Define ‘Early Modern English’
15th Century. Caxton introduced the printing press from Europe (1476). Printed many works in English, helping to contribute to the establishment of a standard form of English, using South East dialect as basis for this new standard.
Define ‘Modern English’
18th Century. English language growing at an incredible rate. Words borrowed from Latin, Greek and around the world. Grammarians start to establish ‘rules’ and lexicographers attempt to fix meanings of words.
Define ‘Present Day English’
20th Century. English has continued to develop and the influence of the media, technology and travel has helped to establish English as a global language.
Why did Latin have such a significant influence on English?
Early Roman settlement in AD 43, to renewed focus on Latin in religious, intellectual and cultural contexts throughout the linguistic periods.
What are ‘borrowings’?
Words taken from other languages and incorporated into the English lexicon.
What caused the emergence of presciptivist ideas?
1700s. The rapid expansion of the lexicon, as a result of borrowings from other countries, led to some believing that the language needed to be fixed.
What effect did the British Empire have on our language?
English began to draw heavily on languages from around the world - from India, Africa and other countries under British rule.
What effect did the Industrial Revolution have on language?
Huge migration from the countryside into cities to work in factories. Emergence of the ‘middle classes’. Language began to be seen as a marker of social identity, which led to the heightened prestige of Standard English.
What factors affect change?
Migration; the impact of wars and invasions; scientific developments; travel; technological developments; the global economy; American English
Some internal factors of language change?
We adapt existing words by modifying them - e.g. blending, compounding
External factors of language change?
We borrow ‘loan’ words from other languages
What do we call new words?
Neologisms or coinage
Coinage/neologism?
The deliberate creation of a new word. This is not a common process of word formation
Borrowings/loan words?
Borrowing of words/concepts from other languages. Words are either anglicised (so that we no longer recognise them as loan words) or they may retain their original spelling or phonology, e.g. ‘bungalow’ from Hindi
Compounding?
Words are combined together to form new words. These can be open, hyphenated or solid, e.g. ‘handheld’, ‘user-friendly’
Clipping?
Words are shortened and the shortened form becomes the norm, e.g. ‘perambulator’ becomes ‘pram’, ‘omnibus’ becomes ‘bus’
Blending?
A combination of clipping and compounding: words are abbreviated and joined together to form a new word, e.g. ‘moped’ comes from ‘motor and pedal’
Acronym?
First letters are taken from a series of words to create a new term, e.g. NATO, AIDS
Initialism?
The first letters from a series of words form a new term, but each letter is pronounced, e.g. CD, OMG, MP3
Affixation?
One or more free morphemes are combined with one or more bound morphemes. Most common ones are suffixes and prefixes, e.g. ‘disinterest’, ‘sexism’, ‘postnatal’
Conversion or functional shift?
A word shifts from one word class to another, usually from a noun to a verb, e.g. ‘google’ becomes ‘googled’
Eponym?
Names of a person or company are used to define particular objects. Often they are the inventors or distributors of the object, e.g. ‘Wellington, as in Lord Wellington’
Back formation?
A verb is created from an existing noun by removing a suffix, e.g. ‘locate’ from ‘location’ (traditionally, verbs are created first and nouns come from these)
What was ‘The Inkhorn Controversy’?
During 16-17th centuries, there was a growing pride in the mother tongue. Writers of the Renaissance began to expand the vocabulary by coining new words, or borrowing from classical languages such as Latin and Greek. These so-called ‘inkhorn terms’ were considered pretentious and artificial - some believed they would ‘corrupt’ the English language.
Where does the term ‘inkhorn terms’ come from?
Thomas Wilson, 1553, ‘The Art of Rhetorique’ referred to ‘straunge ynkehorne termes’ (the inkhorn was a vessel for carrying ink - it became a symbol of authorial self-importance). They enabled creativity - Shakespeare is said to have introduced over 1700 ‘new’ words.
What did Jonathan Swift publish in 1712?
‘A Proposal for Correcting, Improving and Ascertaining The English Tongue’
What were Jonathan Swift’s main concerns about English in the 1700s?
Vagueness in language or ‘the poverty of conversation’; shortened words; unnecessary contractions (e.g. disturb’d); unnecessary polysyllabic words which made meaning unclear; invented words or neologisms
First major dictionary?
Samuel Johnson 1755
Evidence of Samuel Johnson as a descriptivist?
In his preface to his dictionary he claimed ‘no dictionary of a living tongue can ever be perfect since while it is hastening to publication, some words are budding, and some falling away.’
What is ‘change from above’?
A conscious attempt by those in positions of authority to impose a ‘correct’ form of language on users.
What is ‘change from below’?
When language users adapt language to suit a particular need. With repeated usage, the change enters the language without comment as users are not consciously aware of it.
What is semantic change?
Shifts in meanings of existing words
What is neosemy?
Words acquiring new meanings - neosemy is the process
What is amelioration?
When a word’s meaning moves from fairly negative semantics to more positive, e.g. ‘pretty’ used to mean sly or cunning, now means attractive
What is pejoration?
When a word’s meaning takes on more negative semantics, e.g. ‘silly’ used to mean happy, now means foolish
What is broadening/generalisation?
A word retains its old meaning but broadens to take on added meanings, e.g. ‘place’ used to refer to a broad street, now refers to any area
What is narrowing/specialising?
Opposite of broadening - a word becomes more specific in meaning, e.g. ‘meat’ used to mean food, now narrowed to mean flesh of an animal
What is weakening/bleaching?
The loss or reduction of the force of meaning of a word, e.g. ‘shit’ was always a taboo word for faecal matter, now used in a general way and is not considered such a taboo word: ‘I’m going to get my shit together’
What is a euphemism?
The creation of polite, but roundabout, expressions for things that might be considered unpleasant, e.g. ‘downsizing’ as a way of referring to making people in a company redundant
What is polysemy?
Words acquire many possible meanings, which coexist with the original, e.g. ‘when he got to the foot of the hill, he stumbled and twisted his foot’
Why do words change meaning?
External factors: cultural changes; technological innovation; social convention; changing social ideas
Internal factors: the basic meaning of a word can be linked to some similarity - either a specific attribute or an abstract concept. For example, an actual virus can be likened to a computer virus, hence the change in meaning
What are ‘external factors’ of language change?
External pressures will affect how language is used, either social, cultural or technological
What are ‘internal factors’ of language change?
Aspects of the language itself contribute to change
When was the Roman alphabet introduced to Britain?
6th century by Christian missionaries. The Old English alphabet was similar to our current alphabet, but did not include some consonants: j,q,v,k and z were rarely used
Who was the first figure to attempt to regularise English spelling?
William Caxton - started to establish a spelling system so that his printed texts could be accessible to anyone. He selected the East Midlands dialect as the basis for his texts
When and what was the Great Vowel Shift?
From the mid-14th to mid-18th century. A gradual change of vowel pronunciation, where the production of long vowels was raised so that the position of the tongue moved closer to the roof of the mouth. This lead to a widening gap between grapheme (letters) and phoneme (sounds) correspondence
Why did the Renaissance further complicate our spelling system?
During this time, borrowings from French and Latin were already embedded into the language, but some felt it was important to establish the etymology of a word through its spelling, e.g. ‘aventure’ borrowed from French was adapted to ‘adventure’ drawing on the Latin ‘adventura’
What are the two differing attitudes to spelling reform?
1) More letters of the alphabet should be introduced to represent the sounds that are not reflected by current alphabet
2) That current alphabet should remain but some of the tricky problems of our current spelling system need addressing
Who/what is the English Spelling Society?
Established in 1908, a society set up to promote a simplified spelling system
American spelling reform?
1832, Noah Webster established a model of American English ‘to ascertain the true principles of the language…to purify it from some palpable errors, and reduce the number of its anomalies’
18th Century grammar prescriptivist?
Robert Lowth, ‘Short Introduction to English Grammar’ 1762. Lowth grounded his grammar guide in Latin, and logic was clearly important in the identification of grammatical rules
Bishop Robert Lowth’s most famous grammar rules?
- The pronoun ‘thou’ should no longer be used
- There should be differentiation between ‘will’ (a promise or threat) and ‘shall’ (to foretell)
- There should be a differentiation among ‘who’ and ‘which’ or ‘that’
- There should be regularisation between ‘who’ and ‘whom’
- Prepositions should be ‘before the noun to which they are applied’
- The infinitive verb should not be split
- Multiple negation and multiple comparison is illogical
Another grammar prescriptivist, not Lowth?
Lindley Murray, ‘English Grammar’ 1795. His work heavily reliant on Lowth’s.
What was the effect of grammar guides/prescriptivism in 18th and 19th centuries?
Change in written style of 1700s and 1800s. Writing became elaborate, overly rhetorical and sometimes pompous. Correct usage of ‘good’ grammar began to be associated with social status. ‘Bad’ grammar was criticised and seen as an indicator of lower social status or low morality.
Changes to the second person pronoun?
In Middle English period, second person pronoun distinguished between singular and plural forms:
Singular: Plural:
thou (subject) ye (subject)
thee (object) you (object)
By 18th century, thou/thee mostly obsolete
Changes to the verb ‘to do’?
In Old English and Middle English, the verb ‘to do’ was used with inflected endings: ‘I doth, he dost’.
What was Haugen’s (1966) four-stage process of standardisation?
1) Selection: language variety selected from prestigious one
2) Codification: establishment of norms of lexis, grammar, spelling
3) Elaboration: selected language is developed for a variety of purposes
4) Implementation: now standard language given currency by making texts available in it, encouraging pride and loyalty by users
Milroy and Milroy 1985?
Standardisation is an ongoing process and an ideological struggle
Jean Aitchison (2013) set of metaphors to describe people’s anxieties about language use?
1) Damp spoon syndrome: language change caused by sloppiness or laziness
2) Crumbling castle: sees language as a beautiful old building which must be carefully preserved
3) Infectious disease: we ‘catch’ change from those around us
Donald Mackinnon (1996) observed what attitudes towards language change?
Language can be seen as:
- correct or incorrect
- pleasant or ugly
- socially acceptable or socially unacceptable
- morally acceptable or morally unacceptable
- appropriate or inappropriate in their context
- useful to us or useless
Why did literacy levels improve in 19th century?
Elementary Education Act of 1870 was passed, providing compulsory education for all children aged between 5 and 12; thus literacy greatly improved
Rise of ‘youth culture’?
1950s saw the emergence of the teenager. The rise of youth culture saw a social group open to change and linguistic creativity; young people are now seen as the innovators of language use
Norman Fairclough’s theory of informality?
Norman Fairclough: language has seen a restructuring of the boundary between public and private orders of discourse and a shifting of the boundaries between speech and writing, leading to a more colloquial style of language use
What is ‘ease of articulation’?
Linguists believe the creation of a more streamlined and efficient language is the most important motivating force behind language change. This is not simply ‘lazy’ or ‘sloppy’ lnaugaeg usage but a way of making language more fluent and flow more clearly
What is ‘assimilation’?
Sounds that are adjacent to each other ‘become similar’, with one sound moving towards the other to make pronunciation simpler, e.g. we tend to pronounce ‘handbag’ as ‘hambag’
What is ‘omission’?
When speaking at speed, some sounds within a group of sounds might be left out, for example, ‘George bang(ed) the drum hard as he march(ed) through the town.’ The past tense markers might be omitted in normal colloquial speech
What is ‘neatening’ or ‘regularisation’?
Internal aspects of language change often affect ‘weak’ points in the language. Language undergoes neatening so that anomalies and inconsistencies are smoothed out, e.g. most plurals now end in -s, most past tense verbs now end with the regular verb ending ‘ed’
Phonological pairing?
Voiced and voiceless fricatives tend to be paired
e.g. ‘v’ with ‘f’; however, the voiceless fricative ‘h’ does not have a voiced equivalent, hence why this sound is often left out in colloquial speech
What is ‘random fluctuation’?
Some linguists believe that the conventions of a language are learned by interacting with other users of the language, and that change can be a random and unpredictable process
What did Charles Hockett theorize?
Errors occur in language and we tend to pass these errors on to other users
Aitchison: diffusion and S-curve model of change?
‘Any change tends to start in a small way, affecting a few words. At first, there is fluctuation between the new forms and the old. Gradually, the new forms oust the old. When the innovation has spread to a certain number of words, the change appears to take off, and spreads rapidly in a relatively short time span. After a period of momentum, it is likely to slack off…’
Substratum theory?
Suggests that when speakers learn a new language they will learn it imperfectly and then pass these imperfections on to future generations
First English settlement in America?
1606, Jamestown: first permanent English colony in the New World
Australia first ‘discovered’ by Europeans?
- Established first as a penal colony (where we sent our prisoners)
Key areas of colonial expansion by the English?
India, the Caribbean, Africa and the Far East
Strevens’s world map of English (1980)
One of the first attempts to model the spread of English around the world. 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 Englishes
Braj Kachru (1992) three circles model?
Inner circle: English as L1, e.g. UK, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand
Outer circle: English used as L2, e.g. India, Singapore, Ghana, Nigeria
Expanding circle: English used only as a lingua franca
Schneider’s ‘Dynamic Model’ of post colonial Englishes (2007)?
Used to illustrate the processes involved with the influences of the colonialisation process. In the beginning, there may be some separation of the two groups (the colonisers and the colonised) but over time these distinctions will weaken until a peaceable coexistence is achieved.
Stage 1 of Schneider’s Dynamic Model?
- Foundation: English is brought to a new territory, leading to an emerging bilingualism
Stage 2 of Schneider’s Dynamic Model?
- Exonormative stablilisation: A ‘elite’ bilingualism spreads, led by the politically dominant country. E.g. English is establisrhed as the language of law, administration and education in the newly colonised country
Stage 3 of Schneider’s Dynamic Model?
- Nativisation: Bilingual speakers forge a new variety of English as ties with settlers’ country of origin weaken, e.g. as inter-ethnic contact increases, new varieties of English emerge
Stage 4 of Schneider’s Dynamic Model?
- Endonormative stabilisation: After independence and inspired by the need for ‘nation-building’ a new linguistic norm is established and codified, e.g. writers may have works published in the new variety of English to demonstrate its prestige
Stage 5 of Schneider’s Dynamic Model?
- Differentiation: This may follow, with internal social group identities gaining importance and thus reflected in the growth of dialectal difference - e.g. group specific varieties (regional, ethnic, social) leading to internal diversity
What is ELF?
English as a lingua franca refers to English being used as a common language among speakers who come from different linguistic backgrounds.
Jennifer Jenkins (2006) five key characteristics of ELF?
- Used by speakers of different languages allowing them to communicate with each other
- It is an alternative to EFL (English as a foreign language)
- ELF may include innovations that might characterise local varieties of English as well as ‘correct’ English
- Linguistic accommodation and code-switching are seen as useful strategies in ELF
- Although users of ELF may have high or low proficiency in English usage, the language of proficient ELF users tends to be used for description for the purposes of possible codification
Key features typical of ELF?
- dropping third person present tense -s
- confusion of ‘who’ and ‘which’
- omission of definite and indefinite articles, or inserting them where they are not usually used
- use of ‘isn’t it?’ or ‘no?’ in tag questions rather than ‘shouldn’t they?’
- inserting redundant prepositions
- overusing verbs of high semantic generality (e.g., ‘do’ ‘have’, ‘make’, ‘put’, ‘take’)
- overdoing explicitness (e.g. ‘black colour’ instead of ‘black’, ‘how long time’ instead of ‘how long’
Robert Phillipson (1992)?
Argued that the spread of English as a global language disadvantages other languages, causing them to lose prestige or to die out
Jean Aitchison’s PDIC model?
Potential, diffusion, implementation and codification model - a model of how changes take place in language
Jean Aitchison PDIC stage 1?
Potential - an internal weakness or external pressure for change
Jean Aitchison PDIC stage 2?
Diffusion - the change starts to spread through the population
Jean Aitchison PDIC stage 3?
Implementation - people start to use the variant
Jean Aitchison PDIC stage 4?
Codification - the change becomes more ‘official’ as it is written down and put into the dictionary
Chen’s S-Curve model?
Language change can occur at a slow pace creating the initial curve of the ‘s’ and then increases speed as it becomes more common and accepted into the language. This can then slow down again and level out once it has fully integrated into the language and is widely used.
Bailey’s (1973) Wave model?
Geographical distance has an effect on language change. As with a tidal wave, those closest to the wave will be most likely affected by it; those furthest away least affected
Theory of lexical gaps?
There is a logical reason to create words to ‘fill a gap’. Words can be borrowed, converted or invented in order to fill a gap in usage.
Substratum theory?
Different forms of language/different languages come into contact with English and affect how it changes. Non-native speakers mostly instigate this change. When English is learnt ‘imperfectly’ these imperfections are passed on down the generations/through contact via trade/invasion/ social networking/immigration
Halliday’s Functional theory?
Language always changes and adapts to the needs of the users - language therefore has a functional purpose. Changes in technology/industry often fuel the need for new words.
Charles Hockett (1958) Random Fluctuation Theory?
Puts significance on random errors and events as having influence on language change. Language change occurs due to the unstable nature of language itself.
Sapir-Whorf theory - Reflectionism and Determinism?
Reflectionism - a person’s language reflects their way of thinking
Determinism - language can determine the way in which people think/view the world
David Crystal’s Tide Metaphor?
Suggests that language is like a tide - constantly changing. It ebbs and flows, bringing in new words and taking out others in a natural, progressive way. Crystal claims that changes are not for the worse, or for the better. Language ‘just changes,’ he says.
David Graddol on the future of global English?
‘The new language which is rapidly ousting that of Shakespeare as the world’s lingua franca is English itself - English in its new form.’ ELF speakers will be the innovators of English.
Jean Paul Nerriere on the future of global English?
The reality of English is that its future is on the tongues of non-native speakers.
