Social Factors - Transmission and Diffusion Flashcards
Key names in Social lang change studies
William Labov, James & Lesley Milroy
Change in LANG SYSTEM vs Change in SPEECH COMMUNITY
- approach change from perspective of lang systems = good for LARGE SCALE trends over LONG PERIODS
- DOesnt allow us to fully explain particular changes
Problems with explanations of change from the perspective of the linguistic system
If we explain language change as being motivated by structural properties of the language then how can we explain why a particular change occurs in one language with those structural features, but not in another with the same structural features; and how can we explain why the change has occurred at the particular time in which it did?”
Weinreich
- eg explain *p > f in a lang as lenition motivated by ease of articulation, then why other langs descended from same proto-lang have retained original *p as p?
Problem with accounting for lang change by permanent factors = CANNOT account for SPECIFIC changes which occur at ONE TIME + PLACE and NOT another
Explaining Language CHange - Meillet
Lang = social institution, so Linguistics = Social science
- only VARIABLE ELEMENT we can resort to in accounting for linguistic change = SOCIAL CHANGE
- We must determine which social structure corresponds w given ling structure, and HOW general changes in social structure are translated into change in Linguistic structure
Meillet is arguing that in order to explain the actuation of a ‘specific’ change we need to look at change from the perspective of the SPEECH COMMUNITY
ACTUATION vs TRANSMISSION of language change
Explanations of language change must take into account:
- the issue of actuation, or why a change might start. - the issue of transmission, or how a change spreads.
- We can explain actuation and transmission AT LEVEL OF INDIV. SPEAKER from perspective of linguistic system BUT:
- practically impossible to explain how change transmitted from SPEAKER TO SPEAKER from this perspective
Transmission - NEOGRAMMARIANS
Neogrammarians: Lang not a thing that leads a life of its own. truly only exists in individual - all changes in the life of a language can only proceed from individual speaker
Paul’s description of Language change
Hermann Paul
distinguished
‘language custom’ (‘Sprachusus’): the sum of linguistic structures found in the lects of the individuals that make up a speech community.
‘idiolect’: the linguistic system of an individual speaker.
CHANGE IN LANGUAGE CUSTOM: the summation of a series of … shifts in idiolects moving in the same direction (thereby forming a new ‘language custom’).
CHANGE IN IDIOLECTS: either spontaneous change or the adaptation of idiolects to those of other speakers.
James and Lesley Milroy distinction between linguistic systems and their speakers
SPEAKER INNOVATION: an ACT of a speaker, producing a VARIANT or INNOVATIVE linguistic feature, which is capable of influencing Linguistic Structure
LANGUAGE CHANGE:
a SUCCESSFUL SPEAKER INNOVATION, that is the REFLEX of a speaker ACT, which has brought about a change in the language system
About speaker innovations
Only a small proportion of speaker innovations actually lead to language change.
i.e. most innovations fall into disuse without spreading very far through a speech community.
Explaining language change:
Labov
Ling change = DEVIATION from ACCEPTED NORMS - type of non-conformity to dominant pattern of society.
The question of the causes of linguistic change can then be restated as HOW and WHEN do people begin to DEPART from earlier NORMS and continue to do so?”
Description of language change which makes the distiction between speakers and systems
- a speaker INNOVATION which has DIFFUSED within a speech COMMUNITY.
- and which can spread further from this speech community to another, via speakers who have ties to both.
The study of change in progress
Studies of change in progress involve examining the use of particular (non-standard) variants across the speech community.
2 types of studies:
(a) REAL TIME STUDIES where variation in speech patterns is investigated longitudinally within a community over a number of years.
(b) APPARENT TIME STUDIES where the apparent passage of time is measured by comparing speakers of different ages in a single speech community at a single time. (based on assumptions speakers idiolects change minimally after critical period)
Apparent-time studies of change in progress
step 1 = investigation of sociolinguistic patterns within speech community
- gain insights on which variables assoc. w
1. change in progress
2. stable variation
3. sporadic variation
then focus on those that reflect change
Sporadic Change
Trudgill - Norwich, England
- noticed an apparently sporadic use of a labio-velar variant of the rhotic /r/ - i.e. sporadic use of [w] in the place of [ɹ] for /r/.
- limited to a few younger speakers (sporadically)
- Concluded: pathologically conditioned (speech problem)
EIGHTEEN YEARS LATER:
The labio-velar variant was by then firmly embedded in the speech community as a patterned sociolinguistic variable.
- when a sound change is at very initial stage of simply being an innovative pronunciation - not recogniseable as change in progress.
Stable Variation
Variant patterns which persist as variation in speech comm for a long period of time in much the same form
Variation of velar and alveolar pronunciation of -ing in New York Specific features of a stable linguistic variable: 1. regular stratification is maintained for each contextual style (each step up in class status is associated with a decrease in the [-in] pronunciation). 2. regular stylistic stratification is maintained in each social class (each increase in formality is accompanied by a decrease in the [-in] pronunciation). 3. all social groups are differentiated in their treatment of the variable, but all social groups are similar in following the same pattern of style shifting.
