The Theorists Flashcards
Phillip Howard
The revolving cycle of euphemism
‘Black’ has become acceptable, replacing ‘Afro American’ which replaced ‘negro’ which replaced ‘coloured’ which in turn replaced black
Dwight Bollinger
Highlighted the increasing use of euphemisms in advertising
‘Fun size’ small
Man made ‘fake’
And in the media where their dyphemisms are avoided
‘Casualties’ dead bodies
‘Tragedy’ crime
Dave crystal
Contemporary English uses words borrowed from over 120 languages
Labov 1963
Martha’s Vineyard Research:
We subconsciously change our language to identity ourselves with one group rather than another
Jean aitchinson
She believes that language does not delay it changes.
She claimed what defines Incorrect language and that bad English isn’t catching because people choose how they speak
Naomi baron
Writers are now less self concious and less worried about looking upper class and spontaneous.
Errors in grammar, spelling and punctuation are less important and being formal is seen as stiff or uncool
Darwin
He saw how his ‘survival of the fittest’ theory could apply to a natural selection in language
Rudi Keller
The invisible hand - in order to avoid misunderstandings, speakers use familiar synonyms and avoid difficult ones these are then not used by the next generation and lost through time
Zipf
Monolsylabbic rule- people prefer to talk using monosyllables and it’s easier even polysyllabic words are shortened so disrespect is dis
John Algeo
New lexis can come into England any day but a change in syntax can take centuries
James Milroy
The golden age theory
Milroy says how there was never a golden age to language as it was always changing
