Why Does Language Change

Question 1

Internal

Answer 1

Ease of articulation, omission, neatening or regularisation

Question 2

External

Answer 2

The changing social climate (e.g. Elementary Education Act 1870), increased contact with a worldwide community, increased politeness, informality, technology (e.g. homophonic representation)

Question 3

Norman Fairclough

Answer 3

Blurring between public and private discourse

Question 4

Charles Hockett

Answer 4

Errors occur in language and we pass these on to other users e.g. ‘owned’

Question 5

Limits of Hockett

Answer 5

If change was random, Lang would end up in chaos and change tends to occur in a fairly organised and controlled process

Question 6

Aitchinson 2013 Language Change Progress or decay?

Answer 6

Old and new forms co-exist til old lost, then innovation spread to lots of words and spreads rapidly in short period, slacks off, then ‘expands to more linguistic environments in a series of related changes’

Question 7

Link to Hockett

Answer 7

Substratum theory- when speakers learn a new Lang, learn it imperfectly and pass this on to future generations