Deutscher's 3 reasons for language change

Question 1

What are Deutcher’s 3 reasons for change

Answer 1

• The world is always changing
• Contact
• People like change

Question 2

Why do people like change?

Answer 2

Because people are progressive creatures who value novelty and improvement

Question 3

Overall, why does language change based off Deutscher’s ideas?

Answer 3

Because of the accumulation of unintended actions

Question 4

Why does McWhorter say that people see language as like a clock?

Answer 4

There are parts that need to be replaced with parts that are almost identical to keep it ticking

Question 5

Does McWhorter disagree with the idea of language being a clock?

Answer 5

Yes

Question 6

What theory does McWhorter suggest in opposition to the clock?

Answer 6

The lava lamp analogy

Question 7

What does the lava lamp analogy suggest?

Answer 7

Because there is “joy in the infinite variations”. Although language is always changing, is is always mesmerising, spontaneous and expressive

Question 8

What does Penelope Eckert argue about language being a system?

Answer 8

It is not only a system that changes but one whose change is central to its semiotic function

Question 9

What does Eckert suggest about language changing?

Answer 9

That it doesn’t just happen on its own