language change Flashcards
(15 cards)
baileys wave model
when new language in close contact within closest community either geographically or socially , they are more likely to take on the change whereas those further away from the change don’t since they’re not in contact with the group using the language.less likely to adopt the new usage, and may become isolated
e.g. clapped (evaluative adjective) - commonly used among young people, but rejected by older people due to lack of understanding, and this may lead to feelings of exclusion
man as a singular pronoun ‘man’s tired’
- London slang (“bare” for “very”) → First used in London, then spread to nearby cities like Birmingham before reaching wider UK usage
hockett’s theory of random fluctuation and cultural transmission
languages changes due to random errors and events such as freak weather or predictive text. therefore, it is not an example of progress or decay but is merely an indifferent evolution - not determined
lockdown (abstract noun) - became more frequently used in everyday vernacular due to the covid pandemic
> ‘h’ in the abstract noun ‘ghost’ came about as william caxton used flemish writers when using the printing press to bring things back to england. they were unsure as to how to spell the english word ‘gost’ and so added an extra ‘h’ as their native word was ‘gheest’.
- ## “Duck” instead of “F*“** – Autocorrect errors on smartphones have led to humorous substitutions, sometimes influencing slang usage.
halliday’s functional theory
language changes according to the needs of its users. in other words, new inventions and concepts require new words to describe them, while older outdated concepts lead to losses in the english language.
e.g.concrete noun ‘ozempic’ has spiked in popularity recently due to social media promoting it is being a quick fix for weight loss.
ai
simple interrogative sentence ‘can you uber me some food’
google it
linguistic determinism - sapir-whorf hypothesis
weak version suggests language influences thought but does not have complete control over it and so if a new word is created to make something more ‘politically correct’, people will get rid of dtheir own discriminatory views
e.g.more gender neutral, such as the change of the concrete noun ‘fireman’ to ‘firefighter’ and the removal of the suffix ‘-ess’ in ‘actress’ to make female actresses ‘actors’
reflectionism - sapir-whorf hypothesis
language is shaped by thoughts and is simply a reflection of the way that we are and what we think this is criticised as it suggests there is no value in tyring to shape or change language
e.g. euphemisms
algeo’s frequency of word formation types study
shows most common word formation types are composites which is where words are formed through derivation ( (taking an existing words and adding a prefix or suffix) and compounds (merging two pre-existing words together to make a new word)
derivations = unhappy, contactless
compounds = smartphone, laptop
damp spoon syndrome (aitchison’s metaphors)
the view that language change is caused by sloppiness or laziness. it is difficult to find evidence. the glottal stop at the end of words such as ‘street’ is often seen as an example of laziness, but the substitution of a /t/ for a glottal stop is not lazy and not random, as it is physically harder to create the glottal stop then to pronounce the /t/
crumbling castle (aitchison’s metaphors)
view sees English language as perfect and needs to be preserved and has been created to reach the pinnacle of splendour but over time it has changed + crumbled down due to language change
there is no indication of when this golden age of language was reached. furthermore, this view presupposes that a rigid system is better than a flexible system, but a flexible system is necessary to cope with changing social circumstances
abbreviations LOL, brb
like
infectious disease (aitchison’s metaphors)
view that suggests we ‘catch’ change from those around us through close contact - but people pick up the change because they want to they’re not forced to change their language
e.g. Eckertt’s Jocks and Burnoutts study jocks = school orientated, upwardly mobile, burnouts - rebellious + disengaged from school jocks used more standard forms of English, less slang and used language that reflected their future goals whereas burnouts used more slang , non standard ‘aint, gonna’
pinker’s euphemism treadmill
people invent new ‘polite’ word to refer to emotionally laden or distasteful things, but the euphemism becomes tainted by association and the new one that must be found acquires its own negative connotations
concepts, not words, are in charge. we know we have reached equality and mutual respect when names for minorities stay put
e.g. ‘water-closet’ becomes toilet (originally a term used for body care), which becomes ‘bathroom’, which becomes ‘rest room’, which becomes ‘lavatory’
what is the negative side effect of the constant shift toward politically correct language
many people, who are perhaps older and distant from university, government and media spheres, will still unintentionally use outdated words and find themselves labelled as bigots for innocently using passe terms like ‘crippled’ or ‘oriental’
Johnson dictionary
aimed to improve and standardise English Language but found that the language can’t be changed and controlled as it is a natural process
David Crystal’s tide metaphor
language is like a tide, constantly changing, it ebbs and flows bringing inn new words and taking out others in a natural, progressive way
new words = selfie, streaming , period
old words = wherefore, thee
Trask
Language change is a quick process that needs to be controlled otherwise it could lead to misunderstanding between children and their grandparents
benign prescriptivism
(changing language artificially, but in order to try to reduce discrimination, such as concrete noun ‘actor’ rather than ‘actor and actress’ to reduce gender discrimination; noun phrase ‘wheelchair user’ rather than adjective ‘wheelchair bound’ to reduce discrimination on the basis of disability
third person pronouns ‘their’, they them
- Instead of: “He or she should submit their work.” → Use: “They should submit their work.”
