Language Change

• neologisms


  newly created words
• prescriptivism


  language should be fixed, a set of standard rules for language use, any shift away from rules or standards seen as incorrect
• descriptivism


  no judgement or negative attitude placed upon language change, examination of language as it is and how its used
• snycronic change


  study of language change at a particular moment in time
• origins of english 1066


  angles and saxons arrive from north germany

  -speaking old english

  writings is in runes from latin speaking monks who use roman alphabet and new letters

  some erosion of grammar and new vocab
• tudor period 1485- 1603


  vocabulary enlarged by learning renaissance, imports from greek and latin

  lexis expanded by travel to the new world

  1582- richard mulcaster publishes a list of 7000 words with spelling forms but doesnt become a universal standard
• events that drove language change


  1604 cawdreys english dictionary

  1526 tyndalls bible in english

  1476 caxtons printing press

  shakespeare around 1600

  plague and black death killed latin priests forced religion to be english
• cawdrey - prescriptivist

  1st monolingual English dictionary​

  Published in time of developing sense of national identity and pride during reign of Elizabeth 1, time of growth in literature, religion, law, history, exploration and literacy.​

  Cawdrey was stubborn and educated, he was not a linguist. ​

  defined about 2,500 words. ​

  Cawdrey harshly judged people who were part of language changing: “Some men even seek so far for outlandish English, that they forget altogether their mother’s tongue.”
• jonathan swift - prescriptivist

  influentially wrote a letter in 1712, ended up being widely published and known.

  He loved the authority of the church and state, influenced his linguistic opinions. sum of his ideas he wanted to ‘fix’ English. ​

  didn’t want English to be polluted by what he considered crude and careless usages such as clippings ‘rep’ for ‘reputation’ and contractions ‘disturb’d’, ‘fledg’d’ .​

  Though he idealised a perfect English, he thought that it would be better that it stay imperfect if it at least stopped changing.
• samuel johnsons dictionary- prescriptivist

  • Classed as the first proper English dictionary. ​
  • 42,000 entries ​
  • group of London booksellers sold Johnson’s dictionary, hoped that the book would help stabilise rules governing the English language.
  • thought he’d make it in 3 years with no help- did it in 9 with 6 assistants.
  • used as standard dictionary for about 150 years.used by famous writers like Austen and the Brontës. ​
  • definitions vary in quality-many are influenced by his own opinions and ideology. ​
  • saw it as an ‘attempt to tame the unruly tongue’ of English.​
• samuel johnsons dictionary example


  oats- a grain in which england is generally given to horses but in scotland given to the people
• robert lowth- prescriptivist

  • the Bishop of The Church of England, a grammarian, poet and author of A Short Introduction to English Grammar (1762)-one of the most influential grammar books of its time.​
  • The book argued that some grammatical constructions were incorrect. E.g. split infinitives​
  • An infinitive verb should not be split by an ADVERB​
  • Meaning terms such as ‘to boldly go’ are grammatically incorrect​
  • Descriptivists suggest that it doesn’t affect meaning therefore it is a pointless rule
• jean aitchinson - descriptivism

  journalist not linguist

  She posits there are three ways of viewing the phenomenon of language change:​

  1. Decay (view of prescriptivists)​
  2. Progress (descriptivists agree with this)​
  3. Neither progress nor decay, but inevitable (most descriptivists believe this)
• labov

  language could be conscious and unconscious

  conscious- in Labov’s New York study, his elicitation of spontaneous versus careful speech highlighted that New Yorkers were consciously moving towards the use of a rhotic /r/, as this occurred in more careful speech. This can, therefore, by associated with overt prestige, moving towards the most desirable (standard) variety.​
• labov

  language can be conscious and unconscious

  unconscious- his Martha’s vineyard study highlighted a different trend. The vowel changes in the community highlighted a trend towards imitating the conservative speech patterns of the older fishermen of the island, as tourist rates increased and the islanders needed to establish themselves as a separate group. This change was, however, subconscious and the islanders were not at all aware of exaggerating the vowel changes. This is an example of covert prestige.
• jean aitchinson metaphors


  infectious disease- language change is a disease

  damp spoon- language change is lazy behaviour

  crumbling castle- language should be preserved
• vocal fry


  a way of speaking in which the voice is very low-pitched and has a characteristic rough or creaking sound
• rising intonation

  • associated with the end of questions which the intonation would rise ​
  • ‘uptalk’ was perceived by the media as displaying uncertainty and insecurity. aimed at young women.​
  • Paul Warren is a big critic of this and suggests it’s based on stereotypes rather than linguistic research.​
  • pointed out that:​ Rising intonation often occurs when the speaker is the owner of the information and not the seeker.​
  • used as an invitation to communicate rather than checking understanding or showing insecurity.