language change

• Jean Aitchison (1991) described three different types of prescriptivist attitudes toward language:
• The Crumbling Castle:

  • The English Language is like a beautiful stately home that should be preserved
  • Change is constant so when was language “perfect”?
• The Damp Spoon Syndrome:

  • New forms of language change arise from sheer laziness
  • Only drunken speech is lazy, all else is efficient
• The Infectious Disease Assumption:

  • Changes in language are contagious
  • There is an aspect of free will in language use
• Aitchison disagrees with these views, claiming that language change is natural
• David Crystal (2011) believes that living languages change and have to change
• Languages have no existence apart from the people who use them
• The only languages that don't change are dead ones
• If we invent something, we need a name for it, and at that point a new word comes into a language – links to functional theory
• Many new words are related to the internet: Google, blogging, texting, SMS, iPhone, instant message, Facebook, Twitter
• Plain English Campaign (1979) was set up to eliminate the use of jargon and popularise one standard version of English
• Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis:

  • The structure of language affects a speaker’s perceptions of reality and influences their thought patterns and views of the world
• Reflectionism:

  • A person’s language reflects their way of thinking
  • Derogatory terms reflect prejudiced attitudes
• Determinism:

  • Persuading people to use more acceptable terms can determine a new way of thinking
  • 'Asians' for 'paki' may reduce prejudice
  • Basis for Political Correctness
• Political Correctness:

  • Language is adapted to minimize inequality
  • Language reflects and shapes social attitudes
  • Language is always changing and difficult to control
• The Queen’s English Society advocates prescriptivism to defend the 'prestige' of English against debasement and misuse
• Functional theory:

  • Language changes and adapts to the needs of its users
  • Changes in technology and industry fuel the need for new words
  • Unused words fade out and are replaced with new neologisms, acronyms, or initialisms
  • Colloquialisms and slang manifest changes, creating new words and usages
• Michael Rosen believes there is no such thing as correct grammar
• Stephen Pinker (2004) discussed the euphemism treadmill:

  • Words introduced to replace an offensive word become offensive themselves over time
  • A current example is mental retardation