Language Change

• Prescriptivism and Descriptivism


  Prescriptivism is the belief that there are correct and incorrect ways of using language, and that a 'standard' of language should be maintained.

  
  

  Descriptivism is the objective study of language as it is, acknowledging change and evolution overtime.
• Definitions


  Lexical Change – Old words die out and new words are formed.

  Semantic Change – Words change their meanings.

  Syntax Change – The order of words in a sentence changes.

  Grammatical Change – Verb inflections change, pronouns change, words change class etc.

  Spelling Change – Spelling shifts and then is standardised.

  Orthography – The way we write letters or other symbols and punctuate changes.

  Social Change – Changes in attitudes and technology are reflected in language.
• Lexical Change


  Lexical change is the process of new words entering the lexicon, and old ones becoming archaic. This can happen when:

  
  

  • New inventions and developments, such as new technology or discoveries introduce new words.
  • Changes in knowledge, ideas and understanding of the world.
  • Movement and immigration (words adopted from other languages).
  • Communities using new, specialised lexicon.
  • Change from above - institutions changing language, e.g laws, censorship.
  • Colonialism.
• Lexical Change - Sapir-Whorf's Reflectionism and Determinism


  Reflectionism suggests that a person's language is reflective of their way of thinking. For example, someone who uses racist language could be reflecting their prejudices against immigrants.

  
  

  Determinism is based on the idea that language can determine a person's way of thinking. Eliminating racist language, for instance, could change a persons mindset. This is the basis of political correctness.

  
  

  Steven Pinker argues that language and thought are independent, and that humans do not have a 'natural' language.
• Lexical Change - Steven Pinker's Euphemism Treadmill 


  The euphemism treadmill indicates that words are defined by concepts, as opposed to the other way around. Words that are seen as offensive or outdated are replaced with new terms, until those too follow the same fate. This is criticised, as the constant cycling of vocabulary can be difficult to adapt to.
• Chen's S-curve Model


  The S-curve model theorises three stages of language change:

  • Initiation: Change initially occurs at a slow pace creating the initial curve of the 'S'.
  • Expansion: The rate of change then increases as innovation becomes more accepted in a language.
  • Termination: The rate of change then slows down, as language becomes fully integrated and comes into use.

  
• Bailey's Wave Model


  Temporal, social and geographical distance impacts language change. A person or group at or close to the epicentre of the change will be most affected by it, whilst those further away are less likely to adopt it.

  
  

  Trudgill: argued that innovations spread from towns and cities miss out villages.
• Standardisation 1

  
  

  In the 1660s, English underwent changes including:

  • Lexical expansion, borrowing from Latin
  • Shift in grammar and syntax from Middle to Early Modern English (loss of 'eth' and 'est')
  • The great vowel shift, leading to changes in pronunciation
• Standardisation 2

  
  

  Attempts were made to prevent changes and 'fix' English in one place:

  • Jonathan Swift's "Proposal" objected to shortenings like 'mob,' unnecessary contractions like 'disturb’d,' and neologisms like 'banter'
  • Johnson's 'Dictionary' aimed to fix spellings and definitions
  • Lowth's Grammar objected to 'thou,' differentiated 'will' and 'shall,' 'who' and 'whom,' suggested prepositions should come before a noun, infinitives should not be split, and multiple negation, comparatives, and superlatives should not be used
• The Process of Standardisation

  • Selection - the East Midlands dialect is chosen as the basis for Standard English.
  • Elaboration - the selected dialect is increasingly used in institutions and other parts of society.
  • Codification - rules of grammar and spelling begin to be solidified and written down.
  • Implementation - the new standard form becomes the status quo.
• Syntactical and Semantic Change


  Semantic:

  • New technology changes meaning of words, as they are applied to concepts which previously did not exist (e.g bug, window, crash...)
  • Language also changes with social attitudes, with new terms reflecting these.

  Syntax + phonology:

  • As English lost its endings, syntax became more rigidly in order.
  • The Great Vowel Shift between 1400 and 1600 caused pronunciation to change e.g. ‘out’ changed from /u:t/ to /aʊt/ The glottal stop, ‘uptalk’ London Multicultural English and vocal fry are all recent phonological changes.