Language change

Diachronic variation

Through time variation

Synchronic variation

Variation across society at any given point

Old English features

Heavily inflected, German vocab

Middle English characteristics

Norman-French influence post 1066, Lexical borrowing, loss of inflections

Early modern English charecterstics

GVS, Standardisation

Borrowing statistic

70% of English is adopted from other languages

Blending

Using parts of existing words to form a new word (bromance)

Compounding

Adding two existing words together to create a new word (laptop)

Initialism

Initials that cannot be pronounced as a word (DVD)

Acronyms

Initials pronounced as a word (SIM)

Amelioration

Word/phrase develops positive connotations (nice)

Pejoration

Word/phrase develops negative connotations (cunning)

Clipping

Words are shortened to become the word (promo)

Broadening

Words acquire a broader reference (hoover)

Narrowing

Words acquire a narrower reference (deer)

Prescriptivists

Language is declining and want to enforce rules

Descriptivist

Observe how language is used and see change as neutral

Inkhorn controversy

The debate whether English should adopt Latin/Greek loanwords in the 16th-17th century

Pro Inkhorn controversy theorists

Spenser, Daniel

Spenser in Inkhorn controversy

Expand expressive rangeD

Daniel in Inkhorn controversy

Chnage is inevitable

Anti Inkhorn controversy theorists

Wilson, Cheke

Wilson in Inkhorn controversy

English should be clear and accessible for all

Cheke in inkhorn controversy (anti loan words)

Native vocabulary boosts national idenitty

Swift in early lexical/semantic change

Believed English was decaying and proposed an English Academy to fix it

Johnson’s dictionary

Standardised English but realised change is inevitable

Académie Francaise

Attempted to control and preserve language in France

Why are there spelling inconsistencies in English

Not phonetic so multiple ways to spell a sound. the sound change in the GVS was not reflected in spellings

Why did Old English change

Letters replaced due to simplifying standardisation pressures

Great vowel Shift

Major change in long vowel pronunciation 15-17th century. Spelling standardised before pronunciation change finished, caused inconsistencies

Webster in orthography and evaluation

American English standardiser reflects national identity in orthographical form. Ignored functional needs of people with inconsistent spellings

Greengrocer apostrophe shows…

Modern confusion and prescriptivist concern

David Crystal in orthography

Spelling is conservative but technology encourages natural and expected variation

Technological influence on orthography

Autocorrect reduces standardisation, media creates new norms

Greenbaum in orthography

Spelling does regularise, but irregularities reflect historical/social factors (e.g Knight)

Morphology change (word forms)

End inflection lost (est), irregular verb forms levelled (hove-heaved)

Syntactic change (sentence structure)

Word order change (SOV-SVO), multiple negation not allowed

Lowth in early grammatical change

Published grammar book advocating rules based off Latin grammar

Murray in early grammatical change

Produced a guide reliant on Lowth but simplified and focused on rules over tendencies

Pinker in grammatical change and evaluation

Grammar is naturally evolving, persistence psychologically salient ‘sticky’ words shows resistance (e.g runned/ran). Ignores the social software that uses certain forms to gatekeep language

Aitchison in syntactic change

Syntactic change occurs naturally from internal pressures like efficiency (gonna) and analogy

Wave model

Change spreads outwards from centre, explaining regional variety and uneven distribution

S curve model and evaluation

innovation, adoption, stabilisation = slow, rapid, slow. Psychological misconception as people only notice at stabilisation. Too rigid/linear

Internal factors causing change

Efficiency, Analogy, Internal creativity

Efficiency strategy and example

Omission (Got to go)

Analaogy

Irregular forms align with regular patterns

Example of internal creativity

Shakespeare coined new words and innovated within a system

External factors for language change

Increased contact, Technology, Tool

Technology impacts on language change

Texting abbreviations and accelerated spread of change

Tool impact on language change

Language is a social tool for identity construction, resulting in adopted forms and group marking

Restriction on change factors

Standardisation, Education, spelling conservation

Is change random or logical

Change is structured by systematic and social patterns

Deustcher

Change is gradual and invisible to humans

Chnages from above factors

Conscious, prestige driven, Elites

Change from below factors

Unconscious, grassroots, speakers

Aitchsons metaphors

Damp spoon, crumbling castle, infectious disease

Damp spoon

Langauge decays and is worn down

Crumbling castle

Once perfect, now collapsing

Infectious disease (and causes)

Virus spreads due to youth and technology

Aitchinso’s opinion on metaphors

Misleading as change is natural and is not degeneration

Mackinnon in attitudes to language change

Media portrays change as deterioration, reinforcing negative moral panic

Haydn in attitudes to language change and evaluation

Teachers view non standard as incorrect, causing prescriptivists attitudes. Non standard away from school ‘cool’ due to covert prestige

Theorists for natural/unstoppable change over laziness/decay

Swift vs Daniel, Johnson (dictionary shows inevitable), Pinker

Efficiency and logic patterns over random error

Aitchison syntactic change (naturally though efficiency), S-curve (‘tempo’ of change), Deutscher (evaluates discourse of declinsim)

Identity and power, ‘correctness’ about national identity/social status

Cheke vs Spenser, Webster (national distinct identity), Wilson (language not a tool)

Explaining of moral panic

Aitchison’s metaphors (misleading prescriptivism), Mackinnon, Haydn, Greengrocer’s apostrophe

Essay paragraph focuses

Natural/unstoppable>laziness/decay, Identity and power (is national/social identity correct), efficiency/logic>random error, Moral panic