LING 160 exam 3 (9, interlude, 10-12)

Diachronic change

change or language variation over time, originates from spatial/regional and social variation

What does diachronic change deny?

superficial idea that everyone speaks the same way in monolingual communities, when in reality there's variation in vocab and pronunciation

What happens when form spreads?

change occurs

When does possibility of linguistic change exist?

as soon as new form develops and is used alongside preexisting form

Where does change often occur first?

subgroups

Where does post vocalic [r] not occur?

RP or London Cockney dialect

When did post vocalic [r] loss occur in England?

around 17th C. on east coast

What are rhotic accents?

accents with post vocalic [r], seen as rural/uneducated in large parts of England

True or false, many American accents = rhotic

true

When/where/why did rhoticism increase in US?

New York, the 60s, seen as prestigious

What are changes from below?

changes people are aware of, conscious of social significance, prestige, desirability

Whats an example of changes from below?

changes in pronunciation of vowels

What are changes from above?

referring to source of change, spreads downward through social groups

True or false, vernacular and prestigious pronunciation are both imitated and spread through communities

true

Describe pronunciation change in Martha's Vinyard

centralization of pronunciation, change brought on by more tourists and immigrants, resulting in "light" sounding like "layeet" and "house" sounding like "heyoose"

What is covert prestige?

often unconscious, social significance in a community

Why do people substitude different sounds/pronunciations associated with lower social groups?

social aspect: prestige based on social identity, convenience: may be easier to pronounce something one way over another

Describe koineisation

new dialect/variety emerging when different dialects come in contact with monolingual community

Whats a koine?

variety which is result of dialect contact

Describe koines

typically has features from contributing dialect, mostly from largest group of speakers' dialect

What is levelling?

a type of simplification, eliminating marked variations

Whats an example of levelling?

disappearance of PV [r] in koine

True or false, simpler forms usually win when speakers of different dialects come together

true

Where does simplification come from, how does it survive?

come from below, survives if form belongs to admired group/community

Why would conservative forms disappear?

when areas value being hip/fashionable/innovative

What are multi ethnolects?

speech of young immigrant children, different carities from majority language

What does majority language serve as in multi ethnolects?

lingua franca

Describe wave theory

metaphor of waves to explain how linguistic change spreads through community from diff directions/rates/times

What affects rates/direction of change in wave theory

age, status, gender, region

Who has most contact with other groups in wave theory

"middle" people, those that seem to act as linguistic entrepreneurs, in the middle of this intersecting waves

What affects wave theory?

communities of practice and social networks

Whats style to style theory?

change spreads from 1 style to another while simultaneously spreading between people in a social group, eventually from social group to social group

How did prestigious PV [r] spread in NY?

began as formal style in young people, then less formal within same group while spreading to other groups as formal style

How does style change spread?

gradually from style to style and group to group until most people use new form

Where does style change begin spreading?

most formal style of people in higher status group at top of speech community spreading downwards

Give an example of style change

vernacular change, centralization, on Martha's Vinyard beginning as more casual style for people, then becoming "prestigious"

When does form take longer to spread?

when its considered no standard

What is lexical diffusion?

word to word change, sound changes spreading thru diff words one by one

What is apparent time studies of language change?

info on language use of diff groups revealing direction of language change in community

How do we know change is in progress in apparent time studies

when theres a steady increase/decline in form frequency by age group

What is apparent time method?

comparing speech of people from diff age groups to give clues about language change

What is regular/normal age grading pattern?

higher incidence of vernacular in younger people

What is HRT?

high rising terminal/uptalk

Who uses HRT?

younger people more than older

What is real time study?

done as time goes on, like taking it once then again 15 years later

What is real time study good for?

reliably identifying changes

What induces change in multilingual societies?

language contact

What are contact languages?

continual influence from other languages/codes/variations that are spoken in local environment

When do contact languages occur?

when/where variation in language change = described by how similar it is to other language

What is Schneider's 5 step model?

foundatino, exonormative stabilisation, nativisation, endonormative stabilisation, differentiation

What is Schneider's foundation?

contact between English and local languages = established (colonized community using English as language of colonial power)

What is exonormative stabilisation?

awareness of colonial power, emergence of orientation toward model of this power, looking toward external model/norms

What is Nativisation?

colonized community seeing English being used, aware of norms, acquiring it, localizing to it to shape their needs; lexical borrowing and phonological variation

What is endonormative stabilisation?

endo = internal, = internal norms, establishing own norms as they become stable with time

What is differentiation?

dialects begin to form within variety of English, reflects different group identities; not looking externally for norms

How can linguistic change enter speech communities?

thru any social groups, diff changes associated with diff groups

Who induces language change?

people with highest status in a group, higher prestige and status

True or false, men and women can be innovators in language change

true

In what way do women tend to change language?

prestige and vernacular

In what way do men tend to change language?

more often in vernacular

When does language change progress slowly?

in tight knit communities with little tie to outside world

When are people more likely to adopt a particular form of speech?

when they're exposed to it in person

Where can linguistic change occur?

through social networks and individuals

How is innovation adopted in a speech community?

first adopted by central members of group, then transmitted through multiple different links

True or false, new forms gain prestige from media?

true

Why do grammars merge?

need for easy interaction

What are the 2 basic functions language serves?

referential/information, social/affective

What happens when listeners listen to a speaker?

listeners link linguistic features of their speech to social stereotypes associated with said features

What can linguistic features index?

identity categories like age, membership of speech community, and identity related to local norms

Give an example of covert prestige

someone is viewed as "cool" because they're using a new variety of English

What is a stance?

indicator of speaker's position related to what they're saying, their evaluation of things/events, attitudes toward them, and credible they think something is

What is indexicality?

analysing process of social identity construction, a crucial factor in how identity is constructed through language; associations we make with linguistic features when we hear it

What constructs identity?

interpretation by interlocutor about how someone speaks and interacts

How can negative identity construction occur?

when language/attitude/stance are miscommunicated

What does context dramatically influence?

a form of an utterance

What is an example of context influencing speech?

the phrase "where were you?" said by a friend/teacher/judge

When do people use more standard forms? Vernacular?

Standard: people you don't know well Vernacular: friends, family, etc.

What is crucial in determining appropriate speech style?

relationship to addressee

What are the factors of determining degree of social distance/solidarity between people?

relative age, gender, social roles, etc.

What is audience design?

influence of addressee or audience on speaker's style

What is accommodation theory?

process of people's speech converging toward speech of who they're speaking with

When can speech accommodation happen?

when speakers like each other/desire to please or put the other at ease

What is speech convergence?

converging toward speech of another person

Can speech convergence include codes/languages?

yes, can occur by choosing another shared code or language to benefit someone who doesn't understand your jargon, etc.

What is speech divergence?

diverging from speech style or language of person addressing you, like not wanting to accommodate someone's speech

Whats an example of speech divergence?

minority ethnic groups wanting to maintain cultural distinctiveness by using their own linguistic varieties in interaction with majority group members

Example of accent divergence?

working class men in NZ speaking to uni students working with them in the summer using vernacular/explicit language

What is referee design?

when a 3rd party is referred to when tho they're not present, like imitating a teacher to amuse friends

Why did books before the printing press have variation?

high variation of spelling because people writing them would draw on how they personally pronounced words in order to spell

When was English spelling standardized?

15th C., invention of printing press

True or false English spelling has been adapted since the 15th C.

false, it hasn't been updates since

Is language permanent?

no, no language is static. Its constantly being shaped/molded by generations of users

Why did PV [r] get dropped in England?

viewed as less prestigious, simplu because of social value associated with it

What happened to PV [r] in US?

opposite of England dropping it, they began including it because they considered it prestigious

What happens to non prestigious forms in vernacular spread?

they gain covert prestige, become more popular and distinguish people when they adopt it

Is language change predictable?

no

Is covert prestige the norm?

no, not standard, but powerful enough that people want to adopt it

What is a koine?

a new variety coming from merging different varieties into one

Where do most features of koine come from?

larger group dialect/variety

What is simplification in koineisation?

drawing off diff codes of everyone in a community