Language change theories

Proto - Indian European theory

The hypothesis that all Indo-European languages descend from a common ancestral language spoken by the Proto-Indo-Europeans.

David Crystal

“There is only one certainty and that is that language will always be changing”

Polarised views to language - MacKinnon

Language is viewed towards extremes

Random fluctuation theory

Language is as unpredictable as fashion and changes due to random social factors and chance events.

Hockett

Believed change to be unpredictable due to chance errors transmitted by contact

Halliday

Language alters as the needs of its users alter and is influenced by social context, culture, and communication demands.

Donald Mackinnon

People tend to have strict ideas about what is correct or incorrect in language use (Prescriptivism)

What are Jean Aitchison’s 3 models for attitudes towards language decay?

• Decay

• Progress

• Inevitability

Jean Aitchison - Decay model

• Damp spoon syndrome (laziness)

• Crumbling castle (language should be preserved)

• Infectious disease (Changes are caught through contact - stems from racism)

Progress approach

The view that language change is a natural and beneficial process, reflecting the evolving needs of its users.

Inevitability approach

The belief that language change is unavoidable and will continue to occur regardless of attempts to resist it, as it is a fundamental aspect of human communication.

What was Otto Jespersen’s view on language change?

Positive - Change is progress where we can express ideas with fewer words.

What is evidence to support the inevitability approach?

The 2024 Welsh Language Education Bill

Viking invasions (787)

Old English + Old Norse

• Principal of economy

• Mutual convergence

• Brokering

Natural linguistic drift

Languages naturally evolve to more streamlined forms over time.

• Regularisation

• Tide metaphor (David Crystal)

David Crystal

“There’s only one certainty and that is that language will always be changing”

Introduction of the printing press

There became a need for standardised spelling and grammar

The Enclosures Act (1700’s)

• Geographical mobility and Urbanisation

• Dialect levelling

The Educations Act (1870)

• Promoted the use of standard English

• Regional dialects seen as improper

What was the 2024 Welsh Language Education Act Bill?

Aims to increase the frequency of Welsh speakers by teaching it at school

What is an example for functional theory?

Doublet and kirtle

Lexical gap theory

• created through necessity

• fit current patterns within language

• Git, get, gut - gap could be gat

Linguistic reflectionism

A persons language reflects their way of thinking

Linguistic determinism

Language can determine thought

Linguistic relativism

Language can affect thought

Haugens process of standardisation

• selection

• codification

• implementation

Wave model - Bailey

Language change starts in one point and spreads outward

What is a challenge to Bailey’s wave model?

• Geographical mobility

• Different social groups

• Language moves at a varied rate

Economy as progress - Jesperson

“Create the greatest amount of meaning with the simplest mechanism”

Linguistic illusions (Zwicky)

• Frequency

• Recency

• Adolescent

Principle of Economy (Martinet)

• Language changes to reduce effort for speakers while maintaining clarity for listeners

• Forms only survive when they are needed

• Redundant forms are dropped - so simplification is observed.