NO - Social networks resist

Can language be regulated?

• No, because regulation would be ineffective as Milroy’s Social Network Theory posits that dense, multiplex, social networks act as a bulwark against imposed norms.

An example of social networks acting as a bulwark?

• Tight-knit communities in Belfast

• They maintained local forms — alveolar /t/, vernacular vowels

• Despite broader institutional pressure favouring standardisation 

Why do social networks resist change?

• Such social networks resist change by conforming to in-group standards enforced by peer pressure in fear of being outcasted.

What theory agrees this argument?

• Wang’s Lexical Diffusion Theory strengthens this argument 

• Posits that innovation spreads lexeme by lexeme

• Shown in the staggered uptake of /u:/ fronting, and in the uneven regularisation of the irregular verbs sneaked vs dove. 

What is T-glottaling’s importance?

• T-glottaling in the UK also spreads gradually through specific phonological and social environments

• First in medial positions (bottle, water)

• Later in ‘city’

• Exhibits bottom-up diffusion

How does Scmidt’s Wave model support this?

• Shows how change radiates outwards through contact patterns rather than institutional decree

Conclusion

• If linguistic norms depend on social uptake, identity, and network density

• Regulatory bodies cannot override the mechanisms that actually determine how and why innovations spread