theories of language change

language change occurs due to:

-efficiency

-functional theory

-6 pillars.

Random fluctuation theory

Hockett 1958- random deviation:

-language change occurs due to random events, rather than systematic processes.

-one primary cause is errors or miscommunication, leads to new forms, which then become socially accpetable. e.g. ‘could of’.

-social networks.- infleunce of social media has increased-more quickly.

-infectious disease- prestige, fitting in.

Paul postal 1968 change is random

“‘non functional’ stylistic change'“.

change is unpredictable, random, illogical.

-highlights how language is adopted and used for specific purposes, such as social media and trends-technology- slang.

eval: theory lacks long term predictive power.

Aitchison 2013:

discounts both these theories.

-if sounds were as random as Hockett and Postal theorise, language would soon end up in chaos.”

2012 Aitchison: lexical diffusion

explains the process of change in the increased use of linguistic form throughout an area over a period.

-potential

-implementation

-diffusion

-codification.

e.g. doomscrolling→ compounding.

ragebait→ verb/noun. -compounding.

situationship→ blended term- social media.

Aitchison’s metaphors

-damp spoon

-infectious disease

-crumbling castle.

Deutscher 2005:

-economy

-expressiveness

-analogy.

John Mcwhorter 2016

“language is for communicating, this simple fact bars words drifting in an incoherant way that would impede understanding.”

Wave model of language change: Bailey’s wave model.

old model 19C- eval.

uses metaphor of a ripple effect. changes spread out uniformly from a central point.

e.g. MLE spread quickly in London but took longer to diffuse further from this.

Trudgill’s challenge of Wave model:

-He believes that change comes from big cities, is passed to big towns and then to smaller towns, missing out country dwellings.

-He believes that the core case study of this is Yorkshire, where the archaic ‘thee’ and ‘thou’ are still in use in place of ‘you’.

Chen’s S-curve model

shows that change takes time.

-Uptake

• At point 1 – the change is made and there is some uptake (usually spreads through a social group).

• At point 2 – more people are using it, but this is still limited to a geographical region or group.

Resistance

• At point 3 – many more people know it now.

• At point 4 – the change has reached as many people as it can. - Note that no change can ever reach 100% uptake, because people resist change, particularly older people.

e.g. ‘LOL’-originally teens texting, spread to teenagers using globally- other ages using it.

-For example, MLE has started to have an effective change on the country due to it spreading outside of London to places as far as Manchester (as detailed in research from Drummond).

Eval for Chen’s s-curve model:

• However, Chen’s model also states that no change made can ever be 100% effective, as there will always be some people who resist change or who don’t adopt changes.

• As a result, many changes may be ‘long-term’, but aren’t necessarily effective or vice-versa.

  • For example, it is unlikely that ‘lol’ will still be being used in 50 years.

not effectively used in long-term- e.g. political correctness. e.g slurs.

Substratum thoery

language change through contact, where a less dominant language will influence a more dominant language. (during colonisation, trade, immigration).

-chance influence of foreign elements in language.

-incorrect forms naturalised. ‘should of’.

-aitchison argues that hypercorrection can take place.