Language Change Notes

What are the main reasons for Language Change?

One of the main reasons for language change is the development in technology, through the use of social networking sites teenagers and adults are able to share new words created in local groups and influence people in other places. Also with Twitter, the character limit is 140 on tweets and so this may influence the use of abbreviated words in order to get the persons point across whilst using a lower amount of characters. Hashtags are also used to sum up things in tweets and perhaps due to teenagers possibly rebelling against older generations they feel the need to create new words for things and use them on social networking sites to talk about subjects without their parents knowing.

Another reason for language change can be the media. Television shows and music videos have the potential to influence a mass audience and spread new words created internationally, so much so these words may be put into the english dictionary. An example of this is with Miley Cyrus who made the word “twerk” famous. Reality shows have also encouraged people to use new words or words in a different meaning, such as “reem” and “mortal”.

What are the ways in which language changes?

English vocabulary has changed through the blending of existing words (e.g., smog from smoke and fog ) and the use of back-formations (e.g., burgle from burglar ), new words are produced tending to have a related meaning. Language may sometimes borrow words from other languages if they do not have a word for a particular thing, such as the Spanish not having a word for stress so they borrowed the English word.

What is the difference between a prescriptive and descriptive attitude to language use?

Prescriptivists enforce a sense of recommended language use, putting forward the idea that language isn’t being used properly by the youth and they aren’t saying things in the correct way (traditional Standard English).

Descriptivists believe language is evolving and there isn’t anything wrong with peoples use of new words or variation in talk.

David Crystal has argued (1997):
"A world of unchanging linguistic excellence... exists only in fantasy."

What did Johnson think were the problems with the dictionary and are these problems still evident in today’s dictionary?

Johnsons problem with the dictionary were that the words that may be entered into the dictionary can be somewhat ambiguous and the origin of words may be hard to infer, and so ultimately choosing which words had the right to be entered into the dictionary was a difficult concept. These problems are still relatively evident now however more diverse words are now being added to the dictionary.

What is a lingua franca and to what extent was is it the English one?

The lingua franca is a language that is spoken commonly, e.g. French latin English. The English language is highly affected by other languages and it has contributed to many of the words today.

 
Overt and Covert:
Overt prestige is a language recognised as being dominant and mostly accepted, e.g. Standard English.Covert prestige is a language that is not widely accepted and may be used in a form of rebelling, these views may influence people to bring out new words to communicate without everyone knowing what they are talking about. Covert May however be chosen to bring a form of purpose, e.g. Call centres may use Geordie speakers on the phone as it is considered a strong and friendly accent these days

Sapir Whorf hypothesis:
The Sapir whorf hypothesis claims that we are affected by the words available in our native language and they have a way of affecting our cognitive processes because of the absence an presence of words in our language heoever they may be different in another language. Standard English uses had affected modern language in places such as interviews for universities, it is regarded by some that it is essential for high standard English use to achieve success in work and education places.


Obsolete words not to use for correct English:
-do not start a sentence with and, but, so or or.
- never end a sentence with a preposition
- never split an infinitive
- use active instead of passive voice


Three examples of neologisms:
Twerk
Yiking
Dench

Gender theories have affected language change as they have gained more equality in society and so have been able to contribrute equally to language change and there may have even been more words invented to insult the opposite sex but in a more acceptable manner or atleast more hidden.