Language Change

Alternative transcript:

language for many years often change their meaning Amelioration = develops positive meaning e.g., 'nice' meant foolish and now means good Pejoration develops negative meaning e.g., 'silly' meant happy and now means foolish = Weakening = word loses strength of meaning e.g., 'soon' meant immediately and now means in a short while Broadening = word that has specific meaning becomes more general over time e.g., 'place' meant broad street and now means any area Narrowing = = word that has a general meaning can develop a narrower meaning e.g., 'meat' meant any food and now means flesh of an animal Political correctness = language that seems intended to give the least amount of offense e.g., saying 'partner' instead of 'girlfriend or boyfriend' Metonymy = a word is replaced by something very close to its original meaning e.g., 'the crown' for 'royalty' Idiom = sayings that do not make sense if you literally interpret the meaning e.g., it is raining cats and dogs Grammatical change: Nouns = capitalised more frequently until 18th century Definite article = used less with certain nouns e.g., the Russians --> Russians Influences: 18th century standardisation, formal and hierarchal society, writing valued as separate from speech 17th century standardisation, changes in class attitudes, universal education 20th century = American English, technology, social levelling, equality, oral language forms, growing informality, entertainment, and leisure industries Syntax used to be more complex: Since 1700 there has been a trend towards sentences being shorter and syntax becoming less complicated Sentences used to contain a lot more subordinate clause • Today's English tends to use simpler punctuation (fewer commas, semicolons etc) therefore making language less formal Auxiliary verbs: • Do, have and be • Increasing use has led to word order being changed 'not' is now placed before the verb rather than after it e.g. 'I do not deny' rather than 'I deny not' Contractions: • Early 18th century poetry used it to make sure words fit the metre of the verse Printers contracted words to make them fit on the line, use of contractions was inconsistent often within the same printed text Proclitic contractions = beginning of words e.g., 'twas Enclitic contractions = end of words e.g., it is • 18th century, Jonathan Swift complained contractions were corrupting English (therefore, went out of fashion) • 20th century contractions become more frequent (leading to present day usage) Double negative = a statement which contains two negative words e.g., 'the pilot cannot find no place to land' • used to be common, 18th century prescriptive grammar books said it was incorrect and then it stopped Function of words change = 'innit' used to be a tag question 'isn't it' but now can mean 'can't we' and the intensifying adverb 'so' is used with 'not' recently 'so not ready' Graphological change: The long S: • Left over from Old English and continued use into Late Modern English • By 1800 long s had been replaced by short s No longer had a phonological function Because of changes to printing the long s was deemed unnecessary Newspaper layout has changed: ● ● Used at the beginning and middle of words Short s used at end of words Black and white No illustration Text was small Magazine layout has changed: Font on top of glossy picture is new overlaid, different font types and colours Presented in strange angles and styles Book layout has changed: Earliest books had two columns per page, large margins for making notes Modern books can show a great deal of variety in terms of layout, typeface, and colour Electronic media has changed the appearance of written ● communication: Can be more creative with graphology No need to think about printing costs Modern day can incorporate animated text and images Can choose style of font depending on purpose Can choose style of font depending on purpose History of English Language: Middle English: 1476 William Caxton established first printing press - rules were needed to enable clear communication • Irregularities in spelling e.g., homophones • Spelling reflects old pronunciation - technology resulted in spelling changes • Producing identical copies meant everyone was reading the same thing written in the same way Difficult for Caxton because different authors used different spellings, so he had to decide what to use. Chose English used by universities & English courts (London) Early Modern English: ● Pronunciation change 1350 - 1600 Middle English long vowels (spelling becoming standardised) ● 18th century science and medicine Classical language Attitudes towards class and social roles 18th century the state of language became a concern (decaying) ● Samuel Johnson "A Dictionary of English Language" in 1755. Laid out rules for spelling and meaning of words creating s standard reference point for all • Johnson left out words that he did not like e.g., bang, badger, fuss & gambler social control • Only middle- and upper-class males had access Prescriptivist's view to register English Dictionaries and grammar books produced telling people how to use English properly became popular 1760 Industrial revolution began ● Late Modern English: 19th century industrialisation, Latin and Greek, increase in standard due to availability of dictionaries and drive for more literate society, expansion of the British Empire led to words being borrowed from other countries, new advances in science and medicine 20th and 21st century = new inventions, social/cultural/political developments, specialist lexis and jargon related to trade/globalisation, international conflict/war, technology transformation, phonology more accurate, slang, American English, consumerism Causes of language change: External change = immigration, invasions, media Internal change = need for simplification and ease of articulation Phonological change = omission (sounds are gradually lost e.g., tune was pronounced tyune now choon) and assimilation (sound in a word is affected by an adjacent sound e.g., samwich for sandwich) Migration, globalisation, and the British empire: When people move, they take language and culture with them • English has become dominant in ex-colonies as the language of and governance • English has borrowed to accommodate new ideas e.g., 'curry,' 'tea' Globalisation increases the influence of American English • English is developing as a world language War and invasion: Norman conquest and German tribes Many synonyms as a result • Creation of new words from modern lexicon of war e.g., 'collateral damage' and 'surgical strikes' Used to make war seem better e.g., 'friendly fire' Trade and new inventions: power New inventions e.g., dishwasher, internet - different origins of these words Surnames linked to previous occupations Science and technology: • 18th 19th century scientific and medical advances - academic prestige of Latin and Greek e.g., biology, centigrade - • Ability to opt to record speech more recently • Neologisms during industrialisation during 18th and 19th century introduced New words and phrases relating to labour e.g., productivity, shift work and clocking-on • Scientific advancement new inventions and brand names e.g., PC, Apple, and email Media: • Neologisms e.g., "print", "internet" and "television". Language is less formal (becoming more like speech) • Contemporary society e.g., "wag," "gonna" • Journalese style e.g., hyperbole and abbreviations • Blogs and social network sites Period 700-1000AD: Invasions 1500-1600AD: Writers 1700-1800AD: British Empire 1900AD: Immigration Speech styles: Influence Scandinavian French Latin Greek Malay Hindi Cantonese . Omission of sounds Assimilation (one phoneme is affected by the one next to it e.g., "dontchu") • Estuary English (glottal stops) Social and cultural changes: Examples Skirt, cog, skip Accompany, tax Prefixes: sub, trans Affixes: auto, pan Amok Shampoo Wok • Changes in attitude to class and social roles • Acceptability of same language use (political correctness) ● Fashion and culture Affects register and grammar Youth socialists and non-standard forms Technological: Reasons for orthographical changes: Phonological: • As the sounds of English changed, the written word needed to accommodate this Our modern silent e rule evolved from old inflectional endings Printing practices in 1800s shaped the presentation of letters in the long s and throughout Late Modern English technological advances We can choose to use no-standard forms depending on the medium e.g., text messaging Standardisation: • Dictionaries and spelling books led to further standardisation • Caxton's printing press (15th century) - rules needed to enable clear communication • Irregularities in spelling e.g., homophones • Spelling reflects old pronunciation - technology has altered in spelling changes Spelling: • Caxton used the full stop, colon, and virgule (slash) • Virgule was replaced by a comma with technological advances Used differently in texting (emoticons) Commas link long clauses (semi-colon also often used) • Speech marks Contractions occur more frequently today Convergence: • Centres on pragmatics and how people adjust their speech behaviour to accommodate others showing their need for approval Divergence: • Adopts exaggerated speech behaviour to distance themselves from other speakers or to reinforce their different identity Changing capitalisation: In Early Modern English capital letters were used on all nouns Used at writer's own digression Theorists: Dennis Freeborn: Incorrectness view = all accents are incorrect compared to standard English and to the accent of received pronunciation • Ugliness view = some accents do not sound nice which is linked to stereotypes and negative social connotations Impreciseness view = some accents are "lazy" e.g., Estuary English where sounds are omitted or changed Jean Atchinson: External sociological factors = social needs, fashion (how fashionable it is to use language), foreign influence Internal sociological factors = gap between language and technology, all language geared towards younger users Possibilities of language change = slowly evolving to a more efficient state, language can neither progress nor decay, slow decay ● Crumbling castle view = language should be preserved however language has never been at a pinnacle (a rigid system is not always better than a changing one) Damp spoon syndrome = language changes because people are lazy (one type of language is inferior to another) Infectious disease assumption = poor/ bad language spreads and we should fight it, but people pick up language changes to fit in with certain social groups She talks about people's views not descriptivist or prescriptivist David Crystal: ● • Descriptivist Global spread of English Language Chinese could overthrow English Must understand words before you can abbreviate = only most literate can manipulate language • Technology added new dimension = texting has a negligible effect on language • Use of abbreviations and initialisms in texting is used to not waste characters Spelling made by people = urban and online dictionaries reflect popular choices • 'Linguistic economy' Peter Trudgill: Positive language change. Descriptivist Changes in meaning do not cause confusion = because newer version of the word has become much more commonly used than the older version therefore no confusion James Milroy: • Descriptivist attitude • Golden Age = possible between 1940-45 education act 1944, Milroy says that rote learning is not the best way to grasp language, children learn to read and write at school but not to speak, where spoken language and written language was 'perfect', he argues there never has been or will be a Golden Age of English, language - because language always changing, 1755 Standardisation (Johnson's dictionary) Prescriptivist attitude: We do not know how to punctuate anymore • Rote learning has resulted in a wider intelligence divide Ferdinand de Saussure: • Language change occurring due to the way that language is always being rearranged and reinterpreted by people Language as a series of signs and meanings with one side of the sign called the signifier and other signified Diachronic and synchronic change Activity 1: Graphology and orthography Spellings have become more regularised since the 18th century because of the growth of standard English and the use of dictionaries. For example, kweene/queen In 1800s, the long s was replaced by the short S. New words have come into English having been borrowed from other languages. For example, sushi and karaoke. Some words have changed meanings. For example, nice. Omission of sounds has changed. Lexis and semantics Phonology Syntax and morphology Text and discourse Activity 2: Technology Migration and movement of people Social change War and conflict Education Activity 3: The invention of the printing press led to the rapid growth of printed materials, helping spread written forms of English around the country. The influence of Caribbean English on different aspects of British English has come about since the 1950s and the arrival of people from the Caribbean in the UK. For example, 'vexed' for 'annoyed'. Political correctness Coinage of modern lexicon Learning new words in lessons Compounding - mic drop, and rage quit Blending - Brexit and manterrupting Initialism/Acronym - FOMO (fear of missing out) and RPG Back-formation - burgle and edit Borrowing - smorgasbord and anime Clipping - fridge and frag Affixation - antifascist and preload Activity 4: Pejoration - cretin (was a medical term, now means stupid) Amelioration - terrific (was fear, now means excellent) Narrowing - deer (was all animals, now one specific animal) Broadening - Kleenex (one type of tissue, now is all tissue) Semantic bleaching - terribly (singing terribly, terribly sorry) Ways in which language changes: Wave model = Bailey, metaphor for change: a drop of water hits a water surface and creates ripples, the closer you are to the ripple, the stronger the ripple, e.g., MLE - it spread rapidly through London but took a while to spread out further than London. S-curve model = Chen, based on the idea that language change can occur at a slow pace creating the initial curve of the 'S' and then increases speed as it becomes more common and accepted into the language, e.g., LOL - teenagers use it globally Substratum theory = Hockett, changes can be made because of interactions with other languages and variations of English, e.g., 'like' - filler became popular from Friends Tide metaphor = David Crystal, a wave washes things up on the shore, and the tide takes things away, sometimes things stay on the beach permanently, other times they get taken away quickly. Random fluctuation theory = Hockett, language change happens by errors, when errors are made, they will be standardised and recognised as synonyms for a word, e.g., phones autocorrect 'f*ck' to 'duck'. Functional theory = Halliday, language change comes from a place of need, e.g., 'Google' - became a verb as well as a noun, 'I will Google it.'