Question and answers for language change

Language Change questions:

What are the main causes for language change?

Technology, migration, political like wars, trade, work and urbanisation, popular culture, globalisation/travel, religion, gender, science and technology, transport and communication.

What are the ways in which language changes?

Semantic shifts and narrowing, broadening, euphemism and cliché, lexical changes like borrowing, affixation, compounds, blends and jargon, pragmatics of the implication of language become shared knowledge, spellings being irregular, discourse of how the text is laid out in relation to purpose and audience, phonetics like accents, dialect, vowel shift and Estuary English and finally graphology looking at fonts, images, colours and layouts for formality, moods and feelings and how to capture the audience’s attention.

 What are the key influential factors on the development of the English as accessible to all?

The invention of the printing press by William Caxton so therefore a mass audience for texts, Samuel Johnsons OE dictionary,  Prescriptive and descriptive attitudes, the need for Standard English, the increase in the written word, the idea of disintegration  by Robert Burchfield (1978), the invention of the internet and it being able to be quickly updated like news articles.

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

Prescriptive – wants language to stay standard and keep grammar and punctuation the same. It rejects non-standard terms like slang. Language change is seen as decay for language. “ [Prescriptivism is the] policy of describing languages as we would like them to be, rather than as we find them. Typical examples of prescriptivist attitudes are the condemnation of preposition stranding and of the split infinitive and a demand for It's I in place of the normal It's me."

Descriptive – where language changes without a judgement and recognises the importance of a standard and a non-standard form. It is part of how language changes and is worth studying wherever it is used. Supported by David Crystal and him saying: “you can’t go into a garden and say that one flower is better that the other” 

What did Johnson think his problems were with his dictionary? Are these problems still evident in dictionaries today?

The problems with his dictionary is that even though he tried to keep the prescriptive approach is in idea to “fix” the English Language, it couldn’t keep up with the ever changing use of lexis and semantics (the nature of the language itself). Dictionaries defiantly going through the same problems today as language is changing every year. However, they are more accepting of this and try to include as many new words as possible which have become popular and even non-standard like selfie and vape.

 What is a “lingua franca” and to what extent was/is English one?

Definition from the OED: A language that is adopted as a common language between speakers whose native languages are different.

To some extent this is true as the English has many word borrowed from languages around the world like Latin and French, countries that used to belong to the empire, however from the beginning it started as basic anglo-saxon and lots of conquering has developed the English Language ever since. English has a West Germanic language.

What are the prestigious forms of English now?

They are known as covert and overt and are linked to dialects. Overt prestige is when a dialect is widely recognised as being used by a culturally dominated group like RP for England. Covert is when a dialect is used by a culturally known group but is seen as inferior and is used to belong to a community like the idea of “street cred”.

How has politically correct language and the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis influenced modern English usages?

Political Correctness - a term used to describe language, ideas, policies, or behavior seen as seeking to minimize offence to gender, racial, cultural, disabled, aged or other identity groups.

Sapir-Whorf hypothesis - the theory that an individual's thoughts and actions are determined by the language or languages that individual speaks.

These two things are interlinked and are influential because they seem to control language use and if thoughts or actions are negative then they should be corrected. Example: you can’t sing “baa baa black sheep” anymore due to racist connotations. There are some suggested that could be taken too far but in the past you could consider this idea as important for the English language as it helped to improve social progress.

Three examples of obsolete English grammar that you can make a reference to in the exam.

1. "Thou", "thee", "thine" and "thy" - pronouns that have dropped out of the main dialects of Modern English.

2. “Start’d” – contractions to show the past

3. Use of the medial s in words

Find three features of modern punctuation that take advantage of a lessening of prescriptivism.

1.'In order to protect your computer, you should do the following: run a trustworthy anti-virus system such as AVG and keep it updated.' - colon usage

2.The use of multiple '?!' as expression and shock

3. ':-)' use of punctuation to create faces and expression 

Find three neologisms from the past five years.

Oversharers, digital detox and tweet cred

Do an internet search to find an article that interests you on language uses. Find a key quote to memorize. How does that writer communicate their ideas?    
“This is not the first time this has happened in history but certainly the increase in the pace of change has resulted in our language changing equally rapidly, and with it, our thoughts.” – From http://theconversation.com/how-technology-is-changing-language-and-the-way-we-think-about-the-world-35856.The author uses technology as an example for how language has changed over time and affected ho we know language today.

  

 Read at least one chapter from a book from a library about language change; identify how the attitudes expressed in it are a product of when it was written.  
'Language Change' by Adrian Beard. Page 49-51 - Text Messaging. Published in 2004.                                                                                        
Descriptive. - Although gives examples of how it would be prescriptive. Doesn't seem to take sides. 'emoticons are the sketch of imagination, iconic representations of an action or emotion'. There are reasons for the conventions; the limit of words, 60 characters, to be playful and inventive, privacy - silly, sexual, informative. 'ideal for criminals, stalkers and bullies'. When text language is used in a GCSE exam, is it really wrong? Should it be marked as incorrect? If people can understand what is meant, and that’s how people in reality speak, why should it be any different in an exam?

What does gender theory reveal about English use through the ages?  
Stereotypical language use for females has changed e.g lots of adjectives and attributes that make women seem inferior and looked down on by men have been challenged and made women as equal as men. Also, language that women could use has changed. For example in Tudor times women weren’t allowed to use colloquial and offensive terms against men whereas today they can.