Why Does Language Change?

Factors that makes language change:

External Factors-Cultural changes/technological innovations/social conventions

Changing Social Ideas-LGBT to replace terms that could be seen as derogative

Cultural Changes-Losing the words original significance 'Guy' to mean any man replacing the word 'fellow'

Internal Factors-Can effect semantic change for example an actual virus can be likened to a computer virus

Simon Heffer language article:
https://elevate.cambridge.org/elevate/Reader/viewer.aspx#book/151/Ch16_04/pos_48.357478065700874
What processes of change does Heffer make reference to in some of his examples?

'Rubbish' becoming an adjective i.e. 'a rubbish football team'/'a rubbish film' and he goes onto say that this isn't needed as the English Language has multiple way sin describing something which is of low quality or inadequacy

In this article, Heffer adopts a strongly prescriptivist stance. What words or phrases does he use to illustrate his opinions?
(SEE LINK)

What other attitude towards language change can be identified?
(SEE LINK)

Language Change Notes

Language Timeline:

• Old English-5th Century
• Middle English-11th Century
• Early Modern English-15th Century
• Modern English-18th Century
• Present Day English-20th Century

https://elevate.cambridge.org/elevate/Reader/viewer.aspx#book/151/Ch16_02

Lexical Change:
Links to the creation and disappearance of words in language.
Lexical change is frequent and noticeable

Neologism-New words i.e. selfie and unfriend

Borrowing-Where a language 'borrows' a word from another language i.e. yoghurt(Turkish) Ukulele(Hawaiian)

Compounding-Combining two words to create one new word i.e. smartphone and stir-fry

Clipping-Shortening a word i.e. omnibus>bus and perambulator>pram

Blending-Similar to compounding however words are combined to make a new word i.e. motor+pedal=moped and spoon+fork=spork

Acronyms-Takes the first letter of a series of word to make one word i.e. NATO and AIDS

Initialisms-Similar to acronyms however pronounced as separate letters i.e. BBC and OMG

Descriptivist-Someone who welcomes language change and is not opposed to it i.e.David Crystal

Prescriptivist-Someone who doesn't welcome language change and is opposed to it i.e. John Humphries.

Do not confuse lexical change for semantical change as lexical change is a new form of language whereas semantical change is where words take on new and different meanings.

Textisms Then and Now

What are Textisms?

Textisms are words or abbreviations that are commonly used in texting.

Popular examples of modern textisms are LOL, LMAO and ROFL.

Some common examples of past textisms are TTFN (ta ta for now) and Swalk (sealed with a loving kiss)

Textisms are a relatively new concept due to the advance of technology however, textisms were also used before the this advance and is totally dependent on the generation in which you’re talking to or analysing.

Textisms Then:

Although platforms such as texting and social media were either not around or as popular as they are now, textisms were still used. 

Although the textisms are still similar on how words are cut and chopped to make them simpler to read and write it depended on the generation of people to show how this happened.

As a common modern textism is ‘LOL’, one that was used in a 50’s radio show was ‘TTFN’ meaning ‘ta ta for now’. This shows that despite the lack of platforms to promote textisms, they were still being used by earlier generations.

What is also different is that they have been used to simplify phrases rather than actions with ‘LOL’ being an action a person may do and ‘TTFN’ being something a person would say rather than do as it is not an action.

Textisms Now:

In modern day language textisms have become very common and not just in texting. Some words or abbreviations have become so popular that some have been entered into the OED. Words such as ‘selfie’ have become so popular due to texting and social media that it is being recognised as part of the modern English language.

Abbreviations such as ‘LOL’ have also been included in the OED but as an ‘interjection used mainly in electronic communication’.

Due to the increase in the amount of people using mobile phones and social media, textisms are becoming more and more popular and can even been seen as easier to type out then standard English

Jean Aitchison Metaphors

Jean Aitchison is a professor in communication and language and has devised three metaphors in which she thinks that language change occurs and if it is a positive or negative thing.

The Infectious Disease Model:
This model looks at how language is changing. She looks at language change happening in terms of people 'catching' it from other then spreading that language 'like a disease'. It continues to change through social contact and people pick it up from others and then apply it to their own speech. This model has a descriptive approach and the language change is not seen as negative.

The Damp Spoon Model:
This model looks at language change being 'distasteful' and 'lazy' and described it as putting a damp spoon into a sugar bowl due to peoples laziness of not finding another spoon to use. An example of this would be dropping an apostrophe and contracting words incorrectly. This model is seen to have a prescriptive approach and is seen as negative due to language being used incorrectly.

The Crumbling Castle Model:
This model treats language as an old beautiful castle and presumes that at some point in time the language was perfect. This model looks at how the language needs to be preserved to prevent more language change from occurring. Overtime, some words or phrases may fall out of use due to those not doing anything to evolve language. This model has prescriptive approach and is seen as negative because of the fact that the language at some point in time was seen as perfect and is now not.