Please enable JavaScript.

Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.

Language change (Timeline (Webster's American English ~ 1832…

- - - - Words could be spelt in several ways
        
        But sound the same
        
        E.g. 'Knight' --> 'knyght', 'knyht', 'cniht'
        
        Pre-standardisation
    - - ð (eth)
        ȝ (yogh)
        þ (thorn)
        ƿ (wynn)
  - - - Used in administration and law
    - - Replaced with prepositions
        
        = by, with etc
    - - E.g. 'th' replaced þ (thorn)
  - - - E.g. sit --> seat
        
        A short vowel has become a long vowel
      - E.g. hoose --> house
        
        A long vowel has become a dipthong
        
        = combination of two vowels
      - E.g.boat --> boot
        
        A dipthong becomes long vowel
  - - - A gradual acceptance of standard form of English
      - Was fairly irregular w/ his own spelling
        
        Using both 'boke' and 'booke'
      - Made necessary by the increasing dissemination of printed materials
      - Took time to become efficient
        
        Those working at printing press were Flemish
        
        Misread 'þe' ('the') as 'ye'
        
        Access to a printing press was only for the prestige
    - - Used at the beginning of words and medially
  - - - Borrow words from other languages
        
        Imaginary (Latin) [adjective]
        Sky (Scandinavian) [noun]
        Guard (French) [noun]
        Cargo (Spanish) [noun]
        Banana (Portuguese) [noun]
    - - Return to English from French
    - - Affects spelling rules
      - Writers creating their own words
        
        E.g. Shakespeare = 'blushing' [verb]
  - - - Through semantics and grammar
    - - Vagueness
        
        He was anxious about the 'poverty of conversation'
      - Shortened words
        
        E.g. mob
        
        Short for 'mobile vulgus'
        
        Latin for 'fickle crowd'
      - Unnecessary contractions
        
        E.g. disturb'd
        
        Poets to blame
        
        So ideas could fit verse lines
      - Unnecessary polysyllabic words
        
        Which made meaning unclear
      - Words invented by some 'pretty fellow'
        
        E.g. banter, shuffling
        
        Claimed either had
        
        Unknown etymologies
        
        Undergone semantic shift
        
        Claimed these words were mere 'fashion'
        
        Therefore, likely to fall out of use
  - - - Rather than to form it
      - "no dictionary of a living tongue can ever be perfect since while it is hastening to publication, some words are budding, and some falling away" -Johnson
        
        Lang is constantly changing
    - - E.g. Tarantula = An insect whose bite is only cured by musick
  - - - Criticised
        
        Steven Pinker (1994)
        
        "Forcing modern speakers of English... not to split an infinitive because it isn't done in Latin makes about as much sense as forcing modern residents of England to wear laurels and togas."
    - - Pronoun 'thou' should no longer be used
      - Should be differentiation between modal verbs
        
        'Will' = promise/threat
        
        'Shall' = to fortell
      - There should be differentiation among 'who' and 'which', or 'that'
      - Prepositions should be "before the noun to which they are applied"
      - The infinitive verb should not be split
      - Multiple negation and multiple comparison is illogical
  - - - Suffixes
        
        E.g. '-our'' --> '-or' (color)
        '-re' --> '-er' (center)
        '-ise' --> '-ize' (theorize)
      - Individual words
        
        E.g. 'plough' --> 'plow'
    - - Fears amongst pvists that American orthography would replace the English equivalent
  - - - David Crystal
        
        High value for consonants
        Less for punctuation
        
        To achieve time saving
      - Lexical variations
        
        Vowel ommision
        
        E.g. 'pls' (please)
        'ppl' (people)
        
        = leaving out vowel sounds
        
        Homophonic representation
        
        = use of single letters and numbers to represent words based on similarity in sound
        
        E.g. '2l8' (too late)
        M8 (mate)
        
        Phonetic spelling
        
        = a spelling that represents the sound of a word as opposed to its conventional spelling
        
        E.g. 'omigod' (oh my god)
        'cos' (because)
        
        Initialism
        
        = an abbreviation that uses the first letters of a group of words and is pronounced as individual letters
        
        E.g. LMK (let me know)
        brb (be right back)
        
        Acronym
        
        = abbreviating a group of words and is pronounced as a single word
        
        E.g. lol (laugh out loud)
        sal (such a laugh)
        
        Variant spelling
        
        = deliberately using non-standard spelling for effect
        
        E.g. wot (what)
        cuz (because)
    - - Social groups becoming important
      - Slang
        
        E.g. bare (lots of) [adjective]
    - - Canonical sequence
        
        =opening process of telephone conversation
        
        1) Summons / Answer
        
        A sequence that opens the channel of communication
        
        2) Identification / Recognition
        
        Sequence in which the speakers identify themselves to each other
        
        3) Greeting sequence
        
        A series of turns designed to initiate a shared social space
        
        4) 'How are you' sequences
        
        Example of phatic talk that maintain the social relationship before the main business of the telephone call commences
- - - - What lang is like
      - Grammarians focus on how all sorts of ppl communicate
        
        In all sorts of envir.
        
        Usually more casual, e/day settings
    - - What lang should be like
      - Grammarians focus on the grammatical rules and structures predetermined by
        
        Linguistic features
        
        Figures of power
        
        For those who are under control of said authority to use
    - - 'Fewer than' vs 'less than'
        
        Dvist = both correct
        
        As long as the receiver of the message can understand the meaning behind the statement
        
        Pvist = more critical
        
        Analyse the rules and conventions behind statements made
        
        Determine which statement is correct
        
        According to rules
    - - Majority of public school teachers tend to be pvist
  - - - A dvist
      - Criticises the ill-founded intellectual snobbery of the pvist movement
      - The Crumbling Castle
        
        Myth suggests that English was once a great castle
        
        But over time has decayed and crumbled into the sea
        
        Aitchinson states this is false
        
        Bc the desc. of English as a 'once fine lang' is particularly inaccurate
        
        As lang is constantly moving
        
        1 more item...
      - The Damp Spoon
        
        Myth suggest that 'bad English' sticks to ppl who are lazy and passive
        
        The laziness is reflected by ppl that put the damp spoon into the sugar bowl
        
        Aitchinson states that "the only lazy speech is drunken speech"
        
        E.g. speaking quickly is not a sign of laziness
      - Infectious Disease
        
        Myth suggests that 'bad English' is like a horrible disease
        
        Like herpes
        
        That spreads from person to person
        
        We have no control or vaccine
        
        Aitchinson suggests that the idea that changes are 'caught' and 'spread' is technically correct
        
        But it is no disease
        
        1 more item...
      - David Crystal (2000) <3
        
        Shares the same perspective as Aitchinson
        
        He created his own Tide Metaphor to explain lang change
        
        Suggests lang is like a tide
        
        Ebbs and flows
        
        Brings in new words, taking out others
        
        In a natural progressive way
        
        Claims these changes are not for the worse, or for the better
        
        "Just changes"
  - - - 'disadvantage' a young person if they 'misuse words or mangle' what they are trying to say
    - - E.g. dilemma must be between two outcomes
      - E.g. interject is not a synonym for 'interrupt'
        
        Simply means to insert s/thing into convo
  - - - However, Jane Austen was educated using Lowth's grammar and had errors in her publications
        
        E.g. 'And much was ate' - issue w/ irregular verbs
        'The richest of the two' - issue w/ the comparative
    - - Compulsory education for 5-12 y/o's
    - - Maintain emphasis on 'written accuracy' & 'sentence variation"
  - - - Correct or incorrect
      - Pleasant or ugly
      - Socially (un-) / acceptable
      - Morally (un-) / acceptable
      - Appropriate or inappropriate in their contexts
      - Useful to us or useless
    - - Grammar 'rules' have been changed and redefined by grammarians
        
        Still subject to change
        
        So no notions of 'correctness' are in fact not fixed
        
        Terms that were deemed 'correct' - not necessarily 'correct' now
      - Notions of acceptability are also prone to change
        
        Based on changing social attitudes and expectations
        
        Words that are considered 'unacceptable' now in a politically correct society
        
        Have not always been regarded unfavourably
        
        [Euphemism Treadmill]
      - Notions of 'pleasantness' or 'ugliness' are rarely based on linguistic evidence
        
        But on personal preference
        
        Some might find neologisms such as 'phablet' unpleasant, or double superlatives ugly
        
        But there is no linguistic reason for this
- - - - W/ repeated usage, the change enters the language w/o comment
        
        As users are consciously unaware of it
  - - - From the time of the Norman Conquest
        
        England followed a strictly feudal system
        
        Feudalism began to decline from late 15th Century
        
        But clear divisions of class remained
    - - Increased urbanisation
      - Emergence of new m/c
        
        Conscious of their lang
        
        Many dictionaries, pronunciation guidelines and grammar guides published during 18+19th Century
        
        Advising members of this new social group of 'correct' lang use
      - The Elementary Education Act (1870)
        
        Providing compulsory education for all children 5-11 y/o
        
        Thus literacy greatly improved
    - - 20th century saw 2 WorldWars
        
        Both exposed lang to contact countries from around the world
        
        Including America
        
        Colonial and post-colonial countries
        
        Such as Australia, Canada, India
        
        Post-war affluence has lead to a rise in travel
        
        Increasing contact w/ other cultures and experiences
        
        Resulting in extensive borrowing
      - Rise in technology
        
        Communication on a global scale
    - - Prior to this, children left school at 14 --> trade
      - Rise of young culture saw a soc group that was open to change and linguistic creativity
        
        Y ppl now often seen as innovators of language use
    - - Loss of 'thou' and 'thee'
        
        Retain only 'you'
        
        Many languages have retained this polite and more informal 2nd person pronoun use
        
        E.g. Spanish and French
        
        Significant marker of increased politeness
        
        Taken this further by sometimes avoiding 'you' altogether
        
        Ensure we don't cause offence
      - Increased euphemism use
      - Politically correct terms
    - - Norman Fairclough
        
        Lang has seen as restructuring of the boundaries between
        
        Public and private order discourse
        
        Speech and writing
        
        Which have lead to a more colloquial style of lang use
  - - - Assimilation
        
        =sounds that are adjacent to each other 'become similar', w/ one sound moving towards the other to make pronunciation simpler
        
        Between words
        
        Usually temporary
        
        'ten pounds' --> 'tempounds'
        
        'n' --> 'm'
        
        'tem' is unlikely to stay as the new term
        
        As this pattern is not common in other situations
        
        W/in words
        
        More widely used
        
        'handbag' --> 'hambag'
      - Omission
        
        =when speaking as speed, some sounds w/in a group of sounds might be left out
        
        E.g. "George bang[ed] the drum hard as he march[ed] through the town"
        
        Past tense markers might be omitted in normal colloquial speech
        
        Not simply 'lazy' or 'sloppy' lang use
        
        A way of making lang more fluent and flow more clearly
        
        We have a tendency to even out difficult sounds in this way
        
        Some omissions are barely noticed
        
        We accept the omitted 't' in whistle and thistle w/o question
        
        This pattern can be seen if we examine phonetic and orthographic patterns diachronically
        
        Some words in Old English are similar to present-day English
        
        But the spelling indicates patterns of omission over time
    - - Internal aspects of lang change often affect 'weak' points in the lang
      - Anomalies and inconsistencies are smoothed out
        
        Most plurals end w/ -s
        
        Older nouns have lost older endings
        
        So that they are more regularised
        
        E.g. 'shoes' <-- 'shooen'
        
        Older forms of past tense verbs are increasingly being replaced
        
        By more regularised verb endings
        
        E.g. to sneak
        
        'snuck' is less frequently used than 'sneaked'
        
        Newer verbs have regularised endings
        
        E.g. to google --> 'googled'
- - - - E.g. technology --> 'virus'
    - - Use it w/ a new slang meaning
    - - E.g. 'man-made' --> 'artificial'
      - Steven Pinker (1994)
        
        The Euphemism Treadmill
        
        =ppl invent new words to politely refer to distasteful concepts, but the new word then acquires -ive connotations from the old
        
        E.g. racial terms in USA
        
        'colored ppl' --> 'ppl of color' --> 'Afro-American' --> 'African-American' --> 'Negro' --> 'black'
        
        Each stage becomes the criticisms of the last
        
        'black' may eventually become offensive
        
        Becomes the connotations of the previous word
        
        Leads to change
        
        Pinker questions why we feel the need to label ppl in the first place
        
        Inherently aware of race
        
        Uncomfortable w/ original concept
        
        Pinker's opinion of PC
        
        Merely masks the problem
        
        The concept is distasteful
        
        Fashionable
        
        Generations that aren't 'up-to-date' are accused of prejudice / racism
        
        Challenges Sapir-Whorf's linguistic relativity hypothesis
        
        Lang does not control thought
        
        Telling a sexist joke does not make you become sexist
        
        Euphemisms don't stop indiv thinking prejudice / critical thoughts
        
        Can still be racist and use the word 'black'
        
        1 more item...
  - - - The meaning of a word broadens
      - Retains its old meaning
        
        Also takes on added meanings
      - E.g. holiday
        
        Originally from 'holy-day'
        
        In the past, ppl were often only permitted a day off during days of religious importance
      - E.g. place
        
        Originally referred to a broad street
        
        Now refers to any area
    - - Opposite of broadening
      - Word becomes more specific in meaning
      - E.g. meat
        
        Old English 'mete' = food in general
        
        Now refers to a specific type of food
      - E.g. wife
        
        Used to refer to all women
        
        Not necessarily those who were married
    - - Over time a word acquires a more pleasant or more +ive meaning
      - E.g. pretty
        
        Used to mean sly / cunning
      - E.g. brave
        
        Used to mean wild/savage
      - E.g. terribly
        
        Used to mean dreadfully
        
        Now used as an intensifier
    - - The loss or reduction of the force of meaning in a word
      - E.g. thing
        
        In Old English this referred to a meeting or assembly
        
        Now = an unspecified object or a/thing
      - Shit
        
        Along with it's literal meaning
        
        Not uncommon for ppl to use expressions such as
        
        'Getting my shit together'
        
        Weakened to mean 'stuff'
        
        Is not broadening
        
        'Getting my ___ together'
        
        1 more item...
    - - Words acquire additional meanings
      - Physical ideas are extended to abstract ideas w/ similar qualities
        
        Allowing abstract ideas to be more clearly understood
      - E.g. grasp
        
        =To grasp an idea
        
        = to physically grasp s/thing
      - E.g. high
        
        = physical height
        
        Or to get high
    - - The creation of polite, but roundabout, expressions for things that may be considered unpleasant
      - E.g. collateral damage
        
        Military action that results in the unintentional death of civilians
      - E.g. friendly fire
        
        When gunfire is directed at your allies rather than enemies
      - E.g. downsizing
        
        Often used to refer to making ppl's jobs redundant
    - - Words acquire many possible meanings
        
        Co-exist w/ original
      - E.g. good
        
        A good person vs a good piece of work
      - E.g. foot
        
        When he got to the foot of the hill, he stumbled a foot - twisting his foot
  - - - 'Trouser' from French 'pantalon'
        
        BE: 'underwear
        
        AE: retained meaning
- - - - Lang of internet is English
    - - English necessary for international communication
    - - English --> India, Caribbean, Africa + Far East
  - - - Inner circle
        
        English as L1
        
        UK / USA / Australia
        
        Standard norm
        
        Variations are compared to inner circle
        
        Example: Canadian English
        
        Spelling
        
        Maintain '-our' endings
        Double consonants when adding a suffix
        
        Use '-ize' spelling from AE
        
        Fusion of B/AE
        
        Phonology
        
        Largely American in pronunciation
        
        Distinctive vowel sounds
        
        E.g. 'about' = 'aboot'
        
        Lexis
        
        Largely AE vocab
        
        Some specific Canadian terms
        
        E.g. 'bathroom' = 'washroom'
        
        Grammar
        
        V few specifically Canadian patterns
        
        Tendency to use the American past tense of verbs
        
        E.g. 'sneaked' = 'snuck'
      - Outer circle
        
        English as L2
        
        India / Singapore / Ghana
        
        Some variation from the norm
        
        Errors or local dialect features
        
        Example : Indian English
        
        Spelling
        
        No distinct features
        
        Phonology
        
        Syllable-timed
        
        Rather than stress-timed
        
        Little phonological distinction between 'w' / 'b' / 'v'
        
        Lexis
        
        Borrowing from India
        
        E.g. 'achaa' = good / yes
        
        Grammar
        
        Progressive present used w/ stative verbs
        
        E.g. "I am knowing"
        
        "No" often used as a tag
      - Expanding circle
        
        English as ELF
        
        Practical purposes
        
        Business
        Trade
        Travel
        
        Rather than for cultural intergration
        
        Used by speakers of diff langs to communicate
        
        Form of accommodation
        
        Jenkins (2006)
        
        Key features typical of ELF
        
        Dropping 3rd person present tense '-s'
        
        E.g. 'he take my book'
        
        Omission of definite and indefinite articles
        
        Or inserting them where they are not usually used
        
        Definite article = the
        Indefinite article = a
        
        E.g. 'this is nightmare'
        
        Is functional
        
        Not standardised or accurate
        
        Code-switching
        
        Use of local dialect features
        
        Inserting redundant prepositions
        
        Overdoing explicitness
        
        E.g. 'black colour' instead of 'black'
      - Created before the rise of the internet
- - - - But we understand the meaning
        
        Clause follows a clear subject-verb-object pattern
  - - - Abstract noun --> verb
    - - Adjective --> adverb
    - - Noun --> verb
  - - - Charles Dickens, David Copperfield
    - - Shakespeare, The Tempest
- - - - For
        
        Avoid confusion over whether the apostrophe should be used
        
        Monarchy no longer owns the area
        
        So no longer needs the apostrophe
        
        Mullaney
        
        Birmingham has quietly been phasing out apostrophes since 1950s
        
        Plain English Society & Plain Language Commision
        
        State there is no rule in Britain for possessive apostrophe in place names
      - Against
        
        Is simply a method of avoiding the debate
        
        It is an example of 'dumbing down'
        
        Opposes school teaching for correct grammar and punctuation
        
        Sets up precedence
        
        Changes to other punctuation
        
        Apostrophe Protection Society
        
        Would cause 'utter chaos'