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How Language Spreads Theories (The wave model - Bailey (Suggests that…
How Language Spreads Theories
S-curve Model - Chen
Claims there are three stages to the process
1) Initiation - when it was introduced
2) Expansion - more people start to use it
3) Termination - rate of the growth stops as everyone uses it, however there are a residue of the population who refuse to use it.
F.E - the past tense form of'dive' has two versions - 'dove' and 'dived'. The new generation will choose which version to use , they will likely use 'dived' as it is commonly used by the younger generation. They will later unconsciously favor a form which fits with their linguistic preference.
The wave model - Bailey
Suggests that distance (geog/social/temporal) have an effect on language change. If a group is close to the epicenter of the change they will be most affected.
F.E - if an innovation takes place within black teens in London it is likely to affect white or Asian teens in London and not a middle aged person in Glasgow.
Example = the use of 'swerve' for avoid started in Liverpool in 1994 and has spread to Scotland and Birmingham
Trudgill disagreed saying lang change spreads through big populations such as cites and towns and avoids small populated places such as villages. This can seen as in North Yorkshire some people still say ''thou''
Labov's Social Bonding Theory
Change is spread through social groups. A small group would pronounce a word differently and sometimes it becomes a social or cultural identity. People who wish to be part of this then adopt the pronunciation. Give time other similar words would be pronounced the same. This can also explain grammatical and lexical changes
F.E - 'a:ks' is spoken by black Londoners and has spread to some of the Asian and Turkish population as it is not white mainstream.
Standardisation
It creates the most prestigious variety of that language. This is because it creates rules, taking away choices
Was apart of the creation of early modern English
F.E - in middle English they had few fixed rules,. e.g = the word for egg could have been 'eggys' or 'eyren' just by being 30 miles apart.
The introduction of the press encouraged standardisation
Late 1600s - radical change in the English lang
Underwent a massive lexical expansion. Borrowing words from Greek and Latin
The grammar and syntax shifted from what it used to be. Meaning many cases died out and rigid syntax structure was the way of identifying whether something was an object or subject
Pronunciation became to change - such as the 'ed' inflection became unstressed.
Process of standardisation
Selection = the east midland dialect was chosen 2. Elaboration = this dialect was used in a range of functions with prestige connotations.
Codification the rules of spelling, definitions of words and agreed norms around grammar were written down.
Implementation = academics and writers use these variety.
An example of codification is:
Johnson Dictionary in 1755
Lowths Grammar in 1762 - stated 'thou' should no longer be used and 'will' and 'shall' should be differentiated.