Factors contributing to language change

Social status

Definition: the honor or prestige attached to one's position in society.

Education

Occupation

Income or wealth

Types of social classes of people

The working class

The middle class

The lower class

The upper class

  • Only a few of them finished high school
  • Lack of medical care, homeless ad do not have enough food
    -Also known as the underclass.
  • Minimally educated people who engage in "manual labor"
  • Unskilled workers: cashiers, maid and waitresses
  • Skilled workers: carpenters, plumbers and electricians
  • The lower middle class: Less educated people with lower incomes
  • Ex: small business owners, secretaries and teachers
    -The upper middle class: Highly educated people with high incomes
  • Ex: doctors
  • The lower upper class: People who made money from investments and business ventures
  • The upper-upper class:
    People who have been rich for generations
    -Ex: aristocrats
  • Every social class has a different variety of the English Language
  • It is called socialect: the way a person speaks in a certai group
  • Ex: The London Cockney accent (commonly used in a particular social class)

How social status contributes to language change?

People with most social status tend to introduce changes into a speech community from neighbouring communities

Upper class London speech has prestige in the eyes of many people from outside London
-Ex: "Posh" (accent only spoken by people from outside London)

  • Pip pip (a posh way of saying goodbye)
  • Poppycock (means nonsense)
  • Spiffing (a posh way os saying excellent)

Middle-class people in Norwich who visit London regularly will be influenced with London pronounciations
Ex: The pronounciation of the vowel in top and dog, for instance, has changed in Norwich from [ta:p] and [da:g] to RP [top] and [dog]

  • RP: Received Pronounciations

Reference: p. 222 (Janet Holmes book)

Interaction

Important for providing the channels of linguistic change

  • Ex: isolation affects language change in a speech community
    -Ex: In tightly knit communities that have little connection with the outside world, linguistic change processes most slowly
    -Example: Iceland

Reference: p.226 (Janet Holmes book)

Media affects language change.
-Ex: a whole host words originating from social media have become so commonplace
-Examples:
LOL (Laugh Out Loud)
OMG (Oh My God)
TTYL (Talk To You Later)

  • You may refer to the examples on Janet Holmes book (p.227)