Metaphors for Language Change
English is like a container
English is like a sponge
English is like a currency
English is like a weapon
English is like a spiderweb
English is like a piece of clay
English is like a forest fire
English is like a magpie
If you put too much in the container, things will start to spill out. There is only so much space in the container. Once its full there is no more room for anything else.Much like a container the items inside can be changed - words can be removed for other ones. Prescriptivists try to contain the language as if putting a lid on to stop anything being changed and try to preserve it.It confines everyone who uses the language to share the one container and there is not enough room for all the language that people want to use.
Prescriptivists hold the belief that English should have a set of rules, making it like a container as they want to preserve the state of the language, in the same way it is done in France with the Académie Française. The lid of the container is a metaphor for the way that prescriptivists want to both preserve the state of the language and also to stop any additions to the language that may spoil it. The limited amount of space within a container also could mean that with a “lid” there can only be so many variations and change to the language, however, without such lid, there would be space for language to overflow with variation, something which many believe is happening today.
David Crystal's functional theory links here as opposition.
This metaphor reflects the idea that English absorbs features from other languages and new features in the way that a sponge absorbs liquids. For example, Anna Lenhult found in her research that borrowings of other languages make up 83% of English. This demonstrates the idea that English inhabits features it comes into contact with, much like a sponge with water.
The substratum theory, which is believed to have been coined by Italian linguist Graziadio Isaia, suggests that an incoming language will alter or be altered by the native language. This is supported by Anna Lenhult’s research into the large percentage of borrowings currently used in English, like cafe (French) and regal (Latin).
Over time English speakers have breached lexical gaps with new words rather than using borrowings. This also metaphor conveys the idea that once the sponge has mostly dried out, the sponge still remains damp. This can be used specifically to discuss the idea that dead languages like latin still have influences on our languages even when they are deemed obsolete. For example, the Latin adjective bonus has been transformed into an English noun. However, the image of a dry sponge suggests that English will fall out of use unless it is developed to fit with modern society. In this metaphor, pouring more water onto the sponge. The water is representative of change and if the water stops, the sponge will become dry.
David Crystal believes that all living languages have to change and that they will. If the only languages that do not change are dead ones, it means the water is a constant influx. Expressions which fall under this metaphor would be things such as colloquialisms and slang terms. Namely things like “wap” from technology rather than regional varieties.
How Americanisms are killing the English language - BBC
An article from the BBC that talked about a book that was released in 2017 which claimed that Americanisms will completely absorb the English language by 2120.
Proceeds to talk about how in 1935 Alistair Cook declared that ‘Every Englishman uses 30 or 40 Americanisms a day’ and this has risen to close to three or four hundred in 2017. Believed to be dangerous for teenagers.
English is like a currency as according to Caitlin Veitch, language is always evolving and being molded to our particular circle of friends, our community, industry, region, country and place in history. Money mirrors these factors.
Pierre Bourdieu describes linguistic capital as the accumulation of a single person’s linguistic skills that predetermines their position in society. Today, this term describes the way that an individual’s linguistic skills can be converted into money highlighting the fact that English is like a currency as possessing certain linguistic skills, like knowing the native language to a country that you are in, can open many doors, much like if you have that country's currency with you, you are going to be able to do a wider variety of activities then you would with only your country's currency.
English is like a currency as Suma Nagaraj found that whilst in her etymology of language class, they were instructed to read a poem in a language unknown to them and they had to try and decipher it phonetically and they had to build a world around that poem through what they could roughly translate. Obviously, there were varying degrees of success amongst the class but it highlights the fact that despite the members of the class being from different backgrounds and cultures, the currency of communication is what shaped society and civilisation. Therefore, just like currency, language connects us together, even if we don’t share a common language, any attempt to deconstruct my language is the human attempt of trying to make sense of the world.
Could mean that the more lexical knowledge a person has makes them “richer” than people who lack this knowledge similar to people who have more or less money.
English can destroy other languages due to its overwhelming power it has in society as being the most spoken language in the world for both native and non-native speakers.
6,000 languages in the world and David Crystal said about half are going to die out during the next century which means that, on average, there is a language dying out every two weeks. This can be seen in Rwanda in 2008 as it switched its education system from French to English, having already made English an official language in 14 years earlier.
‘invades’ other languages/varieties and ‘takes over’, acting as a weapon that destroys them. For example, due to colonisation India has the biggest English-speaking population in the world, to the point that English is their first language. The English language has been used to exert power in the past, particularly at the time of the British Empire.
The spider on the web is the English speakers, we create the language, we add on to the language, just as a spider adds to their web to make it larger.
As it becomes larger it consequently becomes stronger. Proof of English language being strong can be how global it has become, of today English has 1.27 billion speakers, that is English as either their native or second language and in the above article it states that English has the most power at 0.889/1, second place to English was Mandarin with a power score of 0.411.
India is now the largest English speaking country outside of countries where English is the official language. This is comparable to the links on a spiders web as it shows how English has ties to a multitude of countries.
The metaphor conveys the idea that English is solid as when clay is dry it is hard. This could link to prescriptivism as everything is preserved as English Language stays the same. English Language evolves and changes overtime and may never die out completely because there are too many factors which influence it, such as new jargon terms.
Americanisms because of the media and american TV shows with their American terms such as ‘movies’ have became known worldwide. Over time English has borrowed from other languages. This could link to when clay is wet it is sticky, which could relate to the fact borrowings are stuck in English Language as they are added to your idiolect
English spread rapidly across the world however, it spread quickly and without the choice of the non-native speaker. The connotations of a forest fire are usually uncontrollable and very rapid.
During the 16th century there was around 4 million English speakers compared to today’s 840 million. There has been a huge increase in English speakers spread across the world.
A staggering 29% of words we use today in our Modern English is from the Latin and French, 26% are from the Germanic language and other smaller percentages from many other countries' languages.
James D Nicoll said, “We don’t just borrow words, on occasion, English has pursued other languages”. It can be easily said that the english language has gone further than borrowing, because when you borrow something you have an intention to return it.