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Language change, Syntactic change
this happens more slowly than lexical…
Language change
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Semantic change
Narrowing
this is when a word becomes more specific and specialised over time also known as specialisation or restriction e.g. meat used to mean food in general, now it refers to animal flesh.
Pejoration
this is process in which a word gradually becomes more negative in meaning over time e.g. mistress and spinster used to mean a person who spins thread but now has negative connotations of a woman who is unmarried because she is unwanted or unattractive.
Amelioration
this is the process in which a word gradually imrpoves over time in meaning e.g. queen used to mean a woman but now means a reigning female monarch.
Broadening
this is when a word becomes more general or open compared to it earlier meaning, sometimes known as semantic broadening, expansion or extension. E.g. bird used to only refer to young birds in the nest.
Theories
Descriptivist
Hallidays functionalism
language changes based on the needs of the user- usually changes for efficiency
substratum theory
when speakers learn a new language they learn in imperfectly and pass these imperfections to new generations
Deutscher - drivers of language change
economy- language changes to mkae it more efficient e.g compound words
expression-language changes so people can create identity and expression e.g slang
prescriptivists
Aitchisons metaphors
Crumbling castle- English is a beatiful old language that needs to be preserved and is slowly being destroyed.(doesnt accomidate changing social climate suggesting a rigid system is better)
damp spoon-language change is cause by sloppiness and laziness, like a damp spoon being left in a sugar bowl
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Syntactic change
this happens more slowly than lexical change with a gradual spread. Speakers become more acclimatised to it and usually don’t end up noticing- it sneaks in in an underhand way e.g. word endings are modified, the behaviour of verbs changes and word order changes.