Language Change and Analysis

Reasons for Language Change:


When words begin to be used in different ways and acquire new meanings it is called neosemy, EG: 'Text' was originally a noun then became a verb as well. There are many different processes in language which are linked to neosemy like amelioration. This is the process where a word gains a more positive meaning like 'pretty' used to mean sly. Another process that is linked to neosemy is broadening, this is where a word keeps it's old meaning but adds a new one.
These processes are the ways in which language is changing. Through broadening, amelioration, narrowing and pejoration, words add, lose or change meanings which changes the language that we use everyday. But there are many reasons why language changes below.


One reason why language is changing is because of external factors like technology. Through the rise of technology and popularity of it, new words have been created and old words have broadened to be part of the lexical field of technology like the words "windows" and "virus". However not only is it external factors but also internal factors that affect it, like the base meaning of a word can be linked to something similar EG: an actual virus can be similar to a computer virus. Other reasons why could be because changing of social ideas where words aren't socially acceptable anymore EG: They instead of 'he' or 'she'.


Analysis of Hefer's article:
Throughout the article it is clear that the writer has a very prescriptive attitude which is what was expected when seeing that is from the Daily Mail. The newspaper is known to have an attitude that is about what's right and wrong, not having a more open opinion. It is shown when talking about the word "rubbish":
"These abominations have no place in serious writing."
The use of the word "abomination" is very odd to find in the text especially when talking about language change. The word brings along with it many negative connotations of horror and disgust. The word itself hasn't changed much over time as the original meaning from the Old French word "abominacion" which meant "the feeling of disgust, horror and loathing".
Something else that I found interesting is Heffer's use of the word 'he'. It seems to be his default word for third person, personal pronoun. A reason for this could be because of his prescriptive attitude as people with that attitude tend to say 'he' and don't understand why they should say anything else instead of it. The article was written in 2014, when 'they' would have been used instead of 'he' or 'she' when they don't know the gender of the person. Even though it might not have been fairly common, as a journalist he would have known that 'they' would have been the more favourable word. He does actually use 'they' at one point but then quickly reverts back to 'he'. It's interesting to consider the fact that he may have used it to be controversial. As a newspaper known for being controversial, the Daily Mail could have approved of his use of the default word just to get readers talking.


Following on from the newspaper's need to be controversial, the writer used the word 'joyously' to describe the whole article. The word brings positive connotations and makes you think that the article is going to be a light hearted article when really it's quite heavy with the use of "abomination" and "absurdity". They could have used even used it to be funny or sarcastic, it was again an odd use of the word.

English throughout time

Different periods of English:


The English language originated in around the 5th century from a variety of other languages including Angles, Anglo-Saxons and Jutes; before it became a language we spoke in Celtic. Due to historical events like the Viking raids until the 11th Century language has been caused to change. A large influence on our language has been Anglo-Saxon and Old Norse which is proven if you look at the etymology of most words; the origins will most likely be one of the two or from Latin, which is also highly influential.


In the 11th Century (Middle English), the Norman invasion was very important in the evolution of the English Language. The verbal language at the time was mostly French where as written documentation used Latin, mainly by the Church. Towards the end of this period English became prominent through writers like Chaucer who decided on writing in English than French (the most known verbal language). The differences between dialects became clearer at this point and separated the different parts of the English Language.


By the 15th Century many works were printed in English by the printing press from Europe by Caxton, this contributed to beginning of a standard form of English. It used the dialect form the South East as the basis of the new standard English. At this time there was an increasing pride in English as a language, as more writers write in the language like the Bible being printed into English and Shakespeare.


By the time of Modern English (18th Century), the language had increased it's usage including the borrowed words from Latin, Greek, French and other languages around the world. The structure of language and grammar was studied to reveal patterns in the way we use language which created what was right and what was wrong in language by people with prescriptive views. Now in present day English has developed through the influence of the media, travel and technology as world-wide language.




Samuel Johnson's Dictionary:
When looking at a page from Samuel Johnson's Dictionary it is very clear that language has changed dramatically since 1755. There are few words that I recognise from the extract and the words that I do recognise have changed since then. The meanings have changed as have the way we pronounce them. An interesting part of the extract is that next to each word it has a name of who had used the word in their works; like Shakespeare and Dryden, then there was an example of the word being used. We have examples in the Oxford English Dictionary and even references if the example is from writing but  we don't have an example from a text after every single word.


Inkhorn Controversy:
From the 16th-17th Century, as mentioned before,  there was an increase in pride of the language. New words were coined using borrowed words from languages like Italian, Spanish and Latin, and compounding.
In 'The Arte of Rhetorique' inkhorn terms were first used. The terms were considered pretentious and artificial but encouraged creativity. They were used by many writers like Shakespeare.

Article Analysis

In the article linked at the bottom, there are a range of examples of prescriptive attitudes throughout. I can apply Jean Aitchison's 'Damp Spoon' metaphor to the text as the metaphor is all about how society has became lazy with language and don't use as many words as we used to. The article stated that parents don't understand 'text speak' anymore as it has evolved to keep parent's 'in the dark' from their children's lives, both online and off.

 

A quote I found which showed the prescriptive attitude is, "unfathomable words". The "unfathomable words" that the writer is talking about are "bae" and "fleek" which are now very common words and young adult/ teenage speak. The writer seems to imply that these words are negative because of the group of people who use them. He appears to be stereotypical by calling the words unfathomable and then linking that to the users. Teenagers have the stereotype of the older generation not understanding them and so their language use isn't correct when really it's just non-standard. By using the word "unfathomable" he's saying that you can't understand the words and so they are wrong; it's unlikely that he would use that word is an adult said those words. If it was a descriptivist talking about the words then they would have just said that it's the evolution of language.

My next example which shows that the article has a prescriptive attitude is "these words are now effectively extinct". "Extinct" is a word that is commonly used in language by both people who have prescriptive attitudes and descriptive attitudes, that's not what the issue is. The issue with this quote is that the writer is stating the fact that the words "gr8" and "m8" are extinct. By stating this fact he's suggesting that using them now will be wrong as they "are extinct". Also, they aren't extinct, they are just not used as frequently as they are used today.

My last example is when he uses the phrase "caveman-form". The use of the words caveman has many negative connotations, it appears to be describing something as pre-historic and not correct. Saying that something is wrong is a prescriptive attitude as they have a set idea of what's right and what's wrong. This also links to when he says "today's youth" which has negative connotations.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3063455/English-language-changing-fast-words-majority-not-understand.html

Analysis of Sandi Toksvig article

Toksvig Article: Sandi Toksvig finds linguistic treasures in the 'Urban Dictionary'


Throughout the article it is clear that Sandi Toksvig has a very descriptive attitude and it is communicated well through the text. She cleverly manages to express her descriptive view through the text, so that it suits the GRAPE.


As a newspaper, especially the Telegraph, you may assume that the articles that are published will be serious and will have a very prescriptive attitude; Toksvig expressing a descriptive attitude seems like it shouldn't fit, due to the audience most likely being people with prescriptive attitudes, but it does. She uses informal phrases like "a funny old thing" which suits the genre and audience. Along with this the phrase isn't criticising language, and isn't saying if something is right or wrong. She's suggesting that language is a bit unpredictable and that that is good, it's just the way that it goes. She also does this when she writes about a complaint she received from a woman at a Q&A. The woman appeared to have a very prescriptive attitude to language compared to Sandi Toksvig. And when Toksvig doesn't criticize her, it shows her descriptive attitude.


Later on she states that language is always evolving and "has never been one person's preserve". She says that as it is always evolving, it will never stay the same and she sows this when talking about the Oakland School Board in 1996. It shows that there's increasingly more words being added to languages and dialects, and even in this case, new languages/ dialects.


Another way that she suits the GRAPE is by adding humour to the article. She talks about a joke website which changes language into a comical language, which definitely suits the purpose to entertain; along with keeping the audience interesting. She also adds humour by including all of the different languages for "Merry Christmas and Happy New Year", then she ended on a humorous end by wishing the audience "Merry Christmas" in Danish.


One point in her article that could be considered questionable is when she talks about the Urban Dictionary. It is a very modern idea and also very descriptive which could make the audience not want to read it. The Telegraph newspaper doesn't usually talk about things like the Urban Dictionary and so it is questionable as to whether it is suitable. Personally, I think it is okay as she is talking about a topic which links to the purpose of the article.

Prescriptive attitudes to language change

Using the words 'like', 'wait' and 'speak', I have found some similarities and differences between online dictionaries.

• The first similarity that I found in all the dictionaries that I looked at is that there was a phonetic spelling of the words, which is there to help the reader to pronounce the word.
• There are adjectives like 'archaic' next to the words to help to describe whether they are still used in modern day or if they are no longer used.
• In all dictionaries the word 'informal' is used to describe the formality that the word is used in. For example in the Oxford Online Dictionary, when looking at the word 'like', it is used when describing 'like' as a conjunction and then gives an example of the word in the phrase: "people who change countries like they change clothes". However it isn't just 'informal' used, 'British informal' is used in the same dictionary. It uses the phrase 'like anything' and then has 'British informal' next to it to explain to readers that it is only used in Britain as a informal phrase.
• Other conventions that it used is putting the word class next to the word, before the example of the word being used in that word class. An example would be that in all dictionaries when searching the word 'wait' it has the word classes, "noun" and "verb".