Lecture (9) Language Change Variation and change Why do changes - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Lecture (9) Language Change

 Variation and change  Why do changes spread?  How do we study language change?

 Reasons for language change

• Social status and language change
• Gender and language variation
• Interaction and language variation

Language changes over time in:

 Pronunciation

• Knight
• knit

 Meaning

• nice meant ‘precise’, ‘fastidious’, ‘ignorant’.
• In Shakespeare, hie (‘hurry’), stilly (‘softly’) and arrant

(‘thorough’), which have disappeared or, more treacherously, changed their meaning.

• Entertain , for instance, meant ‘keep occupied’

Language varies in :-

• Time
• Physical space / setting
• Social context

Speaker innovation : changes of language are done by the speakers.

• Speakers innovate, sometimes spontaneously, but more often

by imitating speakers from other communities.

• If their innovations are adopted by others and diffuse through

their local community and beyond into other communities, then linguistic change is the result.

 Language varies in three ways

• in physical space (regional variation)
• socially (social variation)
• over time (language change)

Language variation Language change Stable variation Language change in progress Bell-shaped pattern Steady increase or steady decline All language change has its origins in variation. The possibility

• f a linguistic change exists as soon as a new form develops

and begins to be used alongside an existing form. If the new form spreads, the change is in progress. If it eventually displaces the old form, the change has become a ‘fait accompli’ ’- it has gone to completion..

New form of slang words used by young people

• e.g.: really good : super , spiffing , bonzer , groovy , neat ,

fantastic , magic , excellent , wicked , hot , rad , awesome , cool , sick , boss sound change occurs when one sound is replaced in people’s speech by another over a period of time, or when a sound disappears

• e.g.: in New Zealand : new [nu:] , nuclear [nu:kliə).

• The sorts of questions sociolinguists ask about such changes

are ‘why do particular changes spread?’, and ‘how do linguistic changes spread through a community?’

• Sociolinguists try to identify the particular social factors which

favour the spread of specific linguistic changes, and they try to explain how these factors influence the spread of the change.

 Standard English has lost the pronunciation of [r] following

vowels in words like star and start.

 It does not occur in RP nor in London Cockney dialect.  The loss is still in progress, as there are areas such as south-

west England where [r] is still pronounced.

 A survey in the 1960s found that rhoticism was increasing in

New York, where it was regarded as prestigious.

 More recent research confirms that rhoticism is now well-

established as a feature of New York speech, and there is a suggestion that it may be spreading to other cities such as Boston.

 It has also been identified as a feature which is spreading in

some varieties of New Zealand English.

 While [r]-less speech is the prestigious form which is still

spreading in England, in some parts of the USA it is the rhotic variety which is increasing.

 Such changes are usually proposed by people in higher social

class

 Changes from above :

• Changes which people are aware of have been described as

‘changes from above’. These are changes where people are conscious of their social significance as desirable or prestige features of speech.

• A second meaning refers to the source of the change. In this

sense, ‘above’ refers to the fact that a feature is generally spreading downwards through the social groups in a speech community.

 In Martha’s Vineyard, the people resented the fact that the

island has been invaded by immigrants and tourists.

 They pronounced the words light and house like [ləit] and

[həus], in which the vowel is more centralised.

 This pronunciation was associated with the area in the past.  The fishermen used these forms to express solidarity.

 Diphthong centralization, which seemed to be unconscious,

was a change to a more conservative pronunciation which used to be associated with the area in the past.

 It had been dying out, but it was revitalised to express

solidarity between those who identified with the island and felt loyalty to its rural values and peaceful lifestyle.

 The centralisation of the vowel in light was particularly

significant for signalling Islander identity.

 Other groups on the island with similar attitudes imitated the

fishermen, and so the use of centralised vowels spread.

 A group of Portuguese Americans, for instance, who had

been on the island for several generations and who identified strongly with it, used centralized vowels too.

 And, not surprisingly, the American Indians – the indigenous

inhabitants of the island – also asserted their status as permanent residents of the island through their speech.

 So not all linguistic changes involve adopting new forms

from outside the speech community. Nor do they always involve forms which people are conscious of as prestigious forms.

 Vowel centralisation is not an overtly prestigious sound in

US speech. On Martha’s Vineyard, however, it was clear that people unconsciously valued this speech feature.

 The spread of centralised vowels illustrates how a vernacular

feature can acquire social significance and spread through a

• community. It acquired covert prestige as a marker of a

person’s status as a Vineyarder.

 Changes from below:

• changes in language that people are not

aware of (in that they are changes below people’s level of conscious awareness.).

• another meaning refers to a change

which spreads from lower social groups upwards through to higher social groups.

 Here, the spread of the vernacular forms is

considered a signal of covert prestige to express solidarity

 Spread of vernacular forms may or may not be above the

level of conscious awareness.

 People may adopt new speech features, and especially slang,

from lower social groups relatively consciously.

 It seems likely that the spread of (th)-fronting in British

English (i.e. the substitution of [f] for [ɵ] and [v] for [ð]) is an example of a vernacular change which is spreading upwards through different social groups, and which is above the level of conscious awareness for most speakers,

 while the spread of the glottal stop as a substitute for [t] in

final position seems to be below the level of consciousness for most speakers.

 Koineization is a process of mixing two speech varieties that

belong to the same language.

 The term “koine” is borrowed from the Greek word Κοινή

which means “a common tongue” .

 It is first used in Greece to describe a common language that

is created for communication among speakers of different Greek dialects.

 As a result, koineization can be understood as a mixing of

two dialects that generate a common speech style that is characteristic of a speech community.

 Koineization is not the same as creolization; despite that

both of these processes examines specifically the mixing of speech varieties, they differ in their process.

Creolization Koineization The speech varieties involved The varieties are not exclusive to one language. The varieties are limited to the same language. Degree of mixing High degree: May not be able to point out from the creole which varieties it involves. Moderate degree: Able to trace back most

• f the speech varieties

that contribute to that koine.

 Trudgill and Britain has summarized four steps for

koineization.

 Levelling results in the koine adopting fewer forms than the

range of forms in the source dialects.

 For example, if people who speak dialects with post-vocalic

[r] come into contact with people who do not, levelling generally leads to the disappearance of post-vocalic [r] in the koine.

 Social factors are relevant too. So if the people who speak

the dialect with post-vocalic [r] have more prestige for some reason (as they did in New York), then the [r] is more likely to survive and be adopted into the koine.

 The [r] may be associated with belonging as a local in a

particular area, for instance, in which case it will survive as an identity marker, a symbol of local identity.

 Simplification of different features or categories

• ccurs where two groups of speakers from

different dialect areas come together, the simpler forms will usually win out.

 So when dialect speakers who makes the

distinction between he was swimming and they were swimming meet dialect speakers who don’t make this distinction (e.g. they say both he was swimming and they was swimming ), then the process of simplification suggests that the simpler form will survive.

 Using only was is simpler than changing from

was to were with different pronouns.

 an immigrant koine which results from the

mixing of linguistic features among multi- ethnic groups in big cities.

 The speech of young migrants or the

children of migrants provides the crucible for varieties that have been labelled multi- ethnolects.

 In these varieties, the majority language

may serve initially as a lingua franca, but the new multi-ethnolect soon develops very distinctive features as a result of the many different languages and dialects which different speakers bring to its construction.

 In multi-ethnic areas of London, for instance, a variety

which has been labelled Multicultural London English can be heard.

 This new dialect has features such as the use of ‘a’ rather

than ‘an’ before a noun beginning with a vowel: e.g. a

• range , a apple , and a new quotative form this is + speaker.

 So rather than saying I said what a stupid idea , or even I’m

like what a stupid idea , children who speak Multicultural London English say instead this is me what a stupid idea .

• From group to group
• From style to style
• From word to word

• From group to group

• From group to group
• The metaphor of waves to explain how linguistic changes

spread through a community.

• Any particular change typically spreads simultaneously in

different directions, though not necessarily at the same rate in all directions.

• A change may spread along any of these dimensions and

into another group.

• Linguistic changes infiltrate groups from the speech of

people on the margins between social or regional groups – via the ‘middle’ people who have contacts in more than

• ne group.

• From style to style
• the change spreads from one style to another (say from

more formal speech to more casual speech), while at the same time it spreads from one individual to another within a social group, and subsequently from one social group to another.

• From style to style
• When a change is a prestigious one, it usually starts at the

top of the speech community – in the most formal style of the highest status group and spreads downwards. (a change from above.)

• A vernacular change, such as centralisation in Martha’s

Vineyard, or the spread of glottal stop for [t] in the middle and at the end of words, tends to begin in people’s more casual styles.

• From word to word
• Sound changes typically spread through different words
• ne by one.
• This is called lexical diffusion . When a sound change

begins, all the words with a particular vowel don’t change at once in the speech of a community.

• People don’t go to bed one night using the sound [u:] and

wake up using [au] in house , pouch , how and out.

• Instead, the sound change occurs first in one word, and

then later in another, and so on.

• From word to word
• In Belfast, for instance, a vowel change

affected the vowel in the word pull before put , and put before should .

• And in East Anglia, the vowel in must

changed before the vowel in come , which changed before the vowel in uncle , although they all started off with the same vowel, and they all ended up with the identical different vowel at a later point.

• From word to word
• In English, trough and tough got left behind with final [f]

compared to though and bough which lost their final fricative consonants as a result of a widespread sound change.

Apparent-time studies Real-time studies The linguist compares the speech of people from different age groups. The linguist follows the same group of people and documents their change over an extensive period (e.g. 20-30 years).

 Apparent-time studies of language change

• Compare the speech of people from different age groups.
• Differences between the speech of older people and

younger people are interpreted as indications of changes in progress,

• e.g. an increase in the use of prestigious forms indicate

language change.

 Apparent-time studies of language

change

• The problem is with the

vernacular forms, as young people use more vernacular forms anyway. Therefore the use

• f vernacular forms by young

people might be simply stable variation.

• Researchers need to ensure that

teenagers will continue to use the vernacular form even when they reach adulthood.

 Real time studies of language change

 Real time studies of language change

• Researchers look at language changes in the same place and
• ver a long period of time (20-30 years)
• Trudgill’s Norwich compared the data in1968 and 1983,

and found that the vowels of beer and bear had completely merged.

 Social status and language change

• Members of the group with most social status tend to

introduce changes into a speech community from neighbouring communities which have greater status and prestige.

• Lower-class speakers are more influential in spreading

less conscious linguistic changes.

 Gender and language change

• Women lead changes towards both prestige and vernacular

forms. e.g. Women in Ucieda, Spain led changes towards the standard form to show their social aspirations.

 Spanish dialect of Ucieda has posttonic [u] where Spanish has

[o]

• Ucieda trabaju : Castilian (= Std) trabajo ‘work’

 This vowel has been lowering in Ucieda as an accommodation

to the Castilian form.

 The height of this vowel distinguishes:

• those engaged in agriculture vs industrial sector
• those engaged in traditional mountain agriculture vs the more

modern dairy farming

 Women (most noticeably in agriculture/farming) lead this

change.

 Women (most noticeably in agriculture/farming) lead this

change.

• agricultural life is unattractive to women, who share in the

farm work and do the housework too.

• For this reason women are quicker than men to leave the

farm, and quicker to signal their distance from their current way of life in their speech.

• Women in Clonard, Belfast introduce vernacular forms from

Ballymacarrett, because the both Clonard and Ballymacarrett are working-class communities, and Ballymacarett is more prestigious.

• Also, women in Clonard have a close-knit multiplex network.

They are employed in poor city stores in shopping areas.

• They develop and leisure patterns that resemble those of male

groups.

 Gender and language change;  Men lead changes towards vernacular forms only.

• Men in Martha’s Vineyard led a change to a more

vernacular form to show their loyalty to an older set of values.

• Upper-working-class men in Norwich are leading a

sound change away from RP towards vernacular forms to show the solidarity of working men.

 Interaction and language change

• Linguistic changes progress most slowly in tightly knit

communities which have little contact with the outside world.

• Gaelic in Scotland
• Maori in New Zealand
• Iceland

 Interaction and language

change

• Linguistic changes progress

most slowly in tightly knit communities which have little contact with the

• utside world.
• Gaelic in in the western isles
• f Scotland

 Interaction and language change

• Linguistic changes progress

most slowly in tightly knit communities which have little contact with the outside world.

• Iceland

 Interaction and language change

 Interaction and language change

• Linguists are not yet sure about the extent to which the media

can influence people’s speech habits.

• Some believe that frequent exposure to a pronunciation on

television can bring about change. Others argue that face-to- face interaction is necessary before change occurs.

• A popular compromise is the view that the media can soften

listeners up by exposing them to new forms in the speech of admired pop stars or TV personalities.

• When people are subsequently exposed to a particular form in

the speech of a real person, they are then more likely to adopt it.

 Interaction and language change

 Interaction and language change

• people like Sam act as a kind of linguistic entrepreneur

moving between groups.

• Sam serves an important linking function between two

distinct but closely knit social networks.

• As a link-person, he also acts as a kind of bridge or channel

for the spread of new linguistic forms from one group to the

• ther.
• People like Sam act as linguistic innovators within social
• groups. Innovators are often marginal rather than core

members of the groups adopting an innovation.

 Interaction and language change

 Interaction and language change

• New forms can gain prestige from the media. TV may have

played a part in explaining at least the speed with which pronunciations like [bova] have spread.

• The use of such forms by admired individuals on TV may

have made Norwich people more prepared to adopt these forms which are well established in Cockney speech.

 Interaction and language change

• The fact that a form is used in the vernacular speech of the

capital city is probably another factor contributing to its prestige or attractiveness to the ears of young people in other places.

• Vernacular London speech is generally seen as more desirable

than the speech of other cities.

 Interaction and language change

 Interaction and language change

• in Kupwar, a small Indian village on the border between these

two language families, regular and long interaction has resulted in the merging of the structure of the three languages which is illustrated above.

• the villagers regularly use all three languages in their daily
• activities. Over time, with constant switching between at least

two languages in any interaction, the languages have become more and more alike. The word order is now identical, and there are extensive similarities in the structure of words and use of inflections too.

 Interaction and language change

• This last example illustrates a general point: language change
• ften operates within clear limits.
• Language serves two very basic functions, as mentioned in

chapter 1 : a referential or informative function and a social or affective function.

• in Kupwar, language change does not proceed at a rate which

results in unintelligibility between groups in contact – the referential requirements are always present.

 Interaction and language change

• Though parents often complain they cannot understand their

children’s slang, there is never any real danger that members

• f groups who interact regularly will lose linguistic contact.