A2 Language Change - Questions and Answers

What are the main reasons for language change?
- The main reasons for language changes are due to the economy, speakers tend to make their utterances as efficient and effective as possible to reach communicative goals. Other causes can link to war,  media, technology etc.

What are the ways in which language changes?
- Spelling, lexis, grammar, graphology, advertisement, semantic, syntactic, social status
- The linking of language across the World, an article below shows how different words are spoke across various countries and how similar we all speak: http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/interactive/2013/nov/14/pain-in-the-ananas-etymology-maps

What are the key influential factors on the development of English as accessible to all?
-  An influential factor on the english language was technology, David Crystal quoted 'I believe it to be a trend that is going to have the greatest impact on the English language in the 21st century'. The internet has proved to be an area of rich lexical change. Main developments have been the lower-case being the main way to talk, the '@' sign has flourished and the full stop has became the 'dot', along with trends linking to the prefix 'cyber'. Some of the contributions to the language from the internet are:
oirfjiojijw;dj - used to fill a space and waste time, mainly on networking sites
404- error message arising when a file is not found.
Poke - touching someone via facebook

- Another factor would be the media. And as words fall in and out of fashion, new ones enter the language. Yesterday's slang is respectable today. Many words we use today have a different meaning from 20, never mind 50,100,200 years ago.

- 'Online lingo' has made the english language change. David Crystal and Beverly Plester believe technologies encourage creativity, which can spill over into school writing (2008 quote). People start to use acronyms in their everyday language, for example brb and lol. Words which were once seperate, have become compound, hyphenated or just one word. For example news paper changed to news-paper, and eventually into newspaper. Apostrophies are barely being used anymore for plurals, for example doesnt instead of doesn't.

- 'Gradually, we have become less obsessed with correctness and more focused on tolerance and personal expression'

What is the difference between a prescriptive and descriptive attitude to language use? Find two quotes that represent each attitude that you can make reference to in the exam
- prescriptivist is more focused n the old grammar rules such as 'shall' instead of 'will'. Prescriptive grammar is in the 18th century kind of grammar, for when people tried to make English conform to Latin rules. The most famous is the 'rule' that you can't split an infinitive.
- descriptivist explains a language in terms of what grammar items mean, how native speakers express themselves. it derives its rules from the language currently spoken by educated native speakers. New words get added, and pieces of grammar fall into disuse. The distinction between 'who' and 'whom' is gradually being forgotten.

Prescriptive grammar: set of norms or rules governing how a language should or should not be used rather than describing the ways in which a language is actually used. Contrast with descriptive grammar.
There has always been a tension between the descriptive and prescriptive functions of grammar. Currently, descriptive grammar is dominant among theorists, but prescriptive grammar is taught in the schools and exercises a range of social effects."
(Ann Bodine, "Androcentrism in Prescriptive Grammar." The Feminist Critique of Language, ed. D. Cameron. Routledge, 1998)
Descriptive grammar: An objective, nonjudgmental description of the grammatical constructions in a language. Contrast with prescriptive grammar.
Specialists in descriptive grammar (i.e., linguists) examine the principles and patterns that underlie the use of words, phrases, clauses, and sentences. In contrast, prescriptive grammarians (such as most editors and teachers) attempt to enforce rules concerning “correct” or “incorrect” usage.
The term 'descriptive' is misleading, because it can be taken to imply a taxonomic, merely labeling, non-explanatory approach, and generative grammar in its inception accused descriptive grammar of being just that and hence we needed generative grammar. However descriptive grammar is not merely descriptive, it provides analyses, theories, and explanations."(Christopher Beedham, Language and Meaning: The Structural Creation of Reality. John Benjamins, 2005)

What did Johnson think were the problems with his dictionary? Are these problems still relevant today?


What is a 'lingua franca' and to what extent is it English?
- Is it called a bridge language, or a vehicular language, used to make communication possible between people not sharing a mother tongue, in particular when it is a third language, distinct from both mother tongues.
- It is a functionally defined term, independent of the linguistic history or structure of the language.
- English as a lingua franca is the use of the English language "as a common means of communication for speakers of different first languages".
- The way English is used as a lingua franca is heavily dependent on the specific situation of use. Generally speaking, ELF interactions concentrate on function rather than form.

What are the prestigious forms of English now (overt and covert) ?
- Overt and covert prestige are terms usually used to refer to dialects.
- An overt prestige dialect is generally one that is widely recognised as being used by culturally dominant group. Speakers of a non-standard varieties who adopt (to some degree) the standard variety. Speaker is seeking to associate self with general prestigious dialect within society. Trudgill, Eisikovitz and Gal studies this.
- A covert prestige dialect, on the other hand, is one that is generally perceived by the dominant culture group as being inferior but which compels its speakers to use it to show membership in an exclusive community.
- Covert speakers choose to not adopt a standard dialect. Gained from within a social group identification.
- In this way, covert prestige can be likened to 'street cred', if you talk street, you may not be accepted by the power majority, but you earn respect among those who reject the values of that power majority.

How has politically correct language and the Sapir-Whorf  hypothesis influenced modern English usages?
- In linguistics, the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis it states that there is a systematic relationship between the grammatical categories of the language a person speaks and how that person both understands the World and behaves in it. Although it has come to be known as the 'Sapir-Whorf' hypothesis, it rather was an axiom underlying the work of linguist and anthropologist Edward Sapir and his colleague and student Benjamin Whorf.
- Now, it is clear that the decline of a language must ultimately have political and economic causes: it is not due simply to the bad influence of this or that individual writer. But an effect can become a cause, reinforcing the original cause and producing the same effect in an intensified form, and so on indefinitely. A man may take to drink because he feels himself to be a failure, and then fail all the more completely because he drinks. It is rather the same thing that is happening to the English language. It becomes ugly and inaccurate because our thoughts are foolish, but the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts.

Three examples of obsolete English grammar that you can make reference to in the exam?
- Hugger-mugger: it means to act in a secretive mannar, originates from the 1530's and basically means that 'im sick of all these sneaky types, creeping around and hugger-muggering the whole time'.
- Grumpish: Means being sullen, an alternative to grumpy and originated from the 1720's. Means 'im hungover and ive got a ton of work to do, think im allowed to be grumpish'
- Snowbroth: means freshly melted snow, originates from 1590s, as in 'yesterday we woke up to a perfect carpet of white, but now its just snowbroth'.

Three features of modern punctuation that take advantage of a lessening of prescriptivism?
 - Emoticons are main features of modern punctuation, main ones known as 'emojji's'
-  The mix up of punctuation, for example '????!!!!??!!!'
- When people write in upper-case, this is recognised as shouting 'WHAT ARE YOU DOING'

Three neologisms, from the past five years
- BFF: stands for best friends forever, used to state how close you are to another individual.
- Chillax: to calm down or relax, slang term used when someone is starting to get uptight at something that is happening.
- Muffin top: this refers to the (often slightly) roll of fat that appears on top of trousers that feautures a low waist.



Do an interesting search to find an article that interests you on language uses. Find a key quote to memorise
- An article about the effect technology has had on child language
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2012/may/28/blackberry-cupcakes-study-uk-childrens-language
- "The analysis, of 74,000 story entries in a BBC Radio 2 competition, also reveals the impact of technology. The research finds that of nearly 300 instances of the word "blackberry", almost half referred to phones. "
- This is an interesting fact linking to language change and technology


What does gender theory reveal about English use through the ages?
Language used to be very stereotypical towards both genders, and certain traits were associated to male and females. Now, language is neutral and their will be minimal comparisons between the genders to avoid biast opinions and stereotyping.

Language & Power AS

Links important to language and power, the articles I have chosen have similar links with theorists involved.

 

 

Language & Gender AS

Linking to AS work, I have found some articles online which link to the idea of language and gender:

1) The first article I have looked at is linked here: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/oct/01/gender.books

- Deborah Cameron, a language expert from Oxford University suggets that the difference between male and female language are minimal.

- Brings in modern day terms, modern day jobs which are now considered for both genders.

- Deborah begins to discuss how these facts are not completely true and are somewhat a myth, that communication and language is more important to females, women are more verbally skilled, men use language to 'get things done', and use language to be competitive, linking back to status.



2) The second article which I read, also to do with Deborah Cameron: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2007/oct/02/gender.familyandrelationships

- Contrasts the idea that men and women understand language in different ways. And today, it is believed that misunderstanding is common between men and women, however is 'male-female miscommunication' a myth.

- Changes Robin Lakoff's theory into a modern day term, where women should be more forward and abrupt with their language instead of causing confusion and manipulative language towards men

- Talks about the theory of 'Gray'


3) An article found, sourced by Northwestern University: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080303120346.htm

- Show both areas of the brain associated with language work harder in a girls head than in a boys during language tasks, also that boys rely on different parts of the brain when performing the exact same tasks.

- Boys create more visual and auditory associations such that meanings associated with a word are brought to mind simply from seeing or hearing the word.

AS FRAMEWORKS - LINKS TO A2 LANGUAGE CHANGE

 

 

This is a mindmap of all the different factors which we covered in AS English Language, I will be finding examples of these.

Lexis and Semantics

- Lexis is the term that linguistics use to describe the vocabulary system of a language. The number of words available to text producers is huge, and words are generally chosen carefullu to help generate meaning.

- Semantics refers to the study of meaning and how meaning is created within texts, it is also concerned with the relationships between lexical items and how these create lexical cohesion.

Links to Language Change
(LEXIS GRAMMAR PRAGMATICS PHONOLOGY DISCOURSE)

Lexis: Within lexis, many words have changed over time. Nowadays, in the 21st century, words have been put in the dictionary that once did not exsist.

"Tweet" has become a verb, from the infamous website Twitter.

"Google" has also become a verb, instead of using the verb 'researching' it has all become generalised into 'googling'.

"Gay" overtime has changed its meaning, once it was the meaning of being happy, now it has connotations of being queer or homosexual.

A BBC article which I have linked below talks about how the internet has also affected language change:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-10971949

A recent creation would be the blend of two verbs 'neck' and 'nominate' to become the blended word 'necknominate' which now carries its own meaning and is what people refer 'downing drinks in one' to. Despite the fun of this it has also caused serious problems.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-trending-26022853

Celebrities have also made an impact on modern day language, where their made up word has become a verb and being used globally. Examples would be Miley Cyrus and 'Twerk' which has now been entered in the dicitionary. Also Joey Essex with the word 'Reem' and "dougie" by an american rapper who included this in one of his songs. This has shown the impact celebrities have on society.

Grammar: Over time grammar has been effected, the invention of 'text talk' where the

abbreviation of words were taking to a whole new level, with the invention of shortcuts such as 'l8' 'brb' 'wuu2' etc.

Some articles linking to this:

http://www.theguardian.com/education/2012/jan/10/computer-skills-ed-vaizey

http://techland.time.com/2012/08/16/we-never-talk-anymore-the-problem-with-text-messaging/

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/7910075.stm

 

 

 

MEDIA TEXT FINAL

THE IMPORTANCE OF CHILD LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

Have you ever found yourself at work unconsciously reciting The Hungry Caterpillar word for word, or humming yourself to sleep with Twinkle Twinkle Little Star? These are the unexpected wonders of being a parent. The years before primary school are the most important, meaning it’s time for you, as parents, to turn off Cbeebies, regain your Iphone and ‘buckaroo’ your ideas up in ensuring your child acquires the beautiful world of language.

From the beginning of learning and experimenting with language, children should be acquiring between ten and twenty words every single day. From 3+, sentences should become of a regular use and the “goo-goos” and “gagas” will be something of the past. Despite the irregular progression in children, the ultimate aim is the same. Priscilla Dunstan, a former mezzo-soprano, created the ‘Dunstan Baby Language”, claiming across all cultures and countries, infants use the same five sounds before the language acquisition period. Sounds mad, doesn’t it? That a child that seems to just sleep, cry and eat, has been recognised in creating its own language, known as ‘sound reflexes’. Who would have thought ‘Neh’ would tell you your baby is hungry? And ‘Owh’ means it’s time for bed? The many wonders of language are slowly unfolding, giving the world a step by step guide of how to understand and learn with your child. It really is true; the world is your oyster.

Despite being over 7000 languages in the world, all caregivers (a more formal, political correct term of parent) use the same techniques. Admit it, you talk to a baby and your voice suddenly reaches pitches you never knew existed, noises you’ve never used, and words you once recall shouting at nursery.  Intonation is one of the key aspects in child language, the downward convergence, meaning alternating your speech so the infant is able to understand, is unconsciously used by even the most cold-hearted of people. Child Directed Speech is used worldwide, however very minimal amount of caregivers are aware they’re using it. The repeated intransitive verb “moo moo cow” and “ba ba sheep” are examples which you subconsciously teach your child, with the illusion of it being as fun as a game of hide and seek.

With the advancement of technology these days, it comes to no shock that almost every child has their own or a close to hand involvement with some form of phone, computer, television or tablet. Peek-a-boo was one of the best forms of entertainment for the older generations, along with dolls houses and endless action figures, however this all seems a blast from the past and has been washed away, along with our favourable youth. Dr Richard Graham, told our team that children as young as four have required psychological treatment from the excessive use of Ipads. Dr Graham recognised this young addiction has similar symptoms to both alcohol and heroin addicted, when the device was taken away. He reported “Children have access to the internet almost from birth now”.

Language psychologist Miss Sophie Roberts, from Oxford University, spoke to our team about the best ways of encouraging your child to learn and develop language within the critical acquisition period. Through her recent investigation, working closely with Wick C of E Primary School, she discovered the necessity of expressive language, Miss Roberts “Children should be encouraged to ask for what they want instead of immediately fulfilling their needs. It is important for them to build upon their expressive language skills to ensure they’re prepared to communicate when encountering the outside world”.  Sophie discovered that if in the early years of life for a child, their language or communication is damaged, between 50-90% of these will go on to develop reading difficulties. Now, I know you don’t want that for your child, do you?

Once you’ve got home from work, cooked the tea, done the washing, finished the cleaning, the last thing on your mind is ‘Going on a bear hunt!’ And yes, despite the emphasis on reading and writing, it is just as important to encourage playing with your child. From being a doctor and walking around bandaged head to toe, to pretending to eat a plastic croissant from pure enjoyment, this is all known as ‘socio-dramatic play’. It is important for you to encourage your child to learn new social situations.

You might doubt your importance? Listen to this.

Prava, also known as ‘The Bird Boy’ lived in a small apartment with his mother and a collection of feathery friends. It was said in an interview from his rescuers, that despite never being physically harmed by his mother, she simply did not speak to him, therefore the only communication he had was with the birds. This meant he chirped and when he got frustrated, waved his hands in a bird’s wing manner.

Language is a wonderful, unique, incredible experience that every human should indulge in. From the minute of birth to the last minutes of life, language will be the one thing keeping people together.

 · Encourage play time, act things out with your child, this is a strong way to develop their ability to handle social situations.

· Use simple syntax to grow your child’s vocabulary.

· Phonics, card and books are all ways to improve a child’s vocabulary on a daily basis.

· Use formulation (repetition) to somewhat correct their small mistakes.

· Games, e.g. eye spy, hide and seek.. These help to link words to surroundings.

 · Develop pre-modifiers for nouns, this means to describe the chicken as a ‘brown fluffy chicken’ instead of just the noun itself.

Use flash cards with phonics, this can help the pronunciation of complex words.

· Take your child on walks or car journeys where they can use their language in an natural environment.

· Ensure your child is limited to TV, despite it being the easy option, it can develop into future implications.

 

Media Text - Mumsnet

This has helped me in writing about child language development, it shows ways in which parents communicate to develop their childs learning, it was very interesting and I found it useful when writing my media text.
http://www.mumsnet.com/

Feral Children

A page about the modern cases of feral children
- showing the importance of the aquisition period, and the assistance of people to help you learn
- I have also linked a slide show/ powerpoint which talks about the critical aquistion period for these children and links in some key theorists which have investigated this issue.

http://listverse.com/2008/03/07/10-modern-cases-of-feral-children/
http://www.slideshare.net/zmiers/feral-children-presentation-presentation

How to Progress your Child Before Starting School

BBC web article, showing ways in which parents can help develop their child before they go to school.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/parents/primary_support/

Article on Child Language & Technology

Children's growing addiction to technology, Daily Mail Article

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2479109/The-signs-child-addicted-iPad--digital-detox.html

1939 war newspaper article

1939: Britain and France declare war on Germany

Britain and France are at war with Germany following the invasion of Poland two days ago.
At 1115 BST the Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, announced the British deadline for the withdrawal of German troops from Poland had expired.  He said the British ambassador to Berlin had handed a final note to the German government this morning saying unless it announced plans to withdraw from Poland by 1100, a state of war would exist between the two countries.Mr Chamberlain continued: "I have to tell you now that no such undertaking has been received and consequently this country is at war with Germany."Similarly the French issued an ultimatum, which was presented in Berlin at 1230, saying France would be at war unless a 1700 deadline for the troops' withdrawal was adhered to.
King George has called upon "my people at home and my peoples across the seas".

He continued: "I ask them to stand calm, firm and united in this time of trial. The task will be hard. There may be dark days ahead and war can no longer be confined to the battlefield. But we can only do the right as we see the right and reverently commit our cause to God."A War Cabinet of nine members has been set up with two new ministers, including Winston Churchill as First Lord of the Admiralty, the post he held at the outbreak of World War I. Lord Hankey becomes Minister without Portfolio. Anthony Eden will take over as Dominions Secretary with special access to the War Cabinet. Mr Eden resigned from the post of Secretary of Foreign Affairs last year because he disagreed with the policy of appeasement. The National Service (Armed Forces) Act has been passed making all men between 18 and 41 liable for conscription. The armed forces have already been mobilized for war and in July the first Territorial Army conscripts were called up. Latest reports from Poland say the Germans have bombed a number of towns and cities, some with little or no strategic importance. About 1,500 are reported to have been killed or injured in the attacks on Friday and Saturday.In his broadcast to the nation, Mr Chamberlain spoke of his sadness that "the long struggle to win peace" had failed.He continued: "I cannot believe that there is anything more or anything different that I could have done and that would have been more successful." Yesterday there was anger in the House of Commons over the Government's apparent delay in taking action against Germany. Labour's deputy leader Arthur Greenwood had accused the Prime Minister of vacillating when "Britain and all that Britain stands for are in peril". Today's declaration of war was received with rousing cheers. As Mr Chamberlain informed the House Britain could not take part in a five-power conference proposed by Italy while Poland was being invaded.It has also been received with great enthusiasm in the Polish capital, Warsaw, where crowds took to the streets outside the British and French embassies cheering and singing.

2013 magazine

The magazine shown here, from 2013 is very different to magazines in the past. Throughout the years the media have become more risky, and are not afraid to be different. The language used is somewhat taboo, quoting "It's Miley B*tches" on the front, next to a revealing and provocative photo of herself. They use alliteration "Super Sexy Spring!" as an exclamative sentence, expressing a fun, humourous and exciting feature of the magazine itself. In comparison to previous magazines, the 'Cosmopolitan' has always been less about celebrity gossip, they focus on the things that draw in female readers, main headlines being "Beauty under $10", encouraging readers for it knows the main priorities in a womens mind. Little captions such as "must read" and "Finally" are ways in which they can portray that article as a really important and unmissable one, however in reality it is nothing readers have not heard before. Finally, in general the graphology uses a celebrity icon in minimal clothing to capture attention, bright colours such as pinks and yellows, and writing main topics in capital letters to capture the readers.

1980's television advert

 

1950's Recipe

1950's sexist advertisement

 

In this advert, from the 1950's it reflects the sexism of that era in time. The advert suggets wives are only there for a husband to cook, and men are meant to go out and work. The graphology of this image suggests this, as the man is wearing a suit, with the woman grasping him from behind. This is a stereotypical set up, however this would not be recieved positively in modern time as women should be recognised with equal rights. The advert quotes "I'm giving my wife a Kenwood Chef" suggesting she will be the only one using the mixer. The exclamative sentence "that's what wives are for!" is adding humour to the poster, making it light-hearted and comical, however not sarcastic. The whole advertisement on a whole is a very old-fashioned,stereotypical layout in which men and women in these days were gave stereotypical roles for their gender. 

Summary of ' Borrowers and Lenders - Language Enriching Eachother'

Through investigation of English language, it shows that the majority of our language has developed slowly over the years from Latin and French mainly, with other aspects of foreign languages involved. Words have been 'borrowed' and 'anglicized' throughout the years. It is still developing to this day and language has continuously bounced back and forth between England and France. It is also known both content and function words are borrowed. There is no such thing as a country with "pure language", this is simply a myth as countries have all shared the evolution of language. It does not happen rapidly due to the understanding of it being a struggle for everyone.