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Summary English Language Theories.
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Short revision document that summarizes language theories taught in A level english language.
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Theory of economy. S-curve model. - The tendency to save effort- behind the short-cuts speakers often take in This graph postulates that language change is gradual at first, and
pronunciation. then accelerates. Its levels off when (or if) the whole of the
We used to say ‘tomB’ and ‘lamB’ as they are written… speech community uses it and diffusion is complete.
Old English braemel… became… bramble A historical example comes from a study by Devitt (1989) showing
O’Connor 1973- “language does what it has to do for efficiency and gets how five features of English grammar diffused into scots English
away with what it can”. between 1520 and 1659. She measured the use of the present
tense participle ending (-ing) as opposed to the scots- ande in
verbs like glydande adoun, and showed the central time span
from 1550 to 1640 the pace of change followed a classic S- curve.
Wave model.
(The early stages of this particular feature must pre-date the
Wave model (Bailey C.J. 1973): describes how a change begins at point X study, however, so the start of the curve is not apparent). The
and, like ripple, weakens as it travels across particular geographical region rate of progress, interestingly, varied according to genre.
and across different social groups. Religious texts were anglicised first, then official correspondence
Since the process happens in time, the temporal axis is implied. The further and private records; slowest to change were personal
away speakers are from point X in geographical or social distance, the less correspondence and finally national public records.
likely they are to be influenced by it.
Elderly women in Harrogate, even in the unlikely event that they hear teen
slang from Haringey, are unlikely to adopt it, so the wave will not travel far; Gravity model
accent featured such as the American pronunciation of schedule as According to one linguist ‘relatively few examples of such
schedule has already spread from the youngest age group and has no diffusion have… been found in the literature [of wave theory]’ –
geological boundaries. though some examples are given. He goes on to say that some
innovations have been observed to ‘hop’ between large centuries
of population, especially towns and cities, which would not be
Random fluctuation theory. stipulated by the wave model: in the latter there is a steady
Charles Hockett 1958
progress across geographical space.
- language changes owing to its instability, because of random errors and events Essentially, the gravity model says that the larger the
within the language system, as a response of the ever changing context of language conurbation, the sooner an innovation will be established there.
use and its users e.g. why ‘book’ has become a synonym for ‘cool’ (predictive (This is not surprising, since there are more people to use it, and
texting) – a pretty random occurrence. (from Nelson Thornes course book, Leyburn big cities are destinations for commuters from miles around.)
and Saunders.) What this model also describes is the tendency for these urban
Aitchison is dismissive: ‘an extreme view held by a minority of linguists is that forms, once established, to spread outwards to towns, villages
language change is an entirely random and fortuitous affair, and that fashions in and finally rural areas.
language are as unpredictable as fashions in clothes,’
AND, anyway ‘…the majority of linguists regard fashion changes simply as a
triggering factor, something which may set off a tendency whose deeper factor,
something which may set off a tendency whose deeper causes lies hidden beneath
the surface.’ (such as glottalisation of the unstressed word-final /-t/.)
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