This is an excellent summary of a wide range of linguist theories and research which I utilised for both my NEA and revision for my final exam. I shared it with my friends who found it succinct yet detailed, providing all the information needed for the Language Change section of the AQA English Lan...
Linguist Theory Evaluation
Aitchison There was an 18th century ‘misguided attempt Latin associated with prestige and
to make English behave more like Latin’ education and remains today in
including the prohibition of the double prominent and respected professions
negative. e/g medicine and law
Chaucer – ‘never said no bad thing to nobody’
Main effect of 19th century etiquette manuals
was to make people insecure: to call
pantaloons pants was an ‘inexcusable
vulgarism’
Damp Spoon Syndrome - ‘queasy distaste’ of Texan researchers gave students neat
the alleged laziness involved in ‘bad English’. whiskey every 20 minutes and asked
Only truly lazy speech is drunken speech. Fast the students to read word lists and
speech forms e/g ‘hambag’ often occurs in chat – the students mumbles and
informal conversation but this is not grumbles were unlike any other
intrinsically worse, just different, it is more alterations in sober speech. They
efficient. We slow are speech for babies and lengthen consonants due to a
speed it up for friends. temporary lack of muscular
coordination.
There is an increased use of glottal
stops which actually create greater
tension so are not easier/lazier. MLE
features H-retention.
Crumbling Castle Analogy – English is like a Johnathan Swift (1712) – wrote a letter
beautiful old building that needs to be arguing ‘some method should be
preserved. This implies it was gradually and thought of for ascertaining and fixing
lovingly assembled until it reached a point of our language forever’ – these same
maximum splendour at some unspecified time prescriptivist views have always
in the past. Also suggests rigid systems are existed, but none can point to a single
superior to flexible ones. Darwin explained that time when language was the most
in the animal kingdom, flexibility and perfect. Swift bemoaned ‘vulgarities’
adaptation are key to survival, which is the such as ‘bamboozle’ and ‘mob’
same in language. Just also this environment Stagnating language would require
and climate change so do social and cultural stagnating society. ‘Language is
factors which language must adapt to. Old socially shaped and socially
words may also need to be forgotten e/g constitutive’ (Fairclough and Wodak)
housen and shoen, changing these and letting Scientific language e/g gravity,
old unused words go is ‘good language pendulum, electricity
keeping’ Crystal used the examples of
‘broughams’, ‘clarences’ and ‘landaus’
(types of horse-drawn carriage) as
words that have fallen out of usage
with the invention of motor cars.
Infectious Disease View – responding to an MLE – ‘membership in a multicultural
article entitled ‘Polluting our Language’ which friendship network is central’ to its use
suggested we ‘catch’ changes. She agrees (Braber and Jansen)
changes are brought about by social contact
but people do so because they want to fit in.
Adopting linguistic changes similarly to
hairstyles and clothes – adapting to our group
is normal. Also changes only happen if
language is predisposed to move in that
direction e/g word final consonants such as
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