Language Change

Reason for language change

• Individuals – Chaucer and Shakespeare
• Technology – Internet etc needing new lexis
• Society – Cultural changes and shifts in attitudes requiring new lexis E.g. Political Correctness
• Foreign Influence – E.g. America through film or trade
• Science – new inventions requiring new lexis
• Travel, trade and colonisation – require new lexis and shared lexis to barter and trade
• Globalisation – English becoming language of trade and business – new forms created (Spanglish)

Political Correctness

• Refrain from causing emotional harm
• Fit into society free of isolation
• However – gone to far - ‘vertically challenged’

Attitudes towards language change

• Prescriptivism – dictate how language should be used
• Want language to remain same and refrain from change
• Descriptivism – accept language change is inevitable and accept change
• David Crystal – 3^rd way – results in more creative and expressive form of language

Taboo

• Used for comedic effect
• Convergence or divergence – conform to more dialectical lexis to fit in or show separate from others
• Used as filler or to show pain and displeasure
• Negative views towards taboo
• Too much on TV
• However, shows reality to modern language in Britain

Lexical change – neologisms

Words from other languages

Borrowings –

• Loans taken from foreign languages 
• E.g. ‘Judge’ from French and ‘Opera’ from Latin

Words formed from existing words - 

Affixation –

• Adding affix (prefix or suffix) to an existing word - E.g. ‘Racism’ and ‘sexism’

Compounding –

• Two words are combined in their entirety to make a new word
• E.g. ‘Lap-top’ and ‘Happy-hour’

Blending –

• Two words parts are moulded together to form a new word, usually by adding the start of one word and the end of another
• E.g. ‘Smog’ – smoke and fog and ‘Motel’ – motor and hotel

Conversion –

• Changing of word class  - E.g. Noun to verb – ‘Text’ was noun now verb of ‘to text’

Words formed by shortening –

Shortening or abbreviation –

• Clipping part of a word
• E.g. Omnibus to ‘bus’ and Public house to ‘pub’

Acronym –

• Taking initial letters of words and making them into a combination of pronounceable as a new word
• E.g. NATO, NASA, AIDS, WAG

Initialism –

• Words abbreviated to initial letter - E.g. B.B.C, F.B.I, U.S.A.

Words from proper names –

• Derived from names or places synonymous with the product
• Denim – place in France
• Sandwich – after Earl of Sandwich

Semantic change

Broadening or generalisation –

• Meaning of a word broadens so as it retains old meaning but takes on new meanings as well
• E.g. ‘Mouse’ – was animal now computer equipment also

Narrowing or specialisation –

• Is the opposite of broadening
• Applies when word becomes more specific in its meaning, but again can retain the original meaning as well
• E.g. ‘Meat’ – meant all food now flesh of animals
• ‘Girl’ – middle ages meant all young people

Amelioration –

• Word has taken on a more pleasant or positive meaning than originally held
• E.g. ‘Wicked’ – still means evil now modern slang of good
• ‘Pretty’ – middle ages meant sly or cunning now beautiful

Pejoration –

• Opposite to amelioration
• words original meaning becomes less favourable
• E.g. ‘awful’ – originally 'worthy of awe' now 'exceedingly bad'

Metaphor –

• Words take on new meanings when begin to be used metaphorically
• E.g. ‘Cow’ – bitchy female and ‘Catty’ – female

Idioms –

• Formed from existing words but assume new meanings often as fixed frame forms
• Can only be properly interpreted by learning what the whole frame means
• E.g. ‘In the dog house’ and ‘Over the moon’

Euphemisms –

• Polite way of describing something unpleasant, embarrassing or socially undesirable
• More politically correct
• E.g. ‘Friendly fire’ and ‘Passed away’