Language Change AO3

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The Media - More colloquial, casual and speech-like

register; creates new lexis e.g. 'WAG'

Sociological Changes - Level of Political Correctness

increasing

Standardisation and

Change:

Grammar

Texts

with large audience may create patterns to which we conform

Prescriptivists

think the writer wished to 'correct' language

Lowth

(1762) 'rules' - should not put preposition at the end of a sentence, use

multiple negatives, split the infinitive or use 'they' as a gender-neutral

pronoun

Lexis

Many

words in the process of becoming or ceasing to be standard

Lexical

items can be standard/non-standard in different contexts

'Hoover'

was a brand but is now a common noun + 'Kodak', 'Kodaker' (photographer) and

'Kodakry' (photography)

Semantic

shift may be culturally determined, may depend on something ceasing to be

familiar e.g. 'wireless', 'telegram' and imperial measurements

Orthography

Non-standard

spelling sometimes intentional

Chaucer

and Shakespeare wrote without regard to spelling

N/S

spelling used in marketing 'Kwik-Fit', 'Toys R Us'

Johnson's

dictionary establishes standard spelling - descriptive

Punctuation

N/S

forms less obvious

18th

Century - most punctuation then is considered standard today (little change

1700-now)

Late

20th Century texts have less frequent punctuation

Confusion with semi-colon and colon, hyphen and

dash

Influences of Word

Creation:

18th Century -

Science and medicine, classical languages (Latin and Greek), attitudes towards

class and social roles

19th Century -

Industrialisation and new inventions, Latin and Greek, science and medicine,

British Empire, travel

20th/21st Century

- Technology (I.T.), globalisation, WWI/II, American English, consumerism and

leisure, social attitudes - gender, ethnicity, sexuality - youth socialects and

non-standard forms, ability to record speech

Orthographical

Changes:

18th Century -

'ʃ' left over from Old English, used at beginning or middle of words; 's'

used at end - ' ʃ' used until 1800 - spelling forms more regular

(dictionary)

19th Century - More consistent and

standardised spelling evolving, more schools, increased standardisation +

availability of dictionaries

20th/21st Century - Standardised

spelling rules, non-standard forms being more extensively used, education

reforms, computer tech increase, text messaging and instant messaging

Grammatical Changes:

18th Century - Standardisation,

hierarchical and formal society with emphasis on conventions and rules -

writing valued as separate from speech

19th Century - Continuing

standardisation, changes in class attitudes, universal education, dialect

voices represented in literature (Dickens)

20th/21st Century - Worldwide and

American English, technology, social levelling, oral language /forms affecting

writing styles, growing informality, growth of entertainment and leisure

industries

By late modern English,

capitalisation rules followed what we use today - used to be at beginning of

sentences, for proper nouns and rhetorically for abstract nouns and personified

nouns

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