AO2: Concepts and issues of language change

Annotations:

• "Demonstrate critical understanding of a range of concepts and issues related to the construction and analysis of meanings in spoken and written language, using knowledge of linguistic approaches."

1. Perceptive understanding of a range of issues, demonstrating a keen insight
2. Conceptualised discussion of ideas surrounding topic, considering different beliefs and theories relevant to language change
3. Explore a range of judicious examples, meaning an appropriate selection of examples
4. Attitudes towards language
   1. Prescriptivism - An attitude that makes judgements towards change, arguing that an 'ideal' standard should be maintained
      1. A prescriptive view places a value on the purity of language and considers current English usage as a decline in standards
   2. Descriptivism - An attitude that seeks to describe language change without making value judgements
      1. A prescriptive view places a value on the purity of language and considers current English usage as a decline in standards
5. Theories of language change
   1. 'Damp-spoon' - Devised by Aitchison, this view suggests that language users are lazy and careless, presupposing that one type of language is inferior to another
   2. 'Crumbling castle' - Devised by Aitchison, this idea treats language as a phenomenon that should be preserved in pristine condition and considers a rigid system to be better than a changing one
   3. 'Infectious disease' - Devised by Aitchison, this view presumes that non-standard language is caught from those around us and states that we should act to prevent this
   4. 'Cuckoo's nest' - Devised by Aitchison, whereby a synonym or newcomer becomes dominant and ousts another term, e.g. 'feast' is rarely used in the 21st century
   5. 'Language web' - Devised by Aitchison, this idea considers all causes of change to be interconnected and that no one factor of change can exist without others
   6. 'Language tree' - Devised by Lea, this view considers language to be an organic process; words have roots, a trunk of similarity and finally, branches of differences
   7. Trudgill - Studied the impact of social class on language change, focusing on the suffix "ing." He claimed that people were conscious of their speech and attached prestige to formal situations regardless of their social class
   8. Labov - Studied phonological change focusing on interaction between tourists and natives of Martha's Vineyard. He identified a 'change from below' to establish a sense of community and to remain separate identities
      1. This reinforced Giles' accommodation theory of divergent communication
   9. Milroy - Studied the role of social networks, revealing that women have a tendency to adopt standard English and prestige forms which are maintained and incorporated into their own vocabulary
   10. Cheshire - Proposed that girls are more status-conscious and conform more to society's norms and the conventions of Standard English (overt prestige), whereas boys gain popularity through covert prestige (rebelling desirable behaviour
   11. Goodman - Expands on Fairclough's term 'conversationalised,' stating that language has undergone 'informalisation' whereby forms that were traditionally reserved for personal relationships are now used in much wider social contexts, e.g. business, educational and political environments
6. "Demonstrate critical understanding of a range of concepts and issues related to the construction and analysis of meanings in spoken and written language, using knowledge of linguistic approaches."