LANGUAGE CHANGE AND VARIATION:
1_What is more common in language uniformity or
variability?
Human language is continuously changing. Languages have
changed in the course of history. Language is continuing to change in the
present just as it did in the past. Pronunciations are changing, new words and
constructions are being adopted and old ones adapted to new uses. Sometimes
change is rapid, and sometimes it is slow.
Change seems to be inherent in the nature of language:
there is no such thing as a perfectly stable human language. At any given time
a language is variable. Languages are never uniform entities; they can be
observed to vary geographically and socially, and according to the situational
contexts in which they are used.
2_ What kinds of variability exist?
Geographical variation
Social variation, including gender, geography, age, occupation ,and accent.
Temporal variation
Stylistic variation
3_ How do we decide if a
particular group of speakers belong to a particular dialect or language?
According to he pronunciation, and the syntactic
structure used by the speaker.
For example in the Spanish, if the speaker says “vos” we know that he or she is from Argentina or “usted”
with meaning of “you” with is typical for Mexican people.
4_ Saussure emphasized the
importance of synchronic descriptions of languages rather than diachronic. He
and his disciples (structuralists) focused on language
at different periods as finite entities. Is this reasonable?
5_The unattested states of language were seen as
transitional stages in which the structure of a language was, as it were, disturbed.
This made linguistic change look abnormal. Is it abnormal?
6_ Can you think of any example of non-professional
attitudes to your own language?
Yes, in Spanish there are plenty of examples of
non-professional attitudes, such as:
“dequeísmo” pienso (creo,
opino, dije) de que las cosas van bien.
“seseo” is
to pronounce the Z and C before E as if it were an S, sapato
instead of zapato.
“laísmo, leísmo, loísmo”: “Laísmo”: the
incorrect use of the pronoun «la» as an indirect complement. Is not correct to say
«la dijo que leyera en voz alta», we have to say
«le dijo que leyera en voz alta». “Loísmo”: the
use of the pronoun «lo» as an indirect complement:
«lo dio un caramelo» instead of «le dio un caramelo».
“Leísmo”: the use of «le» as a masculine
direct complement. The plenty “leísmo” in literatura
is so common, that RAE has finally accepted when it is referred to people. So, now is correct to
say «le llamaron por la tarde», but
is incorrect to say «el perro era tan feroz
que no pudimos sujetarle».
7_ Why does Milroy use “scare quotes” around
non-standard and errors?
Because he is disappointed with the idea
of “errors”. When a native person says that he or she doesn’t speak his or her
language correctly.
8_ Are non-standard dialects “incorrect, irregular,
ungrammatical and deviant.”?
No, they aren’t. all dialects
are as correct as any other official language, what happens is that some non- standard dialects are considered by
some people worse than others.
9_ Which of these systems is
more irregular? Why?
|
Myself Yourself Himself Herself Ourselves Themselves |
Myself Yourself Hisself Herself Ourselves Theirselves |
The second system is more regular although is not considered
to be the standard system because “hisself” and “theirselves” are grammatically correct.
10_ “… much of the change generally accepted body of
knowledge on which theories of change are based depends on quite narrow
interpretations of written data and decontexutalized
citation forms (whether written or spoken), rather than on observation of
spoken language in context (situated speech)". (Milroy 1992: 5) Why do you
think this is so?
11_Any description of a language involves norms? Think
of the descriptions of your own language. Why is this so? For example: He ate
the pie already is considered to be non-standard in which variety of English
and perfectly acceptable in which other?
Is acceptable, but not standars.
In british English “already”
is not normally used with the past. That is standard in
He has already eaten a pie.-
He ate the pie already.- is
considered to be non-standard for most speakers of British English but is more
or less correct for English in
12_ What is the difference
between descriptive and prescriptive grammars?
Descriptive: refers to the structure of a language as
certain people think it should be used.
Prescriptive: refers to the structure of a language as
certain people think it should be used.
Weinreich, Labov and Herzog’s (1968) empirical foundations of language
change:
Constraints: what changes are possible and what are
not
Embedding: how change spreads from a central point
through a speech community
Evaluation: social responses to language change
(prestige overt and covert attitudes to language, linguistic stereotyping and
notions on correctness).
Transition: “the intervening stages which can be
observed, or which must be posited, between any two forms of a language defined
for a language community at different times” Weinreich,
Labov and Herzog 1968: 101)
Actuation: Why particular changes take place at a
particular time.
13_ What do you think the
“prestige motivation for change” and the “solidarity constraint” mean? How are
they opposed?
Prestige motivation for change differs between groups
separated by certain social variables, e.g., ethnicity, status, gender, level
of education, age, etc., and how creation and adherence to these rules is used
to categorize individuals in social class or socio-economic classes. As the
usage of a language varies from place to place (dialect), language usage varies
among social classes.
Solidarity constrait might
mean that society has an effect on the way language changes, including cultural
norms, expectations, and context.
14_Sound change: post-vocalic /r/ in
Actuation: Why did /k/ palatalize before certain front
vowels? PrsE: cheese, German käse
English/Norse doublets shirt/skirt?
When language change, one of the main
reason is that people imitate prestige language.
NY pronunciation (/r/ is not pronounced): car_ /ka:/ bird_
/b3:d/ nurse: /n3:s/
In general amrecian /r/ is
slightly pronounced, it is more prestigious.
Some varieties of language are more prestigious than
others, these prestigious varieties an influence less
prestigious varieties which usually incorporate some features inorder to become more prestigious. For
example, the use of post vocalic /r/ in
Solidarity constraint requires the speaker to conform
to local community forms rather than to normal that are viewed as external.
15_What is the biological metaphor in language change?
This metaphor consists of comparing a language with a
life thing (a tree is the most common referent) in the sense that both have an
origin and grow branching off. There is also the point that languages obtain
their basis from one of these branches that at the same time are originated in
other older language (which is called mother).
This theory is considered abrupt and clear out because
can have problems related with the comparison between the two entities (example:
when one die has the other to suffer the same chance?)
Like a biological species defined by the potential of
its members to interbreed and procreate offspring of the same kind, a language
can be defined as “a population of idiolects that enable their hosts to
communicate with and understand one another”
16_ What is the difference
between internal and external histories of a language?
17_ Look up Neogrammarians
and lexical diffusion. Why are they often found in the same paragraph or
chapter?
18_ Look up social norm-enforcement, childish errors
and slips of the tongue. What have they to do with language change?