James Milroy: Some new perspectives on
sound change: sociolinguistics and the Neogrammarians.
Answer the following questions using the
book and other sources.
Why does Milroy say that sound change
appears to have no “obvious function or rational motivation” (146)?
Probably the most mysterious change in language, as it
has no obvious function or rational motivation. Certain
changes
do not benefit the language or its speakers in any way. These changes do not
aid the progression of
languages
either there is apparently no profit and no loss.
What is/are the main difference/s
between Milroy’s approach and that of the Neogrammarians (147-148)?
The main difference between the approaches of the Neogrammarians and sociolinguists
like Milroy is that the first
group focus on language
as an object, and do not take into consideration the speakers of the said
language.
In contrast, Milroy firmly believes in the importance
of analysing speech and language in social contexts.
According to Milroy, what is language
change dependent on? (149?)
Language change is embedded in a context of
maintenance. The degree to which the change is admitted will depend
on this of internal cohesion
in community and change will be admitted to the extent that there are lots
of “weak
ties” .
Why does Milroy say that sound change
actually doesn’t exist (150)?
Because in the course of time one sound is
substituted.
Why does Milroy disagree with the Neogrammarians when they say that sound change is
“blind” (150)?
Because sound change is a social process by which the
speakers change their language.
What is meant by “lexical diffusion”
(151)?
Lexical diffusion is a socially gradual process by
which a form changes in a markedly different form, distinguishing
between
lexical diffusion and gradual phonetic change.
What does dialect displacement mean? Give an example.
(152)
The displacement of one dialect by another which is
socially dominant at some particular time.
What are “community” or “vernacular” norms? What
term that we have used in class is similar (152)?
Norms observed by speakers and maintained by
communities in opposition to standardizing norms which
manifest
themselves at different levels of generality.
The wave theory, which implies that a change spreads
successively to further contexts and social groups until it is
realized
in all contexts and with all speakers.
What does Milroy mean when he says that
h-dropping may not ever reach “completion” (153)?
A change can persist as a variable state for
seven or eight centuries without ever going to “completion” in the
traditional
sense. He means that the practise of “h-dropping” is commonly used; we will
never reach a point in
which all of the
speakers of the English language consider this usage as normative.
Explain what Milroy means by “speaker
innovation” and change in the system. How are they connected (153)?
An innovation is an act of the speaker and a change is
manifested within the language system.
When an innovation is taken up by a speech community,
the process involved is fundamentally a borrowing
process.
Why isn’t borrowing from one language to
another and the replacement of one sound by another through speaker
innovation with a language as radically different as the Neogrammarians posited (154-6)?
Because each single event of borrowing into a new
speech community an innovation of the “original speech
community”.
What is necessary for a sound to spread
(157)?
Sound changes have spread gradually through the
lexicon.
By borrowing or a sudden replacement of one trill by
another.
Why does believing in the ideology of
standardization lead to believing in “blind necessity” (158)?
Because standard languages are carefully constructed
in order to appear as if they are discrete linguistic entities- and
the ideology of
standardization causes people to believe that they are indeed discrete physical
entities.
What does Milroy mean by “clean” and
“dirty” data (158)?
“Clean” data is language uniform, unilinear and normalized .
“Dirty” data is the result of sociolinguistic studies;
irregular and chaotic.