James Milroy: Some new
perspectives on sound change: sociolinguistics and the Neogrammarians
146-160.
Answer the following questions using
the book and other sources.
Why does Milroy say that sound change appers
to have no “obvious function or
rational motivation” (146)?
´´Because in a change from [e:] to [i:], for example (as in such items as meet, need, keen in
the history of English) it is impossible to see any progress or benefit to the
language or its speakers – the use of one vowel- sound rather than another is
purely arbitrary: 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)?
Milroy´s main focus is on patterns of
language, whereas Neogrammarians are concerned about the theory of
sound change. Their basic axiom is that regular sound change is phonetically
gradual but lexically abrupt. They were also interested in how ´sound change´,
is implemented.
According to Milroy, what is language change dependent on? (149?)
The degree to which change is
admitted will depend on the degree of internal cohesion of the community and
change from outside.
Why does Milroy say that sound change actually doesn’t exist (150)?
Milroy points out that in the course
of time one sound is substituted for another; speakers of a given dialect
gradually and variably begin to use sound X in environments where speakers
formerly used sound Y.
Why does Milroy disagree with the Neogrammarians
when they say that sound
change is “blind” (150)?
From his point of view the sound
change is a ´´social phenomenon´´ that it comes because speakers in
conversation bring it about, which is a very long distance away from the Neogrammarian notion that sound change is ´´blind´´.
What is meant by “lexical diffusion” (151)?
Lexical diffusion is a process which
is social gradually with abrupt replacement patterns that can be shown to be
regular in some sense. Furthermore, the lexical diffusion in a new form differs
noticeably from the gradual phonetic change which varies only faintly.
What does dialect displacement mean? Give an example. (152)
The dialect displacement mean the
displacement of one dialect by another which is, far some reason, socially
dominant at some particular time. For example the gradual displacement of
heavily inflected West Midland dialects of Middle English by weakly inflected
What are “community” or “vernacular” norms? What term that we have used
in class
is similar (152)?
The community norms or vernacular
norms are the other norms which exist apart from the standard ones, and that
these norms are noticed by speakers and maintained by the communities often in
opposition to standardizing norms. Another way of putting it is to say that
Community norms can be variable norms in contrast to standard norms which are
invariant.
What does Milroy mean when he says that h-dropping may not ever reach
“completion” (153)?
Milroy thinks that a change can
persist as a variable state for seven or eight centuries without ever going to
´completion´´ in the traditional state.
Explain what Milroy means by “speaker innovation” and change in the
system. How
are they connected (153)?
He means by ´´speaker innovation´´
that the speaker is, and not the language, that innovate the linguistic change.
The change in the systems refers to the progress which cannot be observed.
Although, there can be observation of the linguistic innovations, we don not
know when we observed them whether there are innovations that will lead to
changes.
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)?
For the reason
that each single event of borrowing into a new speech community is just as much
an innovation as the presumed original event in the unique speech society.
What is necessary for a sound to spread (157)?
It is necessary that the sounds have to suppose
a social pattern in the society. It is assumed that the spread of the change is
by borrowing and implied that the spread therefore does not involve sudden
replacement.
Why does believing in the ideology of standardization lead to believing
in “blind
necessity” (158)?
The standard languages are not
´normal languages, being created by the imposition of the institutions; thus
the sound patterns and changes that comes about in these sound patterns do not
come about through blind necessity and they are not wholly explainable by
reference to phenomena internal to the structure of language.
What does Milroy mean by “clean” and “dirty” data (158)?
Clean data is standard language
which provide the investigator with it and which have already been normalized,
whereas dirty data is the intractable, irregular and chaotic information which is
provided by the vernacular languages.