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)?
Milroy refers to sound change as probably the most mysterious change in language: the replacement of vowel sound is arbitrary and there is apparently no profit and no loss. As, for example, in a change from [e:] to [i:] it is impossible to see any benefit. The use of one vowel-sound rather than another is arbitrary.
What is/are the
main difference/s between Milroy’s approach and that of the
Neogrammarians (147-148)?
One of the main thing we have take into account talking about the differences between Neogrammarian and Milory’s theories is the fact that nowadays Scholars have access to bilingual (and also multilingual communities). However, Neogrammarians used to study linguistic change in monolingual communities. While the Neogrammarians were interested only in the language, separating the language from the speaker, sociolinguists like Milroy firmly believes in the importance of analysing speech and language in social contexts.
This 19th Century movement was based on the idea that sound change is regular. According to this hypothesis, a diachronic sound change affects simultaneously all words in which its environment is met, without exception. Neogrammarians tended to be dichotomous, and their main sources of study were written texts rather than spoken.
Moreover, another Neogrammarian claim is that regular sound change is phonetically gradual but lexically abrupt; In the text we find that Milroy is against these ideas because he says that he does not think this is a ‘plausible scenario’ for sound change.
According to Milroy, what is language change dependent on? (149?)
A linguistic change is embedded in context of language maintenance. The degree to which change is admitted will depend on the degree of internal cohesion in the community, and change from outside will be admitted to the extent that there are large numbers of “weak ties” with outsiders.
Why does Milroy say that sound change actually doesn’t exist (150)?
Milroy
affirms that speech rounds do not physically change and in the course of time one
sound is replaced by another: Speakers
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)?
Milroy disagrees with the idea of “blind” sound change because sound change is a social process by which the speakers change the language they use. Speaker make the sound change by using the language.
What is meant by “lexical diffusion” (151)?
Accroding to Chen and Wang (1975), lexical diffusion is a phonological rule that gradually extends its scope of operation to a larger and larger portion of the lexicon, until all relevant items have been transformed by the process.
What does dialect displacement mean? Give an example. (152)
Dialect displacement is the displacement of one dialecto by another which is, for some rehaznos, socially dominant at some particular time. In the text we find the referente to the gradual displacemente of heavily inflected East Midlands dialecto, which led to morphological simplification of the grammar of English more generally. But other example may be the displacement of Valencian in favour of Spanish in the Valencian Kingdom.
What are “community”
or “vernacular” norms? What term that we have used in class
is similar (152)?
They are norms maintaned and enforced by social pressure. Normally we
think in norms as those which are codified and legislated by the institutions
of society, this is, standardizing norms. But there are different dialescts of
a language, so this mean that, apart form the standard ones, other norms exist.
What does Milroy
mean when he says that h-dropping may not ever reach
“completion” (153)?
It is possible that a certain Group of people will resist dropping H
though this sound exists for centurias. This means that there’s no conscensun
in deciding if we should drop h or not.
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, whereas a
change is manifested within the language system. When an innovation is accepted
by the society it may become a change in the system.
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)?
What is necessary for a sound to spread (157)?
The spread of sounds can result from borrowing or a sudden replacement
of one trill by another. We must point out that the spreading of sounds is a
social process.
Why does
believing in the ideology of standardization lead to believing in “blind
necessity” (158)?
What does Milroy
mean by “clean” and “dirty” data (158)?
You also can take a look to the Answers provided by the teacher