English Language Change Theorists

Dennis Freeborn

-Summarises opinions about regional accents into 3 views. -Incorrectness View -Ugliness View -Impreciseness View

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Norman Fairclough

-The change in speech style is part of what he calls 'conversationalism'. -There are shifing boundaries between written & spoken discourse. -Informalisation and personalisation is occuring. -Spoken language is driving changes in written language.

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Harvey and Shalom (1997)

-A problem in language is that there are lots of variations of a concept which lacks a single form, eg: sex. -The word 'f*ck' carries power to shock but it's not as taboo nowadays -Taboo language has different meanings in public and private contexts.

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Dwight Bollinger (1980)

-Highlighted the increasing use of euphemisms in advertsing, 'fun-size', 'man-made', 'crafted'. -Disphemisms are avoided in the media, 'casualties', 'tragedy', 'public relations'.

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Martin Montgomery (1986)

-Highlighted the use of euphemisms in the military, 'collateral damage', 'demographic targetting', 'pre-emptive strike'.

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Justman (1995)

-The language of the nazis made it easier for the rest of the world to ignore events, 'final solution', 'evacuation', 'special treatment', 'protective custody'.

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Nancy Mairs

-Points out the dangers of euphemisms and political correctness. -Are we going to far in order to avoid discrimination? - Trying to avoid discrimination, can actually lead to inaccuracies in our selection of language.

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Labov "Martha's Vineyard"

-Suggested that people subconscoiusly change language to identify themselves with one group over another.

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Robert Burchfield (1981)

-Advised BBC announcer on pronunciation, he suggest they use SE in its 1980s form. -He gives preference to the 'social package' of region, education and by implication, class.

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Plain English Campaign

-Not concerned with 'good' or 'correct' English but with avoidance of 'gobbledygook' which makes communication of any kind unnecessarily difficult.

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Suzanne Romaine (1998)

-Refers to the internal and external theory. -Internal: formation of new words & influence of dictionaries. Looks at what happens inside a language with no external factors. -External: the changing social contexts of language as an ongoing process.

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Bex (1996)

-Refers to Generic Labels, this term used to describe a group of texts which seems to have similar language features & perform similar social functions. -Genres change over time because society does, eg: texting. (see notes)

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Sharon Goodman (1996)

-Describes, the 'x' as a super-charged typographic item, as it has a variety of meanings. -Context is important. (see notes)

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Donald Mackinnon (1996)

-Categorised the attitudes people may have to language use: incorrect/correct, pleasant/ugly, socially and morally acceptable/unacceptable, appropriate/inappropriate, useful/useless.

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Political Correctness

-change generally takes place over time but PC involves a conscious process. -some link to moral acceptability, but this is clear cut. -Something positive, however largely associated with the negative & there is no neutral way of seeing this term.

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Philip Henson (2002)

-Wrote an article in the Independant. -Highlighted the complexity of the situation in a group, that they can call each other 'n*gger' or 'queer'. -However when someone out of the group refers to them as this, it becomes offensive, eg: Big Brother.

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Jean Aitchison- DAMP SPOON

-Damp Spoon: changes happen because people are lazy.

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Jean Aitchison- CRUMBLING CASTLE

-Crumbling Castle: language is a castle that must be preserved and not allowed to decay.

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Jean Aitchison- INFECTIOUS DISEASE

- Infectious Disease: bad/ poor language is caught from those around us and we should fight it.

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Howard Giles- Accomodation Theory

-We accommodate our language to suit the style of those around us, for their need of approval. (Convergence involves moving closer to the speech style of others.)

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Estuary English

- Coined in the 80s by David Rosewarne. -Describes the way London accents have spread through counties surround the Thames Estuary. -It conforms to SE but has distinct phonology. -Speakers from all counties now use it.

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Semantic Reclamation- Philip Hensher (2002) The Independant

-Highlighted the complexity of the situation that people in a group can call each other names, eg: "N*gga", "queer" -However, when called these names from someone outside the group it becomes offensive.

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David Crystal

- Young people know how to use SE. -They just view texting etc, as requiring a different style and embrace these. -Texting is not the same as face to face communication, as there is time lag before feedback is recieved.

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Ferdinand de Saussure

- He saw change occuring because of the way language is continually being rearranged and reinterpreted by people.

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English Language Change Theorists

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