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Factors Affecting Language Change

Article  in  SSRN Electronic Journal · March 2010

DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.2566128

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Factors Affecting Language Change

Oktavian Mantiri

Introduction

All languages change over time and change is inevitable for any living language. History
records that languages change over time at every level of structure which includes
vocabulary, phonology, morphology and syntax ( PBS, 2005 ). For many people, it may not
be easily apparent or obvious in a day-to-day communication on a personal level because
many individuals are so intimately connected to their language that they may fail to see its
changes. However, languages do indeed change and some languages flourish, some expand
and some languages even die.

Generation by generation, pronunciations evolve, new words are borrowed or invented, the
meaning of old words drifts, and morphology develops or decays. The rate of change may
vary from one place to another but whether the changes are faster or slower, they do happen
and they happen for a good cause (Jones & Singh, 2005).

Having a knowledge of language change and causes of change are essential for students of
language. It also is a significant topic for linguists, who take a descriptive attitude and accept
that change is inevitable and it does happen for a better reason for all human kinds.

Linguists have traditionally studied variations in a language occurring at the same and how
language develops over time as both can be useful aids to understanding.

This easy will discuss about causes the lead to changes of the English language and types of
change. There are many factors that play roles in changing languages and they include
politics, social, culture technology, environment and moral. Such factors can be extremely
broad and complex in nature; therefore, this essay will only discuss about political, social and
technological in a general term.

There are types of English language change which include lexis (word), semantics (meaning
of word), phonology (sound), and syntax (grammar) and the study of these different types can
be extremely complex. Therefore, there only a general and a few examples about the different
types of change will be discussed.

Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2566128

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After that, there will be a brief discussion on whether these changes take place for the right or
wrong reason. The conclusion will then be drawn to support the thesis statement.

Causes of language change

Languages change for a variety of reasons such as political pressures, technological

development as well as social, culture and moral factors. Below are examples of causes that
lead to change in the English language.

 Political factor- which is caused by foreign invasion, migration and colonization.

 Social factor- which means foreign influences from Latin, French, American,
Australian, Indian and others. The unique way that individuals speak also fuels
language change. Vocabulary and phrases people use depend upon the place, age,
gender, education level, social status.
 Cultural factor- This means the exposure of one language group to another via
television, radio, films, music, magazines and fashion.
 Technological factor- which means rapid advances in information technology,
industries, products and economy simply require new words that drive language
change.
 Moral factor- which is about recent developments in anti-racism and
environmentalism (Beard, 2004).

1. Political Factor

Many times, language change has some kind of political roots such as human migration and
invasion. When people move to a country and learn a new language, they learn their adopted
language imperfectly. They then pass on these slight imperfections to their children and to the
people in their social circle, and eventually alter the language (Aitchison, 1991, p.109).

Besides the language changes brought about by migration, politics play some roles in
language change in more immediate ways by the public debates. For instance, increasing
environmental awareness and environmental policies in recent decades has led to a number of
new words and phrases such as “tree-hugger”, “eco-friendly”, “carbon footprint”,
“greenwashing”, “locavore”, “eco-terrorism” and “green collar jobs.” In political debates, just
four years ago in the U.S. presidential election, “the common citizen” or “average Joe”
suddenly replaced by “Joe the plumber” due to one of thousands of candidate-voter

Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2566128

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conversations (Powell & Cooper, 2008). New political words such as “9/11” (2001),
“weapons of mass destruction” (2002), “red state/blue state/purple state” (2004), “subprime”
(2007) can now be seen in newly edited dictionaries.

The liberation of women and the struggle for gender equality has also brought about some
important changes in language. For example, student writers today are encouraged to use
gender-neutral and gender-inclusive nouns and pronouns and to treat women and men in a
parallel fashion. For example, police officer for policeman, firefighter for fireman and
humankind for mankind ( p. 411).

2. Technology Factor

The ever-changing technology is creating difficulty for the English language users to keep
track on new vocabulary and expressions. In fact, language itself changes slowly but the
internet has speeded up the process of those changes even more quickly. For example, some
entirely new words like the verb “to google' , “facebooking”, and many other words that are
not yet in the Oxford English Dictionary, have come into popular use (Duffy, 2003).
However, not all these new words and slangs being used right now will survive forever. Over
a decade ago, the term 'floppy disk' was considered a brand new lexical development, but
now it is rarely used or featured in today's conversations as it has been replaced with 'memory
stick'(Wu & Ben-Canaan, 2006).

Often times, people online show how brilliant they are by manipulating the language of the
internet which causes computer slangs to develop even faster than one can ever imagine
(Kleinman, 2010). The text messaging language is something new the abbreviation such as
LOL, BFF, IMHO, and OMG (that's laugh out loud, best friends forever, in my humble
opinion and oh my God) have recently added in the Oxford Dictionary, legitimizing the terms
used by millions in texts, emails and instant messages (Yoskowitz, 2011) .

3. Social Factor

Changes in politics, economics and technology usually lead to social changes. Social changes
produce changes in language. In other words, once society starts changing, then language
change produces special effects. In almost every society, some people have social prestige,
power, and money, while others have little of these commodities. Typical variables include
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occupation, level of education, income, and type of residential dwelling, with ranked levels
within each variable. People with different level of social status response and perceive things
differently and vocabulary and phrases differently. (Finegan & Rickford, 2004, p.62 ). For
example, individuals who are poor and who cannot afford an education or who grew up in a
rural area where proper grammar wasn't encouraged, their ways of speaking will not be as
eloquent as someone of higher standing.

Even within the same small community there are variations according to a speaker’s age,
gender and ethnicity simply because no two individuals speak identically. Through
interactions, people pick up new words and integrate them into a new way of speech. Some of
them spread through the population and slowly change the language (Anonymous, 2011). The
words and phrases used by our parents or grandparents may ever be the same as the words
and phrases we are using right now.

4. Foreign Influence Factor

One of the most common reasons for one language to borrow from another is when it needs
to refer to notions and things that have been newly introduced to its speakers. For example,
the Italian word pizza only entered English when the food to which it refers was adopted by
English speech communities. Similarly, glasnost was borrowed from Russian to express a
policy of openness and frankness in Soviet political life that came in the wake of Gorbachev
era and represented a concept that had hitherto been unfamiliar to the English speech
community ( Aitchison, 2001, p.31)

Although borrowing is extremely widespread, not all loanwords are destined to be

incorporated into the borrower language. Many are only transitory and disappear in the space
of a relatively short time. The borrowing is likely to be retained if it denotes an object for
which no other word exists in the borrower language as in the word pizza, mentioned above (
p. 32).

McMahon (1994) has given a few examples of common words borrowed from other
languages.

 hammock, hurricane, maize, tobacco (Caribbean)

 gull (Cornish)
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 howitzer, robot (Czech)

 brogue, blarney, clan, plaid, shamrock (Gaelic and Irish)
 ukulele (Hawaiian)
 bungalow, dungarees, jodhpurs, jungle, loot, polo, pajamas, shampoo, thug (Hindi)
 paprika (Hungarian)
 bonsai, sumo, origami (Japanese)
 bamboo, ketchup, orang-utan (Malay)
 paradise, lilac, bazaar, caravan, chess, shawl, khaki (Persian)
 taboo, tattoo (Polynesian)
 flamingo, marmalade, veranda (Portuguese)
 mammoth, soviet, vodka (Russian)
 coffee (Turkish)
 flannel (Welsh)

Types of language change

There are types of language change. They include Lexical, semantic, phonology and syntax.
General ideas about these changes are explained below with few examples. Lexical and
semantic change will be explained in one category as, in general, they are closely linked to
one another.

1. Lexical and Semantic Change

Lexical change refers to people using different words today than people from the past. A
semantic change is very closely linked to lexical change but semantic change has something
to do with changes in meaning behind the words. It is probably the most frequent type of
language change and certainly the easiest to observe. For instance, one can make confident
assertions about the age of a speaker who uses the word courting to mean “going out with”,
or one who uses the adjective fit to describe someone they find attractive. In another example,
an older person would use the word “wireless” to mean “radio” whereas the word wireless would
certainly mean wireless technology such as phones and laptops for a younger person (
McMahon,1994, p.90).
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Semantic change which is also known as semantic shift describes the evolution of word
usage. In semantic change, the modern meaning of the word is different from the original
usage.

Below are a few examples of semantic change;

 The word “awful” originally meant "inspiring wonder or fear". It is a portmanteau of the
words "awe" and "full", used originally as a shortening for "full of awe". In contemporary
usage the word usually has negative meaning.
 The word “demagogue” originally meant "a popular leader". Now the word has strong
connotations of a politician who panders to emotions and prejudice.
 The word “egregious” originally meant something that was remarkably good. Now it
means something that is remarkably bad or flagrant.
 The word "guy" was used as a term for any "person of grotesque appearance" and then to
a general reference for a male person. However, in the 20th century under the influence
of American popular culture, the word "guy" has been gradually replacing "fellow,"
"bloke," "chap" and now in plural , it refers to a mixture of genders (e.g., "Come on, you
guys!" could be directed to a group of men and women).
 The word “gay” used to mean “bright, cheerful” before the 1960s but now it generally
means “homosexual’( McMahon, 1994, p. 175)

2. Syntax Change ( Grammar )

History records change in grammatical constructions. English syntax is very slow to change
compared with vocabulary change which can be seen as fairly superficial and ephemeral.
Modern English grammar is different from old English in many aspects. One example would
be, old English distinguished gender - the third person singular demonstrative nominative
pronoun had three froms: /se/ was the masculine form,/ paet/ was neuter form, and / seo/ was
the feminine form. However, in modern English, there is only one form of the third person
singular demonstrative pronoun, that, regardless of case of gender( Rowe & Levine, 2009,
p.359).
In another example, in modern English, the word “you” is used for both the singular and the
plural form. In old English, the word “thou” was used for addressing one person; ye for more
than one. However, the word “You” was around then, and while thou and ye were used as a
subject of a clause, “you” was used as the object. In Early Modern English, the distinction
 Page |7

between subject and object uses of ye and you had virtually disappeared, and you became the
norm in all grammatical functions and social situations. The use of “Ye” had eventually
become old-fashioned (Thomasom, n.d).

3. Phonological Change ( SOUND )

Sound change consists of the practice of language change which causes the phonetic change
or phonological change. It also includes the substitution of phonetic feature which lead to the
total loss of the original sound and a new one is introduced (Wikipedia, 2012).

English pronunciation is gradually changing, although it continues to reflect both

geographical and social differences among speakers. No longer is it true, if it ever was, that
all educated people speak with Received Pronunciation (RP). A person’s speech can
gradually alter over the years in the direction of those around, as is shown by British people
who pick up an American accent in a very short time (Aitchison, 1991, p. 108).

A few examples of sound changes based on different periods are mentioned below.

In the early twentieth century,

 the vowel in words such as cloth and cross switched from being that of thought to that
of lot;
 people stopped making a distinction in pairs such as flaw and floor;
 the quality of the "long O" vowel changed (goat, home, know);
 the quality of the "short A" vowel changed (back, man);
 people stopped using a "tapped" r-sound between vowels (very sorry).

In the mid twentieth century,

 words like sure, poor, tour started to sound identical to shore, pour, tore;
 the weak vowels in words such as visibility, carelessness drifted away from the sound
of kit;
 people started to insert a t-sound in words such as prince, making it sound like prints;
 a ch-sound became respectable in words such as perpetual, and a j-sound in graduate;
 the glottal stop started to replace the traditional t-sound in phrases such as quite nice,
it seems.
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In the late twentieth century,

 the vowel sound at the end of words such as happy, coffee, valley is growing tenser;
 the OO-sounds of goose and foot are losing their lip-rounding and backness;
 the glottal stop extends into ever more phonetic environments (not only, but also);
 in certain positions, the l-sound is changing into a kind of w-sound (milk, myself,
middle)
 ch- and j-sounds are spreading to words such as Tuesday, reduce (like chooseday,
rejuice) (Wells, 1999).

4. Spelling Change

There are regulatory organizations to preserve national languages in many countries but
neither the US nor Great Britain have such regulatory bodies in place. The English language
changes with the publication of new dictionaries, or the way media uses language, or with the
creation of collqual terms. Below are a few examples of spelling changes that took place in
the history of the English language.

Spelling during 16 and 17 century Re-spelling

aventure adventure
avice advice
crume crumb
descryve describe
Langage language
Nevew nephew
Samon salmon

When talking about change in English spelling, it is also essential to discuss about the
difference between British and American English spellings. The French influence on English
has caused many of these spelling differences between British and English. British English
has a tendency to keep the spelling of many words of French origin whereas Americans try to
spell words more closely to the way they sound phonetically. Below are a few examples of
them.

British -our vs. American - British -re vs. American - British -ae/-oe/-oeu vs.
or difference er American
difference -e/-o/-eu difference
 Page |9

armour armor amphitheatre amphitheater archaeology archeology

behaviour behavior centimetre centimeter gynaecology gynecology
colour color centre center leukaemia leukemia
favourite favorite fibre fiber manoeuvre maneuver
flavour flavor kilometre kilometer mediaeval medieval
harbour harbor litre liter mementoes mementos
honour honor lustre luster oestrogen estrogen
humour humor louvre louver orthopaedic orthopedic
labour labor manoeuvre maneuver paediatric pediatric
neighbour neighbor metre meter palaeontology paleontology
rumour rumor spectre specter toxaemia toxemia
saviour savior theatre theater

LANGUAGE CHANGE: Progress or Decay?

Language, without a doubt, is an important marker of ethnic identity which means attachment
to language is as strong as people’s regard of themselves as a social group. A negative ethnic
identity contributes to the low prestige of the ethnic group’s language which, in turn, makes it
more susceptible to shifting to a high prestige language, such as English.

In the modern world, language change is often socially problematic. Language change is
always perceived as a negative thing especially by the older folks feeling that the language
has gone “down the hill”. Many other influential figures, in the eighteen century, felt that the
English language was in a state of serious decline and that a national institution should be
created to establish rules to prevent further decay.

Each language is inextricably tied up with a unique view of the world, belief system, and
literature, regardless of whether the literature is written or not. A language is the culmination
of thousands of years of a people’s experience and wisdom. People are language users and
which language they choose to use and how they use it- is the choices they make on an
individual and daily basis. This ultimately determines whether their languages die or thrive
(Kulick, 1994, p. 7).
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Conclusion

English today is one of the fastest changing languages in the world because both old and new
users of the language are actively shaping it as English has become a language of education
and in an increasing number of countries. Today, English belongs to any country which uses
it and the more people use English, the greater it would have impact on the language change.

Change can be a very good thing because it helps people in business to trade goods and
services, travel and communicate with other nations more effectively. If the language we
speak did not change, there would be an even greater language barer than there already is.
Another reason why languages need to change is for people to communicate with others who
have a different culture, understanding and pronunciation of our language. If there were no
change, humans would be so lost in this world of different languages and different beliefs.

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