What links these images?

can language change be controlled and directed?

03/17/2020
 What links these images?
Pormpurraw language relates
to Cardinal directions not to
left and right. Concept of
time and space different to
ours
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Tarahumara only have one word
to cover shades of blue or
green
The aliens’ written language
moved in circles, each
sentence lacking a defined
beginning or end. The alien
visitors seemed to view time
in a similar manner: as a
circular concept.
Hopi Don't have any words
can language change be controlled and directed? for time
Pirãa - no numbers
‘Ideas’ about language
• Spanish has best macho words
• https://
www.tes.com/news/can-language-be-sexist-question-we-should-enco
urage-our-mfl-students-explore
• German ‘sounds’ angry https://
www.theguardian.com/education/2014/jan/29/how-words-influence-
thought
• Ulster accent used to sound ‘aggressive’ during the Troubles

03/17/2020 can language change be controlled and directed?

Sapir and Whorf
Strong: Your language ‘determines’ the way you see the world
Weak: language can ‘influence’ our habitual way of thinking

03/17/2020 can language change be controlled and directed?

So, what do the Sapir-Whorf theories
have to do with language change?
• The ‘strong’ determinist view of language leads to the linguistic
engineering or political correctness
• Language determines how a society thinks
• Language can be chosen to make people think in a certain way or
avoid being prejudiced (NEWSPEAK – Political correctness)
• Pinker – problem with this is best reflected in the euphemism
treadmill – new words will be used instead – link to Cameron. A sexist
will always use sexist language – Clarkson!

03/17/2020 can language change be controlled and directed?

Arguments against the strong form
• We can translate between languages
• We can learn other languages

03/17/2020 can language change be controlled and directed?

Some more ideas
• Change from above vs natural inevitable changes
• Sapir Whorf determinism: language controls and determines thought
• Link to George Orwell – Newspeak. Making it impossible to be prejudiced
• Political correctness movement – changing words to prevent/avoid discrimination
• Black coffee

• In contrast, Pinker’s ‘euphemism treadmill’ words introduced to replace an offensive

word, over time become offensive themselves. ‘Cripple’ became ‘disabled’ and so on
• So, is it impossible to stop offensiveness. If we want to be racist we will be. We will find
words for it
• This counters determinism, or the strong version of SW
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‘weaker’ form
• Language can influence our habitual ways of thinking
• Inuits talk of snow in more fine-grained ways because they live among
it

• Edwards: ‘a desert community (Tarahumara?) whose colour

vocabulary was traditionally nuanced in reds and browns but limited
in greens would doubtless expand appropriately after the group
struck oil and moved to Ireland.’

03/17/2020 can language change be controlled and directed?

 Can language
be controlled or
directed?
Sapir-Whor

Tarahumara only have one word to cover

Pormpurraw language relates to Cardinal shades of blue or green
directions not to left and right. Concept
of time and space different to ours

Hopi Don't have any words for time

03/17/2020 can language change be controlled and directed?
Pirãa - no numbers
https://
www.slideshare.net/Robertagillum/political-correctness-32529933

03/17/2020 can language change be controlled and directed?

Evaluate the idea that language can be controlled and
directed

• Planning – jot down ideas

• What does question mean? Controlled? Directed?
• Evaluate – means you have to weigh up the strengths and weaknesses of the theories – not regurgitate them!

Some thoughts
• It can’t – it’s already changed and still does
• Evidence –diachronic change – change over time
• History
• It changes from below, and that is hard to stop
• Attempts to change from above – Academie/Queen’s English http://queens-english-society.org//
• standardisation
• Prescriptivists v Descriptivists – Aitchison/Pinker/Chomsky/SW/Halliday/Crystal
• Political correctness
• Technology means that it changes more quickly and CMC allows it to be more, not less like speech, rather than writing
• Those that try to impose change (or not) are trying to impose written rules on spoken habits, which is wrong
• Reflectionism/random fluctuation – change comes from below

03/17/2020 can language change be controlled and directed?

Evaluate the idea that language can be controlled and
directed

Some thoughts
• It can’t – it’s already changed and still does
• Evidence –diachronic change – change over time
• History
• It changes from below, and that is hard to stop
• Attempts to change from above – Academie/Queen’s English http://queens-english-society.org//
• standardisation
• Prescriptivists v Descriptivists – Aitchison/Pinker/Chomsky/SW/Halliday/Crystal
• Political correctness
• Technology means that it changes more quickly and CMC allows it to be more, not less like speech, rather than
writing
• Those that try to impose change (or not) are trying to impose written rules on spoken habits, which is wrong
• Reflectionism/random fluctuation – change comes from below

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NEA?

03/17/2020 can language change be controlled and directed?

Fill in the table with your ideas

Controlled (determine the behaviour or Directed (control the operations of;

supervise the running of.) manage or govern.)

Can Can
Can’t Can’t

03/17/2020 can language change be controlled and directed?

• Task: Write an introductory paragraph to this essay

• Then write a paragraph which links ideas about language change to

one of the theories

03/17/2020 can language change be controlled and directed?

Evaluate

03/17/2020 can language change be controlled and directed?

03/17/2020 can language change be controlled and directed?
03/17/2020 can language change be controlled and directed?
03/17/2020 can language change be controlled and directed?
03/17/2020 can language change be controlled and directed?
Fixing the language – some control
is needed
• Is it important to maintain standards in language use, or should we
accept that language evolves and, without change, language would no
longer function the way we need it to?
• Attempts at fixing:
• Swift’s language academy – didn’t work
• Johnson’s dictionary – did
• Lowth’s grammar –grounded in Latin but accepted idiomatic language
use example p212 of Cambridge

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Standardisation

Standardisation is an ongoing process and an ideological struggle - Milroy

03/17/2020 can language change be controlled and directed?
Standardisation
• In English’s case, began in 14th Century
• English is a hybrid – highly inconsistent
• If it was to be taken seriously, it needed to standardised

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• Prescriptivism v descriptivism continuum

• Some rules are too focused on ‘correctness’ but some rules are
necessary for communication

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Substratum v borrowing – change
happens; get over it!
• When new speakers learn language they learn it imperfectly and pass
on the imperfections to future generations.

• We borrow whole words (restaurant)

• But with the imperfections are most evident in the phonology
• https://prezi.com/ou41myndatfm/substratum-theory/

• Aitchison – hypercorrection - cawfee

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• Using the Sugar paper, write a plan for your answer and write the
opening paragraph. Take a picture of it so you can use it!

03/17/2020 can language change be controlled and directed?

 https://www.slideshare.net/Robertagillum/language-change-th
eories

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Has Hasn’t

03/17/2020 can language change be controlled and directed?

Model essay
• Definitions of control and direct
• To control – to limit? To be in charge of?
• To direct – force?

03/17/2020 can language change be controlled and directed?

• Cripple became pejorative, so was changed to disabled, which itself
has become pejorative.
• Linguistic reflectionism – rather than creating a new word to change
society, language changes to reflect a change in society.
• Note: is this right?

• Functional theory – language changes depending on need of its

speakers
• tech and broadening

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• Change occurs naturally and randomly.

• Spoken English varies and changed according to its uses and users . Here you
can talk about attempts to fix English . What is the standard? Link to World
English – Uzbekistan/Singapore

• Random Fluctuation Theory – change caused by mistake/non-standard

orthography/ change in pronunciation (book v cool).

• So, can it be controlled? Directed?

03/17/2020 can language change be controlled and directed?
 Tarahumara only have one word to cover
shades of blue or green
Hopi Don't have any words for time
Piranha no numbers
Pormpurraw language relates to Cardinal
directions not to left and right. Concept
of time and space different to ours

03/17/2020 can language change be controlled and directed?

 Can language
be controlled or
directed?
Sapir-Whorf

Tarahumara only have one word to cover

Pormpurraw language relates to Cardinal shades of blue or green
directions not to left and right. Concept
of time and space different to ours

Hopi Don't have any words for time

03/17/2020 can language change be controlled and directed?
Piraa - no numbers
Political Correctness – Control from
above

03/17/2020 can language change be controlled and directed?