Transcript External change

Introduction
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When a child learns to speak, they invent words, but
these get corrected by adults
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Sometimes new words do stick
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Blog
Groupon
Other times words change meaning
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Uptight (1960s meant cool, sharp looking)
Spam (lunchmeat or junk email?)
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Terrific (causing terror  really great)
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Introduction
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Different people also use words differently
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This can be in response to social pressure, cultural
identity, or ideologies
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Words can change, but so can sounds, syntax, spelling,
and speaking styles
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We can use this knowledge of current languages to
help study and recreate ancient languages as well
How (and Why) Languages
Change
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External change
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Types of changes that occur because of language contact and
language borrowing
More rapid
Example: English borrowing word ‘syrup’ from Arabic
Internal change
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Types of changes that occur because of the way speakers
gradually modify their language over time
Slower
Example: change in the meaning of ‘bad’ from bad to good
(slang)
External Change
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Words are the most easily borrowed parts of speech
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Remember the borrowed words we looked at in
chapter 2?
Guess which words are native or foreign
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Moose (NA)
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Bandage
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Elixir (Greek)
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Lemon
(Persian)
Admiral
(Arabic)
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Skunk (NA)
Nippy
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Tapioca (SA
Indian)
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Bathroom
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Delicatessen
(Ger)
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Llama (SA
Quechua)
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Bonkers
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Handbag
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Capital
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Typhoon (Chi)
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Garage (Fr)
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Stone
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Canoe (NA
Indian)
Squash (NA
Indian)
Coffee (Arabic)
Syrup (Arabic)
Fahrenheit
(Ger)
Cliché (Fr)
Futon
(Japanese)
Floor
External Change
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Sometimes speakers of a borrowing language will
pronounce the words the native way
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But most of the time the words are changed to fit the
style of the borrowing language
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Example: American vs British pronunciation of ‘garage’
External Change
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Speakers also change the way borrowed words are
used
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Au jus means “with gravy”
We say with au jus, which means “with with gravy”
We fit it to our syntax
Another example is how to pluralize words
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Example: safari (there is no plural in Swahili)
We say safaris
External Change
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We also reanalyze unfamiliar words and make them
our own
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‘hamburger’ meant in the style of Hamburg (a city)
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What does it mean now?
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We have taken ‘burger’ to mean something specific in
our language and have made new words from it
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Cheeseburger
Baconburger
Veggieburger
External Change
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Word change example: ‘robot’
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Where did this word come from?
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http://ed.ted.com/lessons/mysteries-of-vernacular-robotjessica-oreck-and-rachael-teel
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What about pants?
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http://ed.ted.com/lessons/mysteries-of-vernacular-pantsjessica-oreck
Internal Change
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Slower and more predictable than external change
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Tend to follow rules and structural patterns of the
language
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Example: using ‘they’ as gender neutral singular
pronoun
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Instead of he/she
Ties to feminism and gender equality
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Replacing ‘thee’ and ‘thou’ with more informal ‘you’
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Y’all or youse (South, New York)
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Ties to ideology and cultural identity
Internal Change
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Change can also happen because of misanalysis
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Errors in speaking or spelling
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Could’ve: some mistakenly say could of instead of the correct
could have
Originally, this 
was a ‘napron,’ but it shifted to
‘an apron’
Internal Change
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Language is spoken in real settings by real people so of
course it will change
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Even morphemes can change
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What is the first morpheme in ‘disrespectful?’
Internal Change
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Language is spoken in real settings by real people so of
course it will change
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Even morphemes can change
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What is the first morpheme in ‘disrespectful?’
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Dis-
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What does it mean to dis someone?
Examples of Language
Change
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Languages evolve and related languages can evolve
out of one native language
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English is 1,000 but is very different now than it was at
a native language
Examples of Language
Change
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Between 1400-1700 occurred the Great English Vowel
Shift
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Changed structural aspects of language
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Also reflected social and ideological aspects
Language Families
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Languages have similarities
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These are usually related languages
Language Families
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Languages have similarities
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These are usually related languages
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They are called a family of languages or genetically
related languages
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Examples: Greek and Latin, Sanskrit
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English, Dutch, German
Language Families
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Linguists can reconstruct ancient languages by
knowing how languages are related
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They compare sets of words in related languages and
observe any shifts or changes
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Cognates are sets of words in related languages that
have descended from a common ancestral language
Language Families
Languages in Contact
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Some languages seem to spring to life over night
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Most of the time this is because of population contact
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Example: Colonization
Languages in Contact
Languages in Contact
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Pidgin is a language that developed through contact of
two unrelated languages
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It is a hybrid language made out of the unique
situation of two cultures merging
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They tend to be short-lived
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An exception is creole, a mix of French, English, and
African cultures and languages (slave trade)
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This developed from a pidgin language and is now a complete
language on its own
New Orleans, Haiti
Languages in Contact
Bilingualism
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This is the ability to speak two languages
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Many people speak one language at school or work
and a different one at home
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Many times future generations abandon their home
language, which is called transitional bilingualism
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This is the first step toward language death
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However, if generations maintain bilingualism, this is
called stable bilingualism
Bilingualism
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If you speak more than one language you have to know how
to use them properly in different contexts
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Codeswitching is when a person uses more than one variety
of language in either one situation or in different situations
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You can even switch in and out during one sentence or
conversation
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Can anyone in class do this?
Bilingualism