Language Change and Attrition

Language  Change, Attrition & Loss

-langauges are constantly changing as long as they are "living".

BLOOMFIELD: (traditional)

• you cannot directly observe change, only its consequences
• most variation is random and inconsequential
• aimed at DESCRIBING this change
• write INTERNAL HISTORIES of languages showing structural changes that have occurred over periods of time. (internal change)
• BORROWING: usually appears somewhat idiosyncratic (may retain FOREIGN marking) WHY? (external change)
• describe exotic objects
• scientific words
• variant "attitudes" about language (French versus English)

Newer views look at PROCESSES of change rather than descriptions:

• FAMILY TREE
• at some point in time varieties "split" (protoforms) and less frequently "coalese"
•  WAVE THEORY (Labov & Baily)
• changes flow into and interact with one another (fluidity of boundaries between languages)
• LEXICAL DIFFUSION (Baily)
• changes "diffuse" in language sometimes in idiosyncratic ways (sounds diffuse through lexicon (words))
• sounds spread this way through PRODUCTIVE words

PROCESSES OF CHANGE

• Change from Above & Change From Below (Labov)
• CHANGE FROM "BELOW"
• generalizations of form which filter through all levels of society; originating from a "restrictive subgroup" of a speech community.
• commonly a marker of regional status
• change away from the norms of the standard
• SOLIDARITY MARKER (indicates group membership)
• below the level of consciousness (social awareness)
• CHANGE FROM "ABOVE"
• Change becomes the marker defining a speech community and shows stylistic variation. High status people stigmatize certain forms and initiate change from above. 
• hyper-correction in SECOND GENERATION PHENOMENON
• become markers of ETHNICITY (we just talked about!!!)
• more dramatic changes in form and function than change from below
• at the level of conscious social awareness

Labov's 11 stages (example):

1. sound change occurs in a restricted sub-group
2. spreads to all members of the subgroup (change from below-unconscious)
3. hyper-correction in next generation exaggerates these differences
4. changes spread to other groups with similar values
5. changes limited by speech community
6. variation becomes the marker of the group and shows variation stylistically (elaborated on creatively)
7. members of the highest status group stigmatize changes
8. this initiates changes toward the highest prestige form (change from above)
9. hyper0-correction from above
10. chages disappear under extreme stigmatization
11. Prestige form solidifies status

Bailey's Lexical Diffusion (example)

1. each speaker controls a "lect"
2. the lects of various speakers are inter-related
3. researcher plots variation between the lects to see how langauge is changing
4. changes 'diffuse" through vocabulary in certain "fixed" patterns (sound changes)
5. "s-curve" describes these changes  (slow-fast-slow)
6. shows how a particular change spreads through a set of words in which a phonological feature undergoing change actually occurs.

WHAT CHANGES IN LANGUAGE? Every Level of Language

• SOUND CHANGES
• ASSIMILATION: when one sound is influenced by the pronunciation of a neighboring sound
• noctum-->notte
• sandwhich-->samwich
• usually motivated by EASE OF ARTICULATION
• DISSIMILATION: when sound moves away from the pronunciation of a neighboring sound
•  fifth-->fift
• reservoir--> resewar
• MERGER /COALESCENCE: mereging of two phonemes
• which--->witch
• reed-->read
• archaeology--->archeology
• SPLIT: one sound becomes two
• athlete--> athelete
• LOSS: a sound disappears from the language
• "great vowel shift in the history of English"
• HAPOLOGY: loss of a sound because of its similarity to a neighboring sound
• hoarse-->horse
• METATHESIS: two sounds change places
• ask---> aks
• spaghetti-->psghetti
• SYNCOPE:loss of medial sounds
• sewer-->sore
• crayon-->crown
• coral-->carl
• ACOPOPE: the loss of final sounds (very common)
• helpe-->help
• going-->goin'
• PROTHESIS: addition of initial sound
• schola-->eschuela
• EPENTHESI: introduction of an extra medial sound
• athlete--.athelete
• commercial-->commercianl
•  GRAMMATICAL CHANGE
• ANALOGY: irregular grammatical partners are changed in accordance with the regular patterns which already exist in the language (extends the patterns range)
• fish---->fishes
• water--->watwers
• deer-->deers
• shrimp--.shrimps
• BACK FORMATION:gives a new "base" form
• burglar (n)-->burgles (v)--> was burgled (adj)
• worker (n)-->work (n)---> work (v)-->working person (adj)
• FOLK ETYMOLOGY: false histories that make sense culturally based on similarity of sound. Etymology is the history of a word
• garter snake---->garden snake
• gamblind--->sandblind
• Alzheimer--->old timers
•  crevice--->crawfish/crayfish
• moscalini--->mussalini (gnats)
• scapegoat---> and escaped goat
• SEMANTIC CHANGE
• BORROWINGS:arrival of new words-remain marked, degree depends on how "accepting" the borrowing culture is. USA-very, France-not at all.
• transfer exactly (except for phonological accommodation)
• ballet, aupair, bon voayage, et cetera
• alter when transferred
• LOAN TRANSLATIONS/CALQUES: words may be borrowed whole but PARTS translated separately and new words are formed
• telephone--->fernsprecher (distant speaker)
• hunger grabs me (I'm hungry)
• ears hard (deaf/won't listen)
• types OF SEMANTIC CHANGE
• EXTENSION: a word widens its meaning
• freshman (all first year not just male or college)
• kleenex (all facial tissue)
• xerox (all copying)
• virtue (not just righteous male qualities)
• NARROWING:word becomes more specialized in its meaning
• liquor (liquid)
• deer (animal)
• token (symbol)
• mete (meat)
• animal (not human)
• SHIFT: moves from one SENSE to another
• immoral (customary)
• profane (mundane)
• silly/gay (happy)
• navigator (ship-car-plane-internet)
• artist (painter-actor-dancer-singer)
• FIGURATIVE USE;shift in meaning based on similarity of things
• crane (bird)--->machinery
• mouse (rodent)--->computer control
• bitch (female dog)--->nasty female, pain
• cool (temp)--->even headed
• bull (animal)---> strong
• AMELIORATION: word loses its original negative meaning
• bitch (AAVE)
• mischievous (disastrous)---> playful trouble
• PEJORATION: word develops a negative sense 
• notorious (widely known)
• villain (peasant)
• liberal
• feminist
• negro
• dick, cock, piss, fag, gay, ass...
• WORD LOSS:
• groovy
• far out 
  
• WORD ADDITION
• ACRONYMS
• SOBL
• NATO
• RSVP
• RADAR (radio detection & ranging)
• LASAR (light amplification through simulated emission of radiation)
• POSH (port out, starboard home)
• BLENDING; combination of of the parts of two or more words
• smog
• brunch
• hangry
• duplex
• CLIPPING: shorten words w/out paying attention to their derivational morphology
• exam
• dorm
• taxi/cab (taximeter cabriolet)
• gym
• COINAGE: creating words w/out using any method already described 
• name brands -Kodak, Exxon
• snob
• pooch
• FUNCTIONAL SHIFT: shift parts of speech without changing a word to create new words
• laugh, run, steal, buy----> (nouns)
• position, process, contrast----> (verbs)
• EPONYMY: names created from people
• Washington DC
• kaiser, czar (Ceasar)
• ohm (George Ohm)
• watt (James Watt)

LANGUAGE ATTRITION, DEATH & REVITALIZATION

• ATTRITION: 
• languages begins to lose its parts (all structural levels)
• languages begins to lose its uses (contexts for use0
• language begins to lose its speakers

• DEATH
• there are no longer any native speakers of a language
• language ceases to change

• REVITALIZATION:
• language is resurrected in whole or part
• recreation : Hebrew
• revitalized whole : Celtic, Welsh

WHAT is encoded in Language?...OR...WHO CARES IF WE LOSE IT?

Australian Aboriginal Language

·    Land as connected to language

·    Mti Ke

§  Ten noun classes through which all objects and beings in the world are classified(5)

§  Totems also define being: (WEB OF RELATIONSHIPS)

·         Nhanjdji marri (plant0

·         Mi marri (poisonous seeds which can be edible)

·         A marri: cockroach which lives on the plant

·         Me marri (people of this plant totem)

·    Damin & Other Secret or initiate languages (Hale)

§  Simple vocabulary requires you to evoke cultural knowledge and then display your proficiency in it

The Notion of Dreaming:

·    600 languages originally spoken in Australia

·    Intricate kinship

·    Attachment to land by ancestral beings through dreamtime (dawn of consciousness)

§  Dreamtime beings often lived in the form of animals

§  Animals acting like humans moved over featureless land and created its qualities. When they left the world they bequeathed these features to the people of their totem

§  Oral history in the form of stories NAME & EXPLAIN the landscape-patterns of wording and patterns of earth of inextricably tied together

§  Words come down from dreaming

§  SONGLINES: the routes that were taken in the dream time by ancestral beings. Through stories, decedents of these totems can follow these songlines.

§  Told in the same “words” (language) that the ancestor spirit uttered

Murrinh-Patha

·    Pronoun System

§  4 categories; (each has its own word for first person, second person and third person)---changes how we say “how are you?” for ex.

·    Singular

·    Dual

·    Paucal-3-15

·    Plural

§  Free-form or Infixed

·    Kinship & language

§  Distinguishes between kin groups

§  Designates exact relationship and other qualities which are important in a culture

·    Number of children

·    Gender of children

·    Age & wisdom

o   Teenagers: trapped between two worlds: neither is fully available to them

o   Transformation from h/g to sit down culture in one generation is too massive a transition to facilitate maintenance of their language (or culture)

How to survive?

• Tiwi & the tourist trade
• Two forms: traditional (elders-polsynthetic) and modern (simple inflectional & borrowed vocabulary)
• Is education the enemy or can it be used to assist language maintenance?
• English 3 seasons: Tiwi 13 lesser seasons that recognize intimacies about the environment for which English has no words

Kriol or Broken

• Derived from northern territory pidgin English
• Created by children who grew up hearing parents speak pidgin
• Pejorated from traditional and English spaeaking culture
• Has become the identity language of teenagers-assert black identity