language change essay example

Essays About Language: Top 5 Examples and 7 Prompts

Language is the key to expressive communication; let our essay examples and writing prompts inspire you if you are writing essays about language.

When we communicate with one another, we use a system called language. It mainly consists of words, which, when combined, form phrases and sentences we use to talk to one another. However, some forms of language do not require written or verbal communication, such as sign language. 

Language can also refer to how we write or say things. For example, we can speak to friends using colloquial expressions and slang, while academic writing demands precise, formal language. Language is a complex concept with many meanings; discover the secrets of language in our informative guide.

5 Top Essay Examples

1. a global language: english language by dallas ryan , 2. language and its importance to society by shelly shah, 3. language: the essence of culture by kelsey holmes.

• 4.  Foreign Language Speech by Sophie Carson
• 5. ​​Attitudes to Language by Kurt Medina

1. My Native Language

2. the advantages of bilingualism, 3. language and technology, 4. why language matters, 5. slang and communication, 6. english is the official language of the u.s..

“Furthermore, using English, people can have more friends, widen peer relationships with foreigners and can not get lost. Overall, English becomes a global language; people may have more chances in communication. Another crucial advantage is improving business. If English was spoken widespread and everyone could use it, they would likely have more opportunities in business. Foreign investments from rich countries might be supported to the poorer countries.”

In this essay, Ryan enumerates both the advantages and disadvantages of using English; it seems that Ryan proposes uniting the world under the English language. English, a well-known and commonly-spoken language can help people to communicate better, which can foster better connections with one another. However, people would lose their native language and promote a specific culture rather than diversity. Ultimately, Ryan believes that English is a “global language,” and the advantages outweigh the disadvantages

“Language is a constituent element of civilization. It raised man from a savage state to the plane which he was capable of reaching. Man could not become man except by language. An essential point in which man differs from animals is that man alone is the sole possessor of language. No doubt animals also exhibit certain degree of power of communication but that is not only inferior in degree to human language, but also radically diverse in kind from it.”

Shah writes about the meaning of language, its role in society, and its place as an institution serving the purposes of the people using it. Most importantly, she writes about why it is necessary; the way we communicate through language separates us as humans from all other living things. It also carries individual culture and allows one to convey their thoughts. You might find our list of TOEFL writing topics helpful.

“Cultural identity is heavily dependent on a number of factors including ethnicity, gender, geographic location, religion, language, and so much more.  Culture is defined as a “historically transmitted system of symbols, meanings, and norms.”  Knowing a language automatically enables someone to identify with others who speak the same language.  This connection is such an important part of cultural exchange”

In this short essay, Homes discusses how language reflects a person’s cultural identity and the importance of communication in a civilized society. Different communities and cultures use specific sounds and understand their meanings to communicate. From this, writing was developed. Knowing a language makes connecting with others of the same culture easier. 

4.   Foreign Language Speech by Sophie Carson

“Ultimately, learning a foreign language will improve a child’s overall thinking and learning skills in general, making them smarter in many different unrelated areas. Their creativity is highly improved as they are more trained to look at problems from different angles and think outside of the box. This flexible thinking makes them better problem solvers since they can see problems from different perspectives. The better thinking skills developed from learning a foreign language have also been seen through testing scores.”

Carson writes about some of the benefits of learning a foreign language, especially during childhood. During childhood, the brain is more flexible, and it is easier for one to learn a new language in their younger years. Among many other benefits, bilingualism has been shown to improve memory and open up more parts of a child’s brain, helping them hone their critical thinking skills. Teaching children a foreign language makes them more aware of the world around them and can open up opportunities in the future.

5. ​​ Attitudes to Language by Kurt Medina

“Increasingly, educators are becoming aware that a person’s native language is an integral part of who that person is and marginalizing the language can have severe damaging effects on that person’s psyche. Many linguists consistently make a case for teaching native languages alongside the target languages so that children can clearly differentiate among the codes”

As its title suggests, Medina’s essay revolves around different attitudes towards types of language, whether it be vernacular language or dialects. He discusses this in the context of Caribbean cultures, where different dialects and languages are widespread, and people switch between languages quickly. Medina mentions how we tend to modify the language we use in different situations, depending on how formal or informal we need to be. 

6 Prompts for Essays About Language

In your essay, you can write about your native language. For example, explain how it originated and some of its characteristics. Write about why you are proud of it or persuade others to try learning it. To add depth to your essay, include a section with common phrases or idioms from your native language and explain their meaning.

Bilingualism has been said to enhance a whole range of cognitive skills, from a longer attention span to better memory. Look into the different advantages of speaking two or more languages, and use these to promote bilingualism. Cite scientific research papers and reference their findings in your essay for a compelling piece of writing.

In the 21st century, the development of new technology has blurred the lines between communication and isolation; it has undoubtedly changed how we interact and use language. For example, many words have been replaced in day-to-day communication by texting lingo and slang. In addition, technology has made us communicate more virtually and non-verbally. Research and discuss how the 21st century has changed how we interact and “do language” worldwide, whether it has improved or worsened. 

We often change how we speak depending on the situation; we use different words and expressions. Why do we do this? Based on a combination of personal experience and research, reflect on why it is essential to use appropriate language in different scenarios.

Different cultures use different forms of slang. Slang is a type of language consisting of informal words and expressions. Some hold negative views towards slang, saying that it degrades the language system, while others believe it allows people to express their culture. Write about whether you believe slang should be acceptable or not: defend your position by giving evidence either that slang is detrimental to language or that it poses no threat.

English is the most spoken language in the United States and is used in government documents; it is all but the country’s official language. Do you believe the government should finally declare English the country’s official language? Research the viewpoints of both sides and form a conclusion; support your argument with sufficient details and research. 

Check out our guide packed full of transition words for essays .If you’re stuck picking your next essay topic, check out our guide on how to write an essay about diversity .

Exploring Language Change in Multilingual Communities

Introduction.

Sociolinguistics examines language-society interactions. It examines how gender, race, class, and culture affect language use and variation. Sociolinguistics studies how language reflects, reproduces, and challenges social hierarchies, identities, and power relations (Canagarajah, 2020). Sociolinguistics combines linguistics, sociology, anthropology, psychology, and training. It is an area concerned with each descriptive analysis of language use and version and prescriptive formula of language coverage and language education applications which might be sensitive to social and cultural variety.

Sociolinguists study lots of different things, but some of the maximum vital ones are how languages change, how human beings sense approximate languages, how languages are used and planned, multilingualism, and the connection between language and identification. Sociolinguistics also attempts to figure out how language is used in exclusive situations, like in speech, in writing, and within the media. This report will highlight language variations, code-mixing, and language policies.

Literature review

Sociolinguistics is an area that has been studied significantly over the last few years, resulting in a large frame of studies and literature. In this review, I will highlight some of the important findings from the pieces of literature on Sociolinguistics.

One of the important topics in Sociolinguistics is a linguistic variant. Sociolinguists have studied the variant that exists inside a language, such as unique dialects and accents, as well as the variation that exists throughout languages, together with code-switching and multilingualism (Wardhaugh & Fuller, 2021). Researchers have observed that the linguistic version is closely connected to social elements together with age, gender, ethnicity, magnificence, and vicinity. For example, exclusive regions may have exclusive dialects, and speakers from one-of-a-kind socioeconomic backgrounds can also use language differently. Another crucial subject matter in Sociolinguistics is language change. Sociolinguists study language change and its causes. Language change, migration, technology, and language policy can promote it, according to research. Emojis and abbreviations have emerged as internet and social media use has increased.

Language attitudes and ideologies are also crucial subject matters in Sociolinguistics. Sociolinguists have studied how human beings experience distinctive languages and dialects, and the way those attitudes impact language use and variant (Olko & Sallabank, 2021). For instance, some dialects may be stigmatized and related to low repute or lack of education, even as others may be valued and related to status.

Sociolinguistics is likewise involved with language coverage and making plans. Researchers have studied how language guidelines are advanced and applied in distinctive contexts, and how these rules affect language use and variant. For instance, language guidelines may additionally promote the use of a preferred language or restrict the usage of certain dialects or languages.

Finally, identification and language use also are important topics in Sociolinguistics. Researchers have studied how language use is attached to identification, and how humans use language to construct and express their social identities. For instance, people may use language to sign their membership in a specific social organization or to claim their individuality.

Methodology

The questionnaire method will be used to gather the required data on sociolinguistics. The research question focuses on language variations such as morphology, syntax, and phonology, this questionnaire will be an effective way to gather data from a large sample size as it will help us understand how language variation occurs and how it is perceived by different social groups. The respondents’ privacy and confidentiality were considered when making ethical decisions. They had been confident that the collected information would be used solely for academic purposes. To prevent identity, they were been given a pseudonym, and their identity and different personal data were kept private. They were asked to signal an informed consent form after being apprised of their choice to take part in the research. To give them more control, they could leave their study at any time.

To begin with, questions that target the research question on language variations will be designed. The questions are structured in a way that allows for identifying patterns and trends in how respondents perceive and use different language varieties.

Next, a sample of at least 30 respondents was selected to act as a representative of the population of interest for the study. The targeted individuals are from different age groups, educational backgrounds, and regions to ensure that a diverse range of perspectives on language variation is captured.

The questionnaires were administered through an online survey platform and the responses were collected. Statistical tools are then used to analyze data to identify patterns and trends in how respondents perceive and use different varieties of language in terms of morphology, syntax, and phonology.

After the analysis, the findings will be reported in a research paper. A discussion on the implications of the findings and how they contribute to the understanding of language variations in sociolinguistics will be made.

Language variations

The results of the Sociolinguistics research project using a questionnaire method have revealed interesting findings on language variations in morphology, syntax, and phonology.

First, respondents honestly desired Standard English morphology and syntax to non-popular dialects in their writing. The use of non-trendy dialect forms become normal, however, there have been significant variations depending on the place and age group (Dodsworth & Benton, 2021). For example, respondents from rural areas had been more likely to utilize non-popular forms than respondents from city regions, and younger respondents were much more likely to accomplish this than older respondents.

Respondents showed a high level of focus on the changes in pronunciation among popular and non-standard dialect variations in phrases of phonology. There had been versions of how those variances have been viewed as desirable, even though. While a few respondents idea that unconventional pronunciations had been suitable in informal contexts, others thought that only preferred pronunciations were appropriate in all situations.

Code-mixing and/or code-switching

The results of the Sociolinguistics on code-mixing and code-switching inside the context of exploring language change in multilingual groups have shown great insights into how these linguistic practices make a contribution to or reflect language change. The questionnaire, it changed into determined that code-blending and code-switching are common in multilingual groups that present process language change with speakers that use the practices to change their multilingual identities and navigate complicated social and cultural conditions (“Code-Switching and code- Mixing,” 2021). Additionally, certain forms of code-blending and code-switching patterns, consisting of insertional code-switching or inter-sentential code-mixing, were not unusual in communities that have been within the process of language shift, while international code-switching was more commonplace in groups that maintained linguistic diversity. Additionally, the effects confirmed that people who engaged in greater code-mixing and code-switching have been much more likely to adopt or withstand language trade, depending on the social and cultural elements at play.

Language policy

According to (Spolsky, 2021), language revitalization policies are seeking to revive endangered or minority languages, respectable language guidelines designate a specific language as the sole or primary language of a kingdom or area, and multilingual policies inspire the usage of multiple languages in different spheres of society. Language variety, ancient history, social and cultural dynamics, as well as the needs and ambitions of language communities, are only a few of the various considerations that ought to be made for language guidelines to be effective. They ought to additionally strike a balance among competing pastimes like encouraging countrywide team spirit, promoting linguistic variety, and ensuring anybody have to get right of entry to education and process opportunities. To create powerful language rules which can guide linguistic variety, language preservation, and language exchange while additionally addressing larger social and political issues, it is far important to recognize the complicated dynamics of language coverage. Sociolinguistics performs a key component in this system.

The results were analyzed and interpreted; the results were situated within the broader context of sociolinguistics research and theory. Code-mixing and code-switching are more prevalent in multilingual communities that are undergoing language change, with speakers using these practices to negotiate their multilingual identities and navigate challenging social and cultural situations. This was discovered after an analysis of the patterns and trends that emerged from the questionnaire data.

There is a need for regulations that strike a balance among competing priorities together with promoting linguistic range, fostering country-wide solidarity, and ensuring get entry to training and economic possibilities for all. The capability benefits and challenges of diverse processes to language policy, such as respectable language rules, language revitalization rules, or multilingual guidelines, had been mentioned.

In conclusion, the Sociolinguistics studies report on language variations and code-mixing/code-switching in multilingual groups highlights the importance of studying the complex dynamics of language use and linguistic practices in numerous contexts. Through the assessment of the questionnaire information, patterns have been analyzed and dispositions in the use of code-mixing and code-switching in multilingual corporations undergoing language alternate.

The findings contribute to the know-how of the social, cultural, and linguistic elements that form language use and language alternate over the years, and feature essential implications for language coverage and making plans in multilingual contexts. We argue that policies that sell linguistic variety, foster countrywide unity, and make certain get admission to training and monetary opportunities are vital for retaining a colorful and dynamic multilingual society.

Canagarajah, S. (2020). Transnational work, translingual practices, and interactional sociolinguistics.  Journal of Sociolinguistics ,  24 (5), 555-573. https://doi.org/10.1111/josl.12440

Code- Switching and Code- Mixing. (2021).  Adalya Journal ,  10 (3). https://doi.org/10.37896/aj10.3/001

Dodsworth, R., & Benton, R. (2021).  Language variation and change in social networks: A bipartite approach . Routledge.

Olko, J., & Sallabank, J. (2021).  Revitalizing endangered languages: A practical guide . Cambridge University Press.

Spolsky, B. (2021). The individual in language policy and management.  Rethinking Language Policy , 9-15. https://doi.org/10.3366/edinburgh/9781474485463.003.0002

Wardhaugh, R., & Fuller, J. M. (2021).  An introduction to sociolinguistics . John Wiley & Sons.

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How and Why Language Changes

This post was written by Mark Davies, HC Fellow, Linguistics Department

Why do languages change? The answers that some linguists tended to give 100-150 years ago strike us as being quite absurd nowadays. For example, they sometimes looked to the physical environment as a motivation for language change, such as the fact that the Germanic peoples in the Alps in 2000-3000 BC huffed and puffed so much as they were going up and down the mountains that they turned the “stops” (p, t, k) from Proto-Indo-European (spoken about 3000-5000 BC) into “fricatives” (f, th, h; a change known as Grimms Law), as in [p]a[t]er > [f]a[th]er, [t]res > [th]ree, [c]ornu (copia); “horn of plenty”) > [h]orn, etc. No one would suggest that as a motivation nowadays.

During the last 100 years or so, there have been two major camps when it comes to language change. The first are “structuralists” and “typologists”, who see internal motivations for change in the language. The other are “sociolinguists”, who see external / social motivations for change.

As noted, structuralists emphasize the role of competing factors in a language as a motivation for change. To give a concrete example, standard Spanish distinguishes between the two verb forms ( tú ) tiene / s / (“you have”; informal) and ( usted ) tiene /-/ (“you have”; more formal). In most varieties of Spanish, it’s not necessary to use a subject pronoun ( tú / usted ), because the verb ending already indicates who the subject is. But in some varieties of Spanish like Puerto Rico, the final /s/ is often lost, leading to the same form for both informal and formal: tiene /-/. In these varieties, the subject pronoun is almost obligatory (as it is in English), to compensate for the loss of the verb ending, and to let us know who we’re talking about. (Something similar happened in English between about 1000 and 1500 AD).

The preceding is an example of the interplay between phonology (sounds), morphology (word forms), and syntax. Sometimes there is also interplay between semantics (meaning) and word forms. For example, if someone says “My wife is so hot; I need to get her a drink”, there is an awkward ambiguity between the two meanings of hot (at least since the early 1990s). While such ambiguity can be tolerated for some time, there are often limits, such as the ambiguity of gay (= “happy”, or sexual orientation) being resolved with the loss of gay = “happy” in the 1950s-1970s.

As mentioned, the second major group of historical linguists focus on social motivations for change. This is something that really began to be studied systematically in the 1960s, and it was pioneered by the sociolinguist William Labov. To give a concrete example, Labov noticed that some people on the island of Martha’s Vineyard pronounced words like light and house with an intervening “schwa” sound, as in /l- uh -ite/ and /h- uh -oose/. It turns out that this was a “phonetic marker” that showed that these speakers identified with Martha’s Vineyard as it used to be, before the influx of rich “out-of-towners” from the mainland, who were running up the price of land. And when he studied this phenomenon in the early 1960s, such use appeared to be on the increase, as more and more people were being squeezed out of their ancestral farmlands on Martha’s Vineyard. Since the 1960s, sociolinguists and historical linguists have found hundreds of other interesting examples of how group identification can affect the adoption (or non-adoption) of linguistic features, much the same way that groups of people adopt new styles in clothing or hairstyles.

The two schools of “structurally-motivated change” and “socially-motivated change” might seem to be at odds with each other. In the first case, the “invisible hand” of language is moving things along to keep language understandable and workable. In the second case, change seems to be as random and unpredictable as the most recent changes in fashion (bell-bottoms in the 1960s, preppy clothes in the 1980s, or the Kardashians in the 2010s; ouch!). But careful research has shown that often there is interesting interplay between the two types of motivations. The invisible hand of language change (structurally-motivated change) can create an environment for change, which is then helped along by a certain social group adopting that change, and using it as a social marker.

I’m a historical linguist, and I’m fascinated by how and why language changes. But I’m also a corpus linguist, meaning that I use large collections of texts to see what’s going on in the language. I’ve created some of the largest historical corpora of English, such as the Corpus of Historical American English (400 million words, 1810s-2000s) and the Corpus of Contemporary American English (520 million words, 1990-2015). Both of these corpora (and many more; see http://corpus.byu.edu ) can be used to look at language change 15 or 150 years ago.

But I’m also fascinated by what’s going on in the language right now – this week; this month – and how that affects (and is affected by) longer term changes in the language, which often take place over decades and even centuries. To look at changes right now, I’ve created a corpus called NOW (News on the Web; http://corpus.byu.edu/now/ ). It grows by about 5-6 million words each day (or about 150 million words each month, or 1.8 billion words each year). With this corpus, researchers can look at the creation and spread of new words ( Brexit, gig economy, normcore, precariat , etc) and see how current events are affecting the language. Or they can look at syntactic change (e.g. the ever-increasing rise in the like construction, “ and he’s like the most awesome guy I’ve like ever gone out with, like for real” ), morphological change (new words with the “scandal” suffix gate, e.g. deflategate , or Russiagate ), or semantic change (new uses for existing words, e.g. trigger warning, green tech or astroturfing ).

By spending time “in the trenches” with the language – day by day – we can gain insight into longer-range trends and changes. And in turn, this allows us to amass large amounts of data that can help to answer basic questions about how and why languages change.

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Have you ever wondered how and why has the English language changed and developed over time? The language we use to communicate today is different from the language used in the past. This will continue in the future; hundreds of years from now, people may not understand the language we use today. 

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Fill in the blank:

Borrowed words are also known as ____ words.

What does semantic change refer to?

What does metaphorical extension refer to?

What does syntactic change refer to?

_____ English is commonly used for _____ communication.

When words become older, they are used ____

What does language change refer to?

Which of the following is not a type of language change?

A. Semantic

B. Syntactic C. Semiotic

What are the different types of language change?

What does sound change refer to?

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Language change is constantly happening, even if we may not be aware of it. This article will explore the meaning of language change in the English language. We will also look at the different ways a language can change, considering the causes of these changes and their effects on us.

Language change meaning

Language change refers to the process by which a language evolves over time, resulting in differences in its pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, and usage from one generation to the next . These changes are often gradual and usually permanent.

However, this is not always the case. The rate at which changes occur depends on the different values of people who use certain languages.

For example, if speakers of a specific language prefer the steadiness and tradition of their language, the changes will be more gradual.

However, if they are more willing to embrace originality and unfamiliarity, the changes will be faster. An example of language change is the creation of new words (neologism) and the discarding of old ones.

Examples of language change

Language change is as versatile as languages themselves are. Language change is a complex process that can involve multiple factors. Examples include:

There are also many linguistic factors that can affect changes to the language, such as register, pronunciation, and grammar.

Types of language change

Different types of language change can also include sound, lexical, semantic, and syntactic changes.

Sound changes

This refers to the changes in the sound of a language that affect the pronunciation of words. Specifically, this relates to any changes in the phonological or phonetic structure of the language.

An example of sound changes in the English language would be the modification of vowel sounds that happened during the evolution from Middle English to Early Modern English (around the time of Shakespeare).

This change was known as the ‘Great Vowel Shift’, a term coined by Linguist Otto Jespersen. According to Jespersen, “The great vowel shift consists in a general raising of all long vowels” ( A Modern English Grammar , 1909). Phonetically, this refers to long monophthongs. For example, words in Middle English contained longer vowel sounds than they do now:

Another example: Romance languages (such as Spanish, French, Italian, etc.) underwent significant changes in sound as they were developing from Latin.

Lexical changes

This refers to the changes in a language’s vocabulary, which concerns the words in a language.

An example of lexical changes in the English language is borrowed words (also known as loan words). These are words that have been taken from other languages and are now part of the English lexicon. English has borrowed words from many different languages, but Latin, French, and German are the three languages with the most influence on English. Some words are borrowed entirely from the original language, while others have been changed to form new words.

Examples of words borrowed from Latin :

Democratic (from Late Latin ‘democraticus’)

Enthusiasm (from Late Latin ‘enthusiasmus’)

Imaginary (from Latin ‘imaginarius’)

Sophisticated (from Latin ‘sophisticatus’)

Examples of words borrowed from French :

Magnificent

Allowance (from Old French ‘alouance’)

Energy (from Middle French ‘énergie’)

Irony (from Middle French ‘ironie’)

Utensil (from Old French ‘utensile’)

Examples of words borrowed from German :

Noodle (from German ‘Nudel’)

Abseil (from German ‘abseilen’)

Delicatessen (from German ‘Delikatessen’)

Pretzel (from German ‘Brezel’)

As for more modern words that are used more in daily life...

During the British Empire, many Hindi words were borrowed from India and introduced into the English language. Some of those include:

Semantic changes

This refers to changes in the meanings of words over time.

An example of semantic change is the use of the metaphorical extension . This refers to extending the meaning of a word to other meanings similar to the original. For example, the word ‘head’ originally refers to a body part of a human/animal. However, this meaning has extended to include objects, such as the head of a pin, screw or nail (as their tops resemble heads).

Syntactic changes

This refers to changes in the structure of syntax in a language. Syntax refers to the ways words come together to form sentences, clauses and phrases.

Syntactic change can be shown through changing verb tenses. For example, the verb ‘go’:

The verb ‘go’ comes from the Old English ‘gān’. The past tense of ‘gān’ was ’ēode’. However, with the introduction of ‘go’, the past tense was not ‘goed’. Instead, the verb ‘went’ was used, which was the past tense of ‘to wend’. This meant that ‘go’ and ‘wend’ shared the same past tense, so ‘wend’ developed another past tense - ‘wended’. This left ‘went’ as the past tense of ‘go’, which has been the same to this day.

Effects of language change in English

Language affects how we perceive the world and reflects the changes we experience in our lives. As changes are constantly happening through our language, this enables us to view the world differently and adapt our ability to communicate with others.

Causes of language change

There are many reasons why the English language evolves and develops over time. Some of these causes include the following:

Migration and trade

As a result of people moving countries and trading with others, we have interacted with others who speak different languages. This influences our language - we borrow words or sounds from other languages to communicate. After being exposed to different languages, some children become bilingual (able to speak two languages) or learn another language later in life.

The borrowing of words between different countries highlights the multilingual exchanges made worldwide and the connections between different cultures.

For example, due to British colonialism, many words were borrowed from South Asia and introduced into the English language. These include cot, dungarees, bangle, shawl, verandah.

Due to the global influence of the English language, other languages have borrowed words from English. For example, in Portuguese, you can hear: delivery, babysitter, time, show, drink, bike. Also, some English words change. For example, the following words were taken from English and changed into new Portuguese forms:

• Sandwich ---> Sanduíche
• Hamburger ---> Hambúrguer
• Flirt ---> Flerte
• Tennis ---> Tênis
• Football ---> Futebol

Language learning

The language we learn changes as passed from one generation to another. For example, the language our parents used when they were younger is different from the language teenagers speak today. As we acquire language, we develop our vocabulary, influenced by older generations communicating with us (e.g. parents, grandparents).

The language learning process is different for everyone, so there will be variations in how we replicate what we hear from them. This leads to changes in the language from older to newer generations.

With the invention of technology comes the subsequent development of new words to describe inventions that previously did not exist. For example, the invention of the internet made way for the new language used in online contexts - such as 'email' or 'emoticon'.

Frequency of use

When words become older, they will likely be used less. Just like fashion, some things go out of style! Instead, old words are dropped, and new words are created to keep up with the evolution of new ideas and things.

For example, new words are added to the Oxford English Dictionary, and old words are dropped every year.

Similarly, language can change if there is a difference in standard. For example, ' Standard English ' is one of the most recognised English varieties commonly used for formal communication.

In conclusion , language change is a dynamic and ongoing process that reflects the ongoing adaptation of languages to the changing needs of language speakers.

Language Changes - Key Takeaways

• Language change refers to the process by which a language evolves over time, resulting in differences in its pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, and usage from one generation to the next.
• Different types of language change include sound, lexical, semantic, syntactic.
• Language affects how we perceive the world and reflects the changes we experience in our lives.
• The causes of language change include migration/trade, language learning, technology, frequency of use.

Flashcards in Language Changes 75

Latin, French, German.

Changes in the meanings of words over time

 When the meaning of a word is extended to other meanings similar to the original

Changes in the structure of syntax in a language

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Frequently Asked Questions about Language Changes

How is language changing?

Language is always evolving in different ways. For example, there are changes in phonetic, lexical, semantic and syntactic elements of a language.

What are the types of language change?

The types of language change are sound, lexical, semantic, and syntactic changes.

What do we mean by language change?

Language change refers to altering the features of a language over time.

What are the reasons for language change?

Some of the reasons for language change include:

• migration and trade
• learning a language
• new technology and inventions
• frequency of use

What is an example of language change?

An example of language change is the borrowing of words from other languages, which are then introduced into another language.

Test your knowledge with multiple choice flashcards

New words being created and old ones being discarded is an example of language change. True or false?

English has borrowed many words from other languages including Latin, French, and German. True or false?

What language variety is one of the most recognised English varieties commonly used for formal communication?

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Language Change in the Southern US Essay

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Though placing the events on the real-time curve when rendering them in speech may seem more natural to one, the use of apparent time, in fact, is just as, if not more, frequent than the usage of real-time constructions.

Indeed, a closer look at the structure of the English language speech, particularly, the colloquial one, will reveal that the incorporation of modal verbs indicating probability, is quite common. Herein the significance of the so-called apparent time lies; it allows for denoting the probability of a specific event or action, therefore, adding a tint of uncertainty to a sentence.

As far as the specifics of the Southern American pronunciation is concerned, one must note that the latter stands in sharp contrast to the manner of speech adopted in the northern areas of the United States, as well as that one of Canada. Indeed, a palatalization of consonants, which can be viewed as one of the most characteristic features of the Southern pronunciation, can hardly be observed in either the Northern American dialect or the Canadian English.

Apart from the differences between the Canadian English and the Southern American dialect, the fact that the Canadian pronunciation involves the notorious Canadian rising deserves to be mentioned. To be more specific, the “ou” diphthong is pronounced somewhat differently from the standards of the American pronunciation.

The Southern American dialect, in its turn, has a few distinct characteristics, which allow for distinguishing it among the rest of the accents that are traditionally associated with the English language. Among the key ones, the fact that monophthong vowels prevail in the speech of the people living in the American South, particularly, in Texas, must be noted.

Also, referring to the issue of apparent-time and real-time verbs indicated above, one must also state that the residents of the American South are much more prone to using the specified modal verbs as the tools for expressing elicitation than the means for getting the meaning of capability or capacity across. True, the specified verbs do have a denotation of probability among their key interpretations; however, they are not used as widely for the purpose of conveying elicitation as they are in the South American dialect.

Researches also show that there is an impressive difference in the use of vernaculars between the residents of Canada and the citizens of the Southern American states. To be more specific, the latter tend to have an increasingly big number of individual vernaculars in it.

The feature in question can be explained by the spatial differences between the North and the South of America; for instance, the density of the population and, therefore, the possibility for developing unique language features within a specific region differs considerably between the Southern parts of America and the corresponding Northern ones. As a result, the American South, unlike the Northern states or the population of Canada, for that matter, seems to have created a rather diverse network of vernaculars in the Southern set of dialects of the English language.

Even though most of the people inhabiting North America speak English as their native tongue, the dialects, which are spoken in different parts of North America, are strikingly different. The lack of similarities between Canadian English and the English language is spoken in the South is a graphic example of the phenomenon under consideration.

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Home — Essay Samples — Science — Language — Essay On The Importance Of Language

Essay on The Importance of Language

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Speaking, writing and reading are integral to everyday life, where language is the primary tool for expression and communication. Studying how people use language – what words and phrases they unconsciously choose and combine – can help us better understand ourselves and why we behave the way we do.

Linguistics scholars seek to determine what is unique and universal about the language we use, how it is acquired and the ways it changes over time. They consider language as a cultural, social and psychological phenomenon.

“Understanding why and how languages differ tells about the range of what is human,” said Dan Jurafsky , the Jackson Eli Reynolds Professor in Humanities and chair of the Department of Linguistics in the School of Humanities and Sciences at Stanford . “Discovering what’s universal about languages can help us understand the core of our humanity.”

The stories below represent some of the ways linguists have investigated many aspects of language, including its semantics and syntax, phonetics and phonology, and its social, psychological and computational aspects.

Understanding stereotypes

Stanford linguists and psychologists study how language is interpreted by people. Even the slightest differences in language use can correspond with biased beliefs of the speakers, according to research.

One study showed that a relatively harmless sentence, such as “girls are as good as boys at math,” can subtly perpetuate sexist stereotypes. Because of the statement’s grammatical structure, it implies that being good at math is more common or natural for boys than girls, the researchers said.

Language can play a big role in how we and others perceive the world, and linguists work to discover what words and phrases can influence us, unknowingly.

How well-meaning statements can spread stereotypes unintentionally

New Stanford research shows that sentences that frame one gender as the standard for the other can unintentionally perpetuate biases.

Algorithms reveal changes in stereotypes

New Stanford research shows that, over the past century, linguistic changes in gender and ethnic stereotypes correlated with major social movements and demographic changes in the U.S. Census data.

Exploring what an interruption is in conversation

Stanford doctoral candidate Katherine Hilton found that people perceive interruptions in conversation differently, and those perceptions differ depending on the listener’s own conversational style as well as gender.

Cops speak less respectfully to black community members

Professors Jennifer Eberhardt and Dan Jurafsky, along with other Stanford researchers, detected racial disparities in police officers’ speech after analyzing more than 100 hours of body camera footage from Oakland Police.

How other languages inform our own

People speak roughly 7,000 languages worldwide. Although there is a lot in common among languages, each one is unique, both in its structure and in the way it reflects the culture of the people who speak it.

Jurafsky said it’s important to study languages other than our own and how they develop over time because it can help scholars understand what lies at the foundation of humans’ unique way of communicating with one another.

“All this research can help us discover what it means to be human,” Jurafsky said.

Stanford PhD student documents indigenous language of Papua New Guinea

Fifth-year PhD student Kate Lindsey recently returned to the United States after a year of documenting an obscure language indigenous to the South Pacific nation.

Students explore Esperanto across Europe

In a research project spanning eight countries, two Stanford students search for Esperanto, a constructed language, against the backdrop of European populism.

Chris Manning: How computers are learning to understand language​

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Stanford research explores novel perspectives on the evolution of Spanish

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Language as a lens into behavior

Linguists analyze how certain speech patterns correspond to particular behaviors, including how language can impact people’s buying decisions or influence their social media use.

For example, in one research paper, a group of Stanford researchers examined the differences in how Republicans and Democrats express themselves online to better understand how a polarization of beliefs can occur on social media.

“We live in a very polarized time,” Jurafsky said. “Understanding what different groups of people say and why is the first step in determining how we can help bring people together.”

Analyzing the tweets of Republicans and Democrats

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Examining bilingual behavior of children at Texas preschool

A Stanford senior studied a group of bilingual children at a Spanish immersion preschool in Texas to understand how they distinguished between their two languages.

Predicting sales of online products from advertising language

Stanford linguist Dan Jurafsky and colleagues have found that products in Japan sell better if their advertising includes polite language and words that invoke cultural traditions or authority.

Language can help the elderly cope with the challenges of aging, says Stanford professor

By examining conversations of elderly Japanese women, linguist Yoshiko Matsumoto uncovers language techniques that help people move past traumatic events and regain a sense of normalcy.

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This chapter addresses the question, is language change good or bad? The conclusion is that language change in and of itself is neither good nor bad. It can sometimes have beneficial aspects, such as facilitating pronunciation or comprehension, and it can sometimes have detrimental consequences, sometimes creating a greater burden for comprehension and language learning. The mostly negative popular attitudes towards change in language are discussed. Kinds of language change are addressed, with attention in particular to the kinds of change that people notice most often. Claims about why languages change are considered. The question of whether language change is good or bad is restricted here to whether it is good or bad for purposes of communication. The fact that particular changes can be good for some aspects of language and bad for others is explained and exemplified. The interchange of sound change and analogy is also explained and exemplified. The role of sociolinguistic judgements of prestige and stigma are clarified.

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Language is always changing. We've seen that language changes across space and across social group. Language also varies across time. 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 varies, but whether the changes are faster or slower, they build up until the "mother tongue" becomes arbitrarily distant and different. After a thousand years, the original and new languages will not be mutually intelligible. After ten thousand years, the relationship will be essentially indistinguishable from chance relationships between historically unrelated languages. In isolated subpopulations speaking the same language, most changes will not be shared. As a result, such subgroups will drift apart linguistically, and eventually will not be able to understand one another. In the modern world, language change is often socially problematic. Long before divergent dialects lose mutual intelligibility completely, they begin to show difficulties and inefficiencies in communication, especially under noisy or stressful conditions. Also, as people observe language change, they usually react negatively, feeling that the language has "gone down hill". You never seem to hear older people commenting that the language of their children or grandchildren's generation has improved compared to the language of their own youth. Here is a puzzle: language change is functionally disadvantageous, in that it hinders communication, and it is also negatively evaluated by socially dominant groups. Nevertheless is is a universal fact of human history. There are many different routes to language change. Changes can take originate in , or through , , and . : Language is transformed as it is transmitted from one generation to the next. Each individual must re-create a grammar and lexicon based on input received from parents, older siblings and other members of the speech community. The experience of each individual is different, and the process of linguistic replication is imperfect, so that the result is variable across individuals. However, a bias in the learning process -- for instance, towards regularization -- will cause systematic drift, generation by generation. In addition, random differences may spread and become 'fixed', especially in small populations. : Migration, conquest and trade bring speakers of one language into contact with speakers of another language. Some individuals will become fully bilingual as children, while others learn a second language more or less well as adults. In such contact situations, languages often borrow words, sounds, constructions and so on. . Social groups adopt distinctive norms of dress, adornment, gesture and so forth; language is part of the package. Linguistic distinctiveness can be achieved through vocabulary (slang or jargon), pronunciation (usually via exaggeration of some variants already available in the environment), morphological processes, syntactic constructions, and so on. . Rapid or casual speech naturally produces processes such as , , and . Through repetition, particular cases may become conventionalized, and therefore produced even in slower or more careful speech. Word meaning change in a similar way, through conventionalization of processes like and . Some linguists distinguish between and sources of language change, with "internal" sources of change being those that occur within a single languistic community, and contact phenomena being the main examples of an external source of change. Darwin himself, in developing the concept of evolution of species via natural selection, made an analogy to the evolution of languages. For the analogy to hold, we need a pool of individuals with variable traits, a process of replication creating new individuals whose traits depend on those of their "parents", and a set of environmental processes that result in differential success in replication for different traits. We can cast each of the just-listed types of language change in such a framework. For example, in child language acquisition, different grammatical or different lexical patterns may be more or less easily learnable, resulting in better replication for grammatical or lexical variants that are "fitter" in this sense. There are some key differences between grammars/lexicons and genotypes. For one thing, linguistic traits can be acquired throughout one's life from many different sources, although intitial acquisition and (to a lesser extent) adolescence seem to be crucial stages. Acquired (linguistic) traits can also be passed on to others. One consequence is that linguistic history need not have the form of a , with languages splitting but never rejoining, whereas genetic evolution is largely constrained to have a tree-like form (despite the possibility of transfer of genetic material across species boundaries by viral infection and so on). However, as a practical matter, the assumption that linguistic history is a sort of tree structure has been found to be a good working approximation. In particular, the basic sound structure and morphology of languages usually seems to "descend" via a tree-structured graph of inheritance, with regular, lawful relationships between the patterns of "parent" and "child" languages. All aspects of language change, and a great deal is know about general mechanisms and historical details of changes at all levels of linguistic analysis. However, a special and conspicuous success has been achieved in modeling changes in phonological systems, traditionally called . In the cases where we have access to several historical stages -- for instance, the development of the modern Romance Languages from Latin -- these sound changes are remarkably regular. Techniques developed in such cases permit us to reconstruct the sound system -- and some of the vocabulary -- of unattested parent languages from information about daughter languages. In some cases, an old sound becomes a new sound across the board. Such a change occurred in Hawai'ian, in that all the " " sounds in an older form of the language became " "s: at the time Europeans encountered Hawai'ian, there were no " "s in it at all, though the closely related languages Tahitian, Samoan, Tongan and Maori all have " "s. Another sound change that occurred between Middle and Early Modern English (around Shakespeare's time) is known as the Great Vowel Shift. At that time, there was a length distinction in the English vowels, and the Great Vowel Shift altered the position of in a giant rotation. The nucleus of the two high vowels (front "long i" /i:/, and the back "long u" /u:/) started to drop, and the high position was retained only in the offglide. Eventually, the original /i:/ became /ai/ - so a "long i" vowel in Modern English is now pronounced /ai/ as in a word like 'bite': /bait/. Similarly, the "long u" found its nucleus dropping all the way to /au/: the earlier 'house' /hu:s/ became /haus/. All the other long vowels rotated, the mid vowels /e:/ and /o:/ rising to fill the spots vacated by the former /i:/ and /u:/ respectively, and so on. That is why the modern pronouns 'he' and 'she' are written with /e/ (reflecting the old pronunciation) but pronounced as /i/. In the following chart, the words are located where their vowel to be pronounced -- where they are pronounced today is indicated by the arrows. In other cases, a sound change may be "conditioned" so as to apply in certain kinds of environments and not in others. For example, it's very common for tongue-tip ("coronal") consonants to become palatal when they are followed by high front vowels. The residue of this process can be seen in English pairs like divide/division, fuse/fusion, submit/submission, oppress/oppression. Another dimension along which we can look at sound change is by classifying changes according to the particular process involved. or the influence of one sound on an adjacent sound, is perhaps the most pervasive process. Assimilation processes changed Latin /k/ when followed by /i/ or /y/, first to /ky/, then to "ch", then to /s/, so that Latin /fakiat/ 'would make' became /fas/ in Modern French (the subjunctive of the verb 'to make').Palatalization is a kind of assimilation. In contrast to assimilation, and tend to occur more i.e., to affect individual words. involves a change in one of two 'same' sounds that are adjacent or almost adjacent in a particular word such that they are no longer the same. Thus the first "l" in English is changed to an "r", and the word is pronounced like "kernel". involves the change in order of two adjacent sounds. Crystal cites Modern English from OE , and Modern English is a parallel example. But Modern English underwent the opposite change, its ancestor being , and not all "vowel + r" words changed the relative order of these segments as happened with and . Already by the time of Old English, there were two forms of the word for "ask": and . We don't know which form was metathesized from the other, but we do know that won out in the standard language. is similar to dissimilation, because it involves getting rid of similar neighboring sounds, but this time, one sound is simply dropped out rather than being changed to a different sound. An example is the pronunciation of Modern English as Other sound change processes are and and can be seen as the mirror image of each other. A that is currently expanding over much of the United States is the merger between and The following table contains examples of words that you probably pronounce differently if you are from the Philadelphia - New York - New England area, or if you are from the South. If you are from Canada, the American Midwest, or from California, you probably find that the vowels in these pairs sound the same, rather than different. If this is the case, you have a merger here. How do we know how languages are related? mother mer madre madre mae mama mare father per padre padre pae tata pare 1. bird manu manu manu manu manu 2. fish ika ika i?a i?a i?a 3. to eat kai kai ?ai ?ai ?ai 4. forbidden tapu tapu tapu tapu kapu 5. eye mata mata mata mata maka 6. blood toto toto toto toto koko Glottochronology Thus, if the basic vocabularies of two related languages are found to match by 70 percent, they can be assumed to have developed from a single language that existed approximately 12 centuries before.The assumption that basic vocabulary decay is generally uniform has been largely rejected. If one allows that languages, just like societies, may develop at different rates at different times, the assumption of steady vocabulary decay in particular, and the glottochronological method in general, is seriously undermined. Everyone recognizes that linguistic decay is not completely uniform. Some people still believe that it is sometimes uniform enough for glottochronological methods to be a useful approximate guide to linguistic (and thus ethnic) history. What are the results of language change? drop ??? (nonsense word containing vowel in "that") massive drop the plane was steady for a while and then it took a massive drop socks sacks y'hadda wear socks y'hadda wear socks, no sandals block black one block old senior citizens living on one block met mutt they met my parents went to Cuba and that's where they met steady study steady for a while the plane was steady for a while and then it took a massive drop head had shook 'er head this woman in while, who just smiled at her and shook 'er head How far back can we go? Sample Questions & Answers QUESTION: Referring to both texts in detail, explore how language has changed over time? Comparing the texts helps show the changing English language in a short period of time, with the main reason being technological and educational advances. Text E is a written letter from 1854, while Text F is a present day email. This difference in time will indicate many advances of the English Language. The register of the texts varies greatly. In text E we see an overall formal register adopted, this could simply be the manner in which the author speaks to his father and could adopt more informality if the letter was to a friend. For example we see the formal address of ‘Dear father’ and ‘glad to find you are all in the enjoyment of good health’. Text F shows far more informality as this email is addressing friends where informal address would be common. For example we see the informal opening address of ‘hola people’, this helping lighten the mood of the readers as the email comes from a military environment. Both texts show informality through the use of ellipsis and elision, for example text E uses ‘Sept’ and text F uses ‘what’s going with things’. This helps keep the reader at ease as these aspects are more commonly seen in spoken utterance. Text E uses some formal polysyllabic lexis which would indicate the author is of a relatively high intelligence, even though his writing is non-standard. The use of ‘addition’ and ‘encampment’ show the formality. Text F shows a greater use of monosyllabic lexis mainly for the speed of typing and ease of reading. The formal use of ‘orifice’ is seen, however, I believe this is for comedic effect and helps show the authors own idiosyncratic lexis. The use of modern colloquialisms of ‘redders’ and ‘honking’  help give text F further informality and humour. We see the archaism and incorrect spelling of ‘bivouaking’ in text E, which helps indicate the changing English language as this is simply called an army camp today and the word has become obsolete. Both texts show forms of non-standard spelling, however, I believe these are for very different reasons. Text E also shows many forms of non-standard spelling from present day, for example we see the extra vowel in ‘Blewe’ and the double consonant in ‘att’. As the text is from 1854, only 100 years after the introduction of the first widely received dictionary by Dr Samuel Johnson, it is possible that the author was writing in his own idiosyncratic style through lack of standardisation. However, since standardisation had begun after the first printing press was introduced to England by William Caxton in 1476; it is far more likely that the author is using non-standard spelling through a lack of formal education as the first Education Act was not introduced in England until 1870. Text F uses forms of non-standard spelling which help indicate the role that technology has played in the changing of the English Language. For example the clipping of ‘Blo’, the number homophone of ‘2day’ and the characterisation of ‘+’ are commonly seen in present day communication through email and text. This is because letters which can be deleted while the text still remains understandable are removed for reasons of speed and cost. Technological changes to the language are also evident in the opening address of both letters. Text E opens with ‘Dear father’ showing that the letter is intended for one recipient, with the text later stating ‘a copy of this to sisters and brothers’ indicating the need for the father to copy the letter for his siblings. Text F shows technology through opening with ‘hola people’, which shows emails can be sent to many recipients at once without the need to reproduce copies. Both texts show the sociolect lexis of the armed forces. In text E we see the author using field specific lexis such as ‘encampment’, ‘bivouaking’ and ‘operations’, which would be commonly heard by soldiers of the time. However, text F shows an evolved form of sociolect lexis as we see present day terms such as ‘stay bendy’, indicating the language used by soldiers which is difficult to decipher for non-military personnel. We see the use of the semantic field of military used by both texts, which helps give continuity and reliability to the text. For example in text E we see ‘artillery’ and ‘operations’, while in text F we see ‘camp’ and ‘standby’. The use of some figurative imagery is evident in both texts. In text F we see the use of hyperbole throughout for comedic effect, for example ‘sand in every orifice’ and ‘millions of fans’. In text E we see hyperbole through ‘will kill half of us’, which helps show the dire situation and the falling morale of the troops. The use of metaphors is also evident in both texts, for example in text E we see ‘bit of a damper’ indicating the low morale once again, while in text F we see ‘did have beer but now dry’ once again used for humour. In grammar the texts also differ. The punctuation of both pieces shows many non-standard forms. In text E we see very little punctuation as the text uses long complex sentences which stretch into long paragraphs. This could be simply the author’s lack of literacy through being poorly educated. Text F shows short simple sentences which are punctuated using commas into short paragraphs. This could be because the author can send regular instant messages through email and so needs to convey less information. However, the constant capitalisation shows the speed in which the text was written and the author failing to check his work before sending. This once again shows the affect technology has had on the language, as speed takes importance over the use of Standard English. The use of inconsistent capitalisation is also seen in text E, we seethe pronoun of ‘i’ and ‘I’ showing once again the authors lack of education through their inconsistency. However, some proper nouns are capitalised such as ‘Russians’ and ‘John Macklin’ showing the author does have some recognition of grammatical rules. The use of adjectives also shows differences between the two texts. In text E we see more informative adjectives used to help show the authors feelings and the grim situation which the y are in, for example we see ‘severe’ and ‘heavy rain’. In text F we see far more simplistic adjectives used giving less information but adding extra emphasis to the humour of the text, for example we see ‘mega’ and ‘honking’. In text E we also see the intensifier of ‘very severe’ added which gives extra emphasis to the feelings of the author. The use of the modal verb ‘would’ in text E shows the polite formal manner the author uses when addressing his father, while text F uses ‘could’ which further indicates the lack of information conveyed in the email. QUESTION: Linguistic analysis of Text A (Evelyn) and Text C (Jones) The two texts I am analysing are both exerts from diaries. However while text A is from John Evelyn’s personal diary in 1684, text C is a fictional entry from Bridget Jones’ Diary in 1996. This would create a difference in the intended audiences as text A is private and written to be viewed by the author alone, while text C is written to be viewed by a large audience of mainly females. The subject of text A is the freezing of the River Thames in 1684 and the ensuing festival which was held on the ice. The subject of text B is Jones getting prepared for a night out. Text A has a single purpose of being the author’s means of recounting events. However, Text C needs to appear as though describing events whilst attaining its primary purpose of entertaining its audience. Text A is written in the early modern period and shows distinguishing features of the time. Text C shows a clear progression of the English written language to a modern combination of spoken and written features, or the third way as David Crystal has labelled the mixture. The structure of both texts clearly shows the change in the English language between the twp pieces. Text A is written in a linear manner as the author describes events from start to finish in a structured and chronological manner. Text C uses tines to help the reader differentiate between the events and show the progression of the fictional author’s day. Text A is written using one large paragraph, with a heavy use of punctuation. The use of colons and semi-colons would help identify the age of the text as modern texts mainly use them very little if at all, this is shown in text C as they do not appear. Text A also uses many commas which create long complex sentences. Text C although using many commas uses far smaller sentences as the author tries to keep the audience entertained. The lexis also helps show the changing English language. In text A we see a relatively formal manner used throughout, for example we see ‘ladys’, ‘vessels’ and ‘printing presse’ used which indicate the author although writing a private account of events is still using a register which shows them to be educated and is indicative of the time compared to modern day. The mere fact that the author can read and write when the text comes from 200 years before education was compulsory would indicate that the author is probably of wealth and writes as they speak using Standard English. In text C we see a far more informal register being used, for example we see ellipsis in ‘Am going to get weighed’ and abbreviation in ‘approx’. This helps show the third way being used as the author brings in features of spoken English to add informality and shows a more modern form of writing informally. Semantic fields are used in both texts to add continuity. In text A we see a semantic field of religion with ‘judgement’ and ‘perishing’ which would be indicative of the time. In text C we see a semantic field of farming being used as an attempt at  humour as the author links women’s daily rituals to the rigours of farming, for example we see ‘harvesting’ and crop spraying’. We see emotive lexis used in both texts. In text A we see lexis which indicates the severity of the freeze with negative connotations in the lexis such as ‘perishing’ and ‘lightning-strock’. In text C we see negative connotations through emotive lexis aimed at creating humour as the fictional author attempts to show her distress at being alone, for example we see ‘panic’ and ‘ruin’. We see far more figurative imagery used in text C than in text A. However, in text A we do see the simile of ‘as if lighting-strock’, which helps give imagery to the text to describe the scene. In text C we see simile also with ‘blind as a bat’ as an attempt at humour. We also see the metaphor of ‘like harvesting and crop-spraying’ as another attempt at humour by likening women’s rituals to farming. The use of hyperbole is also see to help and unite the fictional author with the intended female audience with ‘is it any wonder girls have no confidence’. In text A we see euphemism being used to help the author bring a more appropriate register to the text with ‘lewder places’.  In text C we also see the use of reported speech as an attempt at gaining the support of the reader for the main character as she is stood up by a seemingly arrogant man, for example ‘Look Jones’ appears condescending from a man using a surname towards a female. We also see listing used in both texts to help speed the text along and add emphasis, for example in text A we see ‘Bull-baiting, Horse and Coach races, Pupet-plays and interludes’ while in text C we see ‘legs to be waxed, underarms shaved, eyebrows plucked, feet pumiced, skin exfoliated and moisturised’. In text C we see the use of field specific lexis showing the changing English Language as we see the use of corporate speak with ‘presentation’ and ‘spreadsheets’. This also shows lexical change in the form of compounding as two existing words have been placed together to form a new meaning with ‘spreadsheets’. We see many features of archaisms in text A which help indicate the text to be far older than text C. We see archaic elision with ‘twas’ and ‘seem’d’. This may show the author writing in the manner of how the words were spoken at the time as although the author is educated they may not have been taught how to spell. We see other features which could indicate the spelling is reminiscent of speech, for example ‘onely’, ‘skeetes’ and ‘strock’. We also see an extra letters added to the end of many words such ‘printing-presse’. As the text is written after the introduction of the printing press in 1476 and the great vowel shift of the 13 th to 15 th centuries it is possible that the extra letters show the authors own idiosyncratic style of writing as the standardisation of spelling had already begun. The irregular capitalisation of common nouns would indicate that the author had little knowledge of the grammatical rules of the English language and simply capitalised all important nouns, for example ‘Cattell’ and ‘Ballads’ can be seen. We see the archaic inflection in ‘whilest’ which would further indicate spelling reminiscent of speech. The interchanging of Y and I is common in archaic texts and can be seen in text A with ‘yce’. This is a common feature left over from Middle English showing through this text that the feature had not yet been lost to the English Language over 500 years after it ended. We also see archaic lexis in the text with ‘bacchanalia’ which further shows the author to be learned as they use Latinate lexis to describe what kind of fair they had attended. This may be because of the time of writing being towards the end of the Renaissance and the reinvigoration of Latin culture and language. The use of archaic social views is also evident as the author refers to women as though second class and beneath men with ‘where the people and ladys took a fansy’. The mild taboo used in text C shows the difference in social beliefs as modern women are thought of as equal and able to use language such as ‘bloody’ without being discriminated against. In grammar we see some similarities between the two texts. In both texts we see the use of abstract nouns which help give the text emotion and help give visual images to the author’s words, for example in text A we see ‘humour’ and in text C we see ‘confidence’. We see both text using proper nouns, in text A we see ‘London’ and ‘Thames’ indicating where the events are taking place and in text C we see ‘Daniel Cleaver’ used where the surname takes on its own meaning showing the characters nature of being a cold and inanimate object. However, we see far more uses of descriptive adjectives used in text C to help give visual images to the reader of the characters feelings, for example we see ‘flabby’ and ‘curly’. Text A has no adjectives which could help indicate that adjectives are used in text C to help keep the reader interested as it is a fictional piece. We see the use of dynamic verbs in both texts to indicate the amount of action taking place, for example in text A we see ‘sliding’ and in text C we see ‘plucked’. We see intensifiers used in both text to add extra emphasis and emotion to the texts, for example in text A we see ‘very seas’ and in text C we see ‘even worse’. In text A we see no pronouns as the piece is written for the author’s eyes only and they feel no need to seek any form of solidarity with the reader. However, in text C we see the use of many first person singular pronouns as the character appears to be distance themselves from the reader and attempt to gain feelings of contempt towards Daniel Cleaver as they seem to be lonely, for example ‘I’ is used throughout. Text C also uses the hyper-formal first person pronoun of ‘one’ when regarding the fictional author, this would help the reader gain the knowledge of the characters social status. In text A we see many forms of long complex sentences as is seen in the opening lines, this could indicate the author’s intellect. However, it could also indicate the author’s lack of knowledge regarding grammar and the use of punctuation. In text C we see the use of far more simple sentences, such as ‘he might have bloody well rung again’. These are seen more often in text C to break up the longer sentences forms and to keep the text entertaining. In sentence functions we see the use of declaratives used in both texts to help convey information, for example in text A we see ‘no vessels could stir out, or come in’ and in text C ‘he is on top-level job’. Declaratives are the only forms used in text A which is typical for a diary as the author simply states what has happened. However, in text C we see interrogatives through the use of rhetorical questions with ‘what’s wrong with me?’ These are used to help involve the reader in the story. In text C we also see imperatives in ‘must be complete in oneself as a woman of substance’. This helps give depth to the character as they attempt gaining an emotional link with character and reader. International Education Jobs Schools directory Resources Education Jobs Schools directory News Search Example Opinion Article that Assesses Ideas on Language Change and in Text A & B Subject: English Age range: 16+ Resource type: Worksheet/Activity Last updated 9 February 2024 Share through email Share through twitter Share through linkedin Share through facebook Share through pinterest Top band, student written model opinion article for A Level English Language. Produced by a student who achieved an A* in 2017. This model article demonstrates how to convey understanding of linguistic ideas by evaluating and challenging the views presented in the text and by other linguists. Students of all abilities will benefit from an example of effective article writing which they can emulate in their own work. Why it works: Shows how to assess ideas from the texts within your own article Demonstrates how to balance engaging writing with linguistic content Produced by a student who achieved an A* in 2017 Can be reworked as a template for your future (brilliant!) articles Easily turned into an assessment because text A & B are included. The model article can be used for reflection afterwards I have also included a powerpoint that encourages students to look at each text in detail, make meaningful comments on it & then use these ideas to plan an opinion article answer. Would work well as the premise of a lesson but is not a full lesson powerpoint. Model essays for all topics in A Level English Language Write an opinion article about language diversity and variation in which you assess the ideas and issues raised in Text A and Text B and argue your own views. Tes paid licence How can I reuse this? Get this resource as part of a bundle and save up to 66% A bundle is a package of resources grouped together to teach a particular topic, or a series of lessons, in one place. Paper 2 Revision A Level English Language Complete revision for Paper 2. I give you the NOTES so you can revise the theory and then an example student ESSAY so you can see how to tackle the exam. Plus a bank of practice questions. Produced by a student who achieved an A* in 2017. Paper 2 Section A Question 1: * gender complete revision notes * accent and dialect complete revision notes * sociolect complete revision notes * occupation complete revision notes * world english complete revision notes * language change complete revision notes * gender A* essay answer * accent and dialect A* essay answer * sociolect A* essay answer * occupation A* essay answer * world english A* essay answer * language change A* essay answer * big bank of practice questions Paper 2 Section B Question 3: * language discourses example essay answer Question 4: * opinion article examples * opinion article example exploring Text A & B * opinion article revision on how to create engaging openings [Total revision for Paper 1 AND 2](https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/complete-english-language-revision-12098082) Find me on Twitter @astarlevels Model Articles/ Opinion Pieces A Level English Language 6 top band, model articles and a worksheet helping students create engaging headlines, straplines and openings. Produced by a student who achieved an A* in 2017. <br /> <br /> Why they work:<br /> * Shows how to assess ideas from the texts within your own article<br /> * Demonstrates how to balance engaging writing with linguistic content<br /> * Produced by a student who achieved an A* in 2017<br /> * Can be reworked as a template for your future (brilliant!) articles<br /> <br /> Includes:<br /> - 4 example articles (gender, occupation, sociolect, accent & dialect)<br /> - 1 article on language diversity that draws on ideas in Text A & B <br /> - 1 article on world English & non std varieties <br /> - 1 article revision sheet helping students plan engaging openings Your rating is required to reflect your happiness. It's good to leave some feedback. Something went wrong, please try again later. rosiefenner Whilst the exemplar answer is useful, the other resources are not as detailed and extensive as initially suggested. Unfortunately I don't feel this resource is worth the cost. <br /> astarlevels Hi Rosie! My exemplars are always very popular. As for the lesson, hopefully what is there is of use and can be built upon, as I do suggest in the description you may well need to do!;) Hi, I am in the process of updating all my resources &amp; have just updated this one. Hopefully the improvements will increase its value! Empty reply does not make any sense for the end user fitzpleasure A highly beneficial lesson idea. Brilliant choice of data, texts work well together. Example response is high quality so makes a nice springboard for student's own work. Thank you for sharing at such a great price! That's great news. Thanks for 5 stars! biologywitholivia So glad I bought this - will be very useful to show students to help with exam preparation. Thank you very much. Report this resource to let us know if it violates our terms and conditions. Our customer service team will review your report and will be in touch. Not quite what you were looking for? Search by keyword to find the right resource: Language Change Glossary of Grammatical and Rhetorical Terms gustavofrazao / Getty Images An Introduction to Punctuation Ph.D., Rhetoric and English, University of Georgia M.A., Modern English and American Literature, University of Leicester B.A., English, State University of New York Language change is the phenomenon by which permanent alterations are made in the features and the use of a language over time. All natural languages change, and language change affects all areas of language use. Types of language change include sound changes , lexical changes, semantic changes , and syntactic changes. The branch of linguistics that is expressly concerned with changes in a language (or in languages) over time is historical linguistics (also known as diachronic linguistics ). Examples and Observations "For centuries people have speculated about the causes of language change . The problem is not one of thinking up possible causes, but of deciding which to take seriously... "Even when we have eliminated the 'lunatic fringe' theories, we are left with an enormous number of possible causes to take into consideration. Part of the problem is that there are several different causative factors at work, not only in language as a whole but also in any one change... "We can begin by dividing proposed causes of change into two broad categories. On the one hand, there are external sociolinguistic factors — that is, social factors outside the language system. On the other hand, there are internal psycholinguistic ones — that is, linguistic and psychological factors which reside in the structure of the language and the minds of the speakers." (Jean Aitchison, Language Change: Progress or Decay? 3rd ed. Cambridge University Press, 2001) Words on the Way Out " Amidst and amongst are all rather formal, almost affected, now, and are more usually encountered in high-brow writing, less usually in speech. This suggests that these forms are on the way out. They will probably bite the dust, just as betwixt and erst have done..." (Kate Burridge, Gift of the Gob: Morsels of English Language History . HarperCollins Australia, 2011) Anthropological Perspective on Language Change "There are many factors influencing the rate at which language changes, including the attitudes of the speakers toward borrowing and change. When most members of a speech community value novelty, for example, their language will change more quickly. When most members of a speech community value stability, then their language will change more slowly. When a particular pronunciation or word or grammatical form or turn of phrase is regarded as more desirable, or marks its users as more important or powerful, then it will be adopted and imitated more rapidly than otherwise... "The important thing to remember about change is that, as long as people are using a language, that language will undergo some change." (Harriet Joseph Ottenheimer, The Anthropology of Language: An Introduction to Linguistic Anthropology , 2nd ed. Wadsworth, 2009) A Prescriptivist Perspective on Language Change "I see no absolute Necessity why any Language would be perpetually changing." (Jonathan Swift, Proposal for Correcting, Improving, and Ascertaining the English Tongue , 1712) Sporadic and Systematic Changes in Language "Changes in language may be systematic or sporadic. The addition of a vocabulary item to name a new product, for example, is a sporadic change that has little impact on the rest of the lexicon . Even some phonological changes are sporadic. For instance, many speakers of English pronounce the word catch to rhyme with wretch rather than hatch ... "Systematic changes, as the term suggests, affect an entire system or subsystem of the language... A conditioned systematic change is brought about by context or environment, whether linguistic or extralinguistic. For many speakers of English, the short e vowel (as in bet ) has, in some words, been replaced by a short i vowel (as in bit ), For these speakers, pin and pen , him and hem are homophones (words pronounced the same). This change is conditioned because it occurs only in the context of a following m or n ; pig and peg , hill and hell , middle and meddle are not pronounced alike for these speakers." (C.M. Millward, A Biography of the English Language , 2nd ed. Harcourt Brace, 1996) The Wave Model of Language Change "[T]he distribution of regional language features may be viewed as the result of language change through geographical space over time. A change is initiated at one locale at a given point in time and spreads outward from that point in progressive stages so that earlier changes reach the outlying areas later. This model of language change is referred to as the wave model ..." (Walt Wolfram and Natalie Schilling-Estes, American English: Dialects and Variation . Blackwell, 1998) Geoffrey Chaucer on Changes in the "Forme of Speeche" "Ye knowe ek that in forme of speeche is chaunge Withinne a thousand yeer, and wordes tho That hadden pris, now wonder nyce and straunge Us thinketh hem, and yet thei spake hem so, And spedde as wel in love as men now do; Ek for to wynnen love in sondry ages, In sondry londes, sondry ben usages." ["You know also that in (the) form of speech (there) is change Within a thousand years, and words then That had value, now wonderfully curious and strange (To) us they seem, and yet they spoke them so, And succeeded as well in love as men now do; Also to win love in sundry ages, In sundry lands, (there) are many usages."] (Geoffrey Chaucer, Troilus and Criseyde , late 14th century. Translation by Roger Lass in "Phonology and Morphology." A History of the English Language , edited by Richard M. Hogg and David Denison. Cambridge University Press, 2008) Grammarian Definition and Examples Haplology (Phonetics) Definition and Examples of Sound Change in English Defining Philology The Hypothesis of Colonial Lag Amelioration (word meanings) spelling pronunciation What Is a Natural Language? Interlanguage Definition and Examples What Are Allophones in English? Defining Synchronic Linguistics What Is Koineization (or Dialect Mixing)? Definition and Examples of Native Languages Defining Grammar The Definition and Examples of Folk Linguistics Definition and Examples of a Lingua Franca 386 IMAGES A Level English Language Paper 2 Section A: Language Change essay feedback The Challenges Of Learning A New Language English Language Essay This half term Introduction to Language Change Language is always changing Free Essay Example Language Change Analysis Leading Change Essay Example VIDEO How To Change Language In Temu (Step By Step) A Level English Language (9093) Paper 4- Section B: Language and the Self (Part 2) climate change essay IELTS Writing Task 2: Opinion essay (5)| Language Barriers Gestalt Therapy as Applied to Suppressed Emotions: Case Analysis Write Essay on climate change in English paragraph on climate change speech in English COMMENTS Language Change Essay Examples Exploring Language Change in Multilingual Communities. Introduction Sociolinguistics examines language-society interactions. It examines how gender, race, class, and culture affect language use and variation. Sociolinguistics studies how language reflects, reproduces, and challenges social hierarchies, identities, and power relations ... PDF Sample Answer on language change Sample A-‐level Answer. 1. What do you like about it? 2. What would you suggest to improve it? Focus on style as well as content. June 2008: Language Development: Text E = Extract from Daily Telegraph and Text F = OED (crunk & chav). Essays About Language: Top 5 Examples And 7 Prompts 5 Top Essay Examples. 1. A Global Language: English Language by Dallas Ryan. "Furthermore, using English, people can have more friends, widen peer relationships with foreigners and can not get lost. Overall, English becomes a global language; people may have more chances in communication. PDF A Level English Language Essay Practice A Level English Language Essay Practice. A Level English Language Essay Practice. When you attempt question, make sure you write it down onto your paper so you can keep track of which question you are answering. Use this sheet to record when you have planned and written each question, as well as the mark you received. Essay Title AOs. Required. PDF Student responses with examiner commentary completing an evaluative essay on language diversity, or an evaluative essay on language change. In Section B (Language Discourses), students are presented with two texts about a topic linked to the study of language diversity and change. They answer a question requiring analysis of how the texts use language to present ideas, attitudes and ... Exploring Language Change in Multilingual Communities The questionnaire, it changed into determined that code-blending and code-switching are common in multilingual groups that present process language change with speakers that use the practices to change their multilingual identities and navigate complicated social and cultural conditions ("Code-Switching and code- Mixing," 2021). How Did-English-Language-Change-Over-Time (Essay Example) In conclusion, the English language has undergone a remarkable transformation over time, reflecting the influence of various historical, linguistic, and cultural factors. A Level English Language Change A* Essay: Prescriptivism This A-Level English Language AQA Essay covers the Language Change topic of the course, and achieved an A*. The essay title is: 'Evaluate the idea that language change is beyond prescriptivist jurisdiction'. This is perfect for Year 12 and 13 students currently studying AQA A-Level English Language. CloisterWraith. Section A: Diversity and Change. The Power of Language: How Words Shape Our World When language is used as a tool for accountability, it becomes a force for justice and change. The power of language in these instances lies in its ability to bring hidden truths to light and hold wrongdoers accountable for their actions. Equity also relies on language as a means of breaking down barriers and addressing systemic injustices. Language change Language change is the process of alteration in the features of a single language, or of languages in general, across a period of time. It is studied in several subfields of linguistics: historical linguistics, sociolinguistics, and evolutionary linguistics. Traditional theories of historical linguistics identify three main types of change ... How and Why Language Changes During the last 100 years or so, there have been two major camps when it comes to language change. The first are "structuralists" and "typologists", who see internal motivations for change in the language. The other are "sociolinguists", who see external / social motivations for change. As noted, structuralists emphasize the role of ... language change essay One those challenges for me was the change of language because I had spoken Spanish for eleven years and zero experience with English. This was a big shock for me because of the fact that I had trouble communicating in school with my peers, my teachers, and sometimes even outside school. This would. 286 Words. 2 Pages. Language Changes: Meaning, Types & Examples Language change refers to the process by which a language evolves over time, resulting in differences in its pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, and usage from one generation to the next. Different types of language change include sound, lexical, semantic, syntactic. Language affects how we perceive the world and reflects the changes we ... Language Change in the Southern US Language Change in the Southern US Essay. Exclusively available on IvyPanda®. Though placing the events on the real-time curve when rendering them in speech may seem more natural to one, the use of apparent time, in fact, is just as, if not more, frequent than the usage of real-time constructions. Get a custom essay on Language Change in the ... Essay On Language Change Essay On Language Change. 2502 Words11 Pages. Language is dynamic in nature. This means that language always change from time to time. The change here can be caused by some factors, some of which are social status, sex, and interaction. Before the new form really replaced the old form, or becomes a change, the form will spread first in ... Essay on The Importance of Language Essay on The Importance of Language. Language is a fundamental aspect of human communication, shaping our interactions, thoughts, and cultural identities. From the spoken word to written text, language plays a crucial role in expressing ideas, sharing knowledge, and connecting with others. In this essay, we will explore the importance of ... The power of language: How words shape people, culture Studying how people use language - what words and phrases they unconsciously choose and combine - can help us better understand ourselves and why we behave the way we do. Linguistics scholars ... Is language change good or bad? The conclusion is that language change in and of itself is neither good nor bad. It can sometimes have beneficial aspects, such as facilitating pronunciation or comprehension, and it can sometimes have detrimental consequences, sometimes creating a greater burden for comprehension and language learning. The mostly negative popular attitudes ... Linguistics 001 -- Language Change and Historical Reconstruction Language is always changing. We've seen that language changes across space and across social group. Language also varies across time. 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 varies, but whether the changes are ... Sample Questions & Answers QUESTION: Referring to both texts in detail, explore how language has changed over time? Comparing the texts helps show the changing English language in a short period of time, with the main reason being technological and educational advances. Text E is a written letter from 1854, while Text F is a present day email. This difference in time will indicate many advances of the English Language. Language Change Example Student Essay Language Change Example Student Essay. Top band, student written model answer for A Level English Language. This essay demonstrates how to convey understanding of linguistic ideas by evaluating and challenging the views presented in the question and by other linguists. Students of all abilities will benefit from an example of effective essay ... Example Opinion Article that Assesses Ideas on Language Change and in Paper 2 Revision A Level English Language. Complete revision for Paper 2. I give you the NOTES so you can revise the theory and then an example student ESSAY so you can see how to tackle the exam. Plus a bank of practice questions. Produced by a student who achieved an A* in 2017. Definition and Examples of Language Change Updated on August 18, 2019. Language change is the phenomenon by which permanent alterations are made in the features and the use of a language over time. All natural languages change, and language change affects all areas of language use. Types of language change include sound changes, lexical changes, semantic changes, and syntactic changes. assignment essay homework paper phd report resume review speech thesis