Language Change: Progress Or Decay?This is a lucid and up-to-date overview of language change. It discusses where our evidence about language change comes from, how and why changes happen, and how languages begin and end. It considers both changes which occurred long ago, and those currently in progress. It does this within the framework of one central question - is language change a symptom of progress or decay? It concludes that language is neither progressing nor decaying, but that an understanding of the factors surrounding change is essential for anyone concerned about language alteration. For this substantially revised third edition, Jean Aitchison has included two new chapters on change of meaning and grammaticalization. Sections on new methods of reconstruction and ongoing chain shifts in Britain and America have also been added as well as over 150 new references. The work remains non-technical in style and accessible to readers with no previous knowledge of linguistics. |
Contents
The everwhirling wheel The inevitability of change | 3 |
Collecting up clues Piecing together the evidence | 19 |
Charting the changes Studying changes in progress | 37 |
Spreading the word From person to person | 55 |
Conflicting loyalties Opposing social pressures | 68 |
Catching on and taking off How sound changes spread through a language | 84 |
Caught in the web How syntactic changes work through a language | 98 |
The wheels of language Grammaticalization | 112 |
The Mad Hatters teaparty Chain reaction changes | 183 |
Development and breakdown Child language and language disorders | 201 |
Language birth How languages begin | 217 |
Language death How languages end | 235 |
Progress or decay? Assessing the situation | 249 |
Symbols and technical terms | 261 |
Notes and suggestions for further reading | 263 |
281 | |
Common terms and phrases
accent Aitchison alter become beginning Belfast bilong British English Cambridge University Press casual speech century chapter child language common consider consonants constructions dialect discussed drag chain Estuary English example factors Figure forms French Gaelic glottal stop gradually grammar grammaticalization Grimm's Law guage guistics happens historical linguistics human Indo-European involves Janda & Joseph Jean Aitchison Jespersen John Benjamins Kwegu Labov language change language death lexical London look Martha's Vineyard meaning Milroy moving Mühlhäusler nasal negative non-standard normal Northern Cities Shift nouns occur original Oxford patterns phonetic pidgin Pidgin and creole plural problems progress pronounced pronunciation push chains reconstruction relatively S-curve sentences similar situation social sociolinguistic sometimes sound change speak speakers spoken spread standard suggest syntactic change syntax tend tendency theory tion Tok Pisin tongue Traugott Trudgill usage variation verb vocabulary Vowel Shift York