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Language Change

The document discusses various aspects of language change over time including: 1. It defines language change as variation in a language's phonological, morphological, semantic, syntactic and other features over time. 2. It identifies two main types of language change - diachronic (historical) and synchronic (caused by social factors) and gives examples. 3. It outlines some common causes of language change including social status, interaction/contact, dialects, gender differences and laziness.

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Fitria Rachmayanti
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3K views

Language Change

The document discusses various aspects of language change over time including: 1. It defines language change as variation in a language's phonological, morphological, semantic, syntactic and other features over time. 2. It identifies two main types of language change - diachronic (historical) and synchronic (caused by social factors) and gives examples. 3. It outlines some common causes of language change including social status, interaction/contact, dialects, gender differences and laziness.

Uploaded by

Fitria Rachmayanti
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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6th Group :

1. Suciati Ningsih
2. Fitria Rachmayanti
3. M. Ibnur Robi

LANGUAGE
CHANGE
LANGUAGE CHANGE
 Language change is variation over time in a language's
phonological, morphological, semantic, syntactic, and
other features

 Traditional View : The traditional view of language


change is the only changes that are important in a
language are those that can be demonstrated to have
structural consequences.
LANGUAGE CHANGE
• Diachronic Change – Historical Linguists the
change of languages over time
e.g. Old English Middle English Modern English

•Synchronic Change - Sociolinguists


the origins or the causes of language changes
how language changes with society or in particular period

e.g. Punjabi in Pakistan and Punjabi in India


TYPE OF CHANGES
1. Incremental  Used for inventions or items of
knowledge, Become standard
e.g “Selfie”, “emoji” added in dictionaries

2. Decremental  Words not used anymore because of the


less usage of the object
e.g. words related to swordfighting are not used often ‘pary’
and ‘feint’

3. Replacements  replacements of words or structures


e.g : half – halfs – halves
thievery – theft
rise – rose – raised
CAUSES OF CHANGES
a. Social Status
- people of higher status introduce changes
- later consideredprestigious
e.g : Fries –Chips
Baba/’Papa–Abu

b. Interaction / contact
- Borrowing
- Isolation slows process ofchange
- Interaction increases influences on other languages
e.g : Sushi –Japan
c. Dialectical Change
Difference in vocabulary or pronunciation due to
difference in dialects
e.g : Autumn – fall
lift – elevator
/r/ sound at the end and ‘schedule’

d. Gender
- Difference between speech of men and women
e.g :
1. Women introduce more standard forms – beautiful,
sweet
2. Men introduce vernacular forms – cool, wicked
3. Women categorize – married/teenager/mrs/miss
 Men – simplistic
 Women – picky more
accurate terms
e. Laziness
- Occurs mainly because oflaziness
- Shortening or Combining
e.g : I am -I’m
Going to –Gonna

f. Imperfect Learning
- Children learn adult formsimperfectly
- majority usage, new standard
e.g :
LEVELS OF CHANGES
Changes occur on the following levels

1. Phonological (sounds)
2. Syntactic(structure)
3. Semantic (meaning)
4. Lexical (words)
PHONOLOGICAL

- Complex
-Not sudden – happens over time

e.g: Same vowel rule (~a rule)


pen ~ pin in some English dialects – not necessary
‘s’ sound at the end of Spanish words
como ehtas / ehtah

LEXICAL CHANGE

• Change in the words and vocabulary used


• Addition of suffixes/prefixes to make new words breakable, thinkable,
touchable, etc

e . g : Addition of ‘s’ and ‘-es’


drink – drinks box –
boxes
SYNTACTIC CHANGE

Changes in word order

1. Contracted negatives – Old English


knew not – didn’t know

2. Comparatives – Old English


most shamefullest, more happier

SEMANTIC CHANGE

Changes related to meanings

1 . Broadening
Dogge -– specific breed - all dogs

2 . Narrowing
deer -– any beast - specific animal

3 . Opposite Sick – Good


THANK YOU

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