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