Socio. Week 5

• This plenary lecture is on Sociolinguistics
• The lecture is on the topic of language change

Language Change

• Synchronic variation occurs at a single moment

• Diachronic change happens over a period of time

• Sociolinguists study language change

• This is partially in response to prescriptivism

• Prescriptivism assumes change negatively impacts language, due to sloppiness, laziness and inattention

• Language change usually involves language variation

• Different social groups in a speech community may respond differently to changes, in terms of attitudes and variant choices

• Language change typically follows an S-curve

• Language is constantly evolving and is inherently heterogeneous

• Language change generally occurs through variation, where {A} becomes {A, B}, then {B}

• Variation can lead to language change but is not guaranteed, and can be stable

• Change is not definite, may fail, reverse or stabilize, and older forms can become highly specialized

Sociolinguistic Questions on Language Change

• How and why do changes start? This is the mechanism of change
• What kind of person or social group tends to start a change? This is the incrementation of change
• How do newer forms spread over older ones? This is the causation of change
• How does a change get placed into linguistic and social structure? This is the consequences of change

Overview of Topics

• Part I is the apparent time method
  • Critical Period Hypothesis
  • Language change vs. age grading
• Part II is the real-time method
• Part III is the relationship between variation and change in the individual and in the community

Apparent Time Method

• The apparent time method attempts to answer the question of how to study/observe language change
• Leonard Bloomfield in 1933, theorized change is very slow and gradual
• Charles F. Hocket thought language change was rapid in 1958
• Labov created a theory and methodology to study language change and change in progress.
  • One case study was Martha’s Vineyard in 1961
• The apparent time method divides a community into age groups, then studies them intensively for a short period
• If age groups use variants differently, it is thought there is a change happening in real time
• A main assumption, is one's language system does not change after a critical period has passed

Critical Period Hypothesis

• Lenneberg created the Critical Period Hypothesis in 1967 in The Biological Foundations of Language
• It states an individual can no longer achieve native speaker level if they begin learning after 12 years/puberty, due to brain maturation
• This hypothesis does not apply to all linguistic components
  • For example, the lexicon keeps developing
• It is not always the case that a sharp decline is found after a certain age
• Late learners can still sometimes be seen as native speakers
• The age of first exposure likely has a separate impact on the final level, despite experience, but more research needs to be conducted
• Problems include;
  • Physical decline from the oldest age group
  • Mental Capacity loss from the oldest age group
  • Only healthy informants can be used if they are over 80
  • Determining the lower age range for the youngest age group i.e. from 8 years -Age grading

Age-Grading

• With Age-grading, the individual changes but the community does not
• Language use is typical of a life phase
• This is repeated in every generation

Real Time Method

• A trend study involves comparable samples in at least 2 periods
• A panel study involves the same speakers in at least 2 periods
• A Retrospective Study uses old recordings/texts
• A Prospective study involves plan future studies now

Van de Velde (1996) Real Time Study

• Data was pulled from archive recordings: a retrospective study
• Data was comparable over time
• The data set was radio speech and standard language

Northern American Examples

• Martha's Vineyard revisited
  • Change is more rapid than expected
  • There is a risk of studying many language variables at one time
• Montreal
  • Gillian Sankoff & Hélène Blondeau created a;
    • Trend study [r] -> [ʀ]
    • Panel study -Consisting of: -Consistent [r] users -Consistent [ʀ] users -Variable speakers e.g. change [r] -> [ʀ]

Relationship Between Variation and Change

• Part III discusses the relationship between variation and change in the individual and community
• Key terminology:
  • Stability (no change)= stable (Individual), Stable (Community), flat (synchronic pattern)
  • Age-grading = abrupt (Individual), stable (Community), ➚or ➘ (synchronic pattern)
  • Life-span change = abrupt (Individual), gradual (Community), ➚or ➘ (synchronic pattern)
  • Generational change = stable (Individual), gradual (Community), ➚or ➘ (synchronic pattern)
  • Community-wide change = abrupt (Individual), abrupt (Community), flat (synchronic pattern)

Life-Span Change

• Individuals alter their speech after the critical period aligning with the gradual community changes(Meyerhoff 2019, p. 162)
• Harrington, J., Palethorpe, S. & Watson, C. observed speech amongst the royal family in; Does the Queen speak the Queen's English? Nature 408, 927–928 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/35050160
  • Including: - Christmas speeches - Changes in the direction of the community

Generational Change

• Each new generation makes use of more and more of the innovative variant
• Change is inferred based on apparent time evidence
• Referencing research by Tagliamonte, S. A., & D'Arcy, A. (2009).; Peaks beyond phonology: Adolescence, incrementation, and language change. Language, 58-108.

Case Study: Be Like - D'Arcy (2013)

• The phrase "be like", has undergone a recent innovation + extreme rapid diffusion in linguistic, social and geographical space
• Referencing work by D'Arcy, Alexandra in 'Variation and Change', in Robert Bayley, Richard Cameron, and Ceil Lucas (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Sociolinguistics, Oxford Handbooks (2013; online edn, Oxford Academic, 28 Jan. 2013), https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199744084.013.0024, accessed 12 Mar. 2023.

Mechanism of Change

• "Be like" emerged as a quotative verb among adolescents in the 1980s, demonstrating the highest frequency of use
• Social awareness and adolescent culture plays a high degree => No age grading
• Frequency of "be like" usage continues in adulthood, as an incoming innovation and example of life span change => adults can change their language after they become linguistic adults

Causation of Change

• Think and be like introduce different kinds of first-person thought, with be like starting off as a narrative tense marker.
  • Referencing D'Arcy, A. (2012). The diachrony of quotation: evidence from New Zealand English. Language Variation and Change, 24(3), 343-369.

Consequences of Change

• "Be like" has expanded through English from an American epicenter
• It is increasingly indiginized by local speakers, creating novel and localized balances as it enters the quotative vocabulary
• Patterning globally cannot be fully understood without specific local system details
• International Corpus of English for Singapore:
  • "Be like" introduces thought (no person effect)
• International Corpus of English for Kenia: -"Be like" introduces third-person speech

Age Differences

• Distinguishing between linguistic alteration amongst a community (generational change) and alteration happening at an individual perspective (age grading) creates huge issues for contemporary sociolinguistics
• Historical vs Individual change
  • Historical is change in the language use amongst a speech community over a period
    • Generational change (Individual doesn't change, Community does)
    • Lifespan change (Both Individual and Community change)
  • Individual change in the language use during life
    • Age Grading (individual changes, Community does not)
• Solutions: -Gather more longitudinal data by using eg. archives etc -Create larger panel studies -Study the research into perceptions and attitudes

Communal Change

• Communal/Community-wide change is when all members of the language community receive the new version at the same time.
• This includes when new names are introduced