LANGUAGE CHANGE

•       Variation and Change: The cause behind language change is the variation of use in the areas of pronunciation and vocabulary.

•       Post-vocal |r| its spread and its status: In many parts of England and Wales, Standard English has lost the pronunciation post-vocal r. The loss of r began in the 17^th century in the south-east of England and is still spreading to other areas. Accents with post-vocal |r| are called rhotict, and these accents are regarded as rural and uneducated. On the other hand in cities like New York, pronouncing the letter r is regarded as prestigious

•       The spread of vernacular forms: some times a vernacular feature in some communities as a reflection of ethnic or social identity such as what happened in Martha's Vineyard Island. Labov's 1960 study showed: when the island was invaded by summer tourists, the island community of fishermen changed their
pronunciation of some word vowels to older forms from the past as a reaction to the language of tourists.

How do language changes spread?

•       1- from group to group: changes spread like waves in different directions, and social factors such as age, gender, status and social group affect the rates and directions of change.

•       2- from style to style: from more formal to more casual, from one individual to another, from one social group to another, and from one word to another.

•       Lexical diffusion: the change from one word's vowel to another, the sound change begins in one word and later on in another, etc

•       How do we study language change? A- Apparent-time studies of language change: it is the study of comparing the speech of people from different age groups, to find out any differences that could indicate change (whether increase or decrease).

•       B- Studying language change in real time: in this study, the researcher studies the language in a community and then comes back to it after a number of years to study it again, and find out any changes

Reasons for language change:

•       1- Social status and language change: members of the group with most social status, for example, tend to introduce changes into a speech community from neighboring communities which have greater status and prestige in their eyes.

•       2- Gender and change: differences in women's and men's speech are a source of variation which can result in linguistic change.

•       3- Interaction and language change: interaction and contact between people is crucial in providing the channels for linguistic change (social networks).

•       4- The influence of the media: some researcher belief that media has a great influence on people's speech patterns and new forms.