Synchronic language change:
Political correctness
The avoidance of forms of expression
or action that can exclude or insult groups of people who are socially
disadvantaged or discriminated against.
The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
(how what you say changes views) is a widely accepted part of this
theory. The language we use affects not just the messages we communicate,
but the ways that we think and act.
The problem arises when the linguistic constructs
we use influence our way of thinking in negative ways; these negative
influences from language can be called politically incorrect.
- Subtle: Words like policeman, mailman, fireman; referring to all people as man; referring to an individual as he. These exclusionary words subtly influence our way of thinking. The first three imply that these are roles for men only. This kind of language can keep women from being comfortable aspiring to these positions. The other general references of man and he are simply inaccurate and unnecessarily exclusionary. They imply that masculinity is the default and superior gender trait.
2. Offensive:
Words like gay or retarded to refer to something undesirable;
words like fag or retard to refer to people. The first set
shows how these descriptions inherently link certain types of individuals to
anything bad by using terms that refer to them as insults for other undesirable
concepts. The second set is offensive because of the pejorative
connotations implied by these slurs. There are appropriate ways of
referring to individuals that does not unnecessarily demean them.
- Blatant: The n-word to refer to black people or the c-word or b-word to refer to women. This type needs little explanation. These words are highly offensive and indicate a great deal of disdain. They objectify and belittle entire groups of people based on one trait.
However there is the concept that people should be
allowed to use almost any kind of
language that they want to, up to a certain point.
Plain English campaign
A group that
campaigns against gobbledeygook, jargon and misleading public information,
their aim is to make English as plain as possible so it can be clearly
understood by everyone.
The Crystal Mark
They are
recognised by their ‘crystal mark’ which now appears on more than 21,000
documents worldwide. It is basically a symbol to show that the Plain English
Campaign approves the documents.
Dog-Whistle Politics
Dog-whistle politics is political
messaging using coded language that means one thing to the general population
but has an additional, different or more specific meaning for a targeted
subgroup. The phrase is often used as a pejorative because of the deceptive
nature.
World Englishes
The many and varied dialects of English spoken in different parts of the world, including not only American and British English, but such varieties as Indian, Pakistani, Australian, and New Zealand English, as well as the English spoken in various African and Asian countries (English accents and idiolects). English was brought
here because of the colonial period but now they all have independence and in
other places English has been encouraged because of its widespread use as
global communication.
Why language is changing:
- Because of the new influences that we now have including things like social media, celebrities ect.
- Social group influences and reputations and ideals (cultural environment- converging language)
- Foreign influences – migration/movement
- Standardisation
- Borrowing language from other languages
- Social prestige (changing our language depending on what we are doing and who we are speaking to- may converge or diverge our language)
- Semantic changes: narrowing, borrowing, amelioration, pejoration ect
- Syntactic change (the evolution of the syntactic structure of a natural language- naturally evolving language)
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