Introduction
Semantic Change leads with change on meaning of words, however this change does not occur overnight or all of a sudden. On the contrary, this is a slow process into language evolution and these differences are only realised as time goes by. There are many reasons to transformation and change over a word meaning. They can be adopted thanks to insertion of vocabulary from another language, by borrowing or even through popular usage of a word inside another context, resulting its differentiation to the whole country where English is spoken.
Historical linguistics treats the semantic change process throughout years, explaining its alternation. This branch of linguistics treats one phenomenon under scientific value so as to explain some process and assign names, as amelioration, pejoration, broadening, semantic narrowing, bleaching, metaphor, and metonymy (Nordquist, 2010). This essay will not explain extensively each one of these processes because this is not interesting to the aim of this work. Conversely, some words will be presented and the reasons why they changed will be discussed herewith, as well as how this change in semantic occurred to these words, taking the reader to understand some semantics changes into English history.
Words and their transformations
"Semantic change is not a change in meaning per se, but the addition of a meaning to the semantic system or the loss of a meaning from the semantic system while the form remains constant." (Planck, 1991: 8). Some words lose their original meaning in order to transform in something with inferior or with pejorative meaning. As a matter of fact, there is the explanation to pejoration, which according to Henning (1995), in his website, “is the process...
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...treets cannot be put aside because it is a trend in its semantic change. Therefore, semantic changes cannot be confused with slang. This is so-called "sublanguage", "popular language" or even "slangs". Slangs are words that have nothing to do with the sentence. It is a language variation and the same word has another meaning, differently from semantic changes. Slang or language variation is shared by a restrict group (age or occupation) which is used to exclude from communication other people who do not belong to the original group, bracing with this an emotional identity.
Toward these facts, when we study language as a phenomenon featured by dynamism, it is possible to prove that all elements belonged to it (words, phrase order, phonemes, among others) suffered changes due to its evolution. A representative case to these kinds of changes is the semantic change.
Author(s): Judie Newman Source: The Modern Language Review, Vol. 98, No. 4 (Oct., 2003), pp. 817-826
Kistner, A. L. and M. K. Kistner. “The Five Structures of ‘The Changeling’.” Modern Language Studies 11.2 (1981): 40-53. Accessed March 29, 2014.
William Lutz in “the world of doublespeak” states that jargon is the specialized language of a trade, profession, or similar group, such as that used by doctors, lawyers, engineers, or educators” (391). Also to someone not associated with a specific group and their language jargon will not make sense. It is often used by individuals who wish to sound more intelligent or important. As mentioned in “the world of doublespeak” by Lutz that “jargon as doublespeak often makes the simple sound complex” (391). For example, when the news says intruders instead of bad people or execution instead of killing or when lawyers use the term “involuntary conversion” of property when discussing the loss or destruction of property that is considered using jargon. Lutz finds mainly doctors, lawyers and high educators that are responsible for the spread of jargon
Hill, Jane H., P. J. Mistry, and Lyle Campbell. The Life of Language: Papers in Linguistics in Honor of William Bright. Berlin [etc.: Mouton De Gruyter, 1998. Print.
Slang is the key reason words take on new meaning. A teenage girl may say a guy is hot! This does not mean he is sweating, it means he is good looking. This is an example of slang. People familiar with slang will understand this meaning, while those unfamiliar will not. As our culture changes so does our slang and words take on new meanings. Let’s take a closer look at the word burn. Some of the definitions may surprise you.
Peter Trudgill argues that overtime the meanings of words have been changed by society in order to fit the general understanding of a word. He defends his argument against people that claim the definition of a word should come from its origin. However, Trudgill illustrates the transition words have undergone throughout history, and how those affects are arbitrary to when it comes to communication now.
The two theories of language evolution prove that language in the future will not be the same as it is currently. Despite one advocating for gradual change and the other sudden, both of them claim that the evolution is random. Furthermore, the theories have proven that language evolution corresponds to human evolution where new language will ultimately be formed at the end of the process.
This property is highly regarded as a positive aspect to the English language because it increases its vocabulary, which consequently opens infinite doors to precise and expressive communication. However, a
Every body’s language says something different about them. They have their own form of language, whether its proper, slang, a particular phrase, or other forms of language. The language varies from city to city and state to state. Most of the time words have the same meaning they just have a different pronunciation in different places. Sometimes they do have other meanings as well. When you go to college and meet different people from different places you begin to learn their language and way of speaking.
First, it changes because the needs of its speakers change. New technologies, new products, and new experiences require new words to refer to them clearly and efficiently.
In conclusion, we see that not only were the major changes to the English Language during the renaissance mainly lexical but also were mainly due to social and economic factors.
Because English is a living language there are frequent changes in the meaning that words carry. These changes can be largely influenced by environment. One of the best examples of this fact is some of the distinct differences between British and American English.
Language as a dynamic structure is exposed to constant development, transformation and alteration. Media, society, culture, science, technology and politics are the core factors that contribute towards language evolution. Due to numerous linguistic and extra linguistic factors, newly coined units in the language are in the process of entering and influencing the English language. These new units, known as neologisms, serve as our guidance in understanding the never-ending evolution in the English language. Furthermore, neologisms ease each individual’s process of coping with changes by creating mental bridges between the old and the contemporary. The English language vocabulary is facing constant change, as neologisms enter in a blink of an eye through the media. The mass media being the major source and ground on which English neologisms are coined, plays a significant role of intermediary between the English population as active consumers and the language itself.
In order to describe the form of the linguistic expressions (phrases, sentences, texts) in a language, we must describe how those complex expressions are built from smaller parts, until ultimately we which the atoms of linguistic form. The term morpheme is used to refer to an atom of linguistic form.
The settlement of the British Isles by north Europeans followed by Norman French paints the backdrop to this essay which will focus on the period between the early 15th and 17th centuries, when a 'standard' English evolved. It will show that modern-day English is very different to that first introduced to the British Isles, but by identifying changes through time, its continuity can be demonstrated. Finally, it will suggest that present day English is in a position analogous to that which existed before the Norman invasion, when there were many varieties and dialects, and that this may lead to its decline as a global language, due to decreasing intelligibility.