Metaphors used by Jean Aitchison regarding language change Learn with flashcards, games, and more — for free. Gender Theories of Language. Jean Aitchison Aitchison argues that there are no exact dates at which a child reaches a certain stage of learning language, that some children learn faster than others. She believes that the speed of learning is influenced by both innate abilities and environment. Child Language Acquisition - Speech theories. Jean Aitchison (1987) Labelling. Linking labels to the objects which they refer to and understanding things can be labelled. Exploring labels and seeing what they can apply to. Over/under-extension occurs to eventually understand a range of meanings. Network Building. Child Language Acquisition - Speech theories. Jean Aitchison (1987) Labelling. Linking labels to the objects which they refer to and understanding things can be labelled. Exploring labels and seeing what they can apply to. Over/under-extension occurs to eventually understand a range of meanings. Network Building. Jean Aitchison The internal and external history of language. Internal (PRESCRIPTIVIST) = formation of new words and the influence of dictionaries. Looks at what happens inside the language with no external influences.
- Different Theories Of Language
- Jean Aitchison Theory Of Language Development
- Theory Of Language Development
- Jean Aitchison Theory Of Language Change
- Jean Aitchison Theory Of Language Acquisition
May 04, 2000 She explains why language is so strange, outlines recent theories about its origin, and discusses possible paths of evolution. Finally, Jean Aitchison considers what holds all languages together and prevents them from becoming unlearnably different from one another. Functional theory - explains that language changes to meet new needs. Explains the use of archaisms and slang. Informalisation - the process whereby language forms that were traditionally reserved for close personal relationships are now used in wider social contexts.
Jean Aitchison (born Jean Margaret Aitchison, 3 July 1938)[1] is a Professor of Language and Communication in the Faculty of English Language and Literature at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Worcester College, Oxford. Her main areas of interest include: Socio-historical linguistics; Language and mind; and Language and the media.
Biography[edit]
Aitchison earned her MA from Cambridge, and an AM from Radcliffe College at Harvard. She was an assistant lecturer in Greek at Bedford College London from 1961-65, lecturer and senior lecturer, and reader in linguistics at the London School of Economics from 1965-92. She was the Rupert Murdoch Professor of language and communication at Oxford from 1993-2003, Professorial Fellow at Worcester College, Oxford from 1993-2003 (emeritus since 2003).[2] In 1996 she gave the BBC Reith lectures on The Language Web.[3] Professor Aitchison is a descendant of Sir Charles Umpherston Aitchison, lieutenant governor of the Punjab from 1882 to 1887 and founder of Aitchison College in Lahore, Pakistan.
Research[edit]
In 1987, Aitchison identified three stages that occur during a child's acquisition of vocabulary: labelling, packaging and network building.
- Labelling: First stage and involves making the link between the sounds of particular words and the objects to which they refer, e.g., understanding that “mummy” refers to the child’s mother.
- Packaging: Entails understanding a word’s range of meaning.
- Network Building: Involves grasping the connections between words: understanding that some words are opposite in meaning, e.g., understanding the relationship between hypernyms and hyponyms.
Key publications[edit]
- New Media Language (edited with Diana M. Lewis). London and New York: Routledge.
- Words in the Mind: An Introduction to the Mental Lexicon. 3rd edition (1st edition 1987). Oxford and New York: Basil Blackwell, 2003.[4][5]
- Language Change: Progress or Decay? 3rd edition (1st edition 1981). Cambridge, New York, Melbourne: Cambridge University Press, 2001.
- The Articulate Mammal: An Introduction to Psycholinguistics. 4th edition (1st edition 1976). London and New York: Routledge, 1998.[6]
- The Language Web: The Power and Problem of Words. 1996 BBC Reith lectures. Cambridge, New York, Melbourne: Cambridge University Press, 1997.
- The Seeds of Speech: Language Origin and Evolution. Cambridge, New York, Melbourne: Cambridge University Press, 1996. (Also, with new extended introduction, in C.U.P. Canto series, 2000.)
References[edit]
- ^'Birthdays'. The Guardian. Guardian Media. 3 July 2014. p. 33.
- ^Debrett's People of Today http://www.debretts.com/people-of-today/profile/29538/Jean-Margaret-AITCHISON[permanent dead link]
- ^The Reith Lectures. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00gmvwx
- ^Review by: Richard Shillcock, Journal of Linguistics 24.2 (Sep., 1988), pp. 569-570.
- ^Book Review by Lee Dembart, Well-Chosen Words on Linguistics :Words in the Mind: An Introduction to the Mental Lexicon by Jean Aitchison, The Los Angeles Times, February 26, 1988
- ^EC Stewart, 1982, Book review-The Articulate Mammal: An Introduction to Psycholinguistics, Helmut Esau. Hornbeam Press (1980), Language Sciences, p. 360.
External links[edit]
PRESCRIPTIVISM
- Believe there is a correct way to use language and seek to preserve standard forms-condemning ‘irregular’ use.
- Revere standard English and received pronunciation (RP) as superior
- Disagree with rising intonation in declarative statements, American spellings ( ‘color’), split infinitives(‘to boldly go’), grammatical conversion (‘text’ as in the noun and verb), abbreviation (‘dece’), beginning sentences with conjunctions.
In the eighteenth century, the industrial revolution created a newly emerging capitalist class of businessmen like factory owners. This created a new gentry class who rose from uneducated backgrounds so needed to be socialised into the social customs of language use as a from of etiquette.
DR JOHNSON
- first dictionary of the English Language, 1755
- standardised spelling
- initially strove to ‘fix’ English language but later found this was impossible to achieve as language is always changing and it is the job of grammarians to simply record the current language as it is used.
ROBERT LOWTH
- ‘A Short Introduction to English Grammar’ (1762)
- proposed multiple negation is contrary to intention i.g. two negatives make a positive
- advocated Latin-based rules
- Disapproves of prepositional stranding which is often found in spoken discourse rather than formal writing e.g. ‘Who was she mad at?’/’Who are you going with?’ but this is conflict with the wide P-stranded use that has occurred for hundreds of year e.g. Oscar Wilde wrote: “I love talking about nothing. It is the only thing I know anything about.”
JOHNATHAN SWIFT
- Contractions are ‘inelegant’ and corrupt the English Language
- Sought to ‘ascertain’ and ‘improve’ the English Language forever
- Criticises young sociolects which can be related to present day concerns e.g. youth dialects e.g. ‘fam’/’dece’
WALKER
- ‘Critical Pronouncing Dictionary’ (1791)
- Accent of England’s capital is the axiom- RP connotes the cultured and educated
- The further form London, the more distasteful the accent
ACADEMIC PRESCRIPTIVISTS
JOHN HUMPHRYS
Different Theories Of Language
- Dislikes text speak e.g. ‘brb’/’lyfe’
- tautology (superfluous repetition of synonyms e.g ‘past history’ (‘past’ is used as an adjective of the noun ‘history’)
- conversion e.g. noun ‘the text is interesting’ -> verb ‘I need to text‘
- Incorrect pronoun usage e.g. ‘Tom and I are going shopping’ /’Do you like me and Tom?’
- unnecessary phrasal verbs e.g. ‘break (v) up (p)’
LYNN TRUSS : ‘Eats, Shoots and Leaves’
- Concerned with the accurate use of apostrophes
- blames nineteenth century custom of adding apostrophes before plural inflections of borrowed words e.g. ‘banana’s’
Jean Aitchison Theory Of Language Development
DESCRIPTIVISM
- A value-free approach to language change and use, affording a parity of esteem to both spoken and written language. They seek to objectively observe and record language as it is used choosing to see different language use as variation rather than inferiority and deviance.
JEAN AITCHISON
- OMISSION (‘wa’er’) AND ASSIMILATION (‘dunno’): Natural occurrence developing throughout many languages
- ‘DAMP SPOON’: Rejects the idea that language is becoming lazy- arguing the only lazy speech is drunk speech because of the poor muscular coordination.
- ‘CRUMBLING CASTLE’ : refutes the theory that there was ever a ‘Golden Age’ when language was used correctly by all. Language as far back as Chaucer was used irregularly, besides, a prescribed language system would be undesirable.
- ‘INFECTIOUS DISEASE’: Contests the idea that the inaccurate use of language is contagious, instead, language users discern between appropriate language use in a given context e.g. dialect/accent in order to ‘fit in’ ( see convergence)
DAVID CRYSTAL
- from the twentieth century we now have a linguistic economy e.g abbreviations reflect fast past and diverse society where language is used on multi-platforms e.g. social media.
- Internet has increased the rate of language change
- refutes the idea that only the young use text-speech and that it’s ruining the Eng lang
- Uses a tidal metaphor to describe how language is always changing and disappearing
- tridalectual future: we will adopt and adapt between standard and regional dialects depending on geographical location because there is greater mass movement as we interact with the wider world.
Theory Of Language Development
FREEBORN
- ‘INCORRECTNESS VIEW’: The idea that all accents are inferior to RP/standard English is rejected by Freeborn who argues they are only popular from social prestige from the group given dominance in society.
- ”UGLINESS VIEW’ : Accents which are criticised for ‘not sounding nice’ are based on stereotypes
- ‘INCORRECTNESS VIEW’: language isn’t lazy (link with Aitchison) e.g. glottal stops reflect logical sound change.
TRUDGILL
- language change is inevitable as society changes
- The misuse of a word/grammar doesn’t effect the users’ meaning or the listener’s understanding because meaning is implied through context.
SUBSTRATUM THEORY
- Language changes through contact
- In the past, language broadened from borrowings from invasion/British Empire/trade
- PDE: English Language is influenced by social networking/ immigration / globalisation
LEXICAL GAP THEORY
Neologisms are created to ‘fill a gap’ which exists organically within the language. For example, ‘yous’ fits current needs due to lack of ‘you’ plural pronouns (not deviant as language users are following regular inflection rules of grammar). May also suggest reasons for conversion e.g. ‘Tweet’
Jean Aitchison Theory Of Language Change
FUNCTIONAL THEORY
Jean Aitchison Theory Of Language Acquisition
Language change is functional to meet the needs of its users.Words fall out of use e.g ‘Vinyls’ often due to technological/industrial change especially in hyper-consumerist societies .