Language Change AO3

The Media - More colloquial, casual and speech-like register; creates new lexis e.g. 'WAG' Sociological Changes - Level of Political Correctness increasing

Standardisation and Change: Grammar Texts with large audience may create patterns to which we conformPrescriptivists think the writer wished to 'correct' languageLowth (1762) 'rules' - should not put preposition at the end of a sentence, use multiple negatives, split the infinitive or use 'they' as a gender-neutral pronounLexis Many words in the process of becoming or ceasing to be standardLexical items can be standard/non-standard in different contexts'Hoover' was a brand but is now a common noun + 'Kodak', 'Kodaker' (photographer) and 'Kodakry' (photography)Semantic shift may be culturally determined, may depend on something ceasing to be familiar e.g. 'wireless', 'telegram' and imperial measurementsOrthography Non-standard spelling  sometimes intentionalChaucer and Shakespeare wrote without regard to spellingN/S spelling used in marketing 'Kwik-Fit', 'Toys R Us'Johnson's dictionary establishes standard spelling - descriptivePunctuation N/S forms less obvious18th Century - most punctuation then is considered standard today (little change 1700-now)Late 20th Century texts have less frequent punctuationConfusion with semi-colon and colon, hyphen and dash

Influences of Word Creation: 18th Century - Science and medicine, classical languages (Latin and Greek), attitudes towards class and social roles 19th Century - Industrialisation and new inventions, Latin and Greek, science and medicine, British Empire, travel 20th/21st Century - Technology (I.T.), globalisation, WWI/II, American English, consumerism and leisure, social attitudes - gender, ethnicity, sexuality - youth socialects and non-standard forms, ability to record speech

Orthographical Changes: 18th Century - 'ʃ' left over from Old English, used at beginning or middle of words; 's' used at end - ' ʃ' used until 1800 - spelling forms more regular (dictionary) 19th Century - More consistent and standardised spelling evolving, more schools, increased standardisation + availability of dictionaries 20th/21st Century - Standardised spelling rules, non-standard forms being more extensively used, education reforms, computer tech increase, text messaging and instant messaging

Grammatical Changes: 18th Century - Standardisation, hierarchical and formal society with emphasis on conventions and rules - writing valued as separate from speech 19th Century - Continuing standardisation, changes in class attitudes, universal education, dialect voices represented in literature (Dickens) 20th/21st Century - Worldwide and American English, technology, social levelling, oral language /forms affecting writing styles, growing informality, growth of entertainment and leisure industries

By late modern English, capitalisation rules followed what we use today - used to be at beginning of sentences, for proper nouns and rhetorically for abstract nouns and personified nouns

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