jean aitchison

Jean Aitchison 

she is a professor of language and communication and was born in 1938. her book 'language change: progress or decay' explored how language change is happening and whether it is a positive or negative thing. she describes language change using three metaphors:

• the damp spoon
• the crumbling castle
• the infectious disease 

The infectious disease:

 This model suggests the idea that we catch language from one another. She believes that language spreads through social contact and people pick up some language from others and apply it to their own speech. this model has a descriptive approach as it is not perceived as negative.

The damp spoon:

jean aitchison described language change as a damp spoon because she found it distasteful when seeing a damp spoon dipped in  a sugar bowl due to peoples laziness not to find another spoon to use. she found that this metaphor describes language change as she perceives language change as being lazy.

The crumbling castle:

Etymology of words

Etymology of words

Etymology is the study of the origin of words and the way in which their meanings have changed throughout history. often many words completely change meaning overtime and mean the opposite if its previous meaning. one word that has done this is the word awful. the current definition used for the word awful is "used to emphasize the extent of something, especially something unpleasant or negative." therefore currently the word would generally describe something negative or something that wasn't enjoyable eg: "it was awful." it has however not always been associated to have a negative meaning. In the 1300s it had much more positive connotations linked to it. It originally meant "aspiring wonder" and was a short way of saying being in awe of someone/something. To be in awe of would generally be linked with having great respect for somebody and would generally be perceived as a compliment if someone were to say they were in awe of you. Therefore the word has gone under a semantic change of auto-antonymy where a word changes meaning to the complete opposite of what it originally meant. Another example of this would be the word "bad." The word generally has a negative meaning towards it however in recent times it has more positive connotations linked with it and in some scenarios the word bad is used to describe something that is good. 

task 2

• Prescriptivism
• Descriptivism
• Synchronic change

Prescriptivism

Linguistic prescription (or prescriptivism) is the practice of elevating one variety or manner of language use over another. It may imply some forms are incorrect, improper, illogical, lack communicative effect, or are of low aesthetic value.

Descriptivism 

the doctrine that the meanings of ethical or aesthetic terms and statements are purely descriptive rather than prescriptive, evaluative, or emotive.

synchronic change 

A diachronic study or analysis concerns itself with the evolution and change over time of that which is studied; it is roughly equivalent to historical. Thus diachronic linguistics is also known as historical linguistics. A synchronic study or analysis, in contrast, limits its concern to a particular moment of time.

task 1

Dictionary new words 

Auto-tune - a device or facility for tuning something automatically, especially a piece of computer software which enables the correction of an out-of-tune vocal performance.

Birdhouse - North American term for nest box.

Comedy of errors - A comedy of errors is a narrative work (often a play) that is light and often humorous or satirical in tone, in which the action usually features a series of comic instances of mistaken identity, and which typically culminates in a happy resolution of the thematic conflict.

Decision - a conclusion or resolution reached after consideration.

e-cigarette - another term for electronic cigarette 

forensic science - Forensic Science is any science used for the purposes of the law, and therefore provides impartial scientific evidence for use in the courts of law, e.g. in a criminal investigation and trial.

go-for-it - to do anything you have to in ​order to get something

H2O - H2O binary compound that occurs at room temperature as a clear colorless odorless tasteless liquid; freezes into ice below 0 degrees centigrade and boils above 100 degrees centigrade; widely used as a solvent.