Language Change Timeline

• 1601 - 1603 - Shakespeare's Hamlet and Othello, the Moor of Venice
• 1605 - Guy Fawkes's plot
•             King James under reign
•             Catholics heavily persecuted 
• 1607 - Newsbook created (ancestor of Newspaper)
• 1608 - First English colony in America founded
• 1611 - Authorization of the King James Bible
• 1640 - Ben Johnson claims the 'r' at the end of a word should be used
• 1646 - Growing number of printing presses
• 1649 - Charles 1st execution
• 1662 - Playhouses closed down
•            Entertainment sometimes performed illegally
• 1665 - The plague
•             Shut down all trade and social life
• 1666 - The Great Fire of London

Words Entering The English Dictionary

In the last decade, there have been a series of words added to the English dictionary which may come to a shock to people, due to their non standard use in conversation. 

Gathered from the Goliath website, it gives us ten different examples of words added, and the most 'dumb' ones too, for example:

• Bromance: 'A non sexual relationship between two men.' 
• Babymoon: 'A relaxing or romantic vacation taken by parents-to-be before their baby is born.'
• Derp: 'Used as a substitute for speech regarded as meaningless or stupid, or to comment on a foolish or stupid action.'
• Duck face: 'An exaggerated pouting expression in which the lips are thrust outward, typically made by a person posing for a photograph.'
• FOMO (Fear of Missing Out): 'Anxiety that an exciting or interesting event may currently be happening elsewhere, often aroused by posts seen on a social media website.'
• Selfie: 'A photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smartphone or webcam and shared via social media'
• Sexting: 'Send (someone) sexually explicit photographs or messages via cell phone.'
• Twerk: 'Dance to popular music in sexually provocative manner involving thrusting hip movements and a low, squatting stance.'
• Unfriend: 'Remove (someone) from a list of friends or contacts on a social networking website.'
• Totes: 'Short for totally'
• OMG: 'Abbreviation for 'oh my god'  

Bibliography:
 http://www.goliath.com/random/10-of-the-dumbest-words-added-to-the-dictionary-in-the-last-10-years/10/ 

Pig Latin

Pig Latin

Pig Latin is a form of coded language which used to be very commonly used. Words beginning in certain letters are manipulated to hold a different word form, and the letters are muddled around.

Pig Latin originated when the African American's wanted to communicate with each other without their white oppressors realising. It was an effective way to understand each other and feel like they were in a community, all being victimized by the white oppressors in American history.

If you have a word with a consonant to start, these letters will be moved to the end, and added to the suffix '-ay'. For example, the common noun 'party' begins with the consonant 'p'. The 'p' would be taken from the beginning of the word and joined to the end of the word, then adding '-ay' after it. Therefore, the word would become 'arty-pay'. The consonant has been removed to the end of the word. Pig Latin also applies to words beginning with consonant clusters. For example the word 'switch' begins with the consonant cluster of 'sw'. So, these letters will move to the end of the word, and are followed by the suffix '-ay', just as before. 'Switch' would therefore become 'itch-sway'. 

When applied to words beginning with vowels, '-yay' or '-way' in some cases are added to the end of a word. The beginning of the word is not changed, therefore, with a word such as 'incident', it would literally become 'incident-yay'. 

  

For words containing the letter 'Y', the rules apply slightly differently. For words that begin with the letter 'Y', this means that it's a consonant starting word, so the letter moves to the end and is added to the suffix of '-ay'. For example, the colour 'yellow' would be changed to 'ellow-yay' in Pig Latin.

  For words that include the letter 'y' at the end of the consonant cluster, it's treated just like a vowel and is kept at the start of the word when the consonants move to the end. For example, 'rhythm' would change to 'ythm-rhay'.

Finally, dealing with compound words means splitting the words up in two, making it easier to use Pig Latin with them. For example, the word 'bedroom' would split into 'bed room'. Therefore, the Pig Latin form would be 'ed-bay oom-ray'.

Bibliography

http://www.wikihow.com/Speak-Pig-Latin 

http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/4219/whats-the-origin-of-pig-latin 

"Shall I Compare Thee To A Summer's Day? "

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate:

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

And summer’s lease hath all too short a date:

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,

And often is his gold complexion dimm’d;

And every fair from fair sometime declines,

By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm’d;

But thy eternal summer shall not fade

Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;

Nor shall Death brag thou wander’st in his shade,

When in eternal lines to time thou growest:

So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,

So long lives this and this gives life to thee.

Shall I compare you to a summer's day?

You are more lovely and more moderate: 

Harsh winds disturb the delicate buds of May, 

and summer doesn’t last long enough. 

Sometimes the sun is too hot, 

and its golden face is often dimmed by clouds. 

All beautiful things eventually become less beautiful, 

either by the experiences of life or by the passing of time. 

But your eternal beauty won’t fade, 

nor lose any of its quality. 

And you will never die, as you will live on in my enduring poetry. 

As long as there are people still alive to read poems 

This sonnet will live, and you will live in it.

The poem 'Shall I compare thee to a summer's day' is sonnet 18 of many of William Shakespeare's work. The theme revolves around the subject of eternal love and beauty, while the persona describes the person he is very fond of. 

When the poem is translated into modern English, there are many differences in the language used. For example, the personal pronoun 'you' is replaced with 'thee' which sounds completely different. In Shakespearean, 'thee' is used when 'you ' is the object of the sentence, so it's a very common occurrence in his work.

'The eye of heaven' is a much more descriptive and emotive way of saying 'the sun'. As a poet, it is important to use lexis which creates imagery and causes the reader to create the picture in their minds. Therefore, by using lexis and adjectives such as 'gold complexion', 'sun' and 'heaven shines', we can gain an understanding to what the theme of the poem is.

Shakespeare also uses the technique of removing the grapheme from words such as 'dimm'd' and 'untrimm'd' in order to express the words 'dimmed' and 'untrimmed'. He adds in an apostrophe and gets rid of the grapheme 'e' in both situations.

Slang Article Comparisons

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-11426737

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8388545.stm


These two articles, both written for the BBC, highlight the issues surrounding slang in our English Language. The first article, 'Teen slang: What's, like, so wrong with like?' focuses on the positives of using slang and the second, 'Mind your slanguage' focuses on how using it is badly affecting us.

In the first article, it explains how actress Emma Thompson gets annoyed by the fact teenagers are using slang and unnecessary words such as 'like' and 'innit' in speech. She feels as if it makes us sound 'sloppy' and unintelligent. However, Oxford Dictionary editor John Ayto says '"We all use fillers because we can't keep up highly-monitored, highly-grammatical language all the time. We all have to pause and think." This means that it is impossible for us to be constantly thinking and speaking in Received Pronunciation (RP) because it's just not practical. The example 'like' can be used in many different contexts too. For example, we use it when indicating a metaphor, exaggeration, as well as just filling a sentence while we think of what to say next. Then followed by "We have always used words to plug gaps or make sentences run smoothly", he indicates that they've been around for years, even in Anglo-Saxon times.

The second article portrays a different perspective on the issue. It highlights how the change in language to develop slang is a negative thing and should be 'banned in schools.' The fact that teens are using it so much in their language is causing them to be 'ill-equipped to communicate in the wider world.' The general consensus from schools, especially one in Manchester, is that slang should be banned. Results of this have proven to increase exam results, causing other colleges and schools to take the same actions.  It is a widespread opinion that "Whether we like it or not, the way we talk affects the way people see us and this can have very serious consequences."

From these two articles, it can be said that there are a variation of opinions on the use of slang by teenagers in the UK. It is seen to show culture, understanding and diversity in communities of people, because as long as you understand it, what's wrong with it? However, it it also thought to be ruining our sophisticated English language with words such as 'innit' and 'sick', where a lot of standard words have be broadened over time to mean more than what they once did. 

'Wicked' Language Change

The adjective 'Wicked' has been used for many years and has originated from the Old English meaning of 'Wicca' for 'Witch'. Over time, the meaning for 'wicked' has stemmed from the word to describe a witch.

The first meaning for 'Wicked' had a negative connotation. Originally, it meant to be evil, sinful and morally wrong in many respects. For example, you could say "What a wicked thing to say", meaning that what has been said is bad or nasty. Back when this was the main use for the word, it was only seen as a negative description. Since then, the word has been 'broadened' - the old meaning is kept but other meanings are added to it.

As the word has been used over time, it has been ameliorated - it has become more positive in its meaning. It's developed into describing something which is excellent and fantastic - much like a superlative. For example, it could be used in the utterance "that gig was so wicked" meaning that it was awesome. 

So, the word 'wicked' has been broadened and ameliorated over time, however it has still kept the meaning it originated with. However, the negative connotation of the word is not used as much nowadays, the positive one is. 

"Young readers should be corrected whenever they make a mistake"

The question as to whether children should be constantly corrected while reading is one which sparks up many different issues. By analysing a transcript of 7 year old George reading a section of Biff and Chip book, we can look at whether it is more effective to correct children during speech, or let them figure it out for themselves.

By looking at the transcript between George and his mother, it is evident that there are many examples of correction in order to improve George's speech. According to Skinner's operant conditioning theory, language needs to be learnt through positive and negative reinforcement. This way, a child will associate a reward (or no reward) with a response. By referring to the data given, George's mother provides positive reinforcement when he correctly says "they saw a lorry (2.0)" and "in (2.0) the street it was (.) loaded". She says "yeah that's right" and "that's it" in order to encourage George to carry on speaking the way he is. As well as this example of positive reinforcement, George's mum demonstrates negative reinforcement and corrects the verb “made” to become “may” in the middle of George’s utterance. This immediate response shows George that he used the incorrect morpheme because they had similar phonemes e.g. ‘may’ and ‘made’. The quick correction allows George to carry on so it doesn’t disrupt the flow of his utterance. Following the reinforcement, George uses the correct morpheme and says “may get worse”, just like it says in the book he is reading. By referring to Skinner’s theory, it is evident that using correction techniques such as positive/negative reinforcement, causes children’s miscues to be re-worded and improved.

Furthermore, Vygotsky’s theory of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) supports the statement that young readers need to be corrected when they make a mistake. When George makes a mistake in his speech, his mother is there to model and scaffold the language he uses, in order to enhance his development. For example, the mitigated imperative “watch the endings” in response to George missing out the pluralisation of “house”. Not only this, George realises he needs to use the standard term “we need” instead of “we never” after his mother uses a mitigated correction of “nooo” to highlight his error. By softening the harshness of her response, it indicates to George that he needs to self-correct. With reference to Vygotsky’s theory, it is apparent that George’s mum has provided him with the scaffolding he needs to acquire language, and it is effective. Therefore, young readers should be corrected and supported whenever they make a mistake.

Despite the data being supported by certain theorists, the answer is not fully dependable on them. According to Piaget’s 4 Critical Stage Theory, George is beginning the Concrete Operational stage, being 7 years old. Piaget’s theory suggests that children actively explore and make sense of the world around them, mostly without guidance from their caregivers. At this stage, George would be expected to begin to think logically, but sometimes struggle with abstract concepts. For example, it can be said that he still struggles with concepts such as the “endings” of morphemes. He miscues more than once during the transcript by using “never” instead of “need”, and “made” instead of “may”. This suggests that George is at the very early stages of the Concrete Operational stage, but will progress as he gets older.

Overall, it can be said that children need to be corrected when they make mistakes in speech. If they didn’t, then they would never develop and acquire language the way adults do. However, when being corrected all the time, a child would be concentrating too much on saying it right, instead of actually following the narrative of a book like they should be. So, correcting through positive/negative reinforcement and scaffolding is useful as it provides a model for children, however, too much of it can affect their confidence and ability to speak fluently.