Kevin Anderson
How does language change over time? Are new words just fads or do they become part of our repertoires forever? How do we measure change in language? Van Herk (2018) discusses how we should look at language through time. He mentions that linguistic change should be reflected in the variation of language at a single point in time. We can see the variation and we know people’s language will change over time, but exactly how that happens is more complex than it seems.
Van Herk (2018) describes how people individually go through changes and adopt new vocabulary in life. For pronunciation, there seems to be less change through time. People change along with changes seen in the community. As cited in Van Herk (2018, p. 64), people who mostly use the old form or the new form of language continue to do so over decades, whereas people who are in between and using both forms in approximately equal proportions shift towards the newer form. This means people who are not stubbornly sticking to the old form or the newer form of language will eventually drift toward the newer form of language. Van Herk (2012) mentions how teenagers are the most adventurous when it comes to using new words. Adults tend to shift toward language that benefits them socially and economically, as cited in Van Herk (2018, p.71).
There is a certain ‘community’ that forms around new words, a sense of belonging with other people who use similar terms. Likewise, people using older words will feel a sense of belonging with people who use the same words.
This article discusses the ways anglophone people of different generations pronounce street names in Montreal. Older people call St. Laurent, “St. Lawrence street”, as do I, and they say, “Mountain Street” instead of “De la Montagne”, which I do not. My father grew up in “Ville de Leery” near “Chatta-gee”, whereas younger people will say “Ville de Léry” and “Chateauguay” in a more accurate French accent. I find myself pronouncing these areas both ways depending on who I am talking to and what age they are. People of all ages seem to say, “Saint Catherine Street”, though. Change does not always involve only one language as can be seen.
Where do you fall within language and time? Do you stick to the old ways or the new ways? Are you somewhere in the middle, and if you are, how much will you slip towards the newer way of speaking? At what age will your language stop changing?
Reference:
Van Herk, Gerard. (2018). What is sociolinguistics? 2e Chichester, West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.
