Language Change Essay

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2.4.1 Language Change
Language has been changing over time and is an ongoing process; in other words, it is not a historical study. However, historical linguistics is partly concerned with language change.

2.4.2 Reasons for the Changes
There are many reasons for the change in languages. Aitchison (2001) mentioned language changes through borrowing and adaption. It implies that when English comes across words of other languages similar in meaning, she may borrow and transform them, so language contract takes place and sister languages showing similarities are formed.

One of the most important reasons for language change nowadays is that the advance in technology. For example, comprehensive transport system and Internet facilitate people to move around and communicate; individuals will form new language usually in informal tone throughout …show more content…

For example, the word ‘hang’ used to simply indicate putting something up on a wall or window, nowadays teenagers may make use of the phrase ‘hanging out with’, meaning they are going out with someone and hence lexical change takes place as ‘hanging out’ exists as a more fashionable phrase.

2.4.5 Phonological change Phonological change also called ‘sound change’. It happens when people have different realizations of phonemes which are subject to the pressure at both individual and population level. Rephonemicization is one of the stages of sound change, it takes place when the distribution of phonemes changes by reorganization of existing phonemes or adding new phonemes. (For example, when ‘c’ is the first letter of a word, it usually pronounced as ‘k’). Grimm’s Law, discovered by Jakob Grimm, highlights one of the most famous sound shifts, including which can be found in early Pro-Germanic.

2.4.6 Spelling

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