Language Change Homework

Homework 22/01/16
Language Change


There are a few different attitudes towards language change, these terms express attitude:


Descriptivism- Happy to explore and embrace the change in English
Prescriptivism- Unhappy about the development in English and disapproving of the evolving language


Attitudes to Language Change and Technology- John Humphrys, Mail Online


John Humphrys has written an article about language and technology on the Mail Online. It is evident that John Humphrys has a prescriptive attitude towards language and technology and how our language is evolving. His prescriptive attitude demonstrates he is unhappy about the developments in English and is also very disapproving of the evolving English language.


John's prescriptive attitude is present in the title of the article 'I h8 txt msgs', this gives an immediate example of the fact that John has a prescriptive attitude as he is clearly unhappy with the development of technology and emphasises the use of abbreviations in the heading. To begin the article John comments on the fact he would much rather look up an unknown word in the dictionary as he states /infinitely more satisfying than looking something up on the internet'. This demonstrates John's disapproving attitude of how our language is evolving and also how we are putting technology to use in modern day life to find words that we are unsure of.


John describes his relationship with the Oxford English Dictionary: 'my lifetime love affair with the OED is at risk'. He uses comedy to share with his audience how he feels about the dictionary and how much more useful he finds it compared to looking up words on a computer. It is also evident that John has a prescriptivism attitude when he talks about how hyphenated words have changed in the last couple of years. 'It has removed the hyphen from no fewer than 16,000 words.' John uses statistics to back up his points which shows he is strong and passionate bout his beliefs.