In this student-friendly text, Jones and Singh explore the phenomenon of language change, with a particular focus on the social contexts of its occurrence and possible motivations, including speakers’ intentions and attitudes. Presenting new or little-known data, the authors draw a distinction between "unconscious" and "deliberate" change. The discussion on "unconscious" change considers phenomena such as the emergence and obsolescence of individual languages, whilst the sections on "deliberate" change focus on issues of language planning, including the strategies of language revival and revitalization movements. There is also a detailed exploration of what is arguably the most extreme instance of "deliberate" change; language invention for real-world use. Examining an extensive range of language situations, __Exploring Language Change__ makes a clear, but often ignored distinction between concepts such as language policy and planning, and language revival and revitalization. Also featured are a number of case studies which demonstrate that real-life language use is often much more complex than theoretical abstractions might suggest. This is a key text for students on a variety of courses, including sociolinguistics, historical linguistics and language policy and planning. This Book Explores The Phenomenon Of Language Change, With A Particular Focus On The Social Contexts Of Its Occurrence And Its Possible Motivations, Including Speakers' Intentions And Attitudes. Using Wide-ranging Case Studies Presenting New Or Little-known Data, Jones And Singh Draw A Distinction Between 'unconscious' And 'deliberate' Change. The Discussion Of 'unconscious' Change Considers Phenomena Such As The Emergence And Obsolescence Of Individual Languages, While The Book Also Includes Detailed Discussion Of 'deliberate' Change, Traditionally Marginalised In Favour Of Explorations Of The 'unconscious' Variety. The Sections On 'deliberate' Change Focus On Issues Of Language Planning, Including The Strategies Of Language Revival And Revitalisation Movements, And Also Include A Detailed Exploration Of What Is Arguably The Most Extreme Instance Of 'deliberate' Change: Language Invention For Real-world Use. As A Student-friendly Text Which Covers A Wide Variety Of Language Situations, It Also Makes A Clear, But Often Ignored, Distinction Between Concepts Such As Language Policy And Planning, And Language Revival And Revitalisation. The Innovative Case Studies Which Permeate The Text Demonstrate That Real-life Language Use Is Often Much More Complex Than Theoretical Abstractions Might Suggest. This Book Will Be Extremely Useful To Students On A Variety Of Courses Including Sociolinguistics, Historical Linguistics And Language Policy And Planning.--book Jacket. 1 Internally Motivated Change 1 -- 1.2 Locating Internally Motivated Change 4 -- 1.3 Case Study: Symmetry And Function In The Great Vowel Shift 5 -- 1.4 Drift 8 -- 1.5 Case Study: Word Order Change In Icelandic 10 -- 1.6 Case Study: Grammaticalisation In Urdu 15 -- 1.7 Native-speaker Creativity 18 -- 1.8 Case Study: Lexical Derivation In Haitian French Creole 22 -- 2 Externally Motivated Change 29 -- 2.2 Borrowing 30 -- 2.3 Convergence 40 -- 2.4 Case Study: The Balkans 41 -- 2.5 Case Study: Kupwar 45 -- 2.6 Code-switching 48 -- 2.7 Mixed Languages 50 -- 2.8 Discussion: Internal And External Change Revisited 51 -- 2.9 Case Study: Guernsey Norman French (guernesiais) 52 -- 2.10 Case Study: Middle English 53 -- 3 Language Birth 55 -- 3.2 Case Study: Proto-indo-european, Proto-germanic And (old) English 57 -- 3.3 Case Study: Tok Pisin 64 -- 3.4 Case Study: Scots 69 -- 3.5 Discussion: What Makes A New Language? 74 -- 4 Language Death 78 -- 4.2 Setting And Structure: The Two Aspects Of Obsolescence 81 -- 4.3 Case Study: East Sutherland Gaelic 92 -- 4.4 Case Study: Pennsylvania German 97 -- 4.5 Dialect Death 100 -- 4.6 Case Study: French 100 -- 4.7 Case Study: Welsh 101 -- 5 Language Planning And Revitalisation 105 -- 5.2 Strategies And Aims Of Language Planning 106 -- 5.3 Case Study: Language Policy In The Usa Mari C. Jones And Ishtla Singh. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [189]-203) And Indexes. Includes Web Resources. Cover 1 Exploring Language Change 2 Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Table of Contents 8 Introduction 10 List of Abbreviations 14 1 Internally motivated change 16 1.1 Introduction 16 1.2 Locating internally motivated change 19 1.3 Case study: symmetry and function in the Great Vowel Shift 20 1.4 Drift 23 1.5 Case study: word order change in Icelandic 25 1.6 Case study: grammaticalisation in Urdu 30 1.7 Native-speaker creativity 33 1.8 Case study: lexical derivation in Haitian French Creole 37 1.9 Discussion 40 2 Externally motivated change 44 2.1 Introduction 44 2.2 Borrowing 45 2.3 Convergence 55 2.4 Case study: the Balkans 56 2.5 Case study: Kupwar 60 2.6 Code-switching 63 2.7 Mixed languages 65 2.8 Discussion: internal and external change revisited 66 2.9 Case study: Guernsey Norman French (Guernesiais) 67 2.10 Case study: Middle English 68 3 Language birth 70 3.1 Introduction 70 3.2 Case study: Proto-Indo-European, Proto-Germanic and (Old) English 72 3.3 Case study: Tok Pisin 79 3.4 Case study: Scots 84 3.5 Discussion: what makes a new language? 89 4 Language death 93 4.1 Introduction 93 4.2 Setting and structure: the two aspects of obsolescence 96 4.3 Case study: East Sutherland Gaelic 107 4.4 Case study: Pennsylvania German 112 4.5 Dialect death 115 4.6 Case study: French 115 4.7 Case study: Welsh 116 4.8 Discussion 119 5 Language planning and revitalisation 120 5.1 Introduction 120 5.2 Strategies and aims of language planning 121 5.3 Case study: language policy in the USA 125 5.4 Case study: language planning in Jersey 131 5.5 Case study: language planning in the Seychelles 139 5.6 Discussion 145 6 Language revival 148 6.1 Introduction 148 6.2 Case study: Cornish 150 6.3 Discussion 166 7 Language invention 168 7.1 Introduction 168 7.2 Inventing language 169 7.3 Case study: Esperanto 178 7.4 Case study: Láadan 184 7.5 Discussion 195 Notes 198 Bibliography 204 Useful web sites 219 General index 222 Index of people 225
This book explores the phenomenon of language change, with a particular focus on the social contexts of its occurrence and its possible motivations, including speakers' intentions and attitudes.
Using wide-ranging case studies presenting new or little-known data, Jones and Singh draw a distinction between unconscious and deliberate change. The discussion on unconscious change considers phenomena such as the emergence and obsolescence of individual languages, while the book also includes detailed discussion on deliberate change, traditionally marginalised in favour of explorations of the unconscious variety. The sections on deliberate change focus on issues of language planning, including the strategies of language revival and revitalisation movements, and also include a detailed exploration of what is arguably the most extreme instance of deliberate change; language invention for real-world use.
As a student-friendly text which covers a wide variety of language situations, it also makes a clear, but often ignored, distinction between concepts such as language policy and planning, and language revival and revitalisation, and the innovative case studies which permeate the text demonstrate that real-life language use is often much more complex than theoretical abstractions might suggest.
This book will be extremely useful to students on a variety of courses including sociolinguistics, historical linguistics and language policy and planning.
