Language Change: Beeton and Moran Comparison

By reference to both texts (J and K) and to ideas from language study, describe and comment on what these texts show about language change over time.

	Text J	Text K
Form	Preface for a book Formally written and advisory tone	Back Cover of a book  Form of advertisement  Humorously written
Audience	Married Women	Adult Women
Purpose	To advise and influence To introduce the book  Introduce the authorial voice	Introducing authorial voice  Setting the tone  To encourage people to buy the book
Comparable Factors	Audience Purpose?
Contrasting Factors	Use of Humour Use of second person inclusive pronouns Use of interrogatives
Interesting Factors	Sapir Whorf Use of Antithesis

When comparing texts J and K, it is interesting to consider the differences in audience and purpose. The nature of the texts suggests that the primary audience is women for both texts, however text K endorses a feminist view, whereas text J reflects a very patriarchal view. Of course, we can assume that the most influential factor in such contrasting viewpoints, and language, is the advancements made in equality between the sexes that has occurred between 1861 and 2011. In terms of purpose, both are introducing the authorial voice and setting the tone for the book to which it is attached. Text K, however, does act as a form of advertisement as many would consider the back of the book as a way to capture the attention of the reader, encouraging them to buy the book. This may mean it uses language with a more persuasive implication, although it does seem to use open discussion to explore ideas that, we can assume, will be discussed later in the book. In contrast to this, text J seems to adopt an advisory, informative tone, as well as introducing the subject matter for the book.

One theory that does seem particularly relevant when comparing texts J and K is the Sapir Whorf hypothesis. Beeton’s ‘Book of Household Management,’ is a particularly strong example of this. Despite this book emphasising the importance of a woman’s work within the house, ‘household management,’ may provoke more positive connotations. It does seem to create an air of professionalism, which does not seem dissimilar to the wave of political correctness that emerged in the 1980s. Using terms that have greater prestige, rather than lexis that may have pejorated seems to apply here, despite this text having been written in the 19^th century. Within text K, we also see the importance of the Sapir Whorf theory with the use of the noun ‘rant.’ When Moran uses the phrase ‘part memoir, part rant,’ it is used in a humorous tone, despite the term ‘rant’ having negative connotations. Perhaps ‘rant’ suggests that there is a trivial nature to some aspects of the book, however, it also shows that the book is subjective and one of opinion. This technique will aid the exercising of influential power through persuasion, as it highlights Caitlin Moran’s opinions to be the centre of the book’s discussion.         

Perhaps one of the most interesting features of Text J is the use of antithesis. Following an animal ‘from his birth to his appearance on the table’, from ‘feeding him’ to slaying him,’ not only creates memorable contrasts, it also reveals interesting debate concerning language and gender. Interestingly, the author uses the marked male noun ‘him,’ to describe the animals we consume for meat. Although we do largely eat meat from male animals, it is not exclusive, and it almost seems to personify the animal with human characteristics. In more recent years language is often used to distance the process of killing animals for meat from the idea of death. Beeton’s matter-of-fact tone creates a sense of knowledge and authority, which will, in turn, persuade the reader to concur with this opinion. In contrast, text K seems to use synthetic personalisation to level herself with the audience, with the use of inclusive pronouns like ‘we,’ and through a witty, humorous voice. Text K states ‘we haven’t been burnt as witches since 1727,’ which uses a serious subject matter to highlight the changing role of women in society, while also being a comical touch.  

Analysis of ‘All Male Fox Panel Laments Female Breadwinners’

This clip of an all-male panel discussing the changing role of women in society seems to take a very patriarchal stance. Rather than bringing this controversial debate to the forefront, the video presents one side of the argument, asserting opinion as fact. I will find my focus upon the initial interaction between those on the male panel, who refer to American women gaining employment equality, and becoming the ‘breadwinner’ of a family, as ‘terribly wrong’ and as a ‘scandal.’ This highlights significant differences in attitudes relating to gender roles in society, and, perhaps, the polarisation of these views.  

Having grown up in a family with both mother and father providing financially, the description of this as ‘concerning and troubling’ or resulting in ‘a negative impact on the generations to come,’ I find it difficult to relate to this view point. These highly conservative values, seem to contradict my every ideal. However, it is important to consider changing attitudes concerning equality of power across the genders, and also how these attitudes have affected our use of language. Within this encounter, those involved use extremely emotive language, for example with the utterance ‘hurting our children.’ We can also notice the semantic field that much of this language comes from, as we are able to group lexis like ‘disintegration,’ ‘torn,’ ‘dissolve’ and ‘hurt.’ This semantic field is one of destruction, suggesting to its audience that if women were to be of equal power in society, the society would breakdown or suffer as a result.  

‘The now and the new: a look at recent neologisms’ by Margaret Coupe: Summary

Within this article, Margaret Coupe takes 5 examples of recent neologisms and explores their creation. These neologisms are the initialism ‘BRF’, standing for ‘bitchy resting face,’ ‘click farm,’ (referring to employment facilities in less developed countries) ‘phubbing,’ (snubbing out conversation by looking at your phone) ‘selfie’ (taking pictures of yourself) and ‘zero hours’ (a type of contract that does not guarantee any work).

Perhaps most interestingly, in my opinion, is the controversy surrounding the neologism ‘selfie.’ Coupe reflects that ‘the element of self-promotion in producing a selfie has led one tabloid journalist to dub it ‘the showoffagram.’ This seems to suggest that the ideology behind a ‘selfie’ may encourage a positive view of narcissism. The exploration into this noun that has entered the lexicon uses examples like taking ‘a selfie at Auschwitz,’ to, perhaps, embed a sense of social commentary throughout the article on what is deemed socially appropriate. By linking neologisms, like ‘selfie,’ to their position within sociolect, Coupe is able to look at, and comment upon, attitudes to language or even the negative connotations of lexis that has recently entered the lexicon.

In the concluding lines of the essay, Coupe writes ‘new words arise out of a need and are usually formed from the existing word bank. The word spreads through a small group at first and then becomes more widely diffused in a kind of ripple effect. The word may drop out of use or enter the common register and may be ultimately codified in a dictionary. I hope my survey of a few words is an indicator of how inventively language can be used, how words enter the language and how much neologisms tell us about the way we live now.’ This, to me, shows how language change is not only a study of words, but a study of how language is used in reference to changing social attitudes and a society’s need for neologisms to enter the lexicon.      

The Great Vowel Shift: A Summary

Between the 15th and 18th centuries, the Great Vowel Shift occurred. This shift affected pronunciation of long vowels in the English language. Physically, long vowel sounds were now pronounced higher in the mouth, changing the phonetic sound of words. It is thought that the process may have occurred through the 8 steps below. 

The 8 Steps of the Great Vowel Shift: 

1. i and u become aI and au 

2. e and o move up becoming i and u 

3. a moves foreword to æ

4. æ becomes e, ɔ becomes o 

5. æ moves up to ɛ

6. e (created in step 4) moves to i 

7. ɛ (from step 5) moves up to e 

8. əI and əU drop to aI and aU 

These steps would not happen quickly, but over time new pronunciations would be adopted. Although some more conservative speakers may have taken longer to move through the steps, other groups of language witnessed these changes at a faster rate. However, it is important to remember that the Great Vowel Shift was a very gradual process, that occurred over centuries- not over night. 

Examples
Middle English Pronunciation - Modern English
toe became to
weef became wife
moos became mouse
bayn became been
heer became her

Language Change: 'Little Women' Extract

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (1868)
Extract Sourced from Chapter 2: A Merry Christmas

In spite of her small vanities, Margaret had a sweet and pious nature, which unconsciously influences her sisters, especially Jo, who loved her very tenderly, and obeyed her because her advice was so gently given. 

“Girls,” said Meg seriously, looking from the tumbled head beside her to the two little night-capped ones in the room beyond, “Mother wants us to read and love and mind these books, and we must begin at once. We used to be faithful about it, but since Father went away and all this war trouble unsettled us we have neglected many things. You can do as you please, but I shall keep my book on the table here and read a little every morning as soon as I wake, for I know it will do me good and help me through the day.”

Then she opened her new book and began to read. Jo put her arm round her and, leaning cheek to cheek, read also, with the quiet expression so seldom seen on her restless face.

“How good Meg is! Come, Amy, let’s do as they do. I’ll help you with the hard words and they’ll explain things if we don’t understand,” whispered Beth, very much impressed by the pretty books and her sisters’ example. 

“I’m glad mine is blue,” said Amy, and then the rooms were very still while the pages were softly turned, and the winter sunshine crept in to touch the bright heads and serious faces with a Christmas greeting. 

“Where is Mother?” asked Med, as she and Jo ran down to thank her for their gifts, half an hour later. 

This extract from ‘Little Women,’ written in 1868, does have many features that suggest significant language change, in comparison to later literature. Of course, as this extract is an example of formally written, represented speech, it may not accurately indicate natural language use. However, in reference to written language use, it does give us an interesting insight into how much language use has changed over 150 years.  

Perhaps most obviously, it appears that the structuring of sentences may differ from later texts. Although these long sentences, some with 6 clauses or more, may be the author’s individual writing style, it could also be assumed that this elongated sentencing structure may be typical of texts written over a century ago. By looking at the first sentence of the extract, for example, we can see this formal and elongated structure. However, when conveying natural speech Alcott uses a more colloquial tone and this does seem to bring the character voice to life. With the sentence, ‘Mother wants us to read and love and mind these books, and we must begin at once.’ it seems that the author is able to convey a sense of excitement with the repetition of the conjunction ‘and,’ and this seems to be a feature that we may expect in texts from the 2000s. 

Although the lexis within this extract is largely high frequency and, in terms of meaning, concurrent, ‘pious’ is one example of obsolete lexis that has had experienced semantic change. ‘Pious’ is most commonly known to mean religious, however, its archaic meaning is someone who is loyal and dutiful, particularly to their parents. Here, by taking contextual cues, it does appear that the more antiquated semantic for ‘pious’ is more fitting, as it aids in the portrayal of an idyllic family scenario. Furthermore, it seems that other lexis is able to show significant language change, as the word ‘seldom’ is not as frequently used in modern texts, as it had been at the time ‘Little Women’ was written. The graph below, sourced from Google Ngram, is able to illustrate the declining use of a word that had once been prominent in the English language, both spoken and within written texts. By looking at the adverb within the sentence, ‘quiet expression so seldom seen on her restless face,’ we can see that this word is able to use positive language, rather than modern alternatives that may use negatives, for example ‘not often seen.’