SOCIOLINGUISTICS

(LANGUAGE CHANGE)

BY :

KIKI NURWAHYUNI (N1D216124)

OLHA SUZITHA LATEMONA (N1D216058)

ZACHRAM ZAINUDDIN (N1D216092)

STEPHEN ALI BARKAH (N1D216140)

AYU CAHYATI (N1D216012)

LISNAWATI SAFIUDDIN (N1D216038)

MUSYAFAR MALIK (N1D216046)

WD. NUR ATIKA (N1D216100)

ALFIN (N1D216004)

FACULTY OF CULTURAL STUDIES

HALUOLEO UNIVERSITY
KENDARI
2017
 PREFACE

First of all, give thanks for God’s love and grace for us. Thanks to God for
helping and giving us chance to finish this assignment timely and I would like to
say thank you to the lecturer that always teaches us and gives much knowledge
about how to practice English well.

This assignment is the one of English task that composed of language

change and we realized this assignment is not perfect. But we hope it can be
useful for us. Critics and suggestion is needed here to make this assignment be
better.

Hopefully, this paper can help the readers to expand their knowledge about
language change.

Author

Kendari, 2nd December 2017

 TABLE OF CONTENT

PREFACE ………………………………………………………………… i
TABLE OF CONTENTS …………………………………………………..ii
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
1.1.Background……………………………………………….………...1
1.2.Problem statement… ……………………………………………….1

CHAPTER II DISCUSSION
2.1.Definition of Language Change…………………………………….2
2.2.Variation and Change…………………...…………………………..2
2.3.How do Language Changes spread…...……...…...………………...3
2.4.How we study Language Change..………………………………….4
2.5.Reasons for Language Change……………………………………....5

CHAPTER III CLOSING

3.1.Conclusion ………………………………………………………....9
3.2.Suggestion ………………………………………………………....9

REFERENCES ………………………………….………………………….10
 CHAPTER II
DISCUSSION

2.1. Definition of Language Change

Language change is the phenomenon by which permanent alterations
are tures and the use of a language over time. In some cases we can see in
England, in many years ago, they used Old English,Middle English,and now
Present Day English.

2.2. Variation and Change

Language varies in three major ways which are interestingly
interrelated – over time, in physical space and socially. Language change –
variation over time – has its origins in spatial (or regional) and social
variation. The source of change over time is always current variation. So the
regional and social variants described in the previous three chapters provide
the basis for language change over time. We will see how this works.
Example : ‘Children these days are putting the language at risk with their
careless and sloppy pronunciations. From many possible examples I select
just one. The distinctions between which and witch , and whether and weather
are slowly but surely disappearing in children’s speech.
According to Janet Holmes’s book (Introduction to Sociolinguistics),
The cause behind language change is the variation of use in the areas of
pronunciation and vocabulary:
a. Post-vocal |r| its spread and its status
In many parts of England and Wales, Standard English has lost the
pronunciation post-vocal r. The loss of r began in the 17th century in the
south-east of England and is still spreading to other areas. Accents with
post-vocal |r| are called rhotict, and these accents are regarded as rural and
uneducated. On the other hand in cities like New York, pronouncing the
letter r is regarded as prestigious.
b. The spread of vernacular forms
It is easy to understand that a pronunciation which is considered
prestigious will be imitated, and will spread through a community. But
there are also many examples of vernacular pronunciations which have
spread throughout speech communities. It is possible for changes to
proceed from a variety of starting points in a variety of directions.
Some times a vernacular feature in some communities as a
reflection of ethnic or social identity such as what happened in Martha's
Vineyard Island. Labov's 1960 study showed: when the island was invaded
by summer tourists, the island community of fishermen changed their
pronunciation of some word vowels older forms from the past as a reaction
to the language of tourists. A 1960s linguistic survey by Labov suggested
that these attitudes were indicated by the way locals pronounced the (ay)
and (aw) sounds in words like light and house . Their pronunciation of the
vowels in these words had gradually become more and more centralised.
(The position of the tongue at the start of the vowel had moved towards
the centre of the mouth.) So light was pronounced [lait] (it sounds a bit
like layeet ) and house was pronounced [haus] (a bit like heyoose ). This
sound change, which seemed to be unconscious, was a change to a more
conservative pronunciation which used to be associated with the area in
the past. It had been dying out, but it was revitalised to express solidarity
between those who identified with the island and felt loyalty to its rural
values and peaceful lifestyle. The centralisation of the vowel in light was
particularly significant for signalling Islander identity.

c. Koines and koineisation

How a new language emerges as a result of contact between people
who speak different languages. Something similar often happens when
people who speak different dialects come into contact in monolingual
communities – a new dialect or variety emerges. This language change
process is called koineisation , and the result is a koine , a variety which is
 the result of dialect contact. The koine will typically have some features
from each of the contributing dialects, with most features typically coming
from the dialect of the largest group of speakers.
Example :

Sam : You was late again innit.

Tom : Nah I was talkin’ to the teachers and they was goin’ on an’ on.
Sam : That’s the trouble with teachers innit.

So, in Milton Keyes, an English town designated as a New Town in

1967, people moved into the town from many different regions, but most
came from the east end of nearby London. Consequently, many of the
features of the koine, or new dialect which developed in this town, such as
the tag innit illustrated in example , could be traced back to Cockney, the
variety used by Eastenders, people from the east end of London.

2.3. How do language change spread

a) From group to group
Changes spread like waves in different directions, and social
factors such as age, gender, status and social group affect the rates and
directions of change.
b) From stye to style
From more formal to more casual, from one individual to another,
from one social group to another, and from one word to another.
- Lexical diffusion: the change from one word's vowel to another, the
sound change begins in one word and later on in another, etc.

2.4. How do we study language change

a) Apparent-time studies of language change : it is the study of comparing
the speech of people from different age groups, to find out any differences
that could indicate change (whether increase or decrease).
 Example : I discovered one day that my 11-year-old nephew, David, did
not know what the word wireless meant. Neither did his friends. On the
other hand, my great-grandmother never heard the word radio , and, while
my grandmother knew what a radio was, she considered the term new-
fangled. My mother used both wireless and radio to refer to the same
object,and though I understood both terms I have always used radio for
preference.

b) Studying language change in real time : in this study, the researcher

studies the language in a community and then comes back to it after a
number of years to study it again, and find out any changes.
Example : One very interesting real time study was reported by Peter
Trudgill, who returned to Norwich fifteen years after his original study of
the speech patterns of Norwich people. He discovered that some of the
variation he had noted had led to linguistic change, as predicted. The
vowels of beer and bear , for instance, which were still distinct for many
speakers in 1968, had completely merged by 1983 for all speakers.

2.5.Reasons for language change

a) Social status and language change
Members of the group with most social status, for example, tend to
introduce changes into a speech community from neighboring
communities which have greater status and prestige in their eyes.
b) Gender and change
Differences in women's and men's speech are a source of variation
which can result in linguistic change.
Women : ManiPedi (Manicure and Pedicure)(Perawatan kuku)
Waxing (Cukur bulu)
Man : Racing (Balapan motor)
c) Interaction and language change
Interaction and contact between people is crucial in providing the
channels for linguistic change (social networks). Language change because
of youth. For example young people want to express themselves in their
own language a way of being separate from the older generation, which is
what much slang is for. Eventually some of the slang enters the
mainstream language, at which point our youth have to invent new slang.

d) The influence of the media

Some researcher belief that media has a great influence on people's
speech patterns and new forms. Social media is clearly having an impact
on language. The words that surround us every day influence the words we
use. Since so much of the written language we see is now on the screens of
our computers, tablets, and smartphones, language now evolves partly
through our interaction with technology. And because the language we use
to communicate with each other tends to be more malleable than formal
writing, the combination of informal, personal communication and the
mass audience afforded by social media is a recipe for rapid change.

Example :

1. New ways of communicating

Emoticons such as ;-) and acronyms such as LOL (‘laughing out
loud’) add useful elements of non-verbal communication – or annoy
people with their overuse.
2. New words and meanings
Facebook has also done more than most platforms to offer up new
meanings for common words such as friend, like, status, wall, page,
and profile. Other new meanings which crop up on social media
channels also reflect the dark side of social media: a troll is no longer
just a character from Norse folklore, but someone who makes
offensive or provocative comments online; a sock puppet is no longer
solely a puppet made from an old sock, but a self-serving fake online
personal.
 CHAPTER III
CLOSING
3.1. Conclusion
Language change is the phenomenon by which permanent alterations
are tures and the use of a language over time. Language varies in three major
ways which are interestingly interrelated – over time, in physical space and
socially. Language change – variation over time – has its origins in spatial (or
regional) and social variation. The source of change over time is always
current variation. So the regional and social variants described in the previous
three chapters provide the basis for language change over time.

3.2.Suggestion
Similarly, we can describe the material that is the subject of this
proposal, of course, there are still many shortcomings and weaknesses,
because they lack the knowledge and the lack of reference or the reference
has to do with the title of this proposal. Author much hope dear readers,
providing constructive criticism and suggestions for the perfect proposal to
the author in the writing of the proposal in the next opportunities.
Hopefully this paper is useful for writers in particular are also dear
readers in general. Such review this time, may be useful for you and also
inspire.
 REFERENCES

Holmes, Janet. 2013. An Introduction to Sociolinguistics, 4th edition. London:

Pearson.