How We Shape Language
Language is an ever-evolving element of life; from every spoken word, to every unspoken implicit action, we are constantly communicating. Modes of communication are multiplying with every passing generation, as are the words we use and the way we use them, but what’s driving this change, and why is it so inevitable?
Linguistic Change
‘Changes are constantly taking place in the course of learned transmission of a language from one generation to another’ state Robert Henry Robins and David Crystal in Britannica’s Linguistic Change (2024). In other words, language evolves to meet the communicative needs of each generation, and is learnt through interpretation, which is subjective, diverse, and specific to cultures. Gradually, adjustments to pronunciation, syntax, word forms and semantics take place, with new generations inheriting all of the fundamental elements of a language, while simultaneously applying their own usage in accordance with current cultural needs. Comparing modern day English texts with Shakespeare’s English, for instance, demonstrates the colossal changes which have taken place in the English language, with English prior to Shakespeare being, in many cases, unintelligible.
Lexicography
Thanks to lexicographers, we are able to map changes to language throughout history, which aids research across multiple disciplines, and enables us to interpret history with clarity. Lexicography is essentially the compiling of a dictionary, with practices tracing back to 3200 BCE, according to Laura Payne in Lexicography (2024). By reading books, newspapers, social media, research journals, and any other format of written or spoken language, lexicographers identify new words (and new uses for words), and record these changes. Using various databases, lexicographers track these changes and their sources, before deciding whether a given word will meet the criteria for appearing in the dictionary. Factors such as frequency of use, how widespread it is, and whether it has meaningful use, are all considered in this process. Henceforth, multiple and new editions of dictionaries are published every year to keep up with linguistic changes happening across any given language.
The Language Game
Researchers are still discovering new and profound intricacies of linguistic changes. Nick Chater and Morten H. Christiansen’s book The Language Game (2022) argues that ‘improvisation, freedom and the desire to be understood’ motivate linguistic change, not the human brain’s ability to adopt languages and embed their rules, as previously thought. Alternatively, their research suggests that rules and parameters of any given language aren’t inherent to its change; instead, the evolution of language is encouraged by the innate human need for interaction, communication and reciprocation – those feelings which are truly fundamental to the human condition.
Thus, it seems that human beings and our languages have an inextricable relationship. Each continually adapting to the changing needs of the other, in order to convey messages and signals from one generation to the next, and cherish those words, past and present, which enable us to live and interact, together.
References
Christiansen, Morten H. and Chater, Nick. (2022). How Language Evolved: A New Idea Suggests It’s All Just a Game. Source: How language evolved: A new idea suggests it’s all just a game, The New Scientist
Payne, Laura. (2024) Lexicography. Source: Lexicography: Meaning, Types of Dictionaries, & Linguistics, Britannica Online
Robins, Robert H. and Crystal, David. (2024) Linguistic Change. Source: Language – Evolution, Acquisition, Structure, Britannica Online
If you are interested in studying English or English Literature, Oxford Open Learning offer you the chance to do so at a number of levels, listed below. You can also Contact Us.
Jessica Lucas is a qualified English Language teaching professional and specialises in educational content creation.