Language change Language Variation Manglish

Kinds of change
PHONOLOGICAL CHANGE: AN OLD EXAMPLE Latin piscus ~ English fish Latin pater ~ English father Latin pes ~ English foot Latin centus ~ English hundred Latin caput ~ English head Latin canis ~ English hound These correspondences (among others) allow us to suggest a series of sound changes which took place as Proto Indo-European developed into Proto Germanic, at some point beginning in the first millennium BC (e.g. PIE *p > PGmc *f). This series of changes is known as Grimms Law.

Kinds of change
PHONOLOGICAL CHANGE: A NEW EXAMPLE RP [bath] ~ Cockney [baf] RP [thin] ~ Cockney [fin] RP [brother] RP [breathe] Earlier records of Cockney, along with contemporary study of agebased variation, suggest that this is a phonological change in progress, a merger of two phonemes.

Kinds of change
SEMANTIC CHANGE What do the following words mean to you? starve; nice; knight; hussy; cretin; gay ModE starve = either to be hungry or to die of hunger OE steorfan = to die (cf. German sterben)

Kinds of change
OE cniht = boy OE huswife = housewife Fr crtin Christian The change in meaning of cniht is an example of AMELIORATION The changes in meaning of the lexicalised form hussy, and of cretin, are examples of PEJORATION

The gay debate

Gay [get OED dates] Chris Moyles and the ringtone: I dont want that one, its gay Is this a reflection of an on-going semantic change, or an instance of homophobia, or both?

EModE Saw you not his face? (Shakespeare, Hamlet, 1601)

Why do languages change?

LANGUAGE INTERNAL REASONS (e.g. markedness and analogy) LANGUAGE IN USE (e.g. frequency of use of a particular form) SPEAKER FACTORS (e.g. identification with social groups; projection of identity) In other words, a combination of FORMAL and FUNCTIONAL factors

AN ONGOING CHANGE?
Quotative verbs in English: I said Hes a really nice person An old one: Quoth he, Whatsoever thou wisheth. A new one: And I was like What are you talking about? What other quotative verbs do you use, or do you know that other speakers of English use?

Sort and kind

What do the words sort and kind mean in the following examples? What grammatical category do they belong to? Are there any that are hard to classify? Why?

(a) I dont like that sort of pasta (b) What kind of a piano is it? (c) Hes sort of a football coach (d) Theyre kind of my favourite band (e) I got annoyed with him, sort of (f) A: Do you like fish and chips? B: Kind of.

Grammaticalization
An early definition of grammaticalization was that of Meillet (1912): lattribution du caractre grammatical un mot jadis autonome [the attribution of grammatical character to a word which once was autonomous]

A classic example of gzn: be going to

Duke: Sir Valentine, whither away so fast? Valentine: Please it your grace, there is a messenger that stays to bear my letters to my friends, And I am going to deliver them. (c. 1595, Shakespeare, Two Gentlemen of Verona III.i.51)

Reanalysis

I [am going] [to deliver them] verb of motion I [am going to] [deliver them] marker of futurity cf. He is going to love London Hes gonna love London

The grammaticalization of way [All examples taken from OED Online www.oed.com] 1460 Paston Lett. I. 525 As for tythyngs here, the Kyng is way at Eltham 1891 Anthony's Photogr. Bull. IV. 29, I would have sold at a very low price, way below cost. 1959 Times Lit. Suppl. 16 Oct. 589/3 You are feet deep in snow and the temperature is way below zero. 1988 Freestyle BMX June 25/2 The guys behind the bar were way cool, flowing free beers to the visiting skaters.

Some googled ways (1) (1) Via Virginia Postrel comes this nice profile of the NYT's John Tierney, and speculation that he may be Safire's replacement at op-ed. Make it so! And then fire Maureen Dowd. Not because she's liberal, but because she's an embarassment. Fiftyish women should not use phrases like way harsh (http://www.affbrainwash.com/genehealy/archives/015686. php) (2) Math Becomes Way Cool (http://www.maa.org/devlin/devlin_11_98.html)

Some googled ways (2) (3) In case you're trying to amass a majority, I'd vote for the Cleveland Heights/Shaker area. Keep in mind, I grew up in Parma and now live in Garfield, so I'm way not cool (http://ask.metafilter.com/mefi/14342) (4) jo(e), you only have to type in ISBNs or some little bit of the book -- a few words from the title, for example. It looks up the rest of it for you. It is so way cool. You can type a few in while you're waiting for other pages to load... (http://www.haloscan.com/comments/becceratoo/112947 877449751687/)

Sociolinguistics
The study of the interrelationships of language varieties and social structure Language variety is a term used to refer to many different type of language variationany form of language characterized by systematic features Language variety looks at accent, dialects, idiolect, slang, jargon, etc.

Dialect
How do we know if two languages are dialects of the same language or two distinct languages? Mutual Intelligibility is one criterion, but not the only one. A group of people speaking the same dialect is known as a speech community.

Prestige
No one dialect or language is better, more correct, more systematic, or more logical than any other. Yet, we do make a distinction between standard and nonstandard dialects Generally, the standard dialect is perceived as more prestigious because it is used by the powerful, wealthy, and educated. Nonstandard dialects are usually associated with the language of the lower socioeconomic class.

Prestige, cont.
There are two types of prestige: covert and overt Overt prestige is when speakers perceive the standard language as being prestigious Covert prestige is when speakers in a speech community perceive the non-standard language as being prestigious
Typically an expression of solidarity More often seen in a tight-knit community

Think about your native language

Do you have a standard and non-standard dialect? Who speaks the standard? Who speaks the nonstandard? What are some of the linguistic features of each?

Social Factors
Socioeconomic (Labovs study) Age- youth tend to be trendsetters when it comes to language Gender- women tend to use the standard variant; men tend to use nonstandard Ethnic

From Manglish To English

 Id like a Coke and a Sprite too. Guests cannot Guests cannot have. Guests cannot have guests!

No lah!

Yeah-lah!

Bungalow Slippers Handphone

Outstation Buy one free one Mutton

Teleconversation

Staffs

The long and the short of it

We would like to have the bill now please, if you dont mind Certainly, Sir.

Eh, bossbill Okay-lah

 No more already Im afraid theres no more left I cannot see him. I cant see him

What is Manglish?
Are Manglish and Malaysian English the same? Why do people speak Manglish?

What is Manglish?
He go back already Look at my new handphone No-lah

First language Interference

Can oso! Where got?

How important is first language interference? How different is Malay from English? What is the best way to overcome the problem of first language interference?

Proper English, how to speak?

Say things in a more natural way Find a good language model Understand the differences between languages

 People will laugh at me if I speak proper English, so how can?

The Kings of Manglish

Can
Daddy, you pick me up after school, can or not? Sorry, cannot come tomorrow. Too busylah.

The Kings of Manglish

Got
I got a surprise yesterday I got three brothers My house got air-con Got many expensive restaurant in Kuala Lumpur Hes got two wives

That restaurant got nice food Got many shops in MegaMall I got a problem with my PC I got a notebook computer from that shop

That restaurant has nice food There are many shops in MegaMall I have a problem with my PC I got a notebook computer from that shop

Put an s in the correct place

Flight leave to Jamaica every 45 minute. I bought cheese, biscuit, bread, apple and some snack. She sell seashell on the seashore. Do you like cat? All the student are wearing jacket today. Sometime, I like to get information from

Answers
Flights leave to Jamaica every 45 minutes. I bought cheese, biscuits, bread, apples and some snacks. She sells seashells on the seashore Do you like cats? All the students are wearing jackets today. Sometimes, I like to get information from the Internet.

Add a or the to the sentences

I bought cat but damn thing died. Government passed new law. She loves using computers. I have big problem with my sister. Do you need to go to dentist?

Answers
I bought a cat but the damn thing died. The Government passed a new law. She loves using computers. I have a big problem with my sister. Do you need to go to the dentist?

Using the -ed ending

I feel bored. The instructions will be included. I have finished my prayers. The show ended three hours ago

Add -ed where necessary

The movie finish at 3:00. I have always want to be a star. Wong is interest in photography. The gallery is inspect once a year.

Answers
The movie finished at 3:00. I have always wanted to be a star. Wong is interested in photography. The gallery is inspected once a year.

Are these questions correct?

You understand or not? Why the sky is blue? Are you come back late yesterday? Why you never buy me dinner?

Answers
Do you understand? Why is the sky blue? Did you come back late yesterday? Why do you never buy me dinner? Why dont you ever buy me dinner?

Can you spot these common mistakes?

Last time, I drive a Kancil. You work for Maybank, isnt it? Better you dont go. My friend, he supports Liverpool Do you like some coffee? Please off the lights.

Answers
I used to drive a Kancil. You work for Maybank, dont you? Youd better not go. My friend supports Liverpool Would you like some coffee? Please switch off the lights.

The End