British and American Civilization

Hernández Laguna José Alberto

3rd Homework: why does a language change?
Ana Cristina Plaza Cisneros

Every language is inevitably subject to change. To know how these changes

occur, linguists distinguish between innovation and diffusion. Innovation is the
introduction of a new variant, which can die or mutate the language. Diffusion is the
spread of these variants. According to these factors and the time that prevails is
when it is determined that there is a real change, while they are language variables.
Most of the time these changes are gradual over time.
It can be said that for a language to change there must be 3 factors: time,
culture, and politics. During the survival of a language, words will be annexed or
eliminated according to their historical context, and whether or not they are useful.
Culture has to do with the interaction between different ones, where some terms are
merged or appropriated, creating variations as well. And lastly, the policy in which a
language is imposed for purposes of unification or conquest.
It is these same 3 factors that taken to the extreme will make a language die.
A language is said to be dead when it falls out of use among speakers. For example,
Latin, which currently can be studied, understand texts, writing them and even
masses are given in that language; however, there are no longer speakers of Latin.
On the contrary, there are languages ​that remain alive, such as Nahuatl, despite the
fact that there are no longer any scribes with ideograms and very few in our writing,
but many native speakers remain, despite their variations.
In this sense, Cornico died until the 19th century, when English was gradually
preferred by the inhabitants of the area, for some time they remained bilingual until
they stopped speaking this language. Celtic is another dead language due to cultural
causes, in which the variations ended up being so strong that the speakers stayed
with English. And Cacaopera, a language that died brutally after the political
persecution of various indigenous peoples, currently its language is dead but its
culture and traditions are kept alive in the community.
The English language has changed over time due to its continuous evolution.
In large part, it has been due to the conquering expansion of the British kingdom in
all continents, the economic expansion of the United States in all continents; which
has led to this language is necessary throughout the world. As expected, it has
significant variations in all regions, although linguistic variation is familiar among its
communities; for example, many English have the alternate pronunciations [i:đǝ] and
[aɪđǝ] for either, with minor apparent social marking attached to either variant.
Thousands of new words and phrases enter the language each year. Some of
these, of course, is restricted to certain varieties and may or may not be generalized.
Existing words develop new meanings. For example, by an obvious extension of its
spatial use and the forward phrase of (one) time, the preposition in front of has come
to mean "before and in anticipation of (a specific event)", especially in news bulletins.
 That is why the migratory effects and their repercussions on the English
language do not have a clear geographic provenance pattern, in general, the
problems of interdialectal (mis)understanding are being taken seriously both in their
own right as facts of the language and as a potential driver of change. In any case,
to vary a point made at the beginning of this chapter, the history of the language
must refer not only to the but now.