Paper 3 Question 1

 

Paper 3 Question 1

Text A is a collection of letters from an uncle to his nephew advising him upon his first going to Oxford, Edward Berens had written this in 1832, which means that this excerpt is from the “Late Modern English” period. Throughout a substantial amount of years, our English language has changed an intense amount, up until now we use it currently. The linguist Micheal Halliday believed that the language change was based on the willingness and needs of the users. Over time technology has become more prevalent than ever before. This new way of communication has prompted changes in our language, the extracts distribute how our language has been changed. With the development of technology in emails and texts, the users of language have altered meanings and coding of words, in which almost exiles letters. 

Text A demonstrates a severe amount of change in grammar and syntax. Berens transfers tenses with the usage of his pronouns from: “you”, too, “he” and “him”, this change so easily relates back to Halliday's functional theory because as changes in society prompt the formality, users found it more understandable to not hop between tenses so frequently and unclearly. As the ‘uncle” gives advice he is presenting hypotheticals, but as language changes so do the formality. As does the intense usage of comas, creating no natural pauses and running on sentences. This shows that language from back then until today, users have found new ways to communicate in a more efficient manner.

Text B, a collate chart that shows synonyms for “taste” and “judgment”, also shows the semantic change over time. According to the chart, the word “judgment” was used alongside words such as; “dissenting”, “clinical”, and “professional” from the 1980s to 1933. This is from the “Present Day English” stage, meaning that it is after the 1800s. It is clear that the word “judgment” was a word that was strictly related to knowledge. However, the word “taste” has a more intimate touch in the connotations such as “good”, “personal” and “bad.” This means that the word has gone through broadening when the meaning of a word becomes more inclusive than its early meaning. This is supported by Text A, where Edward Berens states, “..violation of good taste and correct judgment.” Here we are exposed to both of the words, it is clear that Berens is using ‘taste’ more broadly by staying in its emotional and personal elements. While “judgment” is narrowed, as it only expresses the meaning of knowledge. As we see the words that they are paired with being personal and impersonal.

Text C, an n-gram which reveals and illustrates the changes in usage of how a common phrase, “is abt to be”, as shown in the n-gram, it is obvious that in the ‘Early Modern English’ years was the most frequently utilized way of saying the phrase. Meanwhile, once you fast forward to ‘Present Day English’ the translation of the phrase is now used as, “tend to be” the highrise of this change is exponential. Highlighting the previously stated theory by Micheal Halliday in which he believed that the language change was based on the willingness and needs of the users. Focusing on the specific word in the phrase, ‘abt’, is an obsolete word which is a word that is no longer used nor understood as shown by the n-graph. The graph zooms in on a phrase barely touching the 0% mark of its usage, coming to the 2000 era versus its peak in the 1800s. In fact, the phrase “tend to be” became even more popular than “are abt to be” as we hit “Present-Day English.” This ties into Chen’s ‘S-curve model’ theory in which change starts in a limited way and then accelerates more as the speakers and users adapt to the change. The broadening of the word ‘tend’ also advanced the uplift of the phrase, getting rid of the before-used phrase.