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A 9 page research paper that examines various linguistic theories that explain why sound changes take place in language and what social mechanisms serve to perpetuate such changes. Theories discussed include those of William Labov. Bibliography lists 3 sources.
Page Count:
9 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_khsoch.rtf
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younger generation may even agree with this assessment, as in the case of native populations who indicate that their parents and grandparents speak the native tongue more fluently. This attitude
is interesting because language is never static. Over time, it changes, expanding vocabulary, dropping some sounds, and fusing others, in ways that reflect new influences and new social pressures. While
linguistics acknowledge that language is a living entity, which is subject to change, they disagree over the precise mechanisms of why some sounds change, while others do not. An
examination of linguistic theories of sound change demonstrates the complexity of this topic. The "substratum theory" of linguistic change provides one possible explanation for sound changes in language. This
concept states that if people migrate into a new area and their language is subsequently acquired by the original inhabitants of that area, then there will also be changes in
that language that can be attributed to the existence of the original language (Crowley, 1997). This theory is often used to explain the differences in language use between whites
and African Americans. Some of the features of Black English have been attributed to the features of the original languages spoke by Africans slaves that persist to this day in
African American vernacular (Crowley, 1997). One can easily drawn parallels between the linguistic construction in many West African languages and modern black vernacular. For example, there are generally no consonant
pairs in West African languages and this feature is also true of black vernacular, i.e. jus (for just) or men (for mend). There are few long vowels or two-part vowels
(diphthongs). Therefore, constructions such as rat (for right) are prominent. In West African languages there is no /r/ sound so "more" becomes mow. Crowley (1997) points out that a problem
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