ipl-logo

The Causes Of Semantic Change In The English Language

1955 Words8 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The use of language in society

Introduction
Language is an intermediate used in communication; a methodology of communicating with another person(s) which can either be spoken or written and is consisted of the use of words in a structured and conventional way. Languages are not stagnant and are constantly changing, adapting as well as evolving. The impact on the history of English is prominent as it has impacted many levels of linguistics particularly syntax, morphemes, phonetics, and semantics. Consequently, it affects the way people speak. The term semantics is used to refer to the meaning of words. It is a branch of linguistics dealing with the meaning of words, phrases, and sentences. One of the most frequent changes that language deals with is semantic change.

Semantic Change

Semantic change refers to the modifications made to the meaning of words as well as its development. Words which have gone through semantic change no longer hold the same meaning and this occurs due to the constant usage of the words and the intention of the speakers differ each time. This shows that this simply means that words have a variety of connotations that could be altered, added, or removed over time.

Causes of Semantic Change
Changing the meaning of a word is a continual process which does not merely occur with sudden. Words normally develop new meanings, which are related to their previous meanings. There are a number of factors that contribute to semantic change which include linguistic, extra-linguistic and
Show More
Related
516 Words | 3 Pages

Language is often seen as relatively stable; like a pillar of stone it stands the test of time. However, language is like a sapling bending and swaying under wind and the rain. Words often transform over time transforming meaning. Since the first word was uttered thousands of years ago to now, countless words have been lost and thousands have changed their meaning. The word “treadmill” is an example of a word that once stood for something completely different than what it now does.

Read More
594 Words | 3 Pages

Language Unit Comparison Essay: Manipulation To analyze the English language is to rediscover how to speak. When scrutinizing every word or sentence, one’s whole perspective changes. How language affects a speaker, reader or writer is a complex maze of tone, diction and meaning. But, all these things tie into the concept of language manipulation. Language can manipulate one’s thoughts or actions.

Read More
1896 Words | 8 Pages

Long ago the ability to read and write was given to very few, stories were spread by word of mouth, changing with each telling almost as if they were living breathing beings. They became reflective the cultures surrounding them and of the people telling them. Language is much like the stories it produces. Language is constant evolving, changing with each passing day. New words are created, and older words fade from use.

Read More
1440 Words | 6 Pages

In Jack Rosenthal’s article, "So Here 's What 's Happening to Language" he discusses how through spoken language ,written language becomes more informal. Through this informalization many words that were considered vulgar, dirty, or offensive become denatured. Rosenthal then goes on to use the word “ Screw” as an example(Walters, p.128). Three more words that have become denatured are ‘Bastard’, ‘Damn’ and ‘Nigger’.

Read More
962 Words | 4 Pages

Gloria Naylor, in her essay, “The meaning of a word” describes language as a subject. We know subject is anything that is generally discussed or dealt with. So Naylor wants to say the language is a thing where it has lots of meaning and perceptions. She writes her own personal experience clarifying how a language could be misleading and misinterpreted. She writes her own experience and tries to convince the readers about different forms of a word.

Read More
596 Words | 3 Pages

Through the billions of years that the earth has rotated, it has changed several different times. This is because of the evolution of man and with man comes language. Languages has evolved and continues to evolve. The meaning one word had in the past may not hold the same meaning now. As generations pass and grow so does the mind.

Read More
698 Words | 3 Pages

Languages have always changed and developed over long periods of time. Words and definitions change and eventually reaches a point when a whole new language is formed. When looking back at old writings of a certain language it is plain to see how much a language has changed. One example of this phenomenon is the epic poem Beowulf the first poem to ever be written in English. Despite being in English, it is incompressible compared to modern English meaning that it has to be translated to a more modern version of English.

Read More
1307 Words | 6 Pages

Language can be defined as, “the learned system of arbitrary vocal symbols, by means of which human beings, as members of a society, interact and communicate in terms of their culture" (Leap 209). Language is not just the words a person chooses to speak. Language is much deeper. Language ties many different generations together and that is how people can share history. Unfortunately, “the profile of Indian language fluency among the adult members of a tribal community rarely predicts how familiar with the language the younger members of the tribe will be” (Vizenor 218).

Read More
498 Words | 2 Pages

As a result language has changed over the years, there is a whole range of different words. Even modern slang

Read More
701 Words | 3 Pages

1. A language is a group of symbols with rules which carry messages between people. Language is rule-governed: Phonological rules: It's how words when people enunciate them out loud. There are words which can be same in two languages, however, can sound very different by two natives.

Read More
1237 Words | 5 Pages

The Modern English language has a rich history, it develops and changes like many other world languages. The English language has mainly been influenced by Latin, Germanic and French over a period of two thousand years. The English Lexicon includes words from over 120 countries, however Latin, Germanic and Latin account approximately less than 30% each. The English language is second to none in the variety and amount of lexical words. The most penetrating influence on English in history is French during the Middle English period after the Norman conquests.

Read More
1045 Words | 5 Pages

Language is a system of communication consisting of sounds, words and grammar, or the system of communication used by the people of a particular country or profession. Even animals communicate. Birds use sound and movement to transfer information. Likewise human beings use sound and movement like speech and gesture to communicate. Language is the fundamental factor leading and affecting communication.

Read More
963 Words | 4 Pages

In chapter 1, the main concept of text summarization and word sense disambiguation is introduced. Before starting Text summarization, first we, need to know that what a summary is. A summary can be defined as a non redundant text which gives important information of the original text, and is extracted from one or more sentences. We can say text summarization is the unique way, where a computer summarizes a text. A text is entered into the computer and a summarized text is returned as an output, which is a non redundant form of the original text.

Read More
1268 Words | 6 Pages

Language is an important part of our life. Language and communication cannot separate. People use the language as a means of communication to express their ideas and feelings. They communicate either with each other using language in every social interaction; communicate with others directly or indirectly in the spoken and written form. Therefore, language is an important thing of communication in social life.

Read More
1620 Words | 7 Pages

Language is an abstract concept which needed by people to communicate. Language has an intrinsic meaning which represents an image and it is also symbolic however not only symbolic. Language is also a complex system and it is creative and productive meaning that you can product many words. Language does not only include objects but also includes all the images and concepts of the world. There is an abstraction of a real world.

Read More

More about The Causes Of Semantic Change In The English Language

Related Topics

Open Document