Words and meanings in language and communication

Language Change

The Evolution of Language

In central Australia, where the rivers Murray and Darling meet, there lives a small group of aborigines who were forced to change their word for water nine times in five years, each time because the man had died whose name had been the accepted word for water while he was alive." 1 (Keller, 1994, p. 3)

This rather amusing quote illustrates one reason language changes. Language is a set of symbols which humans, and any other sentient beings, use to communicate ideas. Words, whether spoken, written or signed, generally symbolize objects (tangible and intangible), actions, attributes of objects and other perceptions of our environment. We use language to share our ideas and extend our brain power. It is one of the most important human traits contributing to our survival. Because our environment and our perception of our environment changes, our set of symbols for it (language) must also change. Other factors which affect language change include population migration, political, cultural and technological changes and common usage. In fact, everything which changes in human experience changes the language.

Human language began when the first cave dweller made a gesture or noise which had been used to communicate a particular meaning previously and been understood. That the same meaning was conveyed using the same method created a symbol for the meaning which could be used in the absence of the thing it symbolized. In the beginning of a new language, many changes are made as shared meanings are created. Notice the sounds of the basic small words are often very related in meaning across many language, (e.g. mama and papa) This is because these are the first sounds babies learn to make, so culturally they were often applied to what was important to the parents. This process slowed down for some time until the invention of the movable type printing press spread shared meaning around the globe across all strata of class.

The movable type printing press increased literacy around the world, because it made books available to the common man. Previously, only the rich and powerful and members of the clergy were even literate and had access to painstakingly hand copied books. Therefore, the common man became an audience of consideration. This caused the words and meanings in common spoken language of the common man to enter the written language.

The next huge change in language was also due to technological change, but instead of printed books, it was a great change in our environment. Technological development was accelerated by the development of the personal computer. All this "new stuff" had to have names. Sometimes, a new name might simply be a new meaning for an old word. One such example is the word "bug." In the 1940s the only computers in use were huge machines: Eniac, Univac etc. These machines were made using vacuum tubes, some of which burned out every time the computer was used. People on roller skates would replace the burned out tubes after every use. One day, the machine stopped working, and no burned vacuum tubes could be found. A concerted search of the entire machine turned up a large moth fried on the wires behind one circuit panel. That is how the word "bug" became a problem in computer functioning, both mechanical and digital. (AskOxford.com 2006)

Other made up names include acronyms, that is the formation of the initial letter of some longer phrase or name used to identify something, which finally simply become words. Many people do not know the original source of the acronym, and some are even unaware that there was one. NASA is an example of a common acronym which refers to the original name of the organization. The computer language "BASIC" was originally from its name: Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code. However, people who do not study computers or programming may not even guess that it is an acronym, but instead, may think it refers to the generic simplicity of the language. (Kind, Irving 2006)

New words are also created to symbolize new things we create, and much of the time, the inventor's name is applied to the new object or process. Naming skating moves in international figure skating is a good example of this. Sometimes the inventors of new objects or processes apply a descriptive name of the use which is then shared. Oddly enough, literature has just as strong an influence on the real world as the real world has on literature. Writers are constantly inventing new words and new meanings for old words. Popular works may popularize the new words or meanings. Lasers were used in science fiction long before their invention, and waldos, remote handling devices, were invented by Robeert A. Heinlein. (Heinlein, Robert A. 1942) He named the waldos in his story for the character who invented them, and when they were invented in the real world for hazardous materials handling, Heinlein's name for them was applied. Waldos are now in common use in laboratories and even backstage (Jim Henson's puppets) and in special effects studios for realistic action in animation.

In this manner, word and their meanings evolve through a dynamic exchange between literature and common usage. One a word has actually been identified as commonly used, or a common new meaning is identified for an old word, dictionary editors study the etymology of the word in question and its semantic use to see if the new meaning must be added or is already in existence and needs some lesser modification. By tracing the history of words and their meanings, lexicographers attempt to keep up with linguistic evolution. Collins has even gone so far as to create a web site where the public can propose words to be added to the dictionary. (Collins Word Exchange Soapbox 2006) Most dictionary publishers have entered the electronic age with digital volumes. "A new online version of the O.E.D. is available to subscribers for fees starting at $550 a year. Researchers are posting the revisions and additions online in stages, and they expect to finish the alphabet in about 40 volumes around 2010." (Kirkpatrick, David D. 2000)

Language changes also by virtue of law. Xerox company own the trademark "Xerox, which was the brand on a copy machine they sold. When it came into popular use as a generic word for a copy machine or the process of using one, the company took action against some publishers for trademark or copyright infringement. After many action requiring publishers to insert the © or ™ whenever the word was used, and insistence on the company's part that it never be sued in the generic, it quickly went out of use. (I personally think that XEROX made a mistake which affected their business, but it was their right.)

The sound of language changed as populations migrated and languages, especially English, spread. Traders took English around the world, and the people adapted it to suit their needs. Now there are many versions of English, often called Pidgin, in use around the world, and the indigenous populations added their own words, which were carried back by the traders and added to the English lexicon. (MacNeil, Robert and McCrum, Robert 1986) The advances of mass media during the last 150 years are now changing the sound of language more than ever before, and rapid global population migrations are also a strong factor in this kind of change.

While populations migrate, and people visit other countries for business or pleasure, words get added to the lexicon of the host. However, if the new words used by the visitor have a connection to a local word which has any taboo attached, this word will not be added, and the visitor often find some other word to use. Eventually, when the word has little use internationally, it falls out of use. Branding and advertisement is especially careful after some really interesting faux-pas in Japan and China. In this way, languages blend and influence each other. (The word faux-pas was originally French). New words are often adopted when some population adopts a product or service with a foreign origin.

Today, with satellite TV and radio being beamed around the globe, people from everywhere interacting in text and speech on the Internet and the rapid population shifts due to fast transportation and global business, every fact of language is undergoing constant adjustment. The popular people or places of the day change the exposure of the audience to new words, phrases and pronunciations of every popular language. Even spelling is changing, as double consonants which are not necessary are being dropped (e.g. programming vs. programming).

Foreign words have been added to English so fast that most people do not know that the origins are foreign. English is, in fact, not a created original language, but a derived one, making it one of the more difficult ones for foreigners to master. Too many rules of English grammar and syntax have many exceptions, because the lexicon has words from too many other languages. The attendant rules for the words may, or may not be carried to the new language. For example, many French words carry their plurals into English, while some more recent additions adopt English rules for pluralization

So we create new words or meanings as needed, and we drop old ones as they become obsolete or lose their usefulness. Another way language changes is by attitude. Cultural influences make certain words taboo, so we develop euphemisms to replace the taboo word. When the euphemism becomes widely known, we change it. One example in English is the word for toilet: water closet->loo->lavatory->ladies' room-> rest room ad infinitum until finally, we stopped thinking of this particular place as taboo in western society, so now we use many of the previous euphemisms as our personal taste dictates, and most people understand us.

Language is so basically part of our culture that culture is probably the strongest factor in its change. One of the early philosophers named language as a factor which, if destroyed by a conqueror, would help to absorb the target population. This is a strong factor in the linguistic battles still being fought in Canada between French and English, and a reason why people from countries previously occupied by the Soviet Union hate the Russian Language. Both dominant populations made historical attempts to destroy the language of the less dominant population. However, even today, as populations dominate in local areas, their particular linguistic lexicon, syntax and vernacular are adopted by border populations and those who stay a while and then migrate elsewhere. Words and linguistic rhythms entered English through use in inner city areas, and have been spread my M.T.V. And other mass media.

Languages are always changing. Twenty generations separate us from Chaucer. If we could board a time machine and visit him in the year 1390, we would have great difficulties in making ourselves understood-even roughly."(Keller, 1994, p. 3)

It is the arbitrariness factor of language that makes it change so fast, and, in fact, makes change necessary. We convey meaning in many ways incidental to language: body language, tone of voice, accidental or intentional mispronunciation (e.g. negra vs. negro as a derogatory label) and even simple word association. Meanings may become popular, then become derogatory and then popular again as the culture changes. The word "wench," of British origin, is a case in point. It originally referred to a girl who worked, particularly at manual or farm labor. Then it became popular as a label for all young women. Women became aware of it and did not like being called wenches, so it became derogatory and unpopular. Then, in the 19602, it became complementary and popular again, by virtue of its use in popular song and poetry. Now it is again out of use, because tastes changed.