Language Change

In the reality of language changing it is not so much that language it self change, as that speaker and writers change the way they use the language. Speaker innovation is more accurate description than language change. Speaker innovation sometimes spontaneously, but more often by imitating speakers from other communities. If their innovation are adopted by others and diffuse through their local community and beyond into other communities than linguistic change is the result.
All language change has its origins in variation. The possibility of a linguistic change exists as soon as a new form develops and begins to be use alongside an existing form. If the new form spreads, the change is in progress. If it eventually displaces the old form, the change has become a ‘fait accompli’ it has gone a completion.
The change of spread
1. From group to group
A change may spread a long any of these dimension and into another group.
2. From style to style
It suggest the change spreads from one style to another (from more formal to casual speech)
3. From word to word
This is called lexical diffusion. It spread from one word to another. Sound changes spreads through different word one by one.
When a standard or prestige from occurs more often in the speech of younger people than older people, this suggest that it is a new form which is being introduce and adopted by young people. Comparing the speech of people from different age groups can be useful clue then to language change. This has been called the apparent time method of studying change. It is difficult to identify when it involves the introduction and spread of a less prestigious form, a vernacular form and these by far the most frequent kinds of changes in any language. People normally use a vernacular form when they are young, and tend to use more standard form as they get older and respond to the pressure of the society’s expectations. This make it difficult to spot the spread of a new vernacular forms by using the distribution of a form in different age as a clue. The normal distributional pattern is very similar to the pattern for a new form which is spreading greater use by younger people.
Tracing the progress of a linguistic change through the speech community is a fascinating exercise. It involves the considering influence a wide range of social factors. Language change often operates within clear limits. Language change does not proceed at a rate which result in intelligibility between groups in contact the referential requirements are always present.