Language Theory and Change - Very Recent Language Change E-Book

Tolga Güneysel

• Herausgeber: GRIN Verlag
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2010

Beschreibung

Seminar paper from the year 2010 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics, grade: 1,7, University of Trier, language: English, abstract: Language is a dynamic construct undergoing constant changes. These changes can be of almost any kind. Most of them are well known, but some are not, yet. One example of these very recent language changes is the item uber. The word occurs frequently in Internet chatting etc. often replacing words like very as ways to describe the superior or awesome quality of something being described. A terrific video gamer e.g. could be called an uber gamer. In order to investigate on that topic, it is necessary to trace its origin back and to get an overview of what its common usage and contextual environment might be.

Leseprobe

Table of Content

1. Introduction

2. Approaches to a Definition

3. Data and Method

3.1. Quality Criteria

3.2. Methodology

4. Hands on uber

4.1. Formal Facts

4.2. Socio-demographic Facts

4.3. Functional Facts

4.4. Semantic Facts

5. Conclusion

6. References

Page 1

Ling 703: Mechanisms of Language Change - Theory and Description

Page 1

1. Introduction

Language is a dynamic construct undergoing constant changes. These changes can be of almost any kind. Most of them are well known, but some are not, yet. One example of these very recent language changes is the itemuber.The word occurs frequently in Internet chatting etc. often replacing words likeveryas ways to describe the superior or awesome quality of something being described. A terrific video gamer e.g. could be called anuber gamer.In order to investigate on that topic, it is necessary to trace its origin back and to get an overview of what its common usage and contextual environment might be.

Different questions such as „What doesubermean?“, “Which functions doesuberfulfill?“, “How do the functions work?“ or “In which context and with which collocates doesuberoccur?“ have to be answered. That way, the mechanisms of change affecting this special item might be determined. When analyzing data, however, it is advisable to critically review it first. For this reason, empirical research is generally based on a set of quality criteria, which will be explained briefly.

Nonetheless, even if quality criteria are met, there still exist areas in the field of linguistic research where a standard corpus is pushed to its limits. One of these is the field of very recent language change. This issue is of great importance.