rate of language change

[X99Lynx at aol.com]

<<larryt at cogs.susx.ac.uk wrote:
<<My late mother, who had little education, was keenly aware of some of the
differences between her own speech and her children's speech.>>

In a message dated 4/13/99 10:47:31 PM, JoatSimeon at aol.com wrote:
<<-- moving between different languages, sociolects or dialects is not
exactly the same thing as the general process of linguistic change.>>

This is along the same vein.  If "moving between languages" means anything,
it means changing languages.  And if it means bilingualism or changing
languages between generations, it is one very important form of linguistic
change.

For Mallory, "moving between languages" was the crux of the whole
Indo-European issue. (ISIE, p257)  I read in D, Crystal that the loss of
inflection in English has been closely connected with the bilingualism
effected by the Danish invasions (CamEncyl Eng Lang p 32).  It's often
written that the disappearance of Gallic began with the adoption of bilingual
Latin by the Gauls.  These all represent major linguistic changes and they
all have to do with "moving between languages."

<<She could "do" broad Lancashire, though, which was very different. English
regional/class dialects have converged strongly with Standard English over
the past generation or two; but this is not in itself a process of change
within Standard English, if you see what I mean.>>

So only differences within Standard English constitute linguistic change and
English dialects and convergence to SE are "not in itself a process of change
within Standard English."

I hope the moderator will ask you for a cite on this one.

Here's part you edited out of LT's post:

<<Larry responded:
Too cautious, I think....A former girlfriend of mine, a native speaker
ofKacchi, was highly aware of the differences between her own speech and her
parents' speech, which in fact appeared to be rather substantial, and were
regarded by her as substantial.>>

There's no mention of the daughter speaking a completely separate "sociolect"
or dialect of Kacchi.  And you have no way of knowing that
 this wasn't just change between generations, due to what language always
does - change.

And of course going back to the real point - which somehow typically got
lost, she was aware of that change in her "natural first language" (taught to
her by her mother) as it was happening.

Steve Long