Attitudes to Language Change

How people respond to language change is itself a subject of linguistic study. Reactions to new words, changing grammar, and shifting pronunciation reveal deep assumptions about language, society, and identity. For AQA A-Level English Language, understanding attitudes to language change is essential because the specification requires you to evaluate competing perspectives and demonstrate critical awareness of the prescriptivism vs. descriptivism debate.

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Aitchison's Three Metaphors

Jean Aitchison (b. 1938), in her influential book Language Change: Progress or Decay? (1981, 4th edition 2013), identified three metaphors that people commonly use when reacting negatively to language change. These metaphors are a central part of the AQA specification and must be thoroughly understood.

1. The Damp Spoon Metaphor

The damp spoon metaphor describes the view that language change is caused by laziness — speakers cannot be bothered to speak "properly" and take linguistic short-cuts, like someone who puts a damp spoon back in the sugar bowl rather than drying it.

Examples of this attitude:

• "Young people are too lazy to pronounce their t's properly" (about glottalisation)
• "Saying gonna instead of going to is just sloppy"
• "Text-speak is the result of laziness"