The condition that "communication is corrupted" is one of those situations that sounds dire and frequent, when in fact it's relatively rare.  There is enough redundancy built into both language and the medium to overcome a large amount of noise.  So as a premise for favoring a standard, it's weak.

Herb


-----Original Message-----
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar on behalf of Cynthia Baird
Sent: Thu 3/16/2006 8:01 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Edith/Herb Question: Language change and malapropism
 
I do not have more examples right off the top of my head, but my non-English teacher husband just raised the same concerns as I shared with him my excitement over the internet's ability to quickly track and analyze language changes.  He insists that when communication is compromised, a standard must be adopted. The question is, whose standard and what standard and how much change is "good" and how much is "bad"?  Rather rhetorical question, I admit, but as teachers of English, important questions, I think.

Linda DiDesidero <[log in to unmask]> wrote:      The vowel changes are interesting, Herb. But what about the disconnect betweent the speaker's intent and the hearer's perception? This is where the interesting issues lie (issues that make good conversation at Edith's faculty meetings! and at ours too!)
   
  If a speaker says 'flush it out' but she really means 'to fill in the details', she is not communicating effectively to me because I will understand that she means 'to get rid of it'.
   
  If she describes a little girl as a 'pre Madonna' but I hear 'prima donna', we are understanding things rather differently.
   
  I guess that these are examples of how one generation can create new concepts that in some places will supplant the old ones.  
   
  Does anyone have any more examples?
   
  Linda
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