Linguistics Blog

Noor Qureshi 
Mr. Roddy 
IHSS
7 September 2021

Linguistics Blog

        The article I read was about language and word development. It talked about who comes up with new words, and who chooses their definition. It's a question a lot of people wonder about. There is no single person or group of people in charge of coming up with the meaning of a word. Rather than that, its the society who changes the sound and meaning of words until it becomes universal in a certain language. This is called the "Great Vowel Shift," where the word could've originally meant something completely different than the definition today. The article uses the example nice, which used to mean silly. Before silly became defined as foolish and funny, the word used to mean holy and worshiped. I find that so crazy, but interesting how words can change like that. Likewise, just how the meanings change, so does the sound. "Nobody in a 15th-century tavern wants to confuse meat, meet, and mate" is what the author says. Throughout time the sounds of vowels in words changed so that there wouldn't be so many homophones. 

        Back to the original question the article imposed: "Who decides what words mean?" Well, the answer is just us as a civilization. 


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