Language is continuously changing. It always has. People who find this irritating overlook the significance of how language change is constantly breathing new life into language.
This phenomenon was obviously quite irritating to Titus Petronius Arbiter. In his novel Satyricon, the Roman poet goes into depth to criticize the poor Latin of young people and the general populace. The vulgar Latin that heavily upset Petronius around the year 50 AD already exhibited the first characteristics of its modern-day successor: the Italian language.
Roughly 250 years later, the Appendix Probi was written by an unknown teacher who meticulously listed how certain words should be pronounced correctly. For example, he pointed out that a column was still called columna instead of colomna, as it was apparently often pronounced. Therefore, it is reasonable to believe that the Italian colonna had almost come into being at this point.
Consequently, it is fair to say that language purists have always been around. But even great minds like Arthur Schopenhauer and Karl Kraus ultimately fought a losing battle. You simply can’t stop language from changing.
The causes of language change
Language change happens slowly. It can only be recognized retrospectively after gaining some distance, and it almost always happens unwittingly. It’s not like someone in the fourth century suddenly decided to pronounce columna differently from then on. It just happened, and more and more people adopted it over time. This is how local dialects gradually evolve into new languages over time.
In addition to changes within the language itself, external influences also lead to language change. When different languages collide, they influence and change each other. Traditionally, this is the result of migration, trade relations, cultural interaction, as well as conquests and colonialism. It is obvious that economic globalization, the internet, and social media are massively accelerating linguistic change.
Language change essentially occurs on four levels.
#1 Expansion of vocabulary: The country needs new words
Time and again, words fade into obscurity, while new ones become established. For example, many Yiddish and Bohemian expressions were still commonly used in Eastern Austrian German decades ago, a clear reflection of the demographics under the Habsburg Monarchy. Most young people today are not familiar with these expressions. While this may be regrettable, we can find solace in the fact that new expressions were also added.
Many of these new additions are foreign words and loanwords such as computer or meeting. Language purists who criticize these influences often ignore the fact that they have always existed. According to Duden (the Standard High German dictionary), around a quarter of the terms contained in the dictionary have foreign language roots. However, many words that originate from Latin and Ancient Greek are no longer recognized as foreign or loan words. By contrast, the proportion of words from the English language is surprisingly low.
Interestingly, there were also countervailing developments with political backgrounds. As early as the Baroque period, there were deliberate attempts to replace foreign words with German terms, and as part of the nationalistic tendencies of the 19th century, there was another push in this direction. Many of the international words were replaced with truly German words, for example Anschrift instead of Adresse (address; derived from Latin), herkömmlich instead of konventionell (conventional; derived from Latin), or Umschlag instead of Kuvert (envelope; derived from French).
Curiously, there are also words that appear to be loanwords, but do not actually exist in that language (or at least not with that meaning). The most famous example of pseudo-anglicism in Germany is the word for mobile phone: Handy, which in English does not mean mobile phone at all, but rather convenient. Sometimes pseudo-anglicism and neologism overlap: Telefon (telephone), for example, combines two ancient Greek words without clearly being one itself.
And, of course, there are always completely new creations. These genuine neologisms mainly come about when new objects or processes need to be defined. Phrases such as “to zoom” or “to google something” simply could not have existed in the past. Unfortunately, the climate crisis also produced a plethora of neologisms, including weatherbombs, greenwashing, and thirstwaves. An incredibly large amount of neologisms has always originated from teenage slang. And the effect has always been the same. These words are initially met with fierce rejection by purists, but ultimately some of the new words become established in everyday language.
#2 Teenage slang and more: Semantic change as a driver of language development
The impact of semantic changes is fascinating. Words are constantly being reassigned, which can both limit and expand their meaning. For example, terms such as mouse or surfing have expanded their meaning beyond rodents and water sports, as they were reassigned in the context of computers and the internet.
The German word geil, for example, has undergone a significant change. In Old High German, it meant high-spirited, while in Middle High German it meant strong, funny, or cheerful. Much later the word took on an almost exclusively sexual connotation. Until recently, however, geil also referred to a very sweet taste sensation, especially in Austrian German. Teenage slang eventually gave rise to the now widely accepted term for anything that is perceived as particularly positive or exciting. There are similar examples in English. The term gay, for example, has undergone a significant change. It has evolved from meaning joyful and carefree to a primary descriptor for people romantically and/or sexually attracted to the same gender, a shift that gained traction in the mid-20th century. Historically, the word gay originated in the 14th century to mean lively, brilliant, or happy. By the 15th century, the meaning also included a connotation of sexual promiscuity and even “wantonness”. By the 17th century, the term was used to describe prostitutes (“gay woman”) or those involved in sexual promiscuity (“gay man” or “womanizer”). The term gay was adopted by gay men in the mid-20th century as a preferred, self-identified label as a deliberate act to create a positive and less clinical alternative to “homosexual”. The term entered the mainstream with the gay rights movement in the 1970s, becoming a symbol of pride and activism, and is now primarily used to describe someone who is attracted to others of their same gender. Using it in the original semantic sense is unthinkable now.
Semantic changes can often change the meaning of entire sentences. Just a few years ago, a German idiom that literally translates to “like a fist in your eye” was used to indicate that something didn’t match at all. Nowadays, the same phrase is used to describe something that fits like a glove (which is also quite interesting from a psychological perspective). There are similar examples in English. Kids nowadays like to say “I ate that” to indicate that they did something perfectly. It does not mean they literally consumed food.
#3 The influence of dialects: Language change through the development of articulation
The historical changes in the pronunciation of German words have been well researched in linguistics. People studying German can attest to the fact that it is not easy to remember the various sound shifts. To this day, these changes separate the different German-speaking regions and dialects.
Here’s an example: From around the eleventh century onward, large parts of the German-speaking world underwent what is known as New High German monophthongization. This process involved diphthongs becoming long vowels, for example guot became gut (good) and bruoder became Bruder (brother). However, this change did not happen in southern areas such as Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, or Austria. In these dialects, the words are still pronounced as guat and Bruader.
It’s clear that Petronius’ lament in the first century inevitably affects every language: Pronunciation changes, driven by dialects and colloquial language—inexorably and constantly.
#4 The German language and its grammar: Language change or language decline?
While anglicism (a word or phrase borrowed from English into a foreign language) and Denglish (words that have different meanings in German than their original English counterparts) can be really annoying for language purists, grammatical changes probably really drive them up the wall. And they are not entirely wrong—at least when it comes to linguistic decline and lowering intellectual levels.
The gradual decline of the genitive, past tense, and subjunctive, or the proliferation of auxiliary verbs, are not a problem in everyday conversations. When people speak, the tendency has always been to keep language as simple and efficient as possible. However, it is undeniable that the widespread simplified communication in social media, combined with the decline in reading, is not good for language in general.
There is no need to go overboard with our lamentations about language change. After all, it is a vital element of our language. However, when cultural aspects are lost, we have every right to be sad.
Dictionaries: New rules as a stumbling block
With respect to linguistic developments, dictionaries seem a bit like dams that are constantly developing new cracks. It is safe to assume that the two brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm wanted to create something definitive when they began work on the enormous German dictionary in 1838. By the time the last volume was completed a whopping 123 years later, the previously published volumes had already undergone significant revisions.
And the first volume of the Duden (German dictionary) series, the spelling dictionary, triggers fierce criticism with each new edition, especially on account of its attempt to do justice to linguistic change. Time and again, the dispute revolves around anglicisms, neologisms, teenage slang, gender and, above all, around grammatical changes. Musicologist and art historian Manfred Sack went particularly far with his criticism in an angry article in the newspaper Die Zeit in 1985.
Language change is a highly emotional topic, with some negative but also many positive developments.
