Language change is the topic in A-Level English Language where students most reliably let their own opinions derail their analysis. Whether they’re outraged by teenagers’ use of “literally” or cheerfully indifferent to shifting grammar conventions, they bring personal perspectives to a topic that rewards academic distance and careful evidence-based argument.
Here’s what the language change topic actually covers — and how to write about it in a way that earns marks rather than reflecting personal taste.
What Language Change Means
Language change refers to the fact that English — like all living languages — shifts constantly over time, in its vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, and use. Words are invented, old words fall away, meanings shift, grammatical structures become more or less common, spelling conventions evolve.
At A-Level, you’ll examine evidence of these changes — comparing historical texts to modern ones, analysing how specific words or structures have changed, exploring what drives those changes — and you’ll engage with the debate about whether language change is something to resist or accept.
The Prescriptivism vs Descriptivism Debate
This is the central theoretical framework for language change at A-Level, and you must understand it clearly.
Prescriptivism is the view that there is a correct standard form of English, that deviations from it are errors, and that it’s the job of educated speakers and institutions to maintain the standard. Prescriptivists worry about declining standards, object to grammatical constructions like the split infinitive or the singular “they”, and value traditional usage guides.
Descriptivism is the view of most linguists: that the job of linguistic study is to describe language as it actually is and how it changes, not to prescribe how it should be. Descriptivists don’t think language change is decline — they see it as natural development, and they point out that every “corruption” of English that prescriptivists object to was itself a change from an earlier standard.
In exam responses, you should engage with both perspectives as equally valid academic positions — and you should use linguistic evidence to support your argument rather than personal preference.
Key Causes of Language Change
- Technology and new concepts: New things require new words — “internet”, “tweet”, “podcast” didn’t exist before the things they described
- Social and cultural change: Shifting attitudes to gender, ethnicity, and identity drive vocabulary change — both the adoption of new terms and the retirement of old ones
- Borrowing from other languages: English has always borrowed vocabulary freely — from Latin, French, Norse, and now increasingly from global English varieties
- Media and popular culture: Words and phrases spread through social media, television, and music in ways that earlier generations of language change couldn’t achieve
- Simplification and regularisation: Over time, complex grammatical systems often simplify — Old English’s elaborate case system collapsed into the much simpler system of modern English
How to Write About Language Change in an Exam
The key principle: your personal view is irrelevant. “I think using ‘literally’ as an intensifier is annoying” is not a linguistic argument. “The use of ‘literally’ as an intensifier demonstrates semantic bleaching — a well-documented process in which a word’s specific meaning is widened or generalised through frequent metaphorical use” is a linguistic argument. The second earns marks; the first doesn’t.
Ground every point in linguistic evidence: historical texts, corpus data (if provided), specific examples. Use theoretical frameworks — semantic change, grammatical convergence, language contact — to explain patterns. Acknowledge complexity: very few changes are simply good or simply bad; most serve communicative functions for specific communities, even if they seem incorrect from other communities’ perspectives.
Language change, diversity, and acquisition are covered in depth in Thorogood English’s A-Level English Language programme. Join the waiting list for January 2027 classes.
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