Theories and models of language change (Component 2): models of how change spreads and why it happens (the wave and S-curve models, random fluctuation, functional theory, substratum theory, lexical gaps, Aitchison's metaphors of damp spoon, crumbling castle and infectious disease), deployed critically with examples (AO2).

What this dot point is asking

Theories and models of language change are the frameworks that explain how change spreads and why it happens, and that analyse the attitudes people hold towards it. In Eduqas English Language Component 2, deploying these models critically is how you earn AO2 on the change topic. This dot point covers the models of how and why change occurs, and Aitchison's influential metaphors for attitudes to change, so you can frame your analysis theoretically rather than just describing features.

The answer

This topic succeeds when you deploy the models of change critically (AO2), applying them to the features and evidence in the dated texts (AO1, AO3). The unifying idea is that change can be theorised: it is not random or mysterious but follows describable patterns and serves describable functions, and attitudes to it can themselves be analysed. Your task is to use the models as analytical tools, weighing them against evidence, rather than as facts to recite.

How change spreads

Two models describe the spread of change. The wave model pictures change rippling outward from a point of origin (a region, a social group), reaching nearby speakers first, like ripples from a stone in water. The S-curve model describes the rate of adoption over time: a change is taken up slowly at first by a few innovators, then rapidly by the majority, then slowly as the last holdouts adopt it, tracing an S shape. Use these to explain how a feature spread through the language.

Why change happens

Several theories explain the causes of change at a more abstract level than the historical drivers. Functional theory holds that language changes to meet the needs of its users (new words for new concepts, simplification for efficiency). Random fluctuation theory holds that some change is simply random variation that catches on. Substratum theory attributes change to the influence of contact languages. The idea of lexical gaps explains coinage and borrowing as filling absences in the vocabulary. Apply the model that fits the evidence.

Deploy theory critically

The decisive skill is critical application. A model is a tool for explaining the evidence, not a fact to name. Writing 'this follows the S-curve' is a label; writing 'the rapid mid-period adoption of this form in the texts fits the steep middle of the S-curve, where a change moves from innovators to the majority' is critical application. Weigh the models against the evidence, and recognise that no single model explains all change.

Examples in context

The texts are unseen and dated, so the moves below are illustrative.

A model use of the S-curve. "The texts can be read as snapshots of an S-curve. An early text shows a new form used by only a few writers (the innovators at the slow foot of the curve), a later text shows it common (the steep middle, where the majority adopt it), and a recent text shows it universal (the slow top, as the last holdouts conform). Framing the spread this way, rather than just noting the form is 'more common later', applies the model to the evidence." This applies a spread model critically.

A model critique of Aitchison. "The prescriptivist objection that texting 'ruins' English rests on the crumbling castle metaphor: the assumption of a once-perfect English now decaying. Aitchison's critique exposes the flaw, there was no perfect past state, English has always changed, and digital abbreviation is rule-governed, not decay. Deploying and critiquing the metaphor shows that the attitude is based on metaphor, not linguistic evidence." This critiques a metaphor from the descriptivist position.

Try this

Q1. What does the S-curve model describe? [2 marks]

• Cue. The rate of adoption of a change over time: slow at first (innovators), then rapid (the majority), then slow again (the last adopters), tracing an S shape.

Q2. Name Aitchison's three metaphors for attitudes to change and what each implies. [3 marks]

• Cue. Damp spoon (change is laziness), crumbling castle (English was perfect and is decaying), infectious disease (change is caught and should be resisted).

Q3. Discuss, with reference to texts and relevant theories, how and why language change happens and spreads. [16 marks]

• What the marker wants. Critical application of the models of change (AO2), the wave and S-curve for spread, functional and other theories for cause, tied to evidence in the texts (AO1, AO3), weighing the models.

A note on the topic

This guide is AI-written and not individually human-reviewed. The models and theories of change are a standard part of the topic; the exact texts and mark scheme are set by Eduqas, so confirm them against the current A700 specification and sample materials, and read Aitchison and the standard accounts of change models to deploy them critically.