Corruption (grammar)
Encyclopedia
Corruption or bastardisation is a way of referring to certain changes in a language
and their prescriptive evaluation. The most common way that a word can be said to be corrupted is the change of its spelling
through errors and gradual changes in comprehension
, transcription
, and hearing
. This is especially common with words borrowed from another language. For example Guangzhou
was formerly known as "Canton" in English, which is a transliteration of Guangdong
following the rules of French
sound structures. The terms "corruption" and "bastardisation" are rooted in prescriptivist theories of language.
Language corruption may refer to a change of words, as described above, or to a deviation from the so-called "purity" of standard language
. For example, the split infinitive
has long been disputed as either a corruption or norm of the English language
.
A language (or a certain variety of it) can also come to be regarded as having become "corrupted" when it had acquired a large vocabulary from other languages. Such perception of a language as "corrupt" might lead to efforts to "purify" it by getting rid of the "foreign" loan words.
Text bastardisation is the unauthorized alteration and publication of a text
inconsistent with the original purpose or the author's intention, such as removing sexually explicit content from a manuscript.
The mass written communication of the Internet promotes even greater standardization; however, its informal nature often encourages intentional language changes. In online interactive games, chat rooms and other situations, common typographical error
s and attempts at humor have created a number of new alternate spellings (see leet
).
Language
Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...
and their prescriptive evaluation. The most common way that a word can be said to be corrupted is the change of its spelling
Spelling
Spelling is the writing of one or more words with letters and diacritics. In addition, the term often, but not always, means an accepted standard spelling or the process of naming the letters...
through errors and gradual changes in comprehension
Understanding
Understanding is a psychological process related to an abstract or physical object, such as a person, situation, or message whereby one is able to think about it and use concepts to deal adequately with that object....
, transcription
Transcription (linguistics)
Transcription in the linguistic sense is the systematic representation of language in written form. The source can either be utterances or preexisting text in another writing system, although some linguists only consider the former as transcription.Transcription should not be confused with...
, and hearing
Hearing (sense)
Hearing is the ability to perceive sound by detecting vibrations through an organ such as the ear. It is one of the traditional five senses...
. This is especially common with words borrowed from another language. For example Guangzhou
Guangzhou
Guangzhou , known historically as Canton or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of the Guangdong province in the People's Republic of China. Located in southern China on the Pearl River, about north-northwest of Hong Kong, Guangzhou is a key national transportation hub and trading port...
was formerly known as "Canton" in English, which is a transliteration of Guangdong
Guangdong
Guangdong is a province on the South China Sea coast of the People's Republic of China. The province was previously often written with the alternative English name Kwangtung Province...
following the rules of French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
sound structures. The terms "corruption" and "bastardisation" are rooted in prescriptivist theories of language.
Language corruption may refer to a change of words, as described above, or to a deviation from the so-called "purity" of standard language
Standard language
A standard language is a language variety used by a group of people in their public discourse. Alternatively, varieties become standard by undergoing a process of standardization, during which it is organized for description in grammars and dictionaries and encoded in such reference works...
. For example, the split infinitive
Split infinitive
A split infinitive is an English-language grammatical construction in which a word or phrase, usually an adverb or adverbial phrase, comes between the marker to and the bare infinitive form of a verb....
has long been disputed as either a corruption or norm of the English language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
.
A language (or a certain variety of it) can also come to be regarded as having become "corrupted" when it had acquired a large vocabulary from other languages. Such perception of a language as "corrupt" might lead to efforts to "purify" it by getting rid of the "foreign" loan words.
Text bastardisation is the unauthorized alteration and publication of a text
Writing
Writing is the representation of language in a textual medium through the use of a set of signs or symbols . It is distinguished from illustration, such as cave drawing and painting, and non-symbolic preservation of language via non-textual media, such as magnetic tape audio.Writing most likely...
inconsistent with the original purpose or the author's intention, such as removing sexually explicit content from a manuscript.
History
In the past, with unstandardized spelling for English and other languages, a word would be pronounced differently by people who encountered the word in text and not speech. Eventually, such changes could become standardized. A large number of these changes occurred during the 19th century. English is now highly standardized with some dialectal variation.The mass written communication of the Internet promotes even greater standardization; however, its informal nature often encourages intentional language changes. In online interactive games, chat rooms and other situations, common typographical error
Typographical error
A typographical error is a mistake made in, originally, the manual type-setting of printed material, or more recently, the typing process. The term includes errors due to mechanical failure or slips of the hand or finger, but usually excludes errors of ignorance, such as spelling errors...
s and attempts at humor have created a number of new alternate spellings (see leet
Leet
Leet , also known as eleet or leetspeak, is an alternative alphabet for the English language that is used primarily on the Internet. It uses various combinations of ASCII characters to replace Latinate letters...
).
Examples
Some commonly known words and phrases which are the result of linguistic corruption include:- "vamoose" (from the SpanishSpanish languageSpanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
verb vamos, which means "Let's go") - "CajunCajunCajuns are an ethnic group mainly living in the U.S. state of Louisiana, consisting of the descendants of Acadian exiles...
" (from "AcadianAcadianThe Acadians are the descendants of the 17th-century French colonists who settled in Acadia . Acadia was a colony of New France...
") - "spitting image" (from "spit and image" or "spirit and image")
- "parting shot" (from "Parthian shotParthian shotThe Parthian shot was a military tactic made famous by the Parthians, ancient Iranian people. The Parthian archers, mounted on light horse, would feign retreat; then, while at a full gallop, turn their bodies back to shoot at the pursuing enemy. The maneuver required superb equestrian skills,...
") - "That doesn't jive (with the facts)" (from "That doesn't jibe with the facts")
- tow the line (from "toe the line")
- Key WestKey WestKey West is an island in the Straits of Florida on the North American continent at the southernmost tip of the Florida Keys. Key West is home to the southernmost point in the Continental United States; the island is about from Cuba....
from the Spanish Cayo Hueso
See also
- SolecismSolecismIn traditional prescriptive grammar, a solecism is something perceived as a grammatical mistake or absurdity, or even a simply non-standard usage. The word was originally used by the Greeks for what they perceived as mistakes in their language...
- Barbarism
- Contrafact
- Folk etymology
- Lectio difficilior potiorLectio difficilior potiorLectio difficilior potior is a main principle of textual criticism. Where different manuscripts conflict on a particular word, the principle suggests that the more unusual one is more likely the original...
- Neologism
- MondegreenMondegreenA mondegreen is the mishearing or misinterpretation of a phrase as a result of near homophony, in a way that gives it a new meaning. It most commonly is applied to a line in a poem or a lyric in a song...
- English As She Is SpokeEnglish As She Is SpokeEnglish as She Is Spoke is the common name of a 19th century book falsely credited to José da Fonseca and Pedro Carolino, which was intended as a Portuguese-English conversational guide or phrase book, but is regarded as a classic source of unintentional humour, as the given English translations...
- Deliberate misspelling