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meaning of the words. Therefore, when the meaning itself changes, it is probable for a word to have some meaning variations. Schendl 2001: p. 29 states that
semantic changes trigger the variety of language meaning. Therefore, a number of meanings might be found in certain words. For example is the Indonesian word
bajingan which was originated from a meaning of cart driver expands into such a swearing words indicating a person which has low morality.
d. Phonological Change
Murray 1996 in the book titled Historical Linguistics: The Study of Language Change states that most sound changes begin as subtle alterations in the
sound pattern of a language in particular phonetic environments p. 318. It means the changes of sound of a certain language including English occur slightly. Based
on Chaucer‟s poem titled The Romance of the Rose published in 1370, Murray also states that English in the 14
th
century is totally different from modern English. Since the English sound has changed over a long period of time, the
slight change accumulates into significant change. Murray classifies three major periods of English changes. They are Old English which existed from 450-1100,
then Middle English which existed from 1100-1500, and Modern English which exists since 1500 up to recent time O‟Grady, Dobrovolsky, Katamba, 1996: p.
313. The examples could be seen in the next discussion. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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2. English Sound Changes
Sound changes belong to phonological changes. The change involves the original English phonemes to be substituted by new different phonemes caused by
the influence of source language sound system. In this part, the researcher explains causes and types of sound changes.
a. The Causes of English Sound Change
Fasold and Linton have similar ideas of the causes of language changes in the classification of
Murray, as cited in O‟Grady, Dobrovolsky and Katamba‟s book. If both statements are summarized, some causes of sound changes can be
classified as follows:
1 Articulatory Simplification
Fasold and Linton 2006: p. 277 express that many changes in articulating language sounds are motivated by the ease of expression. It can be inferred that
some people “simplify” the mechanism of sound production. Ur 1999: p. 52 states that a particular sound may not exist in the mother tongue. Therefore, some
non-native English speaker may substitute the nearest equivalence that the speaker knows. For example is the reduction of last consonant in a cluster in word cent
[sent] into [sen] spoken by Indonesian people. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI