The Recency illusion is the belief that a word, meaning, grammatical construction or phrase is of recent origin when it is in fact of long-established usage. The term was invented by Arnold Zwicky, a linguist at Stanford University.[1] According to Zwicky, the illusion is caused by selective attention.[2]
Examples include:
- "Singular they" - the use of they to reference a singular antecedent. (Example: Everyone brought their own lunch.) Although this usage is often cited as a modern invention, it is found in Jane Austen and Shakespeare.
- The phrase between you and I, which likewise can be found in Early Modern English.
- The intensifier "really" as in "It was a really wonderful experience."
- The moderating adverb "pretty" as in "It was a pretty exciting experience."
- "cool"
Many people have the sense that "really" and "pretty" are somewhat slang-like, and that these meanings have developed relatively recently. In fact, these usages go back to at least the 18th century, and they are commonly found in the works and letters of such writers as Benjamin Franklin.
See also
References
- ^ Intensive and Quotative ALL: something old, something new, John R. Rickford, Thomas Wasow, Arnold Zwicky, Isabelle Buchstaller, American Speech 2007 82(1):3-31; Duke University Press (what Arnold Zwicky (2005) has dubbed the "recency illusion," whereby people think that linguistic features they’ve only recently noticed are in fact new).
- ^ Language Log: Just between Dr. Language and I
External links
- New Scientist article (subscription only; hard copy at New Scientist, 17 November 2007 p. 60)
 |
This linguistics article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
