Status Updates From An Introduction to Language

Assimilation and analogic change account for some linguistic changes, but they cannot account for others. Simplification and regularization of grammars occur, but so does elaboration or complication. (...) A tendency toward simplification is counteracted by the need to limit potential ambiguity. Much of language change is balance between the two. Language contact is also a vehicle of language change.

Metaphor has a strong cultural component. Shakespeare uses metaphors that are lost on many of today’s playgoers.“I am a man whom Fortune hath cruelly scratched,” is most effective as a metaphor in a society like Shakespeare’s that commonly depicts “Fortune” as a woman. "There’s a bug in my program" would make little sense in a culture without computers, even if the idea of having bugs in something indicates a problem

The terminology reflects different ideologies, but the choice of expression is primarily intended to sway public opinion. Politically correct (PC) language also reflects the idea that language can influence thought. Many people believe that by changing the way we talk, we can change the way we think; that if we eliminate racist and sexist terms from our language, we will become a less racist and sexist society.