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English Language > Attitudes To Language Change > Flashcards

Attitudes To Language Change Flashcards

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Proverbs and Idioms flashcards
1
Q

What are the four main ways new words are formed?

A
  • Popular culture
  • Major event (e.g. COVID)
  • Borrowing of Words
  • Technological and scentifc advancements
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2
Q

Historically what were the prescriptivist views/ events?

A
  • Johnathan Swift- Protested against language change as saw it being ruined by vagueness, wanted something similar to the Academie der Francais
  • Robert Lowth- Introduced grammatical standardisation by writing grammar books
  • The Inkhorn Controversy- Against the invention of new word being introduced by writers and scholars
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3
Q

What is the Academie di Francais?

A
  • Official body to protect the ‘sanctity’ of French
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4
Q

What was the great vowel shift?

A

Change in how words are pronounced where the emphasis of words shifted
Hence the Shakespeare sonnet rhyming ‘Prov’d’ with ‘Lov’d

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5
Q

What is a compound word?

A

When two whole words are combined
E.g. Facebook

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6
Q

What is a blend?

A

When two words are combined e.g. Blog

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7
Q

What is perjoration?

A

When the meaning of a term becomes more negative e.g. Beef

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8
Q

What is amelioration?

A

When the meaning of a word becomes more positive e.g. Sick

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9
Q

What is affixation?

A

Adding a prefix or a suffix
E.g. Mis-understanding

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10
Q

What is an eponym?

A

When a brand name becomes the name of an object e.g. Hoover

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11
Q

What is a descriptivist view?

A

That change is inevitable

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12
Q

What were Jean Aitchisons three prescriptivist views?

A

Infectious disease- That changes in language spread like a contagion
Damp Spoon- That neologisms and shifts i language are down to laziness
Crumbling Castle- That English should be preserved

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13
Q

What were the main factors of orthographical change?

A
  • Education
  • Accent
  • Dictionaries
  • Caxtons printing press meant it made more sense to standardise the alphabet
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14
Q

What is linguistic determinism?

A

That language controls our perception

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15
Q

What is linguistic reflectionism?

A
  • Language reflects the needs and views of society
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16
Q

What is linguistic relativity?

A

That language exerts a powerful force over how we think but does not control it

17
Q

What is the euphemism treadmill?

A
  • That words used to replace offensive terms becomes offensive
  • It’s the idea and intention behind the euphemism which is harmful
18
Q

What is the lexical gaps theory?

A

New words enter our language when there is a need for it

19
Q

What did Trudgill state about langauge change?

A
  • That smaller towns and villages often miss out on language change- Less common now due to internet/television
20
Q

What is the functional theory?

A

Language changes because we need it to change

21
Q

What was Baileys wave model?

A

That change has a geographical epicentre and ripples out

22
Q

What is semantic reclamation?

A

When a group/organisation reclaim a word with often negative connotations

23
Q

What is semantic change?

A

Change in meanings over time

24
Q

What is synchronic variation?

A

Considers a language without taking its history into account

25
Q

What is diachronic variation?

A

Considers the development and evolution of a language over a broad period of time

26
Q

What were the findings of the Petyt Bradford Study?

A

Measured the frequency of H dropping
Frequency of H dropping increases as social class decreases
Individuals who had moved up a social class modified their speech to be more rp

27
Q

What is an idiolect?

A

Language use of a single individual which is unique to them

28
Q

What is a sociolect?

A

Variety of language associated with a particular social group

29
Q

What is the matched guise theory?

A

People will rate speakers on accent quality and relate that to trustworthiness, Intelligence, etc.

30
Q

What is the accommodation theory?

A

Speakers seek approval of the listener so will adapt their language and code switch in order to influence people

31
Q

What is upwards convergence?

A

When a speaker makes their voice more formal

32
Q

What is downwards convergence?

A

When more RP accents become less formal in response

33
Q

What is lexical divergence?

A

When one speaker distances themselves from another speaker by making their language different

34
Q

What did Eckert state about Teenspeak?

A
  • Slang establishes connection to youth culture
    E.g. Multiple negation,rising intonation, use of like
35
Q

What is sociolinguistic maturation?

A

Language changing as people age and no longer adopt new slang

36
Q

What did Eckhert state about the differences between Teen groups?

A

That the language differences are far greater between groups of teenagers than any other age group

English Language (7 decks)

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