Change Flashcards
Neologism
New words
Archaic language
Words that have fallen out of use
Borrowing
Word taken from another language
Scientific process
Medicine, science and technology’s effect on language
Affixation
New prefixes and suffixes added onto words
Compounding
When a new word is created by two old words combined
Blending
Two separate words merged together
Clipping
When a word drops certain syllables to creat a abbreviation (u)
Initialism
First letter starts for a word
Acronym
Initial letters are said like a word eg NASA
Amelioration
A word develops a positive meaning over time
Pejoration
Word develops a negative meaning over time
Great vowel shift
1700-1900 the long vowel sounds in words became shorter- easier to articulate
External change
Outside influences on language
Internal change
Makes the language easier and more simple
Caxton printing press
1476, led the standardisation process
Where did language standardise from
East Midland dialect
Old English
450-1100 AD germania tribes
Middle English
1100-1500 AD
1476
William Caxton establishes first printing press
Early modern English
1500-1800
Samuel Johnson
A dictionary of the English language published in 1755
Late modern English
1800- now
Effect of the expansion of the British empire
Led to words being borrowed from other countries 1780-1810
Archaisms
Words that have became obsolete
Semantic change
Words that have been around for a long time so they change their meaning
Amelioration
Word develops positive meaning
Pejoration
Develops negative meaning
How have nouns changed
Used to be capitalised more frequently until 18th century
THE LONG S
Deemed unnecessary in the 1800
Omission
Sounds gradually lost in order to make pronunciation easier
Dennis freeborn
Incorrectness view-only standardised English is correct
Ugliness view- some accents are bad
Imprecisness view- some accents are lazy
Jean Aitchinson
Crumbling Castle view- it should be preserved but not unchangeable
Damp spoon syndrome- language changes because people are lazy
Infectious disease assumption- people pick up bad language inorder to fit in social groups
David crystals opinion on language change
Descriptavist
Technology added new dimension
Spellings are made by the people( online dictionary)
Peter trudgills view on language change
It’s a positive thing
Descriptivist
Changes don’t cause confusing because the new meaning is more common than the old so many understand it
