Change Flashcards
What are three types of lexical change?
- Archaisms
- Dated Lexis
- Neologisms
What are the nine types of eponyms?
- Coining
- Compounding
- Blending
- Clipping
- Acronyms
- Initialisms
- Affixation
- Borrowing
- Eponyms
What does coining mean?
Invented
What does compounding mean?
Made up of two or more existing words
What does blending mean?
Made up from parts of two or more existing words
What does Clipping mean?
Formed from parts of existing words
What does Acronym mean?
Formed from the initial letters of other words and pronounced as a complete word
What does Initialism mean?
Formed from the initial letters of other words and pronounced as letters
What does Affixation mean?
Formed by adding a prefix or a suffix to an existing word
What does Borrowing mean?
From foreign languages
What does Eponym mean?
Used to name discoveries/ inventions or brand names becoming generic
What is an example of coining?
Haagen Dasz
What is an example of compounding?
Whiteboard
What is an example of Blending?
Spork
What is an example of Clipping?
Phone
What is an example of an Acronym?
AIDS
What is an example of an Initialism?
HIV
What is an example of Borrowing?
Pizza
What is an example of an Eponym?
Sellotape
What are the six examples changes in semantics?
- Semantic Change
- Amelioration
- Pejoration
- Narrowing
- Broadening
- Bleaching
What is Semantic Change?
A word fully changing it’s meaning. E.g. gay going from meaning happy to meaning homosexual
What is Amerlioration?
A word gaining more positive connotations. E.g. Naughty meaning mildly troublesome when it used to mean the worst of the worst
What is Pejoration?
A word gaining more negative connotations. E.g. Notorious changing from note worthy to meaning bad fame
What is Narrowing?
A word losing meaning. E.g. Meat changing from meaning all food to just food from the body of an animal
What is Broadening?
Gaining meaning. E.g. mouse (Gained the sense of a computer thingy)
What is Bleaching?
A word losing the extent of itself. E.g. Horrible becoming bad instead or horrifying
What does syntax change mean?
Changes in the order of words
What is Displacement?
The order of the words in a clause is unusual.
What is an example of Displacement?
“I saw the leaders GREAT AND GOOD”
What are Displaced Negators?
Negators after the verb
What is an example of a displaced negator?
She likes it NOT
What is Inversion?
Two words are swapped over
What is an example of inversion?
“There’s a surprise, SAID HE”
What is a Median Adverbial?
Adverbs in the middle of a sentence
What is an example of a Median Adverbial?
I FOR YOU shall do this
In the past what was English syntax like?
Mch more flexible
What order does English syntax now follow?
S.V.O.C.A
What is wrong with the following sentence?: “I want to quickly call in here”
Split infinitive
What is wrong with the following sentence?: “I have no one with whom to go”
A preposition at the end of the clause
What type of inflection is “est”?
Archaic 2nd person singular present tense inflection
What type of inflection is “eth”?
Archaic 3rd person singular present tense inflection
Conjugate the archaic form of the infinitive in brackets: “Let the song be ___ (to sing)”
Sungen
What is an unusual inflection of the verb “to be” called?
Archaic subjunctive
What is an example of the archaic subjunctive?
Though he WERE dead, yet shall he live
What is the Periphrastic “do”?
The inclusion of the verb “do” where we wouldn’t use it today
What is an example of the Periphrastic “do”?
I do love thee
She did marry him
What did “for” used to mean?
Because
Give an example of “for” being used as a conjunction (because)
He went for he had to
What are the archaic pronouns/determiners?
Thou, thee, they, theyself, thine, ye
When was English spelling standardised?
The mid 18th century
What was I interchangeable with?
Y, J
What was y interchangeable with?
I
Give an example of I and y being interchangeable
Fayth/faith
What was j interchangeable with?
I
Give an example of J and I being interchangeable.
Iudge/judge
What was v interchangeable with?
U
What was u interchangeable with?
V
Give an example of v and u being interchangeable.
Euer/ever
What was the letter þ called?
Thorn
What was the letter ð called?
Eth
What was the letter æ called?
Ash
What was the letter ſ called?
Long S
What was the letter 3 called?
Yogh
What happened to “ed” endings?
They contracted to ‘d
What did English used to capitalise?
The important words of the sentence
How did English used to capitalise street names?
With only the first word being capitalised.
E.g. “Smith-street” instead of “Smith-Street”
What are the protected characteristics?
Gender, ethnicity, disability, sexuality and age
What does contemporary English avoid due to political correctness?
- Words expressing negative attitudes based on protected characteristics
- Gratuitous modifiers
- Gendered nouns
- Generic male forms
- Non-equivalent parallels
What is an example of a word expressing negative attitudes based on protected characteristics?
Cripple
What is an example of a gratuitous modifier?
Lady doctor
What is an example of a gendered noun?
Manageress
What is an example of generic man?
Man evolved about 200000 years ago
What is an example of non-equivalent parallel?
Master and mistress
What does reclaiming mean?
The use of an abusive term by the group it was used to abuse
What are five reasons for language change?
- New inventions and developments
- Changes in knowledge, understanding and ideas
- Movement of people
- Communities of practice
- Change from above
Who did the Reflectionism and Determinism Theory?
Sapir Whorf
What does Reflectionism say?
Language reflects thinking
What does Determinism say?
Language determines thinking
What is an example of Reflectionism?
The use of racist words reflects prejudice attitudes
What is an example of Determinism?
Changing racist language will change prejudice thinking
What does Pinker argue?
That thought is independent of language
What did Pinker call his Meta-Language?
Mentalese
Who did the Euphemism Treadmill?
Pinker
What does Pinker’s Euphemism Treadmill say?
Concepts, not words, are in charge of meaning. If you give a concept a new name, the name becomes affected by the concept
Where does change to English usually happen?
In peripheral forms of English
What are examples of words that have semantically broadened due to the development of technology?
Crash, virus, bug, window
What happened between 1400 and 1600?
The Great Vowel Shift
During the Great Vowel Shift, how did the pronunciation of “out” change?
From /u:t/ to /aʊt/
Who did Functional Theory?
Michael Halliday
What did Halliday’s Functional Theory say?
Language changes to fulfill the functions society demands of it
Who studied Informalisation?
Goodman and Fairclough
What did Goodman claim?
That language forms that were traditionally reserved for close personal relationships are now used in wider social contexts
What did Fairclough claim?
That spoken language has risen in status and prestige as a more informal written model has also risen in usage
Who studied Random Fluctuation and Cultural Transmission?
Hockett
What did Hockett claim in his Random Fluctuation and Cultural Transmission Theory?
That language constantly has to adapt to new situations and speakers. This inevitably throws up random innovations which spread from speaker to speaker
What is a criticism of Hockett’s Random Fluctuation and Cultural Transmission?
Changes are not random e.g. all verbs lost Eth/est inflections
What does Lexical Gap Theory claim?
Words are created to “fill a gap” where a word does not currently exist. E.g. the feeling you get when you’re just about to sneeze
What is a criticism as Lexical Gap Theory?
It only explains Lexical change, some Lexical gaps remain unfilled
What does Substratum Theory say?
When new speakers learn a language, they will learn it imperfectly and will pass these imperfections on to future generations.
What are criticisms of Substratum Theory?
- It only explains a narrow range of changes
- Change happens when there aren’t a significant number of new speakers
Who did the S-Curve Model?
Chen
What are the three stages of Chen’s S-Curve Model?
- Initiation
- Expansion
- Termination
What happens during the Initiation Stage of Chen’s S-Curve Model?
Change initially occurs at a slow pace creating the initial curve of the “S”
What happens during the Expansion Stage of Chen’s S-Curve Model?
The rate of change increases speed as the innovation becomes more common and accepted in the language
What happens during the Termination Stage of Chen’s S-Curve Model?
The rate of change slows down again once it has fully integrated into the language and is widely used
Who did the Wave Model?
Bailey
What did Bailey’s Wave Model say?
Distance (geographical, temporal and social) affects language change
What did Bailey call the place where a change started?
The Epicentre
According to Bailey’s Wave Model who is most affected by change?
The people closest to the epicentre
Who criticised Bailey’s Wave Model?
Trudgill
What did Trudgill say about change?
Innovations spread from cities to towns and miss out intervening villages
What did Jonathan Swift’s “Proposal” object to?
- Shortenings e.g. “mob”
- Unnecessary contractions e.g. “disturb’d”
- Neologisms e.g. “banter”
Who attempted to fix spellings and definitions?
Johnson (Dictionary)
What did Lowth’s Grammar say?
- Objected to “thou”
- Differentiated “will” and “shall”
- Differentiated “who” and “whom”
- Prepositions should come before a noun
- Infinitives should not be split
- Comparative and superlative should not be used
What were the four stages of The Process of Standardisation?
- Selection
- Elaboration
- Codification
- Implementation
What happened in the Selection Stage of The Process of Standardisation?
The East Midlands dialect of English was chosen as the basis for Standard English
What happened in the Elaboration Stage of The Process of Standardisation?
The selected dialect was used for an increasing range of functions e.g. law
What happened during the Codification Stage of The Process of Standardisation?
The rules of spelling, the definitions of words and agreed norms of grammar were decided upon and written down e.g. Johnson’s Dictionary
What happened during the Implementation Stage of The Process of Standardisation?
The Standard in used in and insisted upon by writers and academics who criticise those who do not use the Standard form
Who did the Social Bonding Theory?
William Labov
What happens during the first step of Labov’s Social Bonding Theory?
A small group use language a little differently from the rest of the population
What happens during the second step of Labov’s Social Bonding Theory?
The difference in pronunciation becomes a signal of identity
What happens during the third step of Labov’s Social Bonding Theory?
Others who wish to be identified with the group adopt the difference
What happens during the fourth/final step of Labov’s Social Bonding Theory?
The change ends up affecting all words that possess the same sound
Who talked about Benign Prescriptivism?
Clayton
Who used metaphors to explain OTHER PEOPLE’S attitudes to language change?
Jean Aitchison
What does Aitchison’s “Damp Spoon Syndrome” mean?
It implies that people have become lazy with language
What does Aitchison’s “Crumbling Castle View” claim?”
The people view English as a beautiful old castle that was deliberately constructed and was once complete and perfect but is now falling apart and needs to be preserved
How does Aitchison criticise “The Crumbling Castle View”?
There has never been a time when English reached its ultimate “peak of perfection”
What does Aitchison’s “Infectious Disease Assumption” mean?
It is the view that people “catch” language change from people around without meaning or wanting to
What was the Inkhorn Controversy?
During the 16th and 17th Century, the English lexicon began to expand and some writers objected to the new words, finding them pretentious and artificial
Who described the new words as “inkhorn terms”
Thomas Wilson
