english across time

Question 1

why was english not a single, consistent language prior to early modern english?

Answer 1

-languages were constantly evolving
-languages were being blended (old english being a blend of languages spoken by angles, saxonsm, jules, and frisans and celtic languages
-no standard form

Question 2

what impact did catholic missionaries have on english?

Answer 2

-they went to convert anglo-saxons to christiantiy - which caused latin to become the language of the ruling class
-this led to languages spoken in britain to borrow aspects of its grammar and lexicon

Question 3

what changes occurred in old english due to viking contact?

Answer 3

-aspects of old norse blended with old english, to create a simplified anglo-saxon dialect
eg morphology
-past tense in old norse was created with with ‘-in’ or ‘ð’
-n old english it was done by changing the internal vowel or adding ‘-de’ or ‘-don’, then past tense became ‘-ed’

Question 4

standardisation

Answer 4

the continuous process that brings uniformity to the writing and speaking of a language so that it becomes more regular and consistent amongst users

Question 5

codification

Answer 5

when language norms are written down as they are popular - component of standardisation

Question 6

old english timeline

Answer 6

-450-500: angles, saxons settle in britain
-6th century: latin is introduced via religion
-8-11th century: viking invasion/norse blends with english
-1066: norman invasion french becomes official language of england

Question 7

middle english timeline

Answer 7

-1066-1337: norman rule
-1337-1453: hundred year war
-1476: caxton’s printing press

Question 8

the great vowel shift

Answer 8

-occurred durring 15th, 16th, and 17th century
-change in pronunciation - long vowel sounds began to made higher and further forward in the mouth (short vowel sounds remain unchanged)

Question 9

analogy

Answer 9

the process whereby a conclusion based on parallel cases

Question 10

morphological/syntactic changes

Answer 10

-word order became far more important and more rigid in english
-inflections were dropped

Question 11

comparison of possession between middle and modern english - hen’s liver vs lyre (liver) of hennes

Answer 11

preposition vs inflectional
-middle: prepositional phrase shows possession (of hennes)
-modern: inflection ‘s’ on possessor noun

word order
-middle: possessed noun before possessory and preposition
-modern: possessor first

Question 12

morphological changes to english

Answer 12

-abbreviations
-acronym
-initialism
-shortening
-compounding
-blends
-backformation

Question 13

abbreviations

Answer 13

-can cross over between acronyms, initialisms, blends, and shortening
-dr for doctor
-vcaa
-st for saint or street

Question 14

acronym

Answer 14

-formed by taking initial letters of a phrase and combining them to create a new word
-eg nasa, fomo, scuba

Question 15

initialism

Answer 15

-acronym which is pronounced as individual letters
-eg lmao, vce, dna

Question 16

shortening

Answer 16

-involves reducing the length of a word by omitting one or more syllables or letters
-eg info, ad, servo

Question 17

compounding

Answer 17

-combining two or more words to form a new word with combined meaning
-eg toothbrush, laptop

Question 18

blends

Answer 18

-merging parts of two words to create a new word
-eg brunch, smog

Question 19

backformation

Answer 19

-the process of creating a new word by removing actual or supposed affixes from another word
-eg televise from television, edit from editor

Question 20

semantic changes over time

Answer 20

-deterioration
-elevation
-narrowing
-broadening

Question 21

deterioration

Answer 21

-gets worse over time
silly: happy – foolish
villain: worker at villa – evil person
cunning: skillful – sly

Question 22

elevation

Answer 22

-gets better in meaning over time
angel: messenger – messenger of god
fond: foolish – affectionate
earl: man – count

Question 23

narrowing

Answer 23

-has a more specific meaning over time
liquor: liquid – alcohol
poison: drink – poisonous drink
accident: event – unfortunate event

Question 24

broadening

Answer 24

-has a less specific meaning over time
cool: jazz style – wider meaning
business: someone was busy – wider meaning
you guys: guys – everyone

Question 25

word formation processes

Answer 25

-borrowing
-commonisation
-neologism
-nominalisation

Question 26

drivers for change

Answer 26

-movement between domains
-innovation requiring new lexemes
-societal changes

Question 27

reasons for word loss

Answer 27

-obsolescence
-brevity
-taboo
-unknown

Question 28

borrowing

Answer 28

words brought from other languages
two types - loanword and loan translation

Question 29

commonisation

Answer 29

occurs when something that was previously a name loses its capital letters and becomes a common word
eg lamington was a governor of qld

Question 30

neologism

Answer 30

newly coined words/phrases that are accepted into mainstream language
eg staycation

Question 31

nominalisation

Answer 31

the process of making nouns from verbs or adjectives
eg likes: she likes this – he got a lot of likes on his post

Question 32

movement between domains

Answer 32

eg technical words to common words

Question 33

innovation requiring new lexemes

Answer 33

eg goon used to mean casket wine

Question 34

societal changes

Answer 34

when words change with society
eg mankind – humankind

Question 35

obsolesce

Answer 35

when the content the word refers to doesn’t exist

Question 36

brevity

Answer 36

words become too short, so they are cut from the language or exist as morphemes attached to others

Question 37

prescriptivism

Answer 37

the belief that language should prescribe to a certain standard - standard form found in dictionaries etc, is the bench against all other variations are judged

Question 38

arguments for prescriptivism

Answer 38

-provides clear, standardised rules for language - can enhance effective communication and ensure mutual understanding
-maintains consistency in language

Question 39

descriptivism

Answer 39

describe how language is actually used without judgement

Question 40

arguments for descriptivism

Answer 40

-language is inherently dynamic and constantly evolving to meet the needs of users

Question 41

explain how middle english syntax can differ from modern english

Answer 41

-middle english uses a different word order (subject follows the verb)
-modern english - subject precedes verb

Question 42

comparison of possession of middle and modern english - yolkes of ayren and egg yolks

Answer 42

-middle: prepositional phrase ‘of ayren’ shows possession
-modern: inflection ‘-s’ on possessor noun shows possession

Question 43

referring to a subsystem of language, provide a specific example of how the norse language influence old english

Answer 43

-orthography/phonology
-old norse introduced new graphemes into old english, such as thorn - þ which represented the phoneme /theta/

Question 44

explain the influence of the norman conquest of 1066 on english and use examples from at least 2 subsystems of language

Answer 44

-introduced french into old english, as french became the language of the ruling class
-lexicology: english borrowed lexemes from french (eg joust and bounty)
-syntax: english word order became more standard (svo) to be more in line with french syntax

Question 45

explain what standardisation is, and what english was like prior to standardisation

Answer 45

-standardisation is the process of bringing uniformity to a language
-prior to standardisation, english was inconsistent particularly with spelling (could have multiple spellings)

Question 46

discuss and explain at least 2 factors that led to the standardisation of english

Answer 46

-caxton’s printing press: invented in 1476, made texts easier to mass produce and for people to access
-dictionaries: mid 1700s - led to the codification language norms, which is a component of standardisation - established correct spellings etc

Question 47

discuss how the resurgence and broadening of singular gender-neutral pronouns and the lexical change occurring with them reflects societies and changing values

Answer 47

-society is becoming more accepting and inclusive of gender diverse people, and language can adapt fil the need for those new words
-move towards greater respect of individuals and their identity

Question 48

discuss how changing worldviews about topics are reflected in lexemes in 2024

Answer 48

-society is becoming more accepting of people and language should reflect that (not using slurs etc)
-referring to people in more inclusive ways (eg poc)