External forces of change Flashcards
what external forces cause language change
culture & societal changes
Coinage/neologism
new words
Blending
beginning/1 word & the end of another joined together
e.g) Jeggings, Brunch, Brexit, frenemy
Compounding
2 words used together, joined by a hyphen or together to form 1 word
e.g) cyber-theft, stir-fry, plant-based diet, non-binary
Affixation
bound morphemes added to free morphemes
e.g) uneducated, encourage, disappoint
Borrowing
words from another language
e.g) Kimchi, Sushi, Baguette, Dim sum, Kebab etc.
Proprietary eponyms
when the brand name becomes the generic name
e.g) Uber, Tampax
Initialisms & acronyms
phrases abbreviated into initials
e.g) BTW, LOL, OMG, TGIF etc.
which semantic fields see a lot of change to reflect the changing world
1) technology- iPhone, Bluetooth (concrete nouns)
2) food- kimchi, sushi (concrete nouns)
3) fashion- jeggings, hoodie (concrete nouns)
4) politics- white feminism, Corbynism (ab noun)
example of internal issues & external forces overlapped
External force= after American War of Independence (1783) America demonstrated separate, superior identity through American English
Internal issue= Noah Webster simplified & regularised English spelling & now American English spellings the global standard
e.g) silent letters & unnecessary double letters were omitted color & traveler
Hallidays functional theory
language changes according to the needs of users
best explains lexical change to reflect changing world
what is political correctness
describes language that intends to avoid offence to marginalised groups
what happened through the 20th-21st centuries
civil rights & liberation movements formed & grew, therefore language changed to reflect resistance to pejorative language
examples of PC language gone too far but actually have little/no bias in reality
can’t say ‘happy Christmas or ‘black coffee’
what are objections to PC language seen as
an excuse for regressivism & bigotry (discrimination/prejudice)
what can be embedded in language
prejudice, inequality & discrimination
which groups have more demeaning words used about them
marginalised groups
e.g) sexually active women get called: slag, slut, whore
but men only get called: player, stud
what is semantic deterioration
when a meaning loses status or becomes more insulting & negative
examples of semantic deterioration
1) gay- euphemism for homosexual BUT has been used as ‘embarrassing’
2) special needs- used as insult
3) retard, moron, spastic- nouns which used to be medical terms
4) coloured people= offensive so replaced by ‘People of colour’
gender examples of semantic deterioration
1) gender-neutral nouns replace gendered nouns e.g) police man= police officer
2) gender-neutral pronouns ‘they’ instead of male pronouns
change happens b/c gendered marked terms are discriminatory & old-fashioned
Debate about PC language- what is language determinism
changing language will make society better & ppl less discriminatory b/c language DETERMINES HOW WE THINK
Debate about PC laguage- what is language reflectionism
LANGUAGE REFLECTS THOUGHT so just changing/banning some language won’t change discriminatory/prejudiced thoughts. Society needs to change & become fairer
what is the euphemism treadmill (argued by reflectionists)
1) when a neutral term becomes an insult b/c of the way ppl are discriminated against
2) a new neutral term is adopted BUT b/c marginalised ppl are still discriminated against it becomes an insult quickly
3) so words need to be constantly updated, leading to confusion, mistakes & unintentional offence
