Glossary Flashcards
Language change
Considering larger-scale public discourse about change and variety, drawing upon regional, ethnic, national and global Englishes.
Discourse
A stretch of language (spoken, written or multi-modal) considered in its context of use.
Etymology
The study of the origin of words and the way in which their meanings have changed throughout history.
Polygenesis
Languages developed all over the world at roughly the same time - this seems to account for all the different languages.
Monogenesis
Languages all originated in one place and split away from each other as speakers migrated away.
Diachronic change
Studying the historical development and evolution of language.
Synchronic change
Studying language change at a particular moment in time.
Top down change
When an elite or authority attempts to influence the development of something (in this case, language)
External factor
A factor to do with external forces. For example, the Norman conquest led to large amounts of Norman-French loan words.
Internal factors
A factor relating to the internal structure of the language system.
Borrowing
Incorporating words and phrases from another language.
Functional theory
The idea that language changes because society does.
Linguistic relativity
The idea that language shapes our thinking but does not completely control it.
Standardisation
The process under which a language develops a “standard” prestige variety.
Lexicographer
Compiler of a dictionary
Lexis
Words (plural of lexeme)
Coinage
Invention of a new word or phrase
Acronym
Word made up from initial letters and pronounced as a word e.g. SCUBA
Initialism
Word made up from initial letters and each is pronounced separately e.g. BBC
Clipping/truncation
Word produced by shortening an existing one e.g. edit
Back formation
Removal of imagined affix from an existing word e.g. editor - edit
Blend
Two words fusing together to make a new one e.g. smog
Conversion
A word changes its word class without a suffix.
Affixation
Addition of a bound morpheme (prefix or suffix)
Eponym
A name of a noun formed after a person.
Orthography
The study of the use of letters and symbols and the rules of spelling in a language.
Changes from above
Change that is usually initiated by those in a dominant social position of power and authority.
Usually in line with standard or correct forms of usage and linked to prestige forms of language.
Sometimes called conscious changes.
Changes from below
Usually driven by the users of language, developing or adapting language according to their own social need.
Often initially appearing in vernacular forms that many be introduced by any social class.
Sometimes called unconscious changes.
Neologisms
New words that enter our language (coinage)
Archaisms
When old words cease to be used anymore
Overt prestige
Refers to the status speakers get from using the most official and standard form of language. RP and standard English are accepted as the most prestigious English accent and dialect.
Covert prestige
Refers to the status speakers who choose to adopt a standard dialect get from a particular group within society.
Semantic change
When the meanings of words shift over time. The process whereby a new meaning develops for a word is called neosemy.
Orthography
The spelling and punctuation system of a language.
Grammarians
People who study and write about grammar (producing grammar rule books)
Grammatical change
Grammatical changes occur more slowly than lexical and semantic and can often be the source of anger and frustration, especially for older, more conservative speakers.
Declinism
A theory developed by Robert Lane Greene. The idea that language is declining and standards are slipping.
Sticklerism
The tendency to “correct” and criticise others’ language use whether it’s in need of correction or not.
Creole
Language that originated as a mixed language
Pidgin
A grammatically simplified means of communication between two or more groups that do not have a language in common
Patois
Speech or language that is considered non standard, although the term is not formally defined in linguistics
ENL
A native language; the primary language of the majority of a population of a country
ESL
A second language; an additional language for intranational as well as international communication in communities that are multilingual e.g. India
EFL
A foreign language; used almost exclusively for international communication
First diaspora - English transported to the ‘New World’
- Large-scale migration of native English speakers to North America, the Caribbean, South Africa and New Zealand
- English dialects developed
Second diaspora - English is transported to Asia and Africa
- Result of colonisation
- English became crucial in the language of the government, education and the law
- In West Africa, English spread as the result of the Slave trade
- Introduction of an English education system in India
- Japan and Korea - possibility of English as an official second language
Old English
- 5th century
- Before English, the language of Britain was Celtic
- English developed from the speech of the Angles, Jutes and Saxons
- Viking raids
- Vocabulary drawn from Anglo-Saxon and Old Norse
- English mainly phonetic
- Influence of Latin
- Different areas of settlement resulted in different dialects
Middle English
- 11th century
- Norman invasion
- French was the verbal language of the court and Latin remained important in written documentation, especially by the Church
- Significance of Chaucer writing in English instead of French at the end of the period
Early Modern English
- Caxton introduced the printing press from Europe, printing books in English and contributing to the establishment of a standard from of English
- Used a South East dialect as the basis for this new standard
- Pride in the English Language with many writers choosing to write in English e.g. Shakespeare, James I commissioned the Authorised Version of the Bible
Modern English
- 18th century
- English had grown at an incredible rate, with words borrowed from Latin, Greek and around the world
- Grammarians began to examine the structure and grammar of the language
- This led to them proposing correct ways of speaking and writing
Present day English
English has continued to develop and the influence of the media, technology and travel has helped to establish English as a global language
The Inkhorn Controversy
- During the 16th and 17th centuries, there was a growing pride in the mother tongue as a result of a return to English following many years of French rule
- Writers of the Renaissance began to coin new words or borrowing extensively from classical languages
- Those opposing inkhorn terms thought they were ‘corrupting’ the English language and that they were merely fashionable
- In The Arte of Rehtorique (1553) Thomas Wilson referred to ‘straunge ynkehorne termes’
Inkhorn terms
Foreign borrowing into English considered unnecessary or overly pretentious
The Great Vowel Shift
- Mid 14th to mid 18th century
- A gradual change in pronunciation where the production of long vowels was raised so that the position of the tongue moved closer to the roof of the mouth
