History/Linguistics

Question 1

Great Vowel Shift

Answer 1

(Late Middle English-Modern English) Vowel phonemes that approximated to the patterns we use today; changed the way long vowels were pronounced. Long vowels came to be pronounced with the tongue higher in the mouth and the letter ‘e’ at the end of a word became silent.

Question 2

Phonology

Answer 2

Sound patterns of words and phrases (grammar)

Question 3

Old English

Answer 3

Northumbarian, Mercian, West Saxon (literary standard), and Kentish. Originally writen in runic characters but converted to Latin alphabet

Question 4

Middle English

Answer 4

Change with Norman Conquest in 1066. New French influence; adoption of 10,000 French words (related to law).

Question 5

Early Modern English

Answer 5

1500-1800 Influenced by Renaissance; introduction of inkhorn words by playwrights; Great Vowel Shift; printing of books helped create unity of language

Question 6

Late Modern English

Answer 6

1800-now Expansion of English vocabulary due to Industrial Revolution and technologies. Globalization brought new words into English

Question 7

Dialect

Answer 7

A variation of a language that is spoken by inhabitants of a particular geographic area. It can have its own grammar and vocabulary.

Question 8

Pidgin

Answer 8

Contact language made up of two or more languages. Related to business contact with native peoples. Small vocab and simple grammar.

Question 9

Creolization

Answer 9

When a simple code (like pidgin) continues to develop over time and acquires native speakers. New vocab is added to the code and it adopts new complicated linguistic principles until finally it has a complexity similar to other languages

Question 10

Linguistics

Answer 10

Systematic study of language in order to find general principles and structure that link human languages

Question 11

Morphology

Answer 11

Composition of words (grammar)

Question 12

Syntax

Answer 12

Composition of sentences (grammar)

Question 13

Phonetics

Answer 13

Properties of speech sounds and non-speech sounds

Question 14

Semantics

Answer 14

Meaning of words

Question 15

Pragmatics

Answer 15

Language usage in context

Question 16

Sociolinguistics

Answer 16

Language and society

Question 17

Grammar

Answer 17

Morphology, syntax, and phonology

Question 18

Atomistic

Answer 18

Linguistic approach that thought of language as a collection of speech sounds, words, and grammatical endings. Revolutionized by Saussure who found Structuralism

Question 19

Structuralism

Answer 19

Language as a system in which each element of sound and meaning is mainly defined by how it relates to other elements.

Question 20

Generative Grammar

Answer 20

Founded by Chomsky. Emphasizes that people share an innate and universal set of linguistic structures, which accounts for why young children can learn a new language so easily. People have a genetic predisposition to language.

Question 21

Universal Grammar

Answer 21

Developed by Chomsky. A set of principles that apply to all languages and are unconsciously accessible to every human language user. Includes the fundamental qualities shared by all languages. May be due to common aspects of human experience, common patterns of descent, or contact between cultures and the borrowing of languages.

Question 22

Transformational Grammar

Answer 22

Languages as having a shared deep structure and a variable surface structure