Lamguage Change Flashcards
Technology
Internet etc. needing new lexis
Society
Cultural changes and shifts in attitudes requiring new lexis e.g political correctness
Foreign influence
E.g America through film or trade
What is prescriptivism
Want language to remain the same and refrain from change
Descriptivism
Accept language change is inevitable and accept change
Words from other languages were known as
Borrowings
What are borrowings?
Loans taken from foreign language e.g judge from French and opera from Latin
What is compounding
Two words are combined in thier entirety to make a new word e.g lap-top or Happy-hour
What is affixation
Adding affix (prefix or suffix) to an existing word - eg racism and sexism
Blending
Two words parts are moulded together to form a new word
E.g smog - smoke and fog
What is conversion?
Changing of word class e.g noun to verb - text was noun now verb of to text
Individuals?
Chaucer and Shakespeare
What is shortening
Clipping part of a word e.g Omnibus to ‘bus’ and Public House to ‘pub’
Acronym
Taking initial letters of words and making them into a combination of pronounceable as a new word
E.g NATO, NASA, AIDS, WAG
Initialism
Words abbreviated to initial letter e.g BBC FBI AND USA
Metaphorically
E.g cow means bitchy female
Idioms
Formed from existing words but assumed new meaning often as fixed frame forms
E.g In the dog house and Over the moon
Euphemism
Polite way of describing something unpleasant
‘Passed away’
Broadening
Example mouse used to just mean animal but now it’s a part of computer technology
Narrowing
E.g ‘meat’ meant all food now it’s just animal flesh
Amelioration
A word that has improved meaning over time
E.g pretty used to mean sly or cunning but now means beautiful
Peroration
Words meaning worsen over time e.g awful original meant worry of awe now means exceedingly bad’
Standardisation
Making all variations of language conform to the standard language
Mixed mode
Features of printed text combined with features expected in conversation
