Language Change *

Question 1

LEXIS - TERMINOLOGY

Borrowing

Answer 1

Taking words from other languages

e.g. karaoke

Question 2

LEXIS - TERMINOLOGY

Affixation

Answer 2

Meaning ‘to listen’
Attaching parts of words to others to form a new one
e.g. microbiology, eco-warrior

Question 3

LEXIS - TERMINOLOGY

Compounds

Answer 3

Words formed from joining together two other words with or without a hyphen

e.g. laptop, see-through

Question 4

LEXIS - TERMINOLOGY

Initialism

Answer 4

A word made up of the first letters of a phrase, where the letters are individually pronounced

e.g. CD, FBI

Question 5

LEXIS - TERMINOLOGY

Neologism

Answer 5

The creation of completely new words

Question 6

LEXIS - TERMINOLOGY

Back-formation

Answer 6

Removal of part of a word

e.g. editor > edit

Question 7

LEXIS - TERMINOLOGY

Weakening

Answer 7

a word that loses the strength of its original meaning

e.g. word Gillian used to mean farm labourer

Question 8

LEXIS - TERMINOLOGY

Obselete

Answer 8

The opposite to coining (a new word) when a word seios being used

(Becomes archaic)

Question 9

LEXIS - TERMINOLOGY

Broadening

Answer 9

A word that means it’s original meaning but gains others

e.g. dogs currently refers to all types of dogs, it used to refer only to large dogs

Question 10

SEMANTICS - TERMINOLOGY

Narrowing

Answer 10

When the meaning of a particular word becomes more specific.

Question 11

SEMANTICS - TERMINOLOGY

Broadening

Answer 11

When a word takes on additional new meanings.

Question 12

SEMANTICS - TERMINOLOGY

Amelioration

Answer 12

When the meaning of a word becomes positive.

e.g. wicked now means great.

Question 13

SEMANTICS - TERMINOLOGY

Prejoration

Answer 13

When the meaning becomes less favourable/more negative.

e.g. hussy used to be a housewife

Question 14

SEMANTICS - TERMINOLOGY

Euphemism

Answer 14

An inoffensive way of describing something distasteful

Question 15

CONCEPTS AND ISSUES
STANDARDISATION

Prescriptivism

Answer 15

Prescribes how a language should be in order to be better or pure.
Draws its model of language from dictionaries and grammar books

Question 16

CONCEPTS AND ISSUES
STANDARDISATION

DESCRIPTIVISM

Answer 16

Describes the nature of language variations without judgement.
Uses criteria of standard/non-standard

Question 17

CONCEPTS AND ISSUES
ATTITUDES/IDEAS ON LANGUAGE CHANGE

Disintegration

Answer 17

The idea that the English language will disintegrate into a collection of related but Padgett separate dialects.

In 1978, Robert Burchfield, editor or the Oxford English Dictionary, predicted that within a few centuries the speakers of British and American English would be unable to understand each other.

Question 18

CONCEPTS AND ISSUES
ATTITUDES/IDEAS ON LANGUAGE CHANGE

Uniformity

Answer 18

The idea that a world standard English is emerging, with the different varieties of English growing closer together, as a result of the influence of increased communication and the media.

Question 19

CONCEPTS AND ISSUES
ATTITUDES/IDEAS ON LANGUAGE CHANGE

Bidialectalism

Answer 19

The ability to use two dialects of the same language, with people about to adapt their language to meet the needs of different situations.

A linguist that believes in this theory is David Crystal.

Question 20

CONCEPTS AND ISSUES

Informalisation

Answer 20

Informalisation has led to the increased use of slang, varied graphology and a more personal and colloquial tone.
It usually runs parallel with prescriptivism and standardisation; as such processes add a more formal and rigid structure to the English langauge

Question 21

CONTEXT

REASONS FOR LANGUAGE CHANGE

Answer 21

1) transport and communication (automobile, car, motorcar; phone, internet, text language)
2) trade, work and urbanisation (headcount for farmers)
3) globalisation/travel (borrow terms such as brand names and foods from other cultures/countries)
4) science and technology (mouse, tower, cookies)
5) politics (e.g. the rise and fall of the British empire led to foreign winds entering our language m. A highly important political change was the Norman invasion in 1066, which led to the use of french words and spellings)

Question 22

• POSSIBLE REASONS FOR LANGUAGE CHANGE

SOCIAL

Answer 22

1) fictional theory: Halliday - words enter and leave the lexicon as needed
2) lexical gap theory: new word of theory creates room for related words e.g. brexit = brexiteer, brexiting, anti-vaxer, anti-masker
3) Changing attitudes over time: prescriptivist/nationalist/ prestige or french derived words or Latinate/ standardisation
4) Changing social contexts: Suzanne romaine external language change
5) Political Correctness: Sapir-Whorf - reflectionism language, changes in response to our thoughts, awareness of race/gender

Question 23

• POSSIBLE REASONS FOR LANGUAGE CHANGE

TECHNOLOGY

Answer 23

1) Mass Printing (Caxton)
2) Social media/ instant messaging / online texts
3) Sharon Goodman - informalisaiton , process language once reserved for close personal relationships become used in wider contexts
4) Economisation - writing style has become more compressed over time to communicate more efficiently

5) Lexical gap theory - technology influences language change
twitter = tweets/tweeting

Question 24

1485-1603

The tutor period / renaissance

Answer 24

EARLY MODERN ENGLISH

Language features:

1) expanded vocabulary of green and Latin
2) spelling is not yet standardised
3) double negatives were used for emphasis

Context:

1) rise in nationalism, which linked to a desire for a more expressive language, Latin was preserved as the superior language
2) significant expansion of travel and trade in the new world, Europe and Asia

Question 25

17th CENTURY

Answer 25

Language features:

1) start of modern English
2) Shakespeare exploited English’s liberal grammatical rules. He converted nouns into verbs, adverbs and adjectives.
3) King James Bible was published in 1611

Context:

1) bible was influential as might be expected in Christian society
2) Shakespeare also hugely influential and coined around 2000 new words which we still used today (leapfrog, laughable, radiance)

Question 26

18TH CENTURY

Answer 26

Language features:

1) language gained a lot of prestige
2) there was a desire to standardise spelling and enforce rules (prescriptivism)

Context:

1) known as the age or reason as ideas of order and reason prevailed
2) Samuel Johnson dictionary was published in 1755
3) Lowths ‘a short introduction to English grammar’ was published in 1762 and used in all schools - further prescription of English rules

Question 27

19TH CENTURY

Answer 27

Language features:

1) overseas travel and trade led to many loan words being imported
2) sentence structures tend to remain long with multiple embedded clauses
3) stricter rules around grammar and syntax (such as the split infinitive)

Context:

1) industrial revolution
2) expansion of British empire
3) scientific discoveries
4) wider education
5) Webster published the ‘American dictionary of the English language’ in 1838

Question 28

20TH AND 21ST CENTURY

Answer 28

Language Features:

1) start of late modern English
2) influence of overseas firms grow - US and international English becomes dominant
3) computer technically (spellcheck) encourages standardisation of spelling which is now rigidly fixed
4) relaxation or grammatical rules as informalisation takes place
5) greater tolerance of regional accent
6) increasing Americanisation of language

Context:

1) compulsory education
2) technological/ digital revolution
3) more scientific discoveries
4) globalisation
5) media helps the vast and rapid spread of new slang and neologisms