Language Change Flashcards by izzy quinn

What time period of language is between 450AD-1066

Old English

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What time period of language is between 1066-1485

Middle English

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What time period of language is between 1300-1500

The Great Vowel Shift

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What time period of language is between 1485-1603

Early Modern English

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What time period of language is the 1600s

Modern English

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What time period of language is the 1700s

The Age of Reason/ Modern English

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What time period of language is the 1800s

Industrial Revolution/ Modern English

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What time period of language is between 1900s-2000s

Late Modern English

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What influenced language during the Old English period

Written Language begins to develop from Latin
Anglo’s and saxon’s bring German dialects
INVASION

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What influenced language during the Middle English period

Inclusion of French to spelling- Norman invasion of 1066 
Reduction in Latin 
INVASION- French 
BLACK DEATH 
PRINTING PRESS

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When was William Caxtons printing press introduced

Middle English- 1475

Enabled beginnings of standardization

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What influenced language during the Great Vowel Shift

Latin back to being superior language
The Long ‘S’/vowels
Due to mass migration from north England to south because of black death, caused mixing of accents
TRANSPORT-migration

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What influenced language during the Early Modern period

Latin became important in Science and Maths
Spelling was not yet standardized
Use of interrogatives without the auxiliary (“think you i am handsome?”)
Expansion n travel
Due to the RENAISSANCE, rise in nationalism led to more expressive language (Latin)

TRANSPORT-travel

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What influenced language during the Modern period

Catholicism & scientific discoveries
Shakespeare experimented with language and coined around 2000 new words
1/2 population out of 3 1/2 million were literate (growth in education)
Spelling mainly standardized

RELIGION
SCIENCE

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What influenced language during the 18th c (Modern English)

Language gained a lot of prestige
Prescriptivism- standardisation
Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary 1755

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What influenced language during the 19th C (Modern English)

Overseas travel led to alot of loan words 
Expansion of British empier 
Scientific discoveries 
SCIENTIFIC 
TRANSPORT

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What influenced language during the Late Modern period

Influence from overseas
Computer technology-standardised spelling
relaxation of grammer

TECHNOLOGY
TRANSPORT- migration

When was Samuel Johnson’s dictionary

1755

What is Ammelioration

words become more prestige

What is a conditional clause

starts with “if”

What is coordinating clause

starts with “but”

What is deregration

word changes for the worse

What is pejoration

words gain a positive meaning

What is borrowing

taken from a foreign language

What is coining

inventing new words to describe new experiences

What is clipping

alters words by shortening them

What is compounding

Two words joined together

What is a prescriptivist view

No change with langauge

What is descriptivist

Langauge change

What theory suggests that language changes according to the needs of its user

Halliday's Functional Theory | New words arise because there is need to label new technology

What theory critiques prescriptive views

Jean Aitchison's Damp spoon- language has become lazy Crumbling castle- language should be preserved Infectious disease- bad habits spread

what is David Crystals language change theory

Tied Metaphor- Language flows and brings in new words and takes out old Natural process descriptive

What is Charles Hockett Random Fluctuation Theory

Random events and errors lead to language change

What are Suzanne Romaines 2 language change theories

Internal Changes- factors within language | External changes- changing social context, ideologies, technology, inventions

What theory highlights advertisement and marketing a s attempts to mimic speech (conversationalism)

Fairclough

What theory highlights political correctness as an important factor for change

Mackinnon- attitudes to language change are a driving force

What is negation

The use of double negatives used to be acceptable

What is an example of the 'be-ing construction- progressive

"what do you read my lord" would now be "what are you reading" the progressive imply instant action

What are the 4 stages of Haugens standardisation

Selection- language selected (usually prestigious) codification- reduction on variability of language (dictionary) Elaboration- language developed for a variety of purpose Implementation- Standardisation is implemented

What is the lexical gap theory

New words created due to a advancments in e.g technology meaning there is a group of words missing

What is economisation

Writing becoming more compressed over time