Language Change Flashcards
What countries did English come from
Holland and Germany
What were the names of the tribes that brought English
Angles, Saxons, jutes and frisians
How was Latin brought to Anglo- Saxon churches
Through teaching of Christianity
What is the reason for many accents and dialect differences between northern and southern England
The division of land for the vikings
What is Middle English
Between 1100-1500
Social and political change in language
Features of Middle English
Verb construction different to SE (as nyght was come)
Lengthy syntax
Archaic letters
Spelling different to SE
<i> replaced by <y> grapheme
Archaism’s (wenden)</y></i>
When did standardisation occur
15th century
What increases people pride to use English
Increased power in trading nations and military successes
Why was increasing availability in print media important
It made it important to have a standard English that could be understood by all regions (standardisation)
Caxtons eggs
‘Egg’ in north
‘Eyren’ in south
Used dialect of the London educated class for his printing press to form the standard English
Haugens 4 stage process of standardisation
Selection- variety selected
Codification- established as normal language
Elaboration- selected language is developed for a variety of purposes
Implementation- standardisation is implemented
Prescriptive views that language should be preserved and fixed
Swifts proposals for a language academy
Johnson’s dictionary
Work of grammarians such as bishop lowth
Jean Aitchison’s metaphors for peoples anxieties towards language change
Damp spoon- caused by laziness
Crumbling castle- needs preserving
Infectious disease- language forms are a virus we catch from others
When was Early Modern English
1500-1650
Does English still borrow words from other languages
English is more of a donor of new words rather than borrower
Borrowed words
Scandinavia- give,take,hit,leg,sky
Close contact does not inevitably lead to borrowing
Johnson’s dictionary
Johnson published a dictionary which became the work of reference for 150 years before the Oxford dictionary
Originally wanted to ‘fix’ language however became a descriptivist during writing
Semantic change: what is neosemy
The process whereby a new meaning develops from an existing word e.g fond originally was silly but now is to like something
What is amelioration
When a word takes on a more positive meaning over time e.g sick
What is pejoration
When a word takes on a more negative meaning over time e.g awful
What is weakening
When a word looses force over time e.g naughty
What is broadening
When a word takes on a broader meaning over time e.g dog
What is narrowing
When a word becomes more specific in meaning over time e.g wife
Who was Noah Webster
Spelling reformist in America who wanted American English to be equal to British English
What graphological changes have occurred over time
Before the 10th century the ‘u’ was used by ‘v’
Before the 15th century the ‘j’ was used by ‘i’
Before 1800 printers used two lower case forms of long ‘s’ and short ‘s’
World English- why do some countries have their first language as English?
Happened In countries were there has been extensive settlement of speakers of English as a first language
Countries that have English as a first language
America
Countries that have English as a second language
India
Why do some countries have English as a second language
This happened in countries where there has been substantial trade with first language English speakers
Variations of English as a second language
High social level is spoken similar to SE
In many countries this is becoming stigmatised as younger speakers claim the language for themselves and cut ties with the colonial roots of the language
Lexis of English as second language
Likely to incorporate terms from indigenous languages to reflect culture (Indian English)
Example of Indian English
Face- cut (shape)
Chaste (good)
Yaar (mate)
Examples of World English
Peelhead= bald headed (Jamaican English)
Bushmeat= game (west African English)
Key- bunch= bunch of keys (Indian English)
Basket- woman= coarsely behaved woman (Lanka English)
What was the language before English (history)
Celtic language
What is beowulf
A piece of old English high has helped to understand the old English
Ends from old English
-hill
-ham
-end
-ton
-wick
King James Bible
Responsible for many idioms
Archaisms
Punctuation in Middle English
Full stops not always expected
Colons and semi colons became featured to separate clauses
Capital letters were thought to be important
Kachru’s three circles of English
Inner circle- UK, USA, AU, NZ
(Norm providing variety)
outer circle- India, Nigeria, Pakistan
(Norm developing, own varieties become developed)
Expanding circle- China, Russia, Japan
(Norm dependent, used for practical purposes)
Criticisms if kachrus three circles of English
The rise of the internet has blurred the distinction between English users
Doesn’t address diversity
Doesn’t take into account the grey areas between the circles
Features of ELF
drop 3rd person present simple -s
Omission or insertion of definite or indefinite articles
‘Isn’t it?’ ‘No?’ Tag questions
Frequent verbs of high semantic generality ‘do’ ‘have’
Explicit statements ‘black colour’
Schneider dynamic model of post colonial Englishes
Phase 1: foundation
English is brought to a territory by a colonising power leading to an emerging bilingualism
Phase 2 exonormative stabilisation
An ‘elite’ bilingualism spreads, led by the politically dominant power
Phase 3 nativisation
Bilingual speakers forge a new variety of English as ties with settlers country of origin weaken
Phase 4 endonormative stabilisation
A new linguistic norn is established and codified
Singaporean basilect (shingling)- generalised ‘is it’ tag questions
Consistent deletion
Stage 5 differentiation
Varieties emerge leading to internal diversity
