language change

Question 1

what is neologism?

Answer 1

new words

Question 2

what is coinage?

Answer 2

the way in which new words are formed

Question 3

what is blending?

Answer 3

two words are mixed together

eg ‘sitcom’ ‘brunch’ ‘clicktivism’ (from online activism) ‘frenemy’

Question 4

what is a compound?

Answer 4

two words are brought together

eg ‘skateboard’ ‘crowdsourcing’

Question 5

what is borrowing?

Answer 5

take words from other languages

eg ‘safari’ from Arabic, ‘lemon’ from Arabic, ‘futon’ from Japanese, ‘cafe’ from french

Question 6

what is clipping?

Answer 6

shorten a word

eg ‘app’ , ‘clerk’ from the word cleric from clergy, ‘ad’

Question 7

what is an eponym?

Answer 7

word named after the creator

eg ‘sandwich’ from the Earl of Sandwich, ‘cardigan’ from the Earl of Cardigan

Question 8

what is affixation?

Answer 8

adding prefixes or suffixes

eg ‘hyperactive’, ‘intergalactic’ , ‘megamix’

Question 9

what is an acronym?

Answer 9

the first letter of each word in a phrase is taken to create a new word

eg ‘DOB’ ‘FOMO’ ‘LOL’

Question 10

what is initalism?

Answer 10

taking the initials of the words in a phrase

eg ‘GCSE’, ‘BBC’ ‘Ofsted’ (from the Office of Standards in Education’)

Question 11

what is back formation?

Answer 11

removing suffixes to create a new word, sometimes adding an alternative suffix

eg ‘vaccinate’ , ‘personify’ , ‘edit’ (from the word ‘editor’)

Question 12

what are descriptivisits?

Answer 12

are in favour of language change

think we do not have control of language and we can’t stop it from changing

love to study how language changes as it gives us an insight into how society works

Question 13

what are presciptivists?

Answer 13

don’t like the change in language, and want to try and stop it. they value language eg lexis, and fear misunderstanding.

Question 14

(stages of…)

what did Jean Atchinson do?

pidc

Answer 14

identified four stages of lang change:

• potential (reason for new piece of lang)
• implementation (usually begun by small group)
• diffusion - spreads to wider use
• codification (it becomes formalised)

Question 15

what is Halliday’s Functional Theory?

Answer 15

language changes bc we need it to

as things are invented or discovered we need new words to label these developments eg ‘vaccine’ ‘refrigerator’ ‘DNA’

society changes and lang has to change to reflect who we are eg maternity leave - paternity leave - parental leave - family leave

changing communication technology means we need lang to work in different ways eg ‘Esteemed sir’ - ‘My dear sir’ - ‘Dear Mr Smith’ - ‘Hi Mr Smith’

Question 16

what is Paul Postal’s Random Fluctuation Theory?

Answer 16

lots of lang change can’t be controlled or standardised bc it happens randomly and is unpredictable

social media has been very important to addition of new words due to random fluctuation. Eg 2002 - one person used ‘selfie’ and it then unpredictably became extremely popular very quickly

similarly, ‘photobomb’ was used on socials in 2008 + had same effect

Question 17

what is Hockett’s Random Fluctuation by Errors theory?

Answer 17

found that change is random but it can be caused by errors

eg word ‘apron’ was originally introduced from French as ‘napron’ but people heard ‘a napron’ as ‘an apron’ and the mistake became the most commonly used version

autocorrection lead to mistakes being used deliberately, such as ‘book’ - ‘cool’ and ‘teh’ for ‘the’

Question 18

what is the Substratum Theory?

Answer 18

we can’t link this to any one theorist bc there are so many different types, but all the research for this aspect of lang change shows that changes can occur through contact w/ lang of other, often marginalised groups outside the broad lang community

English speakers used borrowed words from foreign langs, as if they are a natural part of our vocab eg ‘pyjamas’ and ‘shampoo’ from Hindi

‘Woke’ was popularised by members of the Civil Rights movement in the 1950s and 60s America as part of political campaigns

‘throw shade’ began its life in a Jane Austen novel in 1814 but its new slang meaning was created by the gay community in 1980s NY

‘chutzpah’ and ‘klutz’ come from communities of Jewish immigrants who settled in NY from EU in early 1930s

Question 19

what did Gretchen McCulloch do?

Answer 19

her book ‘Because Internet’ explains how internet changed all aspects of lang usages

Question 20

what did Sharon Goodman do?

Answer 20

informalisation theory

her research shows how the increased blending of modes has increase informality in most language contexts, even legal ones

Question 21

what is Bailey’s Wave Model?

Answer 21

a new aspect of lang happens in one place and spreads out from there with those further away less likely to pick it up. The immediate ripple is strong and as further ripples happen they become weaker and slower. this can involve geography, time, social grp etc. eg ‘#earthhour’, ‘slob’

Question 22

what is Chen’s S-Curve Model?

Answer 22

this suggests that once an aspect of lang is introduced, the initial growth is slow and limited to a smaller grp of people, then its use extends and builds up speed, then gradually reaches a plateau and slows down again eg ‘woke’

Question 23

what is Crystal’s Tide Metaphor?

Answer 23

lang is like a tide and change is natural and essential. Just as some things can be ;eft on a beach by the tide, some aspects of lang change remain for longer while others are swept away. What gets swept away can always be brought back by another tide

eg carbon copy/CC, troll

Question 24

what is McKinnon’s Polarised Views Theory?

Answer 24

language is seen as either:

• correct or incorrect
• pleasant or ugly
• acceptable or unacceptable
• useful or useless

Question 25

what is OE?

Answer 25

Old English

Question 26

what is ME?

Answer 26

Middle English

Question 27

what is EMnE?

Answer 27

Early Modern English

Question 28

what is ModE?

Answer 28

Modern English

Question 29

what is LME?

Answer 29

Late Modern English

Question 30

what does diachronic mean?

Answer 30

over time

Question 31

what does synchronic mean?

Answer 31

at the same time

Question 32

what are the driving forces of language change?

Answer 32

movement of people
technological change
war/crises
politics
youth culture
expressiveness

Question 33

what are the driving forces of language change according to Deutscher?

Answer 33

language changes for what he terms reasons of economy
and analogy:

Economy – the tendency to save effort – e.g. shortening words, and
using ellipsis to remove unnecessary grammatical elements and to
take shortcuts in pronunciation.

Analogy – the tendency to regularise language use. When new words
are formed they follow standard morphological patterns.

Question 34

how has the English language been standardized over time?

Answer 34

gradual process beginning in 14th century:

Clacton’s printing press selected east-Midlands dialect

King James’ Bible

Lexicographers of 17th century

increased access to education, widespread literacy

changes in communication eg the BBC

Question 35

how is language standardised according to Haugen (1996)?

seci

Answer 35

Selection – the selection of East midlands dialect as standard was linked to the area’s power particularly key universities, cathedrals and the capital itself.

Elaboration – the elaboration of SE involved using this prestige form in a increasing
range of functions and roles: Government, science and education.

Codification – the establishing of rules of spelling, drawing up of definition of word
meanings and agreeing norms of grammar use.

Implementation – is then required to control and maintain it. The promotion of SE as the prestige form was built up through the publications of books, pamphlets, newspapers. 18th century grammarians put forward ideas of English and these have been influential on many modern-day prescriptivists.

Question 36

what was Milroy and Milroy’s 1985 theory on standardisation?

Answer 36

standardisation is an ongoing process and an ideological struggle. The choices made about which language is selected within institutions and systems of power, and the means by which they are spread and accessed, represent hegemonic power

Question 37

what was Sharon Goodman’s 1996 theory?

Answer 37

as language has developed over generations it has become more informal– even in contexts usually considered to be formal or that require formal language.

Texts no longer rely solely on words. They use devices from more than one semiotic code simultaneously.

Professional encounters are becoming increasingly ‘conversationalised’.

Question 38

Gretchen McCulloch’s theory?

Answer 38

the internet has influenced all aspects of language

we now receive more communication through images and need far fewer words.

fonts, emojis and writing in spoken style add to our ability to interpret online texts more accurately

Question 39

what is political correctness?

Answer 39

some have referred to the policing and replacement of apparently offensive language as ‘political correctness’, but this has picked up pejorative connotations as it is often misused, sometimes deliberately.

A more positive term for PC is ‘language reform’.

Question 40

what is reflectionism?

Answer 40

suggests that language simply reflects the needs, views and opinions of its user

Question 41

what is determinism

Answer 41

(associated with the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis)

maintains that language controls our perceptions of reality - -influencing us to thinking certain ways. thus, to change attitudes, we need to change language

Question 42

what is linguistic relativity?

Answer 42

less absolute version of determinism

language exerts a powerful influence on the way we think and behave

Question 43

what did David Crystal say about Language Change in 2011?

Answer 43

All living languages change. They have to. Languages have no existence except for the people that use them. And because people are changing all the time, their language changes too, to keep up with them

Question 44

what are lexical gaps?

Answer 44

tries to see how language might change in future. the ‘gaps’ are words not currently used in English, but fit into existing language patterns

eg pap pip pop and pop all had meanings going into the 20th century, but pep didn’t. eventually though, it did,as an abbreviation of pepper to describe having a lot of energy.

Question 45

Substratum Theory - Einer Haugen

Answer 45

Linguistic change is due to the influence of substratum, or less prestigious
language forms.

Focus here is on the influence of other languages on English. It emphasises the way words, meanings, structures, written forms or sound may change the shape of English. Think of the
influence of invasions on Old English, for example. But it’s still happening – English is global.

Question 46

Substratum Theory - William Labov

Answer 46

Linguist William Labov noticed the influence of Yiddish in New York City.

Yiddish speakers in the Jewish community hypercorrected (adopted an “incorrect” pronunciation)
their use of English. Their pronunciations of door (do-er) and coffee (caw-fee), for example, are recognisable in the New York accent today

Question 47

what was jean aitchison’s crumbling castle metaphor?

Answer 47

said that descriptivists think the english language is like a beautiful stately home that should be preserved

her criticism is that language can constantly change so when was language ‘perfect’

Question 48

what is jean aitchison’s damp spoon metaphor

Answer 48

the view that new forms of language arise from sheer laziness

her criticism of this is that only drunken speech is lazy, all else is efficient

Question 49

what is jean aitchison’s infectious disease metaphor

Answer 49

the view that changes in language are contagious

her criticism of this is that there is free will in a persons language use and choice (link to performativity theorists such as butler and sharma)