Language Change Flashcards
What is a word that has died out?
Archaisms
What is a word that is not used as much as it used to?
Dated Lexis
What is a new word?
Neologisms
What is the process where words are invented?
Coining
What is an example of coining?
‘Haagen Dasz”
What’s the process where new words are made up of two or more existing words?
Compounding
What are examples of compounding?
“Whiteboard” “Housewife” “Catfish” “Keyboard”
What’s the process where new words are mixed together to create a word?
Blending
What are examples of blending?
“Spork” “Brunch” “Motel” “Smog” “Helipad”
What is the process where new words are formed from parts of existing words?
Clipping
What are examples of clipping?
“Rehab” “Ref” “Pro” “Rhino” “Uni”
What is the process where new words are formed from the initial letters of other words?
Acronyms and initialisms
What are examples of acronyms and initialisms?
“HIV” “AIDS”
What is the process where new words are formed by adding a prefix or suffix to an existing word?
Affixation
What are examples of Affixation?
“Asexual” “Atheist” “Supermarket” “Crackhead” “Petrolhead”
What is the process where words from foreign languages are used in English?
Borrowing
What is the process where proper nouns are used to name discoveries/inventions or brand names becoming generic?
Eponyms
What are examples of eponyms?
“Sharpie” “Hoover” “Coke” “Lego” “Tom-Tom”
What is the process where words meanings change from one meaning to another called?
Semantic shift
What is an example of semantic shift?
“Gay”- meaning went from “colourful” to “happy” and now to “homosexual”
What is the process where a words meaning used to mean a bad thing and now means a good thing?
Amelioration
What are examples of amelioration?
“Boy” used to mean servant, now refers to a male child.
“Nice” used to mean foolish, now means pleasant.
“Naughty” used to mean evil, now means a disobedient child.
What is the process where words used to mean a good thing and now means a bad thing?
Perjoration
What are examples of perjoration?
“Notorious” used to mean worth paying attention to, now it means famous for bad reasons.
What is the process where a word’s meaning becomes more specific or restricted?
Semantic narrowing
What are examples of semantic narrowing?
“Meat” used to mean all food. Now it just means flesh derived from an animal.
What is the process where a word’s meaning changes to be less specific or restricted?
Semantic broadening
What are examples of semantic broadening?
“Troll” used to mean a mythological creature, now it is someone who bullies on the internet.
What is the process where prepositions frequently change their meanings?
Prepositional drift
What is an example of preposition drift?
“A game AT chess” rather than “a game OF chess”
What is an example of borrowing?
“Ketchup” (China)
“Barbecue” (Caribbean)
“Safari” (Arabic)
What is syntax change?
The changes in the order that words and phrases come in
What does modern syntax look like?
Subject-Verb-(Object-Adverbial-Complement)
Main Clause-Subordinate Clause
Adjective-Noun
Negator-Verb
What is displacement?
When the order of a word in a sentence is unusual
What is an example of displaced adjectives?
“I saw the leaders great and good”. In contemporary English, we would say “I saw the great and good leaders.”
What is an example of a displaced complement?
“Strong was he” In contemporary English, we would say “He was strong.”
What is a displaced negator?
In Contemporary English, negators tend to come before the verb they’re negating. In older texts, they often come afterwards.
What is an example of a displaced negator?
“She likes it not.” In contemporary English, we tend to say “She does not like it.
What is inversion?
If two words have been swapped over. “The X and Y are inverted.”
What is an example of inversion?
“said he.”” In contemporary English, we would say “he said.”
What are median adverbials?
Adverbials in contemporary English are usually placed at the start or the end of a sentence. They’re rarely found in the middle of a sentence. Sometimes we use them in contemporary English.
What is an example of a median adverbial?
“I for you shall do this.” In contemporary English, we would say “I shall do this for you.”
