language change Flashcards
What is Weakening?
(Technological change)
When a word loses its force or strength over time
Example: “soon” used to mean immediately but now means at some point
What is an Idiom?
(Technological change)
A well known phrase
Example: “in the dog house”
What is an Euphemism?
(Technological change)
A mild or inoffensive way of describing something distasteful or unpleasant
Example: “he passed away” instead of “he died”
What is Political Correctness?
(Technological change)
Words or expressions that replace offensive/derogatory forms
Examples: “people with learning disabilities” instead of “mentally handicapped”
What are the 3 parts to Jean Aitchison’s theory?
(Technological change)
- Damp Spoon Syndrome
- Crumbling Castle View
- Infectious Disease Assumption
What is the Damp Spoon Syndrome?
(Technological change)
Language changes because people are lazy, like leaving a damp spoon in the sugar bowl, which is vulgar and in bad taste. This view presupposes that one type of language is inferior to another
What is the Crumbling Castle View?
(Technological change)
Language is like a beautiful castle that must be protected. However, language has never been at a pinnacle and a rigid system is not always better than a changing one
What is the Infectious Disease Assumption?
(Technological change)
Bad/poor language is caught like a disease from those around you and we should fight it; people pick up language changes because they want to, perhaps in order to fit in with certain social groups
Examples of Vowel Omission in textspeak
(Technological change)
pls, ppl, v, u
Examples of Homophonic Representation
(Technological change)
2L8, M8, D8, qt
Examples of Phonetic Spelling
(Technological change)
iluvu, ohmigod
Examples of Initialism
(Technological change)
lmk, ptmm, dwb
Examples of Acronyms
(Technological change)
lol, sal, pin, nasa, scuba
What is Variant Spelling?
(Technological change)
wot, wen, coz
What is Informalisation?
(Technological change)
An increased use of slang and a colloquial tone. Runs parallel with prescriptivist views and standardisation; such processes add a more formal and rigid structure to the English language
What is Reflectionism?
(Technological change)
Language reflects the society that produces it (fashion)
What is Functional Theory?
(Technological change)
Language changes because society does (need and function)
What is Declinism?
(Technological change)
Robert Lane Greene:
A perception that English is in an irreversible decline from a once great peak
What is the Complaint Tradition?
(Technological change)
Lesley Milroy:
The blame for decline and the trigger for complaints is often laid at the door of young people
What did Greene say to refuse the Complaint Tradition?
(Technological change)
Says the decline is an odd idea as literary levels are higher than they ever used to be
What is Disintegration?
(Technological change)
Due to varieties of English and the characteristics in each such as phonology and lexis, it is predicted that English speakers will not be able to understand each other due to countries own development. American and British English will differ so much that individuals can’t communicate. Singlish is already a variant of English
What is Uniformity?
(Technological change)
The language in the world is diminishing and the global spread of English is sometimes viewed as destructive. The language of minor races and cultures have disappeared, and in England the loss of regional dialect and vocabulary points to common variety of English. Potentially a creation of a world standard English
What is Bidialectalism?
(Technological change)
David Crystal: the ability to use dialects of the same language - a local variety in their own community and a more international variety when communicating with wider communities
What is Broadening (Generalisation)?
(Grammatical change)
This occurs when the meaning of a word broadens, so that it retains its old meaning but takes on an added meaning as well
Examples: “dog” originally referred to a particular breed of dog; it now includes all breeds
What is Narrowing (Specialisation)?
(Grammatical change)
The opposite of Broadening, here a word becomes more specific in its meaning
Examples: “meat” originally denoted food in general, not just animal flesh
What is Amelioration?
(Grammatical change)
This occurs when the change gives the word a meaning that is more pleasant or more positive
Examples: “pretty” once meant sly or cunning but now means attractive
What is Pejoration?
(Grammatical change)
This occurs when change in meaning is the opposite to Amelioration, becomes less favourable
Examples: “impertinent” once meant irrelevant but now means rude
What Orthographical changes in the C18th?
(Grammatical change)
Spelling had already gone through some standardisation from Old English onwards. Caxton’s introduction of the printing press to England in the C15th increased standardisation across England as more people were having access to the written word, rules became sensible to ensure clearer communication
Why was the elongated ‘S’ replaced by a short ‘s’ and what was its use?
(Grammatical change)
Was used up until the 18th century in the middle of words and at the beginning - however it was replaced by a small ‘s’ as it didn’t have a phonological feature and the phoneme didn’t need a different grapheme, in addition to that it was a difficult feature within the printing presses
What is Coinage/Neologism?
Refers to the creation of new words that are completely new and not derived in any way from other words
What was The Great Vowel Shift?
Was a major change in pronunciation of the English language that took place in the south of England between 1450 and 1750. It was studied by Otto Jesperson (1860-1943), a Danish linguist and Anglicist, who coined the term
What was a theorised reason for The Great Vowel Shift?
Due to mass migration to the southeast parts of England after the Black Death - difference in accents led to certain groups modifying their speech to allow for a standard pronunciation of vowel sounds
What were the two tier system?
(Normans)
What was The Statute of Pleadings and why did it happen?
A shift in the English language - English wasn’t a widely spoken language during 1100-1450 with French and Latin being more widely spoken. However, French started to lose its prestige and English was the deemed the language to be spoken within courts as the lower class (who spoke English) wouldn’t have been able to defend themselves due to lack of understanding
What are the four language change periods?
- Old English: 400-1150
- Middle English: 1150-1450
- Early Modern English: 1450-1700
- Late Modern English: 1700-present
What is Borrowing?
(Old English)
When words from another country/language enter our vocabulary, this is a consequence of cultural contrast between two language communities
