language change

Question 1

What is Weakening?

(Technological change)

Answer 1

When a word loses its force or strength over time

Example: “soon” used to mean immediately but now means at some point

Question 2

What is an Idiom?

(Technological change)

Answer 2

A well known phrase

Example: “in the dog house”

Question 3

What is an Euphemism?

(Technological change)

Answer 3

A mild or inoffensive way of describing something distasteful or unpleasant

Example: “he passed away” instead of “he died”

Question 4

What is Political Correctness?

(Technological change)

Answer 4

Words or expressions that replace offensive/derogatory forms

Examples: “people with learning disabilities” instead of “mentally handicapped”

Question 5

What are the 3 parts to Jean Aitchison’s theory?

(Technological change)

Answer 5

1. Damp Spoon Syndrome
2. Crumbling Castle View
3. Infectious Disease Assumption

Question 6

What is the Damp Spoon Syndrome?

(Technological change)

Answer 6

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

Question 7

What is the Crumbling Castle View?

(Technological change)

Answer 7

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

Question 8

What is the Infectious Disease Assumption?

(Technological change)

Answer 8

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

Question 9

Examples of Vowel Omission in textspeak

(Technological change)

Answer 9

pls, ppl, v, u

Question 10

Examples of Homophonic Representation

(Technological change)

Answer 10

2L8, M8, D8, qt

Question 11

Examples of Phonetic Spelling

(Technological change)

Answer 11

iluvu, ohmigod

Question 12

Examples of Initialism

(Technological change)

Answer 12

lmk, ptmm, dwb

Question 13

Examples of Acronyms

(Technological change)

Answer 13

lol, sal, pin, nasa, scuba

Question 14

What is Variant Spelling?

(Technological change)

Answer 14

wot, wen, coz

Question 15

What is Informalisation?

(Technological change)

Answer 15

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

Question 16

What is Reflectionism?

(Technological change)

Answer 16

Language reflects the society that produces it (fashion)

Question 17

What is Functional Theory?

(Technological change)

Answer 17

Language changes because society does (need and function)

Question 18

What is Declinism?

(Technological change)

Answer 18

Robert Lane Greene:

A perception that English is in an irreversible decline from a once great peak

Question 19

What is the Complaint Tradition?

(Technological change)

Answer 19

Lesley Milroy:

The blame for decline and the trigger for complaints is often laid at the door of young people

Question 20

What did Greene say to refuse the Complaint Tradition?

(Technological change)

Answer 20

Says the decline is an odd idea as literary levels are higher than they ever used to be

Question 21

What is Disintegration?

(Technological change)

Answer 21

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

Question 22

What is Uniformity?

(Technological change)

Answer 22

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

Question 23

What is Bidialectalism?

(Technological change)

Answer 23

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

Question 24

What is Broadening (Generalisation)?

(Grammatical change)

Answer 24

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

Question 25

What is Narrowing (Specialisation)?

(Grammatical change)

Answer 25

The opposite of Broadening, here a word becomes more specific in its meaning

Examples: “meat” originally denoted food in general, not just animal flesh

Question 26

What is Amelioration?

(Grammatical change)

Answer 26

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

Question 27

What is Pejoration?

(Grammatical change)

Answer 27

This occurs when change in meaning is the opposite to Amelioration, becomes less favourable

Examples: “impertinent” once meant irrelevant but now means rude

Question 28

What Orthographical changes in the C18th?

(Grammatical change)

Answer 28

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

Question 29

Why was the elongated ‘S’ replaced by a short ‘s’ and what was its use?

(Grammatical change)

Answer 29

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

Question 30

What is Coinage/Neologism?

Answer 30

Refers to the creation of new words that are completely new and not derived in any way from other words

Question 31

What was The Great Vowel Shift?

Answer 31

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

Question 32

What was a theorised reason for The Great Vowel Shift?

Answer 32

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

Question 33

What were the two tier system?

(Normans)

Question 34

What was The Statute of Pleadings and why did it happen?

Answer 34

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

Question 35

What are the four language change periods?

Answer 35

1. Old English: 400-1150
2. Middle English: 1150-1450
3. Early Modern English: 1450-1700
4. Late Modern English: 1700-present

Question 36

What is Borrowing?

(Old English)

Answer 36

When words from another country/language enter our vocabulary, this is a consequence of cultural contrast between two language communities