Language Change Flashcards
Neologism
New words or phrases
Can also be a new meaning for an existing word or phrase
Name for creating a neologism
Coining
Name 6 ways of coining a neologism
Compounding
Affixation (derivation)
Backformation
Blending
Clipping
Acronym
Compounding
Putting two complete words together
Girl + friend = girlfriend
Affixation (derivation)
Adding an affix (prefix or suffix) to a word
Im + possible = impossible
Backformation
Removing a part of a word that looks like (but actually isn’t) an affix
Edit -> editor
Blending
Putting the parts of two or more words together
Smoke + fog = smog
Clipping
Shortening a word
Gymnasium -> gym
Acronym
Making a pronounceable word from the initial litters of a phrase
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome-> AIDS
Semantic extension
When an existing word or phrase gets a new meaning but keeps its original meaning
Eg chill = cold but also relaxed
Semantic shift
When an existing word changes its meaning, the old meaning is lost
Eg gay meant happy but now means homosexual
Proper noun neologism
When something is named after a proper noun
Eg sandwich named after earl of sandwich
Nonce words
Created for one occasion
Eg supercallifragilisticexpialidocious
When do words stop being neologisms?
When they enter common usage
However hard to define what common usage is
As English doesn’t have an official standard dictionary
Covid language change
COVID-19 is a blend of ‘coronavirus’, ‘disease’ and ‘2019’
Quickly established to prevent racial associations- seen in monkey pox being renamed mpox
Led to increase in use of words like ‘furlough’ ‘social distancing’ ‘self isolating’ ‘lockdown’
Technology played a key role- ‘zoom’
Led to verb ‘zooming’ - used even when not talking about platform Zoom, just generic video call terminology
Eras of English
Old English - 5th century-12th century - Germanic language brought by Anglo Saxons
Middle English- 12th century-16th century - language of nobility French after Norman invasion
Early modern English- Shakespeare - standardisation began due to printing press - new words introduced by colonialism
Tree model
Different varieties of a language branch off
Assumes languages separate and stay separate
Wave model
Suggests language changes come from a central location and radiate out at different speeds with weakening intensity
Bailey (1973) believed the same but called it an earthquake model- tremors less likely to be felt further away from the epicentre
Criticised by Peter Trudgill (1974) as he argued many language changes spread through cities but miss rural areas
S curve model
Plots language change on a graph- time on x axis and frequency on y axis
Suggests language change begins slowly before spreading more rapidly and then slowing down again
Recognises social aspect of language change
Random fluctuation theory
Language change is not logical or ordered
Happens unpredictably through interaction with others
Charles Hockett (1958) suggests errors get passed on as part of this
Reasons for langauge change
R.L.Trask
Changes in the world- new inventions (television), foods from other cultures (latte, sushi), changes in society/globalisation (karaoke, kiosk)
Laziness?- shortenings that are easier to say or write (CD, phone, sitcom), common words more likely to be shortened (god be with you -> goodbye -> bye), adverbial ending -ly originally word ‘like’
Clarity- short words sometimes replaced by more substantial phrases for specificity
Politeness- euphemisms to avoid offence, identifying a woman by marital status impolite so alternative ’ms’ coined
Misunderstanding- goom fell out of use leading bridegoom hard to decipher so second half replaced by groom
Prestige- after Norman Conquest French viewed as prestigious so borrowings eg ballet, cafe
Structure- chin, child and cheese all originally started with ‘k’ but now easier to pronounce
Analogy- making irregular words more regular- past tense of work used to be wrought
Group identity- choosing covert prestige of a group over overt prestige of Standard English
Aitchisons theories
She is DESCRIPTIVIST
She takes prescriptivist views and mocks them
Damp spoon- some believe sloppiness and laziness cause language change, Aitchison says omissions speed up language and are unlikely to destroy the meaning- modern pronunciation of ‘butter’ with a glottal stop is actually harder to say
Crumbling castle- some believe the English language is a beautiful old language that should be preserved in tact, Aitchsion says this implies English reached a point of maximum perfection which didn’t happen and neatening up is normal
Infectious disease- some say we ‘catch’ changes so we should fight such diseases, Aitchisom says change is brought by social contact but people pick up changes because they want to so they fit in with social groups (both halves of Belfast who didn’t interact pronounced grass in the same way)
Examples of new words
Brexit- blend of ‘british’ and ‘exit’ used to describe Britain leaving EU
Rizz- clipping of charisma, used to describe someone who attracts other people
Woke- semantic extension, someone socially aware
David Crystal
Technology has always changed language eg printing press
Internet has changed language at faster rate than before- producing neologisms and new styles of communication (email, chat rooms)
Has modified language but most fundamentally the same eg no new verb endings
Sees as a positive change due to different ways of communicating
Pinker
Euphemistic treadmill
Words that were polite eventually become offensive
Eg Scope- originally named the national spastics society (a charity supporting people with cerebral palsy)- spastic, a once acceptable term, began being used as an insult forcing them to change their name
6 types of semantic shift
Amelioration- when a word takes on a more positive meaning eg priest - old man -> church leader
Pejoration- when a word takes on a more negative meaning eg cunning - clever -> deceitful
Strengthening- when a word takes on a more forceful meaning eg hilarity - calm joy -> hilarious
Weakening- when a word takes on a less forceful meaning eg soon - immediately -> in a short while
Broadening (generalisation)- when a word takes on a more general meaning eg place - a wide street -> any area
Narrowing(specialisation)- when a word takes on a more specific meaning eg wife - a woman -> a married woman
Euphemisms
More pleasant word/phrase used in place of an offensive or unpleasant word/phrase
Eg pornography>adult entertainment
IQ test results
Categories based on score included ‘moron’, ‘imbecile’ and idiot’ - medical terms
Kate Burridge
Euphemisms are necessary as they make it easier to convey potentially different information
All words have connotations attached so its impossible to say things neutrally
The more taboo a topic is, the more euphemisms it has
Most euphemisms become less effective over time as they become offensive themselves
Attempts at language reform
Anglish- a kind of english including native words rather than those borrowed from foreign languages eg ability (english) > skill (anglish), decide > choose
Cutspel- browser extension which reforms english spelling, changes traditional spelling to an improved one, created due to inconsistency in spelling in english, uses cutting and substitution rules to remove redundant letters from words eg knife > nife, photograph > fotograf
Noah Webster- published the first american dictionary, resulted in alterations in many spellings eg centre > center, plough > plow
Inkhorn debate- suggests words coined/loaned from existing roots are unneccessary or over pretentious eg dismiss, celebrate, commit, some were angry with all these new terms
Language control- dictionaries
Lead to standardisation eg Johnsons dictionary (the first english dictionary)
Language control- usage guides
Henry Fowler’s modern english usage is an example of a usage guide- written in 1926 but still updated now
Have lots of influence on professional writing
Language control- Académie Française
Official authority of French language
Publishes official French dictionary- huge influence on French language
Actively discourages borrowings from English
Language control- Kings english society
Aims to promote maintenance and clarity of the English language
Not been very successful
No official status
Language control- the media
Terms used by the media particularly in news reporting can often influence usage
Particularly true when neologisms are needed
Eg Brexit- quickly adopted by the media despite abbreviations not normally being used by the media, then entered public use
Language control- scientific organisations
Before 2004 tsumanis were incorrectly referred to as tidal waves but when the indian ocean tsunami hit on boxing day in 2004 the first reports were from scientific organisations who correctly referred to the event as a tsunami resulting in the word entering common usage
The world health organisation WHO is influential in naming diseases to prevent racial discrimination eg monkeypox renamed mpox, named covid varients letters of the greek alphabet
However the WHO failed to control the term ‘social distancing’ - preferred physical distancing but never took off
Language control- government organisations
In 2021 the UK government recommended using the term ‘ethnic minority’ rather than ‘BAME’ (black asian and minority ethnic)
Language control- companies
Brand names are often adapted even if not standard english eg iPhone written with lower case i, PowerPoint written in camel case
‘Google’ don’t like their name being used as a generic verb for searching something
‘hoover’ dont like their name being used for all vacuum cleaners
Apple popularised the word ‘app’ short for application, however prevent other companies calling their storefronts app stores
Reasons for language change
Geographic separation- when people more away from each other their language will diverge due to differing experiences
Imperfect learning- when children learn the wrong thing from adults and this becomes standardised
Economy- speakers tend to make their utterances as short and efficient as possible
Saphir whorf theory
Reflectionism- a person’s language reflect stheir way of thinking eg someone who uses racial slurs is racist
Conversely determinism is when people can be persuaded to accept a new way of thinking by using more acceptable terms
