Language Change

Question 1

Diachronic change

Answer 1

language change over time

Question 2

Synchronic change

Answer 2

change in language at a specific point in time

Question 3

What did Ferdinand De Saussure say?

Answer 3

language is re-arranged and re-interpreted by people constantly

Question 4

What is the signifier vs signified?

Answer 4

Signifier - cat(Object)
Signified - furry(connotations)

Question 5

What is lexical diffusion?

Answer 5

a new word is created and its use increase

Question 6

What are borrowings?

Answer 6

Borrowed words

Question 7

Clippings

Answer 7

Shortening of words

Question 8

Conversion

Answer 8

Changing of word class

Question 9

Compounding

Answer 9

Joining two words, tooth-brush

Question 10

Blending

Answer 10

Mixing two words, brunch

Question 11

What is proprietary?

Answer 11

name of company becomes name of object, eg walkman

Question 12

Eponyms

Answer 12

Name of person who created it, becomes name of object, eg blairism, sandwich

Question 13

What is broadening?

Answer 13

Meaning of word is applied to more things, eg holy day to holiday

Question 14

What is narrowing?

Answer 14

Word is applied to less things, eg meat used to mean all food

Question 15

Amelioration?

Answer 15

meaning improves, eg wicked

Question 16

What is peroration?

Answer 16

meaning becomes worse

Question 17

What are the reasons for language change?

Answer 17

Travel, trade, colonisation, tech, political correctness, migration, globalisation

Question 18

Where does knowledge come in with the objectives?

Answer 18

AO4, knowledge in comparison

Question 19

What is affixation

Answer 19

new prefixes/suffixes added to existing words

Question 20

Initialisms

Answer 20

FBI, pronounced with letters

Question 21

Acronyms

Answer 21

NATO, pronounced as word

Question 22

What is Aitchison’s theory?

Answer 22

Damp spoon - language changes as people are lazy
Crumbling castle - language should be preserved but not rigid
Infectious disease- poor language spreads as people pick up language to fit in with certain social groups

Question 23

Peter Trudgil

Answer 23

language change is positive and changes in meaning don’t cause confusion

Question 24

Labov

Answer 24

90% of language is made by women

Question 25

Dennis Freeborn

Answer 25

Prescriptivist, all accents are incorrect compared to standard English

Question 26

Give the old English history in order

Answer 26

100 BC - celtic languages spoken Roman invasion - 3rd century German invasion - 5th century introducing German influence on English Vikings - 8th century Normans 1066

Question 27

What was the effect of the Norman Invasion?

Answer 27

French became dominant in court, church and among nobles, rest spoke english, over time though inflections disappeared when GVS occurred

Question 28

When did the GVS occur?

Answer 28

15th century

Question 29

Give history of middle english

Answer 29

GVS Caxton introduced printing press in 1476 1755 - dictionary 1762 - grammar book

Question 30

What was the effect of printing press?

Answer 30

texts were mass produced bringing about standardisation of punctuation and grammar

Question 31

Give examples of words Shakespeare coined.

Answer 31

excitement, courtship, outbreak and countless

Question 32

How much of English is latinate?

Answer 32

more than half, prefixes and suffixes come from Latin such as pre, post, al, ate

Question 33

Give history of modern English

Answer 33

19th century -industrial revolution, English borrowed words from across the world via rail travel. Estuary English was more commonly spoken and widespread Travel and colonisation