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English (Language Diversity and Change) > LANGUAGE CHANGE AND WORLD ENGLISHES > Flashcards

LANGUAGE CHANGE AND WORLD ENGLISHES Flashcards

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Proverbs and Idioms flashcards
1
Q

What is th-fronting

A

Using the F instead of TH

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2
Q

What caused RP to tone down?

A

RP lost desirability with the rise of regional accents within celebrity culture and working class teens entering university.

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3
Q

What is the schwa

A

Increasingly used in present day English.
The a sound becomes uh eg. about - uhbout

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4
Q

What is uptalk

A

A declarative is said as a question by raising the intonation at the end of the statement.

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5
Q

What is assimilation

A

Difficult sounds close to each other become one simpler sound eg. hambag

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6
Q

what is ommission

A

when a sound is missed out

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7
Q

what is ease of articulation

A

making something easier to say through assimilation or ommission to make the labguage flow clearer and more fluently (innit)

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8
Q

What was the great vowel shift

A

Shift in pronunciation change
Long vowels were shortened

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9
Q

What caused the Great Vowel Shift

A

social mobility and social prestige: perhaps it became somewhat prestigious to speak with shortened vowels
mass immigration to the south east after the black death: contact with different accents

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10
Q

What is convergence

A

Changing how someone speaks to fit into an in-group

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11
Q

What is Divergence

A

when people deliberately choose not to mirror each other speaking styles 0 possibly to break away from an ingroup.

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12
Q

Upward Convergence

A

Moving Language closer to RP

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13
Q

Aitchinson reason for phonological change

A

One group influences another - a new accent emerges like we see with people in Kent speaking cockney slang

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14
Q

Example of (A persons) Phonological change

A

Thatcher
Once a working class girl from Lancaster to a shop owner dad, increasingly spoke in RP in line with the common accent in the Conservative party and an accent of power in the 80’s

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15
Q

Jonathan Swift - Theory

A

Prescriptivist
Thought English Language was in chaos and sought to fix it so he prescribed a letter to a gov minister.
he believed contractions are inelegant (Disturb’d) wished to correct the language
Criticises young sociolects
Disliked many polysyllabic words claiming they obscured meaning

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16
Q

Robert Lowth - Theory

A

Prescriptivist
First English Grammar book
Set out fundamental rules for ‘correct’ usage
Advocated Latin-based rules

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17
Q

John Humphrys - Theory (Daily Mail)

A

Prescriptivist
Article: ‘I H8 Txt Msgs’
Texters are…raping our vocabulary
Dislikes text speak e.g. brb
Dislikes unnecessary wording e.g. past history
Dislikes incorrect pronoun usage e.g. I versus me
Masks dyslexia and is unintelligent

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18
Q

Jean Aitchinson - Theory

A

Considers omission and assimilation natural occurrences in many languages
Devised three metaphors to describe peoples anxieties about a changing English language.
Damp Spoon (in a sugar bowl) - lang change is lazy
Crumbling Castle - Language is something that can be protected (There was never a golden age)
Infectious Disease - We catch language change from others. (Convergence)

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19
Q

Dr Samuel Johnson - Theory

A

Published first dictionary 1755
Larger and more thorough than other versions
Standardised spelling
Initially wanted to standardise spelling but found it impossible as it was always changing.
Prescriptivist (Turned desriptivist to an extent)

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20
Q

Cameron - Theory

A

says that prescriptivism shows people care about how our language is used
says fears about language change often symbolise fears about social problems
Descriptivist

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21
Q

Trudgill - Theory

A

language change is inevitable as society changes
the misuse of words or grammar does not affect the user’s meaning or the listener’s understanding
Descriptivist

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22
Q

Freeborn - Theory

A

regional accents are often judged by people’s attitudes:
‘the incorrectness view’ - all accents are incorrect/inferior compared to standard english
‘the ugliness view’ - the idea that some accents don’t sound nice, freeborn states this criticism is linked to stereotypes and negative social connotations
‘the impreciseness view’ - some accents are ‘lazy’ ‘sloppy’, freeborn says language isn’t lazy and such changes can be logical

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23
Q

Crystal - Theory

A

internet has increased rate of language change
against the idea that only the young use text-speech and that it’s ruining the English language
metaphor of a tide: language is always changing and disappearing

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24
Q

What is a lexical gap

A

When a word that could exist does not exist but may exist in other languages so new words or coined or borrowed
eg:
‘Hygge’ - a quality of cosiness and comfortable conviviality that engenders a feeling of contentment or well-being (Danish)
A word for a parent who loses a child (We have one for a child losing their parents)
‘rendezvous’ and ‘deja vu’ are borrowed from french to describe a concept

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25
Q

what is Random Fluctuation

A

Random mistakes and events lead to language change
eg:
- misspelling of ‘owned’ as ‘pwned’ common in online gaming community meaning a rival has been humiliated
- random events like COVID affect language e.g. furlough, herd immunity

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26
Q

What is a criticism of random fluctuation theory

A

does not give the whole picture of language change as it implies language change isn’t predictable and does not explain the majority

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27
Q

What is Substratum Theory

A
  • language changes through contact with other languages
  • in the past mainly due to trade and invasion but nowadays due to social networking and immigration
  • influence of american english on british english because of this
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28
Q

What is functional theory

A

Halliday - language changes and adapts according to the needs of its users
- suggests there is a certain logic to language change as changes reflect the socio-cultural climate we are living in
eg:
words disappear over time becoming archaisms as things change: ‘cassette’ replaced with ‘CD’ which may also fall out of usage and be replaced with ‘streaming’

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29
Q

What are loan words (Borrowing)

A

Influence of foreign words
8th- 11th century invasions from other countries: french (accompany, department, tax), Scandinavia (skirt, cog, skip)
16th - 17th century word from Latin and Greek writers: latin (benefit, temperature and prefixes sub and trans), greek (catastrophe, pneumonia and morphemes auto and pan)
18th-19th century colonised countries: malaysia (amok), india (shampoo, bungalow, bangle)
20th century immigration and world wars: china (wok)

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30
Q

How has technology changed language

A
  • words needed for hardware e.g. cat room, MSN, email, video call, TikTok, SMS
  • increased use of acronyms
  • word conversion e.g. text is no longer just a noun but also a verb
  • rise of tv and film exposed us to a range of regional, national and international dialects
  • political, economic, cultural influence of america
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31
Q

What is Streamlining and Efficiency

A

some believe the most important motivating force for language change is the creation of a more streamlined and efficient language
eg:
Assimilation
Omission
Neatening (Inconsistencies are repalced - plural of shoe used to be shooen. Now its shoes in line with standard forms)

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32
Q

How have Changes in Society and Societal Attitudes changed Language

A

1950s rise of youth culture: young people now seen as innovators of language use
increased acceptance and discussion around gender neutrality and trans people: ‘they’ pronouns, mx to replace mr mrs ms

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33
Q

How has Political correctness changed Language

A

increased use of euphemisms and politically correct terms
removing words and phrases that have negative connotations has had a major impact on language
eg:
old people - senior citizens
half-caste no longer used for people of mixed race
suffixes such as -ess or -ette no longer used e.g. actor is both male and female
However some may argue its gone too far: ‘Sanitiation Consultant’ Job title AKA Cleaner

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34
Q

What is the S Curve Model

A

Chen 1972
Users pick up a language change at a gradual rate before it accelerates and spreads into wider usage before slowing down again and stabilising.
innovators - Early adopters - Early Majority - Late Majority - Laggards

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35
Q

Who are the language innovators (S Curve)

A

tend to be teenagers/younger generation.
technology usage
gay community (Influenced by the African Americans)
celebrities also have great influence

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36
Q

What is the wave model

A

Geographical distance has an impact on language change spread - change weakens the further from the ‘epicentre’ you are. A person/group close to the epicentre of a language change will pick it up whereas others further away are less likely to

37
Q

Example of the Wave Model

A

Words adopted by multicultural youths in London are less likely to be taken up by white middle class speakers in Edinburgh (they’re distanced from the epicenter)

38
Q

Is the Wave Model an accurate representation of modern day language change?

A

Due to the influence of tv, media and influencers. American terms such as ‘trash’ are adopted but we are nowhere near America.

39
Q

What are Archaisms and Neologisms

A

Old words
New Words

40
Q

What is borrowing

A

words borrowed from other languages and then either anglicising (make them sound more english) them or retaining their original spelling or phonology
eg: gateau (French), bungalow (Hindi), hygge (Danish)

41
Q

What is compounding

A

Combinging words together to create new words
eg: thumb + print = thumbprint, tooth + brush = toothbrush, hand + held = handheld

42
Q

What is Blending

A

Words are shortened and joined together to form a new word
eg: smog, hangry, brunch, staycation

43
Q

What is affixation

A

adding Latin or Greek prefixes or suffixes to existing words e.g. greek ‘-hyper’
eg: disinterest, regift, selfless, hyperactive, hypersensitive

44
Q

What is conversion

A

word shifts from one word class to another, usually a noun to a verb
eg: text, google, network, facebook, oftsed-ed

45
Q

How has scientific advancement influenced language change

A

advances in medicine, science and technology cause new words and phrases to be coined
eg: chemotherapy (1907), in vitro fertilisation (1970s)

46
Q

What is clipping

A

when the shortened form of a word becomes the norm
eg: celeb, phone, gym, flu, deli

47
Q

What is an Acronym

A

first letters are taken from words to create a new term and pronounced as a single word
eg: NATO, AIDS, NASA, RAM

48
Q

What is an intialism

A

first letters are taken from words to create a new term and pronounced as each letter separately
eg: BBC, FBI, CD, MP3

49
Q

What is back formation

A

a verb is created from an existing noun by removing a suffix
eg: sculpt from sculptor, edit from editor

50
Q

What was the Inkhorn Controversy

A

Increased use of Latin and Greek words began to be criticised as pretentious and artificial
eg: Lexicon, Paradox, Skeleton, Tendon, Tibia

51
Q

What did Cheke say about Lang change (and a criticism)

A

‘I am of this opinion that our own tongue should be written cleanse and pure, unmixt and unmangeled with borrowing of other tongues’
Criticism:
No such thing as pure english. English is a mixture of many languages.
The word ‘pure’ derives from Latin

52
Q

What did Aitchinson say in ‘Words pour into English’

A

Words are continually coming into English
Words don’t necessarily stay forever
Words may fall out of use and die away
The solution to coping with the new words, buy a recent dictionary

53
Q

What is Linguistic Reflectionsim

A

our language reflects our thoughts (thoughts come first)

54
Q

What is Linguistic determinsim

A

our language determines and shapes our world view (language comes first)

55
Q

What is the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis

A

language influences thought. the argument is that to change attitudes we need to change language. language controls and determines the way we think

56
Q

Opposing argument of Sapir-Whorf

A

attitudes do not go away despite the word changing
e.g. words for disabled people constantly changed but will constantly be perjorated because as a society there is a negative view on disabled people

57
Q

Criticism of Sapir-Whorf

A

No way of proving whether language determines thought, or thought determines language although there are plenty of examples
Implies that those without language would not think - how do babies learn?
We can think about things we don’t know the words for - lexical gaps
What about multilingual people? Different views on the world?
What about people with severe autism who may not have the language, but have incredible powers of thought e.g. brilliant mathematicians?
What about cognitively challenged people whose language isn’t impaired?

58
Q

What is Neosemy

A

The process by which a new meaning of a word develops

59
Q

what is narrowing

A

The process by which a word narrows
eg: Meat used to mean all food

60
Q

What is Broadening

A

when the meaning of a word broadens
eg: Butcher used to mean slaughterer of goats

61
Q

Give an example of word weakening

A

Terrible used to mean complete devastation and destruction

62
Q

What is amelioration

A

A negative word becomes positive
eg: pretty used to mean cunning, nice used to mean foolish

63
Q

what is pejoration

A

A meaning becomes more negative
eg: notorious used to mean well known, hussy used to mean housewife

64
Q

what is functional shift

A

when a word class changes
eg: text from noun to a verb

65
Q

CASE STUDY
What was the Martha’s Vineyard study

A

William Labov
Found that the pronunciation of certain vowel sounds was subtly changing and shifting away from standard American pronunciation
Source of change - island’s fishermen
Labov believed that the inhabitants of Martha’s vineyard were speaking in this way to distance themselves from the ‘outsiders’ who holidayed on the island

66
Q

William Labov - conscious and Unconscious change

A

Change from Below (Unconscious change)
Change from Above (Conscious change)

67
Q

CASE STUDY
what was the Milton Keynes study

A

Kerswell and Williams
They found that children’s speech not only differed from their parents but also from older native inhabitants of the area
The children’s speech was closer to that of children in london
Estuary English - an accent that is spreading outwards across the country from London and the south-east
E.g. ‘waaw’ (wall), ‘cauwt’ (caught), ‘auwfuw’ (awful)

68
Q

Aitchinson’s stages of Phonological Change

A

Stage 1 - the speech of a particular social group differs in some way from the usual pronunciation of the area in which they live
Stage 2 - a second social group begins, possibly unconsciously, to imitate the speech of the first group
Stage 3 - the new pronunciation becomes established among the second group and is now part of their usual accent
Stage 4 - a third social group now begins to model itself on the second group and the process repeats itself

69
Q

CASE STUDY
MLE Fact File

A

it is a sociolect (youth dialect)
age related - does not discriminate between gender or race
Features:
- glottal stops
- ‘th’ as ‘f’
- ‘g’ dropping of words unding in ‘ng’ instead pronounced with ‘n’
- ‘ll’ as ‘w’ sound e.g. ball as baw
- h dropping on its way out, h tends to be pronounced in MLE
David Starkey: ‘The whites have become Black’

70
Q

What is Vocal Fry

A

A stretching out of the vocals at the end of a word, often used by young women

71
Q

What does Naomi Wolf say about Vocal Fry

A

destructing speech patterns means ‘disowning your power’
vocal fry makes young women sound ‘less competent, less trustworthy, less educated and less hireable’
it is difficult for young women to be heard or even responded to if they do not strengthen their voices

72
Q

Criticism of Naomi Wolf and vocal fry

A

Criticizing vocal fry is just another excuse not to listen to women
It it just the latest in a long history of finding excuses to not listen to women, especially young women
Claudine Herrmann’s The Tongue Snatchers - suggest language itself is constructed in a way that marginalizes women
We should not be criticizing the way women speak instead we should criticize the sexism and prejudice against them

73
Q

What is Kill The Apostophe’s beliefs

A

Rarely make a semantic difference
They are wasteful - businesses spend so much money on proofreaders
A tool of snobbery - people who imagine that nonstandard apostrophe usage represents a ‘falling of standards’ tend also to assume that means they can look down on people who don’t follow the rules
Current technology makes it time consuming to use theme e.g. text messaging
Don’t help communication and understanding
Birmigham and Cambridge have removed them from all road signs.

74
Q

Why SHOULD the apostrophe be abolished

A

It will avoid confusion over whether apostrophes should be used
The monarchy no longer own either Kings Heath of Kings Norton so arguably it is no longer grammatically correct to include the possessive apostrophe
The Plain English Society and the Plain Language Commission have said there is no rule in Britain regarding possessive apostrophes in place names

75
Q

Why SHOULDN’T the apostrophe be abolished

A

It is an example of ‘dumbing down’
Teachers trying to teach children correct grammar and punctuation so it doesn’t set a good example if they don’t see the use of possessive apostrophes in the real world
First step towards linguistic anarchy - is there any point in the use of other punctuation at all if apostrophes are abolished?

76
Q

When and What was Old English

A

Speech from Angles, Jutes and Anglo-Saxons
5th - 11th Century

77
Q

When and What was Middle English

A

Normand invaded. French became dominant.
11th - 15th Century

78
Q

When and What was Early Modern English

A

Growing pride and interest in english as a language, dictionary published and Claxtons printing press introduced, different word order
15th - 18th Century

79
Q

When and What was Modern English

A

increase in travel and british empire (loanwords), compulsory schooling, thous and thus started to die out, contractions more commonly used
18th - 20th Century

80
Q

When and What is Present day English

A

development and influence of media, technology and travel established english as a global language and coined new words/meanings
american english now influenced british english
fully standardised
20th Century onward

81
Q

What two languages were seen as more prestigious than English?

A

French and Laton
Due to the french invasion bringing lexis for the monarchy and the legal system

82
Q

How did The Black Death and the 100 Years War effect the english language?

A

The Black Death - churchmen killed so french and latin decreased
100 Years War - French became the enemy

83
Q

What was the Great Vowel Shift?

A

Transition of middle english to modern english. Vowels became shorter. Changing the ways words were pronounced e.g. leef became life, teem became time

84
Q

What contributed to a growing pride and interest in English as a language?

A

Shakespeare produced his work in English.
King James I made a new version of bible written in English
Scientists communicated in English

85
Q

Haugen’s Four Stage Process of Standardisation

A

Selection - This is the choice of a language variety for specific purposes. It is associated with official status or national roles in status planning.

Codification - This step is related to the stabilization of the norm selected. It is also related to the standardization process in corpus planning.

Elaboration - This step involves the expansion of language functions and the assignment of new codes, such as scientific and technical. It is also called language modernization by Fishman.

Implementation -This step involves the actions of government agencies, institutions, and writers in adopting and using the selected and codified norm. Adopted by mass media.

86
Q

Kachru’s Circles

A

inner, outer and expanding circle

87
Q

Kandiah theory

A

They said that the reason for the spread of English was due to colonisation, as a result English gained importance for the administration of the country; serving an official purpose in the country within law, education, and the government.

88
Q

David Crystal on World Englishes

A

They said that the reason for the spread of English wasn’t just colonisation, this explanation is too simplistic, instead it was because of power.

English (Language Diversity and Change) (7 decks)

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