Language Change Master

Question 1

Explain what ‘lexical change’ is

Answer 1

Lexical change is when lexis (words) change

Question 2

Define the term ‘archaism’

Answer 2

Words that are dead and no longer in use eg ‘zwoonds’

Question 3

Explain what ‘dated lexis’ is

Answer 3

Words that are old fashioned and rarely in use, but not dead yet. e.g. gramophone

Question 4

Explain what a ‘neologism is’

Answer 4

A neologism is a newly created word e.g. bingewatch

Question 5

Explain what ‘semantic change’ means

Answer 5

Semantic change is when a word changes in meaning

Question 6

Explain what ‘coining’ means

Answer 6

When words are invented eg Haagen Dasz

Question 7

Explain what ‘compounding’ means

Answer 7

When new words are made up of two or more existing words

Question 8

Explain what ‘blending’ means

Answer 8

When new words are made up from parts of two or more existing words e.g. spork (spoon & fork)

Question 9

Explain what ‘clipping’ means

Answer 9

When new words are formed from parts of existing words e.g. phone (clipped from telephone)

Question 10

Is AIDS an initialism or acronym?

Answer 10

Acronym

Question 11

Is HIV an initialism or acronym?

Answer 11

Initialism

Question 12

Explain what ‘affixation’ is

Answer 12

When new words are formed by adding a prefix or a suffix to an existing word e.g. supermarket

Question 13

Explain what ‘eponym’ means

Answer 13

When proper nouns are used to name discoveries/inventions or brand names becoming generic

Question 14

Some words meanings just change from one meaning to another. What do we call this?

Answer 14

This is called semantic shift.

Question 15

Explain what ‘semantic amelioration’ is

Answer 15

When the word’s meanings changes to become more pleasant or less unpleasant. e.g. naughty

Question 16

What is the term we use for when a word’s meanings changes to become more less pleasant or more unpleasant? e.g. notorious

Answer 16

Semantic pejoration

Question 17

Explain what ‘semantic narrowing’ is

Answer 17

When the word’s meaning becomes more specific or restricted.

Question 18

Explain what ‘semantic broadening is’

Answer 18

When the word’s meaning changes to be less specific or restricted

Question 19

Older texts may say “a game at chess” rather than “a game of chess” - What do we call this?

Answer 19

Prepositional drift

Question 20

Syntactical change refers to changes in the o _ _ _ _ that words and phrases come in.

Answer 20

Order

Question 21

Modern texts tend to be in which syntactical order?

Answer 21

SVOCA

Question 22

Identify the displaced adjective phrase in the following sentence: ‘I saw the leaders great and good.’

Answer 22

‘great and good’

Question 23

‘Strong was he.’ is an example of a displaced?

Answer 23

Displaced complement

Question 24

In Contemporary English, negators tend to come _ _ _ _ _ _ the verb they’re negating

Answer 24

Before

Question 25

In older texts, negators often come _ _ _ _ _ the verb they are negating

Answer 25

After

Question 26

‘She likes it not’ is an example of a displaced?

Answer 26

Displaced negator

Question 27

When two words have been swapped over, what do we call this?

Answer 27

Inversion

Question 28

‘Now there’s a surprise,’ said he’ is an example of what?

Answer 28

The subject ‘he’ and the verb ‘said’ are inverted.

Question 29

Adverbials in Contemporary English are usually placed where?

Answer 29

At the start or the end of a sentence.

Question 30

Identify the ‘median adverbial’ in the following sentence: ‘I for you shall do this’

Answer 30

‘For you’

Question 31

A s _ _ _ _ _ _ _ is an old-fashioned grammatical rule that is rarely obeyed in Contemporary English apart from on the most formal occasions.

Answer 31

Solecism

Question 32

What do solecisms say about prepositions?

Answer 32

The solecism says that you can’t put a preposition at the end of a clause e.g. you can’t say ‘that’s something I won’t stand for.’

Question 33

What is the archaic 2nd person singular present tense inflection?

Answer 33

‘est’

Question 34

What is the archaic 3rd person singular present tense inflection?

Answer 34

‘eth’

Question 35

Explain what an archaic subjunctive is

Answer 35

When older forms of English use inflections of ‘to be’ differently from Contemporary English. e.g. ‘I thought he were dead’

Question 36

Explain what ‘periphrastic do’ means

Answer 36

The inclusion of the verb ‘do’ where we wouldn’t use it today. e.g. ‘I do love thee’ or ‘she did love him’

Question 37

In contemporary English we tend only to use ‘for’ as a p _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Answer 37

Preposition

Question 38

It is common in older texts to see ‘for’ used as a c _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ meaning the same thing as ‘because’ in contemporary English.

Answer 38

Conjunction

Question 39

What term would we use for ‘thou’

Answer 39

Archaic second person singular pronoun

Question 40

What term would we use for ‘thy’

Answer 40

Archaic second person singular determiner

Question 41

Give the word class for ‘thine’

Answer 41

Archaic second person singular possessive pronoun

Question 42

Give the word class for ‘thyself’

Answer 42

Archaic second person singular reflexive pronoun

Question 43

The choice of second person pronoun also depends on contextual factors such as the speaker’s relationship with the interlocutor. In which situation might you use ‘thou’ forms with your inferiors or your equals?

Answer 43

You use ‘thou’ forms to your inferiors or to your equals when you’re in an informal situation.

Question 44

What term might we use for ‘fayth/faith’

Answer 44

interchangeable y and i

Question 45

What term can we use for the following: ‘iudge / judge’

Answer 45

Interchangeable i and j

Question 46

What term might we use for ‘euer / ever’

Answer 46

Interchangeable u and v

Question 47

In which year did Samuel Johnson publish his dictionary?

Answer 47

1755

Question 48

1755 is the _ _ _ _ _ of standardisation

Answer 48

Start

Question 49

Early modern writers tended to use capital letters on the words they found most?

Answer 49

Important

Question 50

Older forms of English tend to use proclitic elision. What does this mean?

Answer 50

When words are elided at the start. e.g. when ‘it is’ becomes ‘tis.

Question 51

Contemporary English tends to use enclitic elision. What does this mean?

Answer 51

When words are elided at the end. e.g. when “It is” becomes it’s

Question 52

In Middle English, many ‘ed’ inflections on verbs were pronounced as a _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ syllable. E.g. ‘echoed’ would have been a three syllable word.

Answer 52

Stressed

Question 53

In Early Modern English, the practice of stressed syllables was dying out.If a writer was being self-consciously modern, they might use an apostrophe to show they were using the modern pronunciation. Where would they put the apostrophe in the past tense verb ‘echoed’ ?

Answer 53

Between the ‘o’ and the ‘d’ - ‘echo’d’

Question 54

In order to be politically correct, what might a contemporary English say instead of ‘policeman’

Answer 54

Police officer

Question 55

In order to be politically correct, what might a contemporary English say instead of ‘fireman’

Answer 55

Firefighter

Question 56

Explain what reclaiming means

Answer 56

Reclaiming is the process whereby a previously pejorative term was adopted and self-applied by the groups in question. e.g. the noun ‘queer’ when it is used by a member of its community.