Language Change Master Flashcards

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1
Q

Explain what ‘lexical change’ is

A

Lexical change is when lexis (words) change

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2
Q

Define the term ‘archaism’

A

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

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3
Q

Explain what ‘dated lexis’ is

A

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

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4
Q

Explain what a ‘neologism is’

A

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

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5
Q

Explain what ‘semantic change’ means

A

Semantic change is when a word changes in meaning

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6
Q

Explain what ‘coining’ means

A

When words are invented eg Haagen Dasz

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7
Q

Explain what ‘compounding’ means

A

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

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8
Q

Explain what ‘blending’ means

A

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

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9
Q

Explain what ‘clipping’ means

A

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

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10
Q

Is AIDS an initialism or acronym?

A

Acronym

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11
Q

Is HIV an initialism or acronym?

A

Initialism

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12
Q

Explain what ‘affixation’ is

A

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

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13
Q

Explain what ‘eponym’ means

A

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

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14
Q

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

A

This is called semantic shift.

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15
Q

Explain what ‘semantic amelioration’ is

A

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

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16
Q

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

A

Semantic pejoration

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17
Q

Explain what ‘semantic narrowing’ is

A

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

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18
Q

Explain what ‘semantic broadening is’

A

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

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19
Q

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

A

Prepositional drift

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20
Q

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

A

Order

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21
Q

Modern texts tend to be in which syntactical order?

A

SVOCA

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22
Q

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

A

‘great and good’

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23
Q

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

A

Displaced complement

24
Q

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

A

Before

25
Q

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

A

After

26
Q

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

A

Displaced negator

27
Q

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

A

Inversion

28
Q

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

A

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

29
Q

Adverbials in Contemporary English are usually placed where?

A

At the start or the end of a sentence.

30
Q

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

A

‘For you’

31
Q

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

A

Solecism

32
Q

What do solecisms say about prepositions?

A

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.’

33
Q

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

A

‘est’

34
Q

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

A

‘eth’

35
Q

Explain what an archaic subjunctive is

A

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

36
Q

Explain what ‘periphrastic do’ means

A

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

37
Q

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

A

Preposition

38
Q

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

A

Conjunction

39
Q

What term would we use for ‘thou’

A

Archaic second person singular pronoun

40
Q

What term would we use for ‘thy’

A

Archaic second person singular determiner

41
Q

Give the word class for ‘thine’

A

Archaic second person singular possessive pronoun

42
Q

Give the word class for ‘thyself’

A

Archaic second person singular reflexive pronoun

43
Q

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?

A

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

44
Q

What term might we use for ‘fayth/faith’

A

interchangeable y and i

45
Q

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

A

Interchangeable i and j

46
Q

What term might we use for ‘euer / ever’

A

Interchangeable u and v

47
Q

In which year did Samuel Johnson publish his dictionary?

A

1755

48
Q

1755 is the _ _ _ _ _ of standardisation

A

Start

49
Q

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

A

Important

50
Q

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

A

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

51
Q

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

A

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

52
Q

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

A

Stressed

53
Q

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’ ?

A

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

54
Q

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

A

Police officer

55
Q

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

A

Firefighter

56
Q

Explain what reclaiming means

A

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.