Language change over time - terminology Flashcards
Who coined the term ‘prescriptivism’?
Otto Jesperson
What is prescriptivism?
The idea that language shouldn’t change, as if it does it will simply break down.
What are ‘archaisms’?
Language that has passed out of use.
What is codification of change?
Recognition that a word has gone from a colloquialism to a commonly used & standardised form. For example, ‘all together’ compounded to ‘altogether’.
What is PC language?
Politically correct language.
What is conversion?
A word-formation process that assigns an existing word to a different word class, part of speech or syntactic category.
What is ‘compounding’?
Merging two words together.
What is ‘affixation’?
Adding a new beginning to a word; opposite of suffixation.
What is blending?
When two words are mixed together to create a new term. For example, ‘Brexit’ comes from ‘Britain’ and ‘exit’.
What is ‘clipping’?
An abbreviation, e.g. when ‘examination’ becomes ‘exam’.
What is ‘reduplication’?
When a new word is coined using a repeated sound.
What is a ‘neologism’?
The coining of any new term.
What is ‘eponymisation’?
The generalisation of a word, e.g. all vacuum cleaners being referred to as ‘hoovers’.
What is ‘amelioration’?
Words losing their bad connotation as time goes on. For example, ‘bastard’ doesn’t hold the power that it once did.
What is ‘pejoration’?
When a word’s meaning becomes worse over time.
