Language Change Theory Flashcards
Paper 2 Section A Revision
When new things are invented, older things become o _ _ _ _ _ _ _ so the language used to discuss them does the same
Obsolete
What does graphology mean?
How things look on the page
What is the name of the theorist who came up with ‘The Functional Theory’?
Halliday
What does The functional Theory claim?
That “Language changes and adapts to the needs of its users.”
Functional theory states that one of the reason language changes to adapt to the needs of its users is because of new inventions and d _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Developments
One example that supports Halliday’s Functional theory and why language changes because of new inventions and developments is the noun ‘Large Hadron _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ‘
Large Hadron Collider
Why did the Large Hadron Collider not exist in the early 1900’s?
Because the technology to make one wasn’t available and the physics that it is used to explore, wasn’t then understood
Why has the noun ‘ballista’ become obsolete?
Because we now have more effective weapons.
As well as describing physical objects, lexical change reflects changes in knowledge, u _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ and ideas.
Understanding
What does the noun ‘carbicide’ mean?
‘the act of eating too many carbohydrate-rich foods’
What does the verb ‘flexischooling’ mean?
‘the practice of attending school for part of the week and being home schooled for the rest of the time’
How does the noun ‘carbicide’ show a change in ‘knowledge, understanding and ideas’?
Because, previously, much more emphasis was placed on reducing fat intake if you wanted to lose weight.
One criticism of Halliday’s functional theory is that it only explains lexical and _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ change
Semantic
Another criticism of Halliday’s Functional theory is that new words _ _ _ _ _ _ _ existing words
replace
Why was the Old English noun ‘hound’ replaced by the noun ‘dog’?
For no apparent reason.
As people think differently about the world around them, their language changes to reflect this. What term do we use for this?
Changes in social attitudes
Explain what ‘reclaiming’ means
Reclaiming means the use of an abusive term by the group it was used to abuse.
Sapir-Whorf’s (Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf) theory of Reflectionism argues a person’s language reflects their way of what?
Their way of thinking
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ is the idea that, if people can be persuaded not to use offensive or prejudicial terms, but ones that are seen as more acceptable, this will determine a new way of thinking,
Determinism
Who criticised Sapir-Whorf?
Pinker
Steven Pinker argues that thought is _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ of language.
Independent
Pinker says that human beings do not think in ‘n _ _ _ _ _ _’ language, i.e. any language that we actually communicate in.
Natural
Pinker says that we do not speak in a ‘natural’ language. Instead, we think in a ‘meta-language’ - what did he call this ‘meta-language’?
Mentalese
According to Pinker, speaking ‘Mentalese’ suggests that our thoughts are _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ of the language we speak in.
Independent
Who came up with the ‘Euphemism Treadmill Theory’?
Steven Pinker
Pinker claimed that words are not in charge of thought. Instead, what did he believe?
Thoughts are in charge of words.
Donald Mackinnon Mackinnon claimed that language change is caused by users’ attitudes to language such as whether a variation is s _ _ _ _ _ _ _ acceptable or unacceptable
Socially
Donald Mackinnon Mackinnon claimed that language change is caused by users’ attitudes to language such as whether a variation is m _ _ _ _ _ _ acceptable or unacceptable
Morally
Since World War Two, international travel has become much more common leading to increased _ _ _ _ _ _ _ between people
Contact
Greater g _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ mobility of people and communities mean that words from different regions and languages move with them.
Geographical
Population movement is believed to have caused a significant change in English g _ _ _ _ _ _ and s _ _ _ _ _
Grammar and Syntax
In Old English, grammatical function was determined largely by word endings. Now, function is determined by what?
Syntax
Because function is determined by syntax (in contemporary English), this meant two things. What are these two things?
1) English had fewer word endings and 2) English syntax was much more rigidly SV(OCA) in order
Between 1400 and 1600, English underwent The G _ _ _ _ V _ _ _ _ S _ _ _ _ . There are many theories about why this happened, several involving population changes, but none are entirely convincing
The Great Vowel Shift
One example of a contemporary phonological change due to the movement of people is changes associated with London Urban English and Multicultural English. The consonants in ‘ask’, went from /a:sk/ to ?
/a:ks/
Which theory states that when speakers learn a language, they will learn it imperfectly and will pass these imperfections on to future generations?
The Substratum Theory
How do Jewish Ney Yorkers pronounce ‘coffee’?
cawfee - k )? f i?
How did Eastern European Jewish settlers in New York in the 30s and 40s pronounce the word ‘coffee cup’? very differently.
‘cAffee cAp’
The children of Eastern European Jewish settlers in New York in the 30’s and 40’s, didn’t wish to sound like their parents, so they h _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ the pronunciation so that it was as unlike ‘caffee cap’ as possible and settled on ‘cawfee.’
Hypercorrected
One criticism of The Substratum Theory is that it can only explain a _ _ _ _ _ _ range of changes.
Narrow
Another criticism of The Substratum Theory is that change happens in places and at times where there aren’t significant number of _ _ _ - _ _ _ _ _ _ _ speakers learning the language.
Non - English
What term do we use for ‘groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something’
Communities of practice
Groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something (‘communities of practice’) often use language innovatively as a marker of _ _ _ _ _ identity
Group
What does ‘GG’ mean? (example of language used by computer gamers)
Good Game