Language Variation Key Ideas

Question 1

Who published ‘A Dictionary of English Language’ and when?
Why was it important?

Answer 1

Johnson - 1755.
Laid out rules to make standards for orthography and semantics.

Question 2

What were some impacts of technology on language?

Answer 2

• Caxton’s Printing Press in 1476 established, using works of multiple authors for spelling purposes (used full stops, colons and virgules (slashes.))
• Printing practices in 1800s gave a graphological presentation of letters available for a wider audience
• First radio invented in 1907, American english introduced via technonlogy, consumerism rises.
• Speech is recorded for accuracy and slang begins to become mainstream (21st century)

Question 3

What were some societal impacts on language?

Answer 3

• Pronunciation change 1350-1600. Spelling standardised, language remains classical, replacing latin. Johnson’s dictionary excluded words he disliked for social control. Prescriptivist vs Descriptivist (decay bs evolution)
• British empire expanded, borrowing words more commonly (1780-1810), scientific advancements. Many neologisms arise around 18th and 19th century.
• Suffragette movements, foreign foods, credit crunch (1900s). International war and conflict (WW1 and 2, Kimikaze 1945, Blitz 1939)
• Views and opinion on social class and education change, accepting of language use, fashion ans culture bring new lexis, registers and grammar develop, youth introduce non-standard forms.
• New social situations means more pragmatics for which we needed to adapt how we speak.

Question 4

What wars , invasions or languages influenced English?

Answer 4

• Norman conquest (brought everyday outdoor objects, eg. Sky and Window) and Germanic tribes.
• Saxton/Celtic brought words to do with family relationships
• French influence along with latinates prompted ‘correct’ spellings, eg. b in ‘Debt’ as a reminder of the latin origin ‘debtium’
• New words made from war influence (‘collateral damage’, ‘friendly fire.’

Invasions: 700-1000AD, Scandanavian (Skirt, Cog, Skip), French (Accompany, tax.)
Writers: 1500-1600AD, Latin (Prefixes sub-, trans-), Greek (affixes auto, pan)
British Empire: 1700-1800AD, Malay (Amok), Hindi (Shampoo)
Immigration: 1900AD, Cantonese (Wok)

Question 5

What are some key aspects of a transcript to look out for?

Question 6

List some key terms for language change.