Late Modern English

Question 1

What are 7 borrowings for objects or activities associated with another culture?

Answer 1

• fez- kibbutz- geisha- samovar- pickle- chess- skunk

Question 2

What are 7 borrowings for concepts already existing but not previously distinguished by a name (with their origin)?

Answer 2

• boss (Dutch)- ghetto (Italian)- slogan (Scottish)- creed (Latin)- vigilante (Spanish)- tycoon (Japanese)- blarney (Irish)

Question 3

In Late Modern English, what happened to traditional borrowings from Latin, Greek, French, Celtic, Scandinavian and Low German (Dutch)?

Answer 3

They were less important and while still common, they were less clearly assimilated.

Question 4

What was retained from French borrowings during the Late Modern English period?

Answer 4

• The accented syllable (risqué…)- The initial [ ʒ ] (genre, gendarme…)

Question 5

What was retained from Celtic borrowings during the Late Modern English period?

Answer 5

Cultural items (whiskey, leprechaun, shamrock, brogue, clan).

Question 6

What are 6 borrowings from Scandinavian retained during the Late Modern English period?

Answer 6

• saga- ski- geyser- rune- ombudsman- smorgasbord

Question 7

During Late Modern English, what kind of vocabulary still gets borrowed from Greek and Latin?

Answer 7

Technical language of science, medicine, etc.

Question 8

What kind of lexicon is borrowed from Spanish via French during Late Modern English?

Answer 8

Landforms, food, flora and fauna of the New World (American Southwest).

Question 9

What kind of vocabulary is borrowed from Italian during Late Modern English?

Answer 9

Music, architecture and food.

Question 10

What are 8 words borrowed from High German during Late Modern English?

Answer 10

• kindergarten- seminar- nickel- gestalt- leitmotiv- delicatessen- strudel- pretzel

Question 11

What are 3 borrowings from Yiddish during the Late Modern English period?

Answer 11

• bagel- lox- pastrami

Question 12

What are 5 borrowings from Slavic during the Late Modern English period?

Answer 12

• borsch- vodka- borzoi- intelligentsia- blitz

Question 13

What is a national variety?

Answer 13

It’s a kind of large-scale regional dialect (geographical as opposed to social).

Question 14

What is the difference in phonology between British English and American English?

Answer 14

Americans preserve features from the 18th century, more specifically from Northern England, Scotland and Ireland.

Question 15

Which of British English and North American English is a rhotic dialect, and which one is not?

Answer 15

North American English is a rhotic dialect and British English is a non-rhotic dialect.

Question 16

What is an example of rhotic vs non-rhotic dialects in words?

Answer 16

NAE far [far] versus BE far [fa].

Question 17

What is the difference in the pronunciation of the vowel / a / in NAE and BE?

Answer 17

NAE staff [ stæf ] versus BE staff [ staf ].

Question 18

Which of NAE or BE kept the difference in pronunciation between the [ w ] and the [ m ] as in “waer / where”?

Answer 18

North American English.

Question 19

What happens to words like “legendary” and “territory” in NAE and BE?

Answer 19

In NAE, there is a primary and secondary stress on words of 4 syllables and more ending in -ary, -ory, -mony and -ery, as opposed to BE where there is only one stress, therefore the final affix is reduced to a schwa.

Question 20

What are the 8 grammatical differences between BE and NAE?

Answer 20

• BE uses of modal auxiliaries with verbs like “insist, recommend, suggest”, etc, whereas NAE only uses the subjunctive form without any modal.- BE uses “got” instead of “gotten” as past participle like NAE does.- NAE uses “do” in certain constructions while BE uses old patterns with “have”.- NAE uses singular verb form with collective nouns and BE uses plural.- Difference in prepositions.- NAE uses obligatory articles where BE does not always.- BE is more consistent with “shall” than NAE.- NAE uses “just” with simple past and BE uses “just” with perfect tense.

Question 21

What are 2 examples of differences in lexicon between NAE and BE?

Answer 21

• sweets (BE) versus candy (NAE).- pavement (BE) versus sidewalk (NAE).

Question 22

What are 2 examples of differences in orthography between NAE and BE?

Answer 22

• our (NAE) / or (BE) suffix.- ize (NAE) / ise (BE) suffix.

Question 23

What are 7 other varieties of English apart from British and North American English?

Answer 23

• Canadian English- Newfoundland English- Australian English- New Zealand English- African English- Liberian English- Caribbean English

Question 24

What is the phonological difference between American English and Canadian English?

Answer 24

• Canadian rising

Question 25

What are 3 examples of lexical items that are particular to Canadian English? What dialect / variety do they influence?

Answer 25

• caplin- anglophone- hydro*They influence Quebec English.

Question 26

What do neologisms change in the language?

Answer 26

• Word formation- Acquiring new words

Question 27

What are 5 grammatical changes in the language that are still in progress today?

Answer 27

• Quotative constructions.- Periphrastic more/most instead of the more correct inflected superlative/comparative forms.- Conflation (mix) of past tense and past participle.- Pronoun usage.- “-s” usage.