Lexis and semantics (change over time) Flashcards
What are ways that words enter the English lexicon through loan words?
Conquest and trade, the United States, English Creoles
What is are the three languages that English is mostly made of?
- Anglo Saxon
- Old Norse
- Norman French
English is a G________ language
Germanic
Why does language change?
- Changes in social attitudes
- Changes to attitudes to language
- To express new identities
- Technology changes
What are seven ways that words enter the English lexicon through neologisms?
- Blending
- Clipping
- Compound
- Conversion
- Acronym
- Affixation
- Eponyms
What is blending? Give an example
Blending words to create a new concept
eg. hangry, glamping
What is clipping? Give an example
Shortening a word
eg. Rizz, vape
What is compounding? Give an example
Two EXISTING words combined together
eg. clickbait, flowerpot
What is conversion? Give an example
Converting a noun to a verb, or sometimes the other way around.
eg. ghosting, adulting
What is an acronym? Explain how it is different from an abbreviation, and give an example of each.
A word formed from the initial letter of each word from a compound term
An acronym is pronounced as a word, while an abbreviation is pronounced as individual letters.
eg. acronym: NASA, FOMO
eg. abbreviation: FBI, ASAP
What is affixation? Give an example
Adding a prefix or a suffix to a word.
eg. debatable
What are eponyms? Give an example
When the brand becomes a noun or a verb
eg. Google to googling, Rudolf Diesel to diesel
What are the six types of semantic shifts?
- Amelerioation
- Pejoration
- Broadening
- Narrowing
- Bleaching
- Metaphor
What is semantic amelerioation?
When words develop a more positive meaning. An example of semantic change through amelioration is pretty
What is semantic pejoration?
When words develop a more negative meaning
