Section B: Variation over Time Flashcards
Why does language change?
Technology and new inventions
Historical reasons like being subjected and colonisation and war
Mixing populations and interactions with other places through trade or other reason
Religion
Changes in education
People being given more opportunities depending on their class and the way they speak
Etymology
The study of the origins of words and how their meanings have changed throughout history
What is the historical progression of English?
Old English - 5th century to 11th century
Middle English - 11th to 14th century
Early Modern English - 15th to 17th century
Late Modern English - 18th century to present day
What was Middle English?
The mixing of French with English after the Norman Conquest
What is Late Modern English?
The age of standardised English
What are the origins of English?
-Lie with the arrival in the British isles of Germanic tribes from p Europe in the 5th century
-8th and 9th century, Viking invaders from Scandinavian countries colonised eastern parts of England
-11th century, Norman invasion brought the french language to the existing mix of Germanic, Latin and Celtic languages
-These influences are still present today with 139 words used from the Scandinavians and 7000 french words
What events impacted English?
Celt migrations
Roman occupation
Germanic settlements
Viking invasion
Norman invasion
Renaissance
British Empire
Borrowing
Words that are adopted into English from other languages, their spelling or pronunciation may sometimes be anglicised
What does lexical change refer to?
New words being created
Words being dropped from the language
What are the 6 ways that lexical change occurs?
- Words can be borrowed in their entirety into English (e.g. words relating to science)
- Calque
- Neologism
- Eponyms and propriety names
- Abbreviations e.g. acronyms, initialisms, clippings
- Existing words can be adapted through compounding or blending
Calque
A foreign word or phrase that is translated element for element into English e.g. Adam’s apple came from the French pomme d’Adam and loan came from German lehnwort
Neologism
A brand new English word invented
Eponyms and propriety names
Words named after things, for example after the inventors name e.g. eponym = sandwich or propriety name = hoover
Blending
Meaning can be extended, through semantic broadening e.g. ‘dog’ can be used to refer to particular breeds
Compounding
Words can be merged together to create one meaning e.g. ‘sidewalk’ since you can walk on the side of a road - common in American English
Semantic change
The meanings of words change but the words themselves stay the same
What are the 6 types of semantic change?
- Amelioration
- Pejoration
- Weakening
- Narrowing
- Broadening
- Metaphorical changes
Amelioration
-a word that takes a more positive meaning or gains status
-e.g. Guy - comes from the name Guy Fawkes and it meant someone who looked grotesque and now its used generally to mean a male or a group of people
Pejoration
-a word takes a more negative meaning over time
-e.g. awful used to mean someone you were in of, were in wonder of, or in fear of and now it means horrendous
Weakening
-weakening of the definition or significance of the intensity of the word - they have taken other semantic values and its original definition isn’t as powerful or significant
-e.g. terribly and awfully are no synonyms of very but weren’t before
-e.g. shit has been derived from its original of faeces and is used in a lot of contexts now
Narrowing
-consolidating the specificity of the term from broader to more descriptive parameters
-e.g. meat used to mean any type of food but now it means food from an animal - reason why mince pies are called mince pies even though they’re vegetarian
-e.g. girl used to mean young person but now refers to a young female person
Broadening
-the expansion of meaning from a singular parameter to a broader definition like through propriety names
-e.g. cool used to be used as professional jargon (language of a profession) of jazz musicians, it referred to a particular artistic style of jazz and now has expanded to being sed to refer to something acceptable or favourable
What are the 3 types of metaphorical changes? With definitions and examples.
- Metaphor - a word acquires new meaning because it is used metaphorically e.g. bug means creepy crawly but can be used as ‘you’re bugging me’ - created new meaning of bug as in annoying
- Euphemism - a way of describing something in a more pleasant way e.g. passed away is used to refer to death
- Idiom - an expression that cannot be understood through its literal translation of its parts e.g. ‘bite the bullet’ means to get something over and done with if it’s unpleasant, or ‘once in a blue moon’ refers to something infrequent
What are the 2 ways how pronunciation of words can change over time?
- Words can be influenced by their spelling
- Words can be influenced by the grammatical choices
An example of a word that had its pronunciation change over time due to spelling?
-nephew
-most people today pronounce it nefyew
-traditionally it was pronounced nevyew but this is now rare among young speakers
-due to education, greater literacy means the way the word is spelt has influenced the way its said
Examples of words that have had its pronunciations changed due to grammatical choices?
-an (h)istoric moment or a historic moment
-an (h)otel or a hotel
-the grammatical standard is becoming more common (where in these examples the h is pronounced and the use of an has changed to a), particularly among the young
-regional variation can affect this e.g. Americans pronounce herb as erb
What is yod?
A y sound or /j/ is present between certain constants as well as oo sound or /u:/ in English - most speakers in the UK put it after the consonant sounds like p, b, d etc. like beauty
What is yod coalescence? Examples?
-where the yod is merged with other sounds such as /d/ or /t/ or /z/ or /s/
-after /t/ and /d/ some use the yod like in tube where it may sound like tyoob- common in upper class
-the young mainly combine /t/ with the yod to produce /ʧ/ and the d with the yod to make /ʤ/
-occurs with /s/ like in assume where some use the yod in a glide ‘tisyoo’ but some merge the yod with the /s/ to produce a sh sound - RP typically uses the first but its more common to use the latter
-speakers with an East Anglian accent typically avoid the yod and pronounce tune as ‘toon’
What are the 4 reasons why speech styles have changed?
- Ease of articulation
- Social prestige and changes in society
- Accommodation theory
- Fairclough
What is meant by ease of articulation as a reason why speech styles have changed? Example?
We make things easer to say for example in abbreviations - some see this as laziness - e.g. like saying btw instead of by the way
What is meant by social prestige and changes in society as a reason why speech styles have changed? Example?
Less regional variation due to more movement
Informalisation of media from RP in early days of radio has changed speech - Received Pronunciation - prestige form of english pronunciation has lost is popularity
Research in 2000s reported that the Queens accent changed from 1950s to the 1980s as she rhyme ‘had’ with ‘bad’
What is meant by accommodation theory as a reason why speech styles have changed?
Comes under pragmatics
Speaker adjusts their speech to accommodate others in convergence (adapt towards others) or divergence (move away from them) - these can be upwards (to RP) or downwards (to regional or societal variation)
Downwards convergence happens in the media and in the younger people
What is meant by Fairclough as a reason why speech styles have changed?
Believed that these moves and changes are part of conversationalisation and there’s been shifting boundaries between written and spoken discourse practices and a rising prestige and status for spoken language
Links with informalisation - the perceived standard mode of communication is more universally accepted to be informed by spoken rather than written English
What are the 3 judgments about regional accents? Who were they developed by?
Developed by Freeborn
- Incorrectness view - links to RP being viewed as the accent of Standard English - Freeborn argues this is purely linked to fashion and prestige - prescriptivism - modern prescriptivism is often centred around spoken English
- Ugliness view - often said that some accents dont sound nice, but this seems to be linked to stereotypes and negative social connotations - the ugly accents are often those form the poorest or urban areas
- Impreciseness view - some accents are seen as sloppy or lazy but actually many changes are logical
What may accents do?
Accents may be represented in written texts in ways that encode judgement about social status or prestige
What was the John Wells’s pronunciation survey?
-1988 - a pronunciation survey was created to investigated BrE preferences in a hundred or so items of fluctuating or disputed pronunciation
-The questionnaire was targeted at a self selected sample of those who are speech conscious - native speakers of British English who were interested in language and speech
-This survey highlighted the different ways that the older generation and the younger generation pronounce words for example with words like gigabyte and mall (shopping mall)
-Showed how spelling influences the way some words are pronounced like forehead is typically split into two words rather than as one which rhymes with horrid
Linguafranca
Universal language in politics, commerce, business etc. e.g. English
Standardisation
The process of making something conform to a standard, it creates consistency
What was English before standardisation?
-there were lots of different dialects spoken in different parts of the country
-meant that different words for the same things, different pronunciations of the same words, and spelling, was a free for all
-social hierarchy in language - the more powerful controlled language
Why can standardisation be positive and negative?
Standardisation can be positive: easier to communicate and stops people from inventing words easily
Standardisation can be negative: creates hierarchy in language - entry point into discrimination if one deviates from the standard
What was the biggest era of standardisation in the history of English?
The creation of the Oxford English Dictionary
What are the 4 aspects of the English Language that have been standardised?
- The graphology and orthography of the English language - it reinforces consistency in spelling
- Syntax of the English language
- Lexis and semantics of the English language
- Spelling and morphology of the English language
What is the Great Vowel Shift?
-a time period between the mid 1300s and 1700 when the English language began to change
-Before the shift, spelling and pronunciation were flexible and inconsistent
-It began to be consistent during this period, it’s responsible for some of the unusual spellings and pronunciations we have
-Long vowels moved upwards in the mouth, from low to middle and then to high
-Some vowels were transformed into diphthongs, or gliding vowel combinations
-Some consonant sounds became silent
-impacted orthography, reading, and the understanding of texts written before or during shift
What are the 4 stages of standardisation?
- Selection
- Elaboration
- Codification
- Implementation
What is selection in standardisation?
-An existing language variety is selected as the basis, usually that of the most powerful or socially influential social or ethnic group
-Caxton printed the first ever book in English on 1473 - all European languages were vernacular (spoken) so there were many variations between English dialects - majority of population was in London so that variety was chosen
What is elaboration in standardisation?
-Making sure the new language can be used for a wide range of functions, this may include new vocabulary or grammatical structures
-In the 14th century, English began to take over from French as the language used in state affairs (linguafranca) and between 1500-1700, over 30,000 new words were added to English, by the early 1600s, 300 new words were recorded every year. It also became the language of science thanks to the reformation and rise of Puritanism.
-Existing words were given new meanings through semantic broadening, and there was grammatical change through nominalisation, rhetorical structures of Latin were also imitated which was great for literary works in English but not deemed appropriate for science
What is codification in standardisation?
-Reduction of internal variability and establishment of norms - often includes the establishment of standard spellings of words - removes ambiguity or the potential of ambiguity
-18th Century - dictionaries codified lexis and semantics and grammars codified the rules of English
-Johnson wrote his dictionary in 1755 which was followed by several grammars of English and pronouncing dictionaries
What is implementation in standardisation?
-The new standard language is given ‘currency’ - texts are made available in it, users are encouraged to develop a pride and loyalty in using it and are discouraged from using alternatives
-Printing allowed texts to be made available to much a greater number of people than previously possible
-The printing of newspapers allowed for daily interaction with a standardised language
-Merchant classes could afford books but weren’t educated enough to be able to read Latin, stimulating a translation of many important books into English notably the Bible in 1526, this also broke the link between Christianity and Latin
-Education Act 1870 promoted the teaching of Standard English - continued in polices like the National Curriculum
Orthography
Orthography = how spelling has changed over time
How and why did spelling change?
-Standardisation of spelling was hugely influenced by Caxton’s printing press in the 15th Century
-Today, some spellings have to be memorised because of irregularities - our spelling rules often reflect old pronunciations and the influences of other languages
-Spellings have also changed in the 21st Century thanks to technology
-great vowel shift - but this has caused spelling to be harder to understand
What 4 reasons are there behind orthographical change?
- Technological
- Standardisation
- Influences from other languages
- Phonological
How do phonological factors lead to orthographical change?
-Great Vowel Shift
-‘lk’ in words used to always be pronounced
-Middle English - double consonants added to indicate a shorter vowel sound
-Some letters (graphemes) that often occurred together were printed with ligatures in the 18th Century
How do technological factors lead to orthographical change?
-Due to printing the ‘long S’ died out because of the need to set individual letters - it had no phonological function so wasn’t required
-Early in the Middle English period individual printers were very creative in their designs - look out for non-standard texts
-Printers might drop ‘unimportant’ letters to text on a line, or even add them because they were paid per letter
How does standardisation lead to orthographical change?
-In the Renaissance period (15th-16th Centuries) scholars tried to make English more like classical Greek and Latin
-They changed spellings, e.g. ‘trone’ → ‘throne’, ‘det’ → ‘debt’, ‘rime’ → ‘rhyme’
-18th Century standardisation was also very important due to the introduction of dictionaries and spelling books
How do influences from other languages lead to orthographical change?
Borrowings affect spellings, particularly if non-anglicised:
-French and Latin = prefixes such as ‘pre’, ‘pro’, ‘con’, suffixes such as ‘- ion’ and ‘-ity’
-Silent letters from Greek – ‘psychology’, ‘pneumonia’
-Germanic influences – word endings like ‘-dge’ and ‘-tch’
Early modern English features
-u and v are interchangeable
-i is used for present-day English j, e.g. iuell JEWEL
-i and y are interchangeable
-vowels differ from present-day English, e.g. mech MUCH, moust MOST
-some writers use ff to indicate upper-case F
-final-e can appear where we do not have it in present-day English, e.g. trouste TRUST, frende FRIEND
-c and s are sometimes interchangeable
-double letters can appear where we do not have them in present-day English
-numbers are often in Roman numerals
-money is in pounds, shillings and pence (denoted: l, s, d)
Punctuation change
-Caxton used the full stop (.) and the colon (:), as well the slash (/), although this was actually used in the same way we use the comma – which was introduced in the 16th Century.
-punctuation use is a convention, not a set of unbreakable rules
-Lots of commas to link long, extended clauses or separate them
-Apostrophes used as today, but also to signify a missing vowel when it wasn’t voiced – e.g. work’d – this was particularly common in poetry as it affected metre
-Introduction of speech marks
-Proclitic contractions (when a word becomes part of the one after it) – ‘tis
-18th Century – enclitic contractions (when a word becomes part of the one before it) – it’s
How has capitalisation changed?
-By Late Modern English, capitalisation was beginning to follow the same conventions as today – i.e. at the start of sentences and for proper nouns.
-However some earlier practices were still in existence, such as the capitalisation of abstract or personalised nouns, or even any noun that the writer felt was important.
Proclitic vs enclitic contractions
Proclitic contractions - when a word becomes part of the one after it e.g. ‘tis = it is
Enclitic contractions - when a word becomes part of the one before it e.g. it’s = it is - developed in 18th century
Grammatical features that have declined during the late modern period?
-Forms of the subjunctive – conditional tense e.g. If I were you, if he were rich, if marriage be such a blessed state…
-Use of the passive voice – less common now apart from in formal texts – ladies have a bag carried for them…
-Epistemic modal verb shall used to mark future tense
-Possession indicated by the of-genitive – the bonnet of the car
-Wh-relative clause – the apple which I gave her, the apple that I gave her
-‘He’ as a gender neutral third-person pronoun
-‘Whom’ as an object pronoun
Grammatical features that have increased in modern usage?
-The progressive aspect – verbs formed with be+ing – I’m making dinner, she’s eating
-Phrasal verbs (verbs + a preposition or particle that stay together semantically) such as picked on, stand by, think over, put up with
-Semi-modal verbs – need to, have got to
-Regularisation of irregular verb endings – learnt → learned
-Comparative and superlative adjectives formed with ‘more’ and ‘most’ rather than suffixes
-Adverbs replaced by adjectives – you’ve done great!
-Omission of the definite article – world-famous singer
-Relative clauses using ‘that’ or nothing at all – the man that I saw, the man I saw
-Pronoun change – e.g. ‘they’ to mean singular of non-defined gender, or using ‘he/she’
What is the progressive aspect? What is a phrasal verb?
Progressive aspect - verbs formed with the root+ing - im eating
Phrasal verbs - verb+preposition - she is picked on
2 types of grammar?
- Morphology - structure of words - prefixes and suffixes - verb endings indicating tense - morphemes whether they’re free or bound - inflections indicating plurality - use of non standard inflections - creative morphological manipulation to make up words - contractions
- Syntax - structure of phrases, clauses and sentences - word order - clause components e.g. SVO subject verb object - structure of phrases e.g. modification - noun, verb, adverbials, prepositional phrase - relative and embedded clauses - sentence structure and function, active and passive voice
Apposition
When two noun phrases appear immediately next to each other, both referring to the same thing, but giving different information about it, the second is said to be in apposition to the first - we often use a comma to separate them in writing, or in speech, there’s usually a pause e.g. my son Ben is a student OR this is Lu, my oldest friend
ONLY noun phrases can occur in apposition NOT personal pronouns, they cant occur in apposition but a noun phrases can occur in opppostion to them e.g. we, the people, demand a voice
Relative clause
A type of subordinate clause that modifies a noun- they give details about the noun they refer to and in English are usually introduced by a relative pronoun such as that, which or who - contextualises the noun
Embedded subordinate clause
In the middle of the clause - the lady !whose dog I kicked! panicked
Sapir Whorf hypothesis
-the language we speak influences how we think and perceive the world
-Our attitudes of what is masculine and feminine are taught to us mainly through our process of learning a language
-Two forms of this:
-Linguistic relativity - Language influences thought and perception, but it does not restrict it
-Linguistic determinism - language determines thought - people can only think in ways that their language allows - largely rejected today
Synthetic personalisation?
-Fairclough
-increased usage of personal pronouns, direct address, cultural references (draws ideal reader into ideology of producer), informal lexis
-creates intimate and informal register where the producer is humane
-the text producer uses personalised language to construct a relationship between them and the text receive
-may create parasocial relationships where you think you know them, but they don’t know you
-links with politeness principle and appealing to positive face needs of audience
Power in discourse? Power behind discourse? Who?
-Fairclough
-Power IN discourse - power is manifested in situations through language - power situations are set up and intact - focus on language use and how power is exercised
-Power BEHIND discourse - this is backed by an institution, social or ideological reasons - concerned with the organisation of institutions and the effects of those power relations on various use of language - contextualises linguistic features according to wider ideologies, hierarchical structures and power relationships
