VOT Flashcards
What is lexical change?
New words being created
Words being dropped from the English Language
Neologism
A brand new English word created
Borrowing
A word has been borrowed from another language e.g. lots of science words
Eponym
A word named after a person e.g. Sandwich
Propriety names
A name of a product that has been trademarked e.g. Hoover,
Calque
A word that has been translated word for word into English e.g. pomme d’Adam was translated into Adam’s apple
Acronym
An abbreviation formed from the initial letters of each word which is pronounceable as a word e.g. NASA, SCUBA, YOLO
Initialism
An abbreviation formed from the initial of each word which is not pronounceable as a word e.g. FBI, BBC, CIA
Clippings
The shortening of a longer word e.g. mathematics to maths
Compounding
Two or more words linked together to produce a new word with a new meaning e.g. tooth + brush = toothbrush
Blending
Joining the beginning of a word to the end of another to make a new word with a new meaning e.g. smoke and fog to make smog
Semantic broadening
When a words meaning expands over time e.g. holiday was only a ‘holy day’ but now it means any celebration
Semantic narrowing
When a words meaning gets narrower over time e.g. meat used to mean any food but now it refers to animal flesh
Why does the meaning of words change?
Old meanings become forgotten or irrelevant
A new context for a word becomes relevant
A particular social group might take ownership of an existing word, ranging it to suit their desired meaning
Amelioration
A word takes on a more positive meaning e.g. pretty used to mean cunning or sly
Pejoration
A word takes on a more negative meaning, losing status e.g. silly used to mean blessed
Weakening
weakening the intensity, significance or definition e.g. soon used to mean immediately, tragedy is used all the time in the press
Narrowing
consolidates the specificity of a word from broader to more narrow e.g. apple used to mean fruit
What are reasons for pronunciation change?
Influenced by spelling e.g. nephew
Affected by grammatical choices e.g. an historic moment vs a historic moment
Etymology
The study of how meanings of words have changed q
