Week 8 - Word histories

Question 1

Define etymology

Answer 1

The study of the origin of words and the development of their meaning

Question 2

Define cognates

Answer 2

• Words from two different languages that stem from the same original root
• Phonetic development lead to differences

Question 3

Define language families

Answer 3

• A group of languages related through descent from a common ancestral language
• Proto-language = language the family stems from

Eg. Indo-European family = Latin, Celtic, Slavic

Question 4

Define borrowing

Answer 4

The process by which a word from one language is adapted for use in another.

• Word borrowed is called a loanword

Eg. Magazine is borrowed from English in Spanish

Question 5

Define cognitive concept

Answer 5

The belief and knowledge that something belongs to a class of items

Question 6

Define reference

Answer 6

• The relationship between an expression and a referent, as used by a speaker
• Context bound
• We can use language to refer to real world objects and even abstract concepts

Question 7

Define denotation

Answer 7

• The basic relationship between a linguistic pattern and what it stands for in the real world
• Not context bound?
• Explicit/literal meaning
• Relationship between a lexeme and a class of objects

Question 8

Define sense

Answer 8

• A relationship that is internal to the language system
• The mental representation associated with the expression
• The relationship between a word and other words in the vocabulary

Eg. The CONCEPT of a car in the brain translates to
the word car

Question 9

Denotation vs Reference

Answer 9

• Reference isn’t particular to one word
• Reference is an action carried out by the speaker
• Denotation is a property possessed by the expression itself

Question 10

Define meaning shift

Answer 10

A semantic evolution of a word where the form of the item remains the same but the meaning changes

Question 11

Define connotation

Answer 11

A commonly understood cultural or emotional association that some word or phrase carries

Question 12

Define narrowing

Answer 12

A restriction in meaning

Eg. Deer used to mean all animals

Question 13

Define broadening

Answer 13

Expansion or generalisation of meaning

Eg. you guys = now refers to both men and women

Question 14

Define amelioration

Answer 14

The process whereby connotation becomes more positive

Eg. Terrific used to mean terror

Question 15

Define pejoration

Answer 15

When the connotative meaning of a word becomes increasingly negative

Eg. Mistress used to mean head of household, now courted woman

Question 16

Define metaphor

Answer 16

The mapping of one concept onto another.

Something is something else.

The clouds are marshmallows

Question 17

Define metonymy

Answer 17

An association, referring to some entity by a part or attribute of it or something close to it.

Eg. The crown owns the land (referring to queen)

Part for a whole

Based on association

Question 18

Define orientational metaphor

Answer 18

Relate to spatial organisation

Up as in positive, down as In negative

Question 19

Define ontological metaphor

Answer 19

Treat abstract entities as concrete/physical

Eg. Personification

My mind is not awake today

Question 20

Define structural metaphor

Answer 20

Allow us to structure one concept in terms of another

Eg. Argument is war

Question 21

Define grammaticalisation

Answer 21

• Loss of semantic content

- Do has undergone semantic bleaching, originally meant cause

Question 22

Define euphemism

Answer 22

Changing meaning of existing words to talk about death, sex, toilet etc.

Eg. Sleep with someone

Question 23

Define cliche

Answer 23

Words which have lost their meaning through over use

Eg. Over the moon