Week 8 - Word histories Flashcards
Define etymology
The study of the origin of words and the development of their meaning
Define cognates
- Words from two different languages that stem from the same original root
- Phonetic development lead to differences
Define language families
- 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
Define borrowing
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
Define cognitive concept
The belief and knowledge that something belongs to a class of items
Define reference
- 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
Define denotation
- 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
Define sense
- 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
Denotation vs Reference
- 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
Define meaning shift
A semantic evolution of a word where the form of the item remains the same but the meaning changes
Define connotation
A commonly understood cultural or emotional association that some word or phrase carries
Define narrowing
A restriction in meaning
Eg. Deer used to mean all animals
Define broadening
Expansion or generalisation of meaning
Eg. you guys = now refers to both men and women
Define amelioration
The process whereby connotation becomes more positive
Eg. Terrific used to mean terror
Define pejoration
When the connotative meaning of a word becomes increasingly negative
Eg. Mistress used to mean head of household, now courted woman
Define metaphor
The mapping of one concept onto another.
Something is something else.
The clouds are marshmallows
Define metonymy
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
Define orientational metaphor
Relate to spatial organisation
Up as in positive, down as In negative
Define ontological metaphor
Treat abstract entities as concrete/physical
Eg. Personification
My mind is not awake today
Define structural metaphor
Allow us to structure one concept in terms of another
Eg. Argument is war
Define grammaticalisation
- Loss of semantic content
- Do has undergone semantic bleaching, originally meant cause
Define euphemism
Changing meaning of existing words to talk about death, sex, toilet etc.
Eg. Sleep with someone
Define cliche
Words which have lost their meaning through over use
Eg. Over the moon
