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24 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
- 3rd side (hint)
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Why is language in a constant state of change? |
Because our experience of the world, and therefore the way we use language, is constantly evolving - language needs to keep up with new developments like technology |
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What is diachronic change? |
This is the historical development of language. |
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What is synchronic change? |
The study of language change at a particular moment in time. |
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Samuel Johnson stated that 'Tongues, like governments, have a natural tendancy to degeneration. What is precriptivism? |
Prescriptivism is the notion that language should be fixed, prescribing to a standard of rules for language usage, with any shift awag from these rules or standards being seen as incorrect. |
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Henry Hitchings stated that 'rather thinking of this as degeneration, we can see the diversity of languages in a different way: as permitting through its richness greater possibilities for creativity and adaptability'. What is descriptivism? |
Language change is not seen as negative, it is simply observed. Looks at how language is used. |
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Roughly when did English become a language in its own right? |
Around the 5th century. |
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What 3 groups of people did Old English develop from? |
It developed from the speech of the Angles, Jutes and Saxons. |
AJS |
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What were some of the features of Old English? |
Vocabulary was influenced by Anglo-Saxon and Old Norse as well as Latin because of its status and prestige. Different areas of settlement had different dialects and there was little consistency in the written language because English was largely phonetic. |
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When did the period of Middle English start and what were some of the characteristics? |
In the 11th century. French was the verbal language for court and administration and Latin was used in written documentations especially by the Church. Towards the end of the Middle English period, English became more prominant because of writers like Chaucer who chose to write in English. |
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When did the period of Early Modern English start and what were some of the features? |
In the 15th century. A standard form of English from the South east dialect was established after Caxton introduced the printing press from Europe. Shakespeare's work was popular around this time and King James commissioned the Authorised Version of the Bible. |
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When was the beginning of the Modern English era and what were some of the characteristics of English? |
In the 18th century. More words were borrowed from Latin, Greek and other languages from around the world e.g. colonised countries in Africa and India. Researchers started to analyse the grammar and structure of the language to propose correct standard ways of speaking and writing. |
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Describe present day English |
English is now influenced by the media, technology and travel. English is also now considered a global language. |
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One feature of lexical change is neologisms. Define neologism and give an example. |
A neologism is the deliberate creation of a new word e.g. widget |
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How are neologisms created? |
Words can be borrowed from other languages, existing words can be blended, compounded etc. Or creating entirely new words (less common) |
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Give some examples of borrowed words from other languages. |
Bungalow is Hindi, landscape is Dutch and futon is Japanese. |
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What is compounding? Give an example |
Words are combined together to form new words, they can be open (long winded), hyphenated (user-friendly) or solid (teapot) |
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What is clipping? |
Words are used in their shortened version e.g. phone from mobile phone, gym from gymnasium or bus from autobus |
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What is blending? |
This is a combination of clipping and compounding e.g. newscast (news + broadcast) |
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What is an acronym? |
The first letters of a series of words are taken to create a new term e.g. AIDS or NATO |
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What is initialism? |
Similar to an acronym but each letter is pronounced e.g. CD or MP3 |
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What is affixation? |
This is where one or more free morphemes (words) are combined with bound morphemes (prefixes or suffixes) e.g. disinterest or regift. |
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What is conversion/functional shift? |
This is where a word shifts classes - usually from a noun to a verb e.g. Google created the verb 'to google' |
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What is an eponym? |
This type of new word is done by naming objects after a person or company e.g. many people call vacuum cleaners 'hoovers' after Hoover created a famous vacuum cleaner. |
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What is back formation? |
New verbs can be created by removing the suffix from an existing noun e.g. 'to insert' from insertion |
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