English Language - Language Change And Variation

Front 1

What is semantic change?

Back 1

Semantic change is how a words meaning change over time.

Front 2

What is lexical change?

Back 2

Lexical change is how a words structure and use changes over time.

Front 3

What are some influences on language change?

Back 3

Some influences on language change include: Technology, Media, Culture, politics and Historical events, etc.

Front 4

How has technology influenced our language?

Back 4

Technology has created new means of communication, such as the internet. which leads onto email. Both of these new inventions require new words to be formed or require existing words to have new meanings.

Front 5

How has media influenced our language?

Back 5

Media has a big part in our lives. There is social media (due to technological change) which means new names for these media sites are needed, for example twitter meant bird song, but now commonly refers to the social media website. There is also TV and film which influence language changes, for example Brangelina to refer to celebrities in the public eyes. Newspapers also coin new words for use in everyday language.

Front 6

How has culture influenced our language?

Back 6

Culture is all around us and is constantly influencing our language. Youth culture in particular is influential as many young people want to rebel against the adult's use of language and so use language differently or use cryptology to communicate. Travel links in with culture influences as by seeing culture of through emigration/immigration we gain new words to use (borrowing). Political correctness comes under cultural influences.

Front 7

What is political correctness?

Back 7

It is the name given to a movement which began in the 1970s campaigning for the removal of offensive language from everyday vocabulary.

Front 8

What is mock-PC?

Back 8

Satirised examples of politically correct terms designed to make fun of and discredit more genuine forms of PC.

Front 9

What is Old English?

Back 9

Old English is the earliest form of the English language, formed during the Germanic invasions of Britain and lasting until the Norman invasion.

Front 10

Which tribes invaded Britain during the 3rd century?

Back 10

The Jutes, Angles and Saxons invaded Britain.

Front 11

What is Middle English?

Back 11

Middle English is the English language that existed after the Norman invasion. It is often seen as lasting until the printing of English texts began to appear.

Front 12

What is Early Modern English?

Back 12

Early Modern English is the origin of the modern form of English that we recognise today. It can be understood to extend from the emergence of the first printed English texts through to the expansion of the British Empire.

Front 13

Why was the printing press important?

Back 13

The first printing press in England, set up by Caxton, helped the English language in two fundamental ways. It meant a form of the language could be easily replicated and used. It also allowed published books to be printed in English rather than Latin or French. This allowed the written English word to be more accessible to the public and standardisation of English to begin.

Front 14

What is a Grammarian?

Back 14

A Grammarian is the term that has come to refer to the writers of the Early Modern English period who published texts that set out prescriptive rules for the language.

Front 15

What is prescriptivism?

Back 15

Prescriptivism is an approach to language that seeks to impose particular rules for language use in order to maintain a specific standard form, and, in some cases, to restrict or prevent the use of non-standard forms of the language.

Front 16

What is descriptivism?

Back 16

Descriptivism is an approach to language that seeks to understand the varieties of a language and not to interfere with them.

Front 17

Who is John Hart?

Back 17

John Hart, in 1551, wrote The opening of the unreasonable writing of our Inglish Toung, set out the range of punctuation marks available to writers.

Front 18

Who is Robert Lowth?

Back 18

The Grammarian, Robert Lowth, suggested that the practice of using a preposition that was unattached to an object was a colloquialism.

Front 19

What processes did Shakespeare use in such a way that influenced language?

Back 19

Shakespeare used affixation, conversion and borrowings allowing him to coin new words or change existing one's meanings.

Front 20

What is the inkhorn controversy?

Back 20

Many other writers borrowed words from the classical languages of Latin and Greek. Not everyone saw this change as positive and so these new words became known as inkhorn terms.

Front 21

What types of semantic change is there?

Back 21

There is Extension, Narrowing, Amelioration, Pejoration, Figurative Use, Metonymy, and Euphemisms.

Front 22

What is Extension?

Back 22

Extension is the widening of a word's range of meanings, often by analogy or simplification (e.g. virtue can now be applied to everyone, not just men)

Front 23

What is Narrowing?

Back 23

Narrowing is the reduction in a word's range of meanings, often limiting a generic word to a more specialised or technical use (e.g. bimbo used to mean stupid man, but now only refers to a specific type of woman)

Front 24

What is Amelioration?

Back 24

Amelioration occurs as a word loses negative connotations or gains positive ones. (e.g. mischievous used to mean disastrous but now means playfully annoying)

Front 25

What is Pejoration?

Back 25

Pejoration occurs as a word develops negative connotations or loses positive ones. (e.g. gay used to mean happy, but now means a homosexual man and is normally used as an insult)

Front 26

What is Figurative Use?

Back 26

Figurative Use is a change in meaning that is based on an analogy or likeness between things. (e.g. A crane is a bird with a long neck, but we also use it to refer to a piece of equipment)

Front 27

What is Metonymy?

Back 27

Metonymy is a type of extension that uses part of an object to refer to a whole (e.g. The White House is used to refer to the President and the American government)

Front 28

What is a Euphemism?

Back 28

A Euphemism is the use of a substitute word in an attempt to replace or mask negative connotations of the normal word for a certain object or action (e.g. Saying passed away rather than died)

Front 29

What types of Lexical change is there?

Back 29

There is Compounding, Affixation, Eponyms, Back Formations, Clipping, Blending and Acronyms.

Front 30

What is Compounding?

Back 30

Compounding is when two or more words are joined together to create a new word (e.g. catfishing from cat and fishing)

Front 31

What is Affixation?

Back 31

Affixation is when you modify an existing word by adding a morpheme to the beginning or end of it (e.g. nanotechnology has affixation of nano)

Front 32

What is an Eponymy?

Back 32

An Eponym is where something is named after someone or something else (e.g Brangelina is used to refer celebrity couple Brad and Angelina)

Front 33

What is Back Formation?

Back 33

Back Formation is where an existing word is changed somehow (orthographically) to form a new word (e.g. edit coming from editor)

Front 34

What is Clipping?

Back 34

Clipping is the shortening of an existing word to leave a single part (e.g porn from pornography)

Front 35

What is Blending?

Back 35

Blending is when you join morphemes or syllables from existing words to form a new word (e.g. smog from smoke and fog)

Front 36

What is an Acronym?

Back 36

An Acronym is when a new word is created by using the initial letters of a particular phrase. An acronym can be pronounced as a word, rather than said as a series of letters (e.g. scuba means self contained underwater breathing apparatus)