English Language Change

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  • Created by: 10dhall
  • Created on: 07-05-17 23:30
Tips for answering an exam question on language change?
Stick to frameworks, include as much context as possible: what is happening at the time? for example, key period: 1755 Samuel Johnson, first subsantial dictionary
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Where have some english words come from?
French influence; the 'b' in 'subtle', English is a germanic language, some can be latinate - introduced during the Renaissance, contempary language change (slang), amerlioration, perjoration, neoligisms, coining, semantic change, broadening
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Reasons for language change?
Media influences/public broadcasting, rising youth culture, scientific development/technology, impact of foreign invasion, new technology, language today is still changing thus these reasons
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What other reason impacts on how well known the English language now is?
The USA because they are widely recognised and their influence around the world spreads the English language
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Timeline of the history of english language?
Before English began (450 AD, celtic, tribes), Origins of English (450 AD - 1066, terms for law, expansion of lexis, worry about language change) Middle English (1066-1485), Tudor Period (1485 - 1603), the 17th Century, the 18th Century, the 19th Cen
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Before English language began?
450 AD - celtic tribes, welsh, scots, irish
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Origins of English?
450 AD - 1066 - angles, saxons, jutes arrive from Germany, writing is in runes, latin monks, 50% of english vocab is old english,
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Middle English Period?
1066 - 1485 - terms for law and politics arise in lexis from norman French, expansion of lexis, abstract terms, writers concerned about change
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Tudor period?
1485 - 1603 - rise of nationalism linked to desire for more expressive language, experiments in style of literature, imports from Greek and Latin, ideas in maths and science
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The 17th Century?
Influences of catholicism, science, puritanism - ideas of clarity and simplicity, influence
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The 18th Century?
Ideas of order and priority, standardising of spelling, movement begins interest in social class and varieties of English
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The 19th Century?
Interest in the past, use of archaic words, Noan Webster publishes American Dictionary, British Empire causes huge lexical growth, english travels to other countries, modern language science begnis, James Murray begins to compile the New English Dic
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The 20th Century and beyond?
Modern language science developed, descriptive and prescriptive, ideas of formal and informal changes, influence of oversea languages, english is becoming a global language
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Is modern English inflected?
Adverbs, adjectives, prepositions, conjunctions, interjections, are invariable and they do not change - form always stays the same no matter how they are used
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What in grammar can cause language change?
Neologisms, taboo, borrowings (loans taken from other languages: judge from french, opera from latin) compounding (lap-top), affixation (racism), acronym, shortening, abbreviations, amelioration, pejoration, idioms, euphemisms
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What is Jean Aitchison's view on language change?
She is a descriptivist, and uses: crumbling castle, damp spoon, and the infectious disease myths
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What does she mean by the crumbling castle?
By this, the mythsuggests Enlgish was once a great castle but has decayed over time into the sea. She states this is false because English as a 'once fine language' is innaccurate as it is constantly changing and evolving
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What does she mean by the damp spoon?
The damp spoon suggests that 'bad english' sticks to people who are lazy and passive, and is reflected by people who put the damp spoon into the sugar bowl: lazy people
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What does she mean by the infectious disease?
This suggests that 'bad english' is like a horrible disease like herpes which spreads from person to person. Aitchison suggests that people pick up changes in language because they want to
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What does David Crystal suggest about language change?
He shares the same perspective as Aitchison, and created his own tide metaphor to explain language change. He suggests language is like a tide; constantly changing in it's natural proggresive way
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What are prescriptivists?
Prescriptivists identify 'correct' language use and disapprove of language which breaks the rules. They dictate how language SHOULD be used
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Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

Where have some english words come from?

Back

French influence; the 'b' in 'subtle', English is a germanic language, some can be latinate - introduced during the Renaissance, contempary language change (slang), amerlioration, perjoration, neoligisms, coining, semantic change, broadening

Card 3

Front

Reasons for language change?

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

What other reason impacts on how well known the English language now is?

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

Timeline of the history of english language?

Back

Preview of the front of card 5
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