Language Change

?
  • Created by: Briony98
  • Created on: 13-04-17 21:55
Diachronic Change
Refers to the study of historical language change occurring over a span of time.
1 of 48
Synchronic Change
Refers to an approach that studies language at a theoretical point in time without considering the historical context.
2 of 48
Influence of migration, travel, the empire etc.
English has borrowed extensively, loan words. such as 'tea' and 'curry' . Global things like shopping introduces terminology and brands.
3 of 48
Influence of wars and invasions
Norman conquest and Germanic tribes had a strong impact on English.
4 of 48
Influence of science and technology
Scientific advances led to the need for neologisms (newly coined word or expression, many use latin or greek influences.
5 of 48
Influence of trade and new inventions
Leads to use of new words, often describing what you can do with them, like a dishwasher.
6 of 48
Influence of social, ideological and cultural changes
Changes in attitudes often result in language alterations, such as less discrimination so lowered use of negative terms towards them
7 of 48
Influence of the media
Influence language in a way that can make it more colloquial.
8 of 48
Amelioration
Word takes on a different, more positive, meaning than it has previously, so gains status e.g. pretty, from sly to attractive.
9 of 48
Pejoration
Word takes on a different, more negative, meaning than it had, so loses status, e.g. cunning, from learned to decietful
10 of 48
Weakening
Word loses strength of its original meaning, e.g. soon, from immediately to in a short while.
11 of 48
Narrowing/Specialisation
Word becomes more specific in its meaning, e.g. meat, any food to flesh of an animal.
12 of 48
Broadening/Generalisation
Word keeps its original meaning but acquires others, all examples of semantic change, e.g. place, from a broad street to an area.
13 of 48
Prefixes
Addition of a bound morpheme to the beginning of a root word e.g. mega-.
14 of 48
Suffixes
Addition of a bound morpheme to the end of a root word, e.g. -ing.
15 of 48
Conversion
Word changes its word class without adding a suffix, e.g. text (noun and verb).
16 of 48
Compound
Combining of separate words to create a new word, sometimes using a hyphen to link them, e.g. man flu.
17 of 48
Back Formation
Removal of an imagined affix from an existing word, e.g. editor became edit.
18 of 48
Blend
Two words fusing to make a new one, e.g. smog. (All examples of derivational morphology change).
19 of 48
Neologism
The creations of a new word or expression, coinage is also used to describe this.
20 of 48
Borrowing/Loan Word
Introduction of a word from one language to another, can be anglicised (become more English) or remain similar to their original meaning e.g. chocolate (chocolat from French), and pundit.
21 of 48
Eponym
Name of a person after whom something is named e.g. sandwich and braille.
22 of 48
Propriety names
Name given to a product by one organisation becomes the commonly used name for the same product, e.g. walkman, hoover.
23 of 48
Old English
5th to 11th century, development of English from the linguistic influence of Germanic and Viking invaders.
24 of 48
Middle English
11th to 14th century, the mixing of French with English after the Norman Conquest.
25 of 48
Early Modern English
15th to 17th century, the continual process of change, as English discarded older forms of word order and word ending, and added Latin words for new concepts and ideas.
26 of 48
Late Modern English
18th century to present day, the age of standardised English.
27 of 48
Long S
First found in Roman scripts, then used up to the 18th century (mid 19th in handwriting). Used in the start and middles of words in place of a small s.
28 of 48
Saussure (theorist)
Saw change occurring because of the way that language is being continuously rearranged and reinterpreted. Saw language as a series of signs, one side the signifier and the other the meaning and associations it signified.
29 of 48
Orthography
The representation of the sounds of a language by written or printed symbols.
30 of 48
Changing Capitalisation
By late modern English capitals used as they are today, whereas people used to capitalise every noun they considered important.
31 of 48
Orthographical Change - Phonological Influence
Sounds of English changed, so written word needed to accommodate this, e.g. the silent e used to be pronounced as it could show the word's function.
32 of 48
Orthographical Change - Technological Influence
Printing practices in 1800s shaped presentation of letters, such as eradicating the long s, now used compressed English in ways such as texting
33 of 48
Orthographical Change - Standardisation
During late modern English spelling was further standardised and codified in dictionaries, before this spelling was determined by individual choices.
34 of 48
Standardisation
Process by which conventional forms of a language are established and maintained.
35 of 48
Changing Punctuation
Commas were used to link long claused sentences, colons and semicolons were used to separate clauses, apostrophes were possessive and used to represent missing letters etc. Now rules are in place for their use
36 of 48
Omission`
Where sounds disappear from words, often involves the clipping of the final consonant.
37 of 48
Assimilation
The pronunciation of one phoneme is affected by an adjacent phoneme e.g. 'don't you' being pronounced as 'dohnchu'
38 of 48
Jean Aitchison
That the above is a natural tendency occuring within all languages
39 of 48
Phonological Change - Ease of Articulation
Often make spoken words or phrases easier to say, also abbreviate words.
40 of 48
Phonological Change - Societal Changes/Prestige
People move around more, and along with mass communication, leading to less regional variation. Some people's desire to create cultural identity causes more sociolectal variations and a move against 'correct' speech.
41 of 48
Received Pronunciation
The prestige accent associated with the upper classes, largely used on the news in the past.
42 of 48
Estuary English
Mixing of 'ordinary' London and south-eastern accents with RP. Some of it's key features are: glottal stops, 'I' vocalisation, and Yod coalesence.
43 of 48
William Caxton
First English printer, printing being the beginning of standardisation.
44 of 48
Prescriptivism
Attitude to language use that makes judgements about what is right and wrong and holds language up to an ideal standard that should be maintained.
45 of 48
Descriptivism
Attitude to language use that seeks to describe it without making value judgement.
46 of 48
Archaic Language
Words that are no longer in everyday use or have lost a particular meaning in current usage.
47 of 48
Obsolete Language
Language that is no longer in use in modern day.
48 of 48

Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

Refers to an approach that studies language at a theoretical point in time without considering the historical context.

Back

Synchronic Change

Card 3

Front

English has borrowed extensively, loan words. such as 'tea' and 'curry' . Global things like shopping introduces terminology and brands.

Back

Preview of the back of card 3

Card 4

Front

Norman conquest and Germanic tribes had a strong impact on English.

Back

Preview of the back of card 4

Card 5

Front

Scientific advances led to the need for neologisms (newly coined word or expression, many use latin or greek influences.

Back

Preview of the back of card 5
View more cards

Comments

No comments have yet been made

Similar English Language resources:

See all English Language resources »See all Language Change resources »