Language Change

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  • Created by: 10dhall
  • Created on: 31-05-17 23:00
What are reasons for language change?
Technology, society, foreign influence, individuals, travel and trade, science, globalisation
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What are the different attitudes towards language change?
Prescriptivism, descriptivism, and wanting language to remain the same and refrain from change, or David Crystal's attitude
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What is prescriptivism?
This is where people want to dictate how language is used
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What is descriptivism?
Where people accept language change and that it is inevitable; they accept change
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What are some things that have come about due to language change?
Neologisms, borrowings, affixation, compounding, blending, conversion, shortenings, abbreviation, acronym, amelioration, pejoration, broadening, generalisation, idioms, euphemisms
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What are euphemisms?
These are a polite way of describing something unpleasant
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What are idioms?
These are formed as existing words but assume new meanings due to the semantics of them; 'in the dog house' 'over the moon'
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What is pejorations?
This is the opposite of amelioration and is when a words original meaning becomes less favourable. Example: 'awful'
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What is amelioration?
This is when a word has taken on a more pleasant view from what it originally had. For example; 'wicked' 'pretty'
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Where have some English words come from?
They have come from EWnglish being a germanic language, some words can be latinate (law, science), Samuel Johnson's dictionary in 1755, french influence, contempory language change (slang)
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What is Labov's idea about language change?
Thinks that we subconsciously change our language to identify ourselves with one group of people
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What are Jean Aitchison's parodies of prescriptivism?
Damp spoon parody, crumbling castle parody, infectious disease parody
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What is the damp spoon syndrome?
That language changes due to people being lazy
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What is the infectious disease assumption?
People pick up changes because they want to, and they are not random
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What is the crumbling castle view?
This is that language is crumbling and needs to preserved
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Card 2

Front

What are the different attitudes towards language change?

Back

Prescriptivism, descriptivism, and wanting language to remain the same and refrain from change, or David Crystal's attitude

Card 3

Front

What is prescriptivism?

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

What is descriptivism?

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

What are some things that have come about due to language change?

Back

Preview of the front of card 5
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