English Across Time Flashcards
(21 cards)
The Vikings sociocultural context
80.s, V. Began to settle in Europe/ speak old Norse= need to communicate (trade, intermarriage,etc)
Vikings elaboration and evidence
- Grammatical stripping occurred gradually word order shifted from synthetic to analytic e.g. borrowing of prep ‘with’ and ‘to’
W. ~1000 borrowings
E.g. (v) rear and rails
Die and starve (v)
Skill and craft (n)
Viking quotation
“In all, up to 1000 Norse words were permanently added to the English lexicon.” (The history of English)
“The simplification of English by the Danes gradually helped to eliminate these word endings” (The story of English)
Reclamation sociocultural context and examples/evidence
a push for an increase in political correctness and inclusiveness=> reassessment of popular usage of many words
E.g in minority groups, cultural groups, mental health, taboo topics etc.
E.g.
Feminism and underlying sexism in lexes e.g. ‘mankind’, ‘chairman’
Racism e.g. ‘blacklist’ ‘blackmail’ ‘N word’
‘Mentally handicapped, disabled’
Positive rebranding ‘gay, queer, queen, pronouns they/them’
RECLAMATION QUOTES AND LINKS
“Reclaiming ‘queer’ expresses pride in not being not cisgender/not heterosexual and presents word as an appropriate as an appropriate way to refer to people”
“Intent was to use the words in a radical and confrontational manner which was to be achieved”
Social changes in language reflects the increase in inclusion/acceptance to change to strengthening and represent idea and connection
Power assoc w reclamation to reflect the desires of speakers to present themselves
Technology/social media
Sociocultural context and elaboration and evidence
Punctuation= punctuation, full stops —> typewriter/keyboard
Internet began 1997
Elaboration and evidence punctuation hash tags abbreviation acronyms emojis
Used for more expression, stress etc
Technology quotation and links
“Texting has added a new dimension to language use, but it’s long term impact is negligible”x David Crystal
“Language shifts and changes due to chance and external factors such as the influence of the internet has on slang and common place abbreviations”x Emmy Fabvvila
Links
Short handed abbreviation reflects changing and fasted paced society/ease of communication… emotion evident in written form
The expression on non standard syntax associated with informality allows for greater expression of identity
Journal article examples for addressing political correctness
Lizzy removes ‘harmful’ ableist slur from new song Grrls after criticisms
- ‘spazz’ noun derogatory/dysphemism slur associated with negative connotations that diminishes those with autism as ‘disabled’ adjectives
-“I understand the power that words have” Lizzo
- “repeatedly! Is really harmful!” @zittiblackbeard
Not blessed but privileged- prime minister Morrison election debate comment angered many Emma myers and Maani Truu
“Neurodiverse” noun
‘Blessed” verb ‘privilege’ ‘vulnerable’ ‘responsibility’ ‘tragedy’
“Only way we’ve been taught how to view disability is that it’s a tragedy”… “for families to solve”
He, she, them- the importance to get a persons preferred pronoun right- KYLIE BARTHOLEMEW AND SARAH HOWELLS
‘Them/them’ third person singular plural subject pronoun
She/her and he/his 3rd person singular subject pronoun
“We know language empowers but it also disempowers. It makes people feel visible and heard but it also erases them” Dr Gail Crimmins
Aboriginal English sociocultural and e.g.
Prior colonisation ~250 languages dropped to 150 resulting in language endangerment and creation of pidgins (due to the need for Lingua Franca)
Abe= her also allowed for expression of identity and culture that many benefits incl diversity
E.g. /v/ for /o/ e.g muver’mother’ and lack of /h/
Includes regional variances e.g. booliman for police in QLD
Differences in semantics e.g. country=place of belonging that highlights language intwined with the language
Plural marked lexically rather than inflectional-morpheme e.g.-s tense marked w bin
Lack of conjunctions not use v. ‘To be’
Qs asked indirectly as statement and rising intonation
Aboriginal Englishes quotations
“Prevalent use of Aboriginal Englishes can be a threat to FNL w dwindling number of speakers” (AbE notes)
“Rich linguistic landscape”
“There are many benefits…having a common and unifying language and links to culture that was often forcibly abandoned during colonisation and the stolen generation”
Aboriginal Englishes quotations
“Prevalent use of Aboriginal Englishes can be a threat to FNL w dwindling number of speakers” (AbE notes)
“Rich linguistic landscape”
“There are many benefits…having a common and unifying language and links to culture that was often forcibly abandoned during colonisation and the stolen generation”
Global language quotation
“A language becomes a world language for one reason only-the power of those who speak it” David crystal
Language death quotation
“For each language you know you are a new person”- Czech proverb
“Enshrined in a language is the whole of a community’s history and a large part of its cultural identity” David crystal
Teenspeak sociocultural context buzz words
More common place in society as teenagers grow up and increase prominence in society
Language is an ever changing form
E.v. Shift towards informality increasing of initialisms and acronyms GOAT
Neologisms and rebranding e.g. sigma
Shortening vibes From vibrations etc
Non-standard orthography and increasing connotations to taboo topics
Teenspeak quotes
‘Teenagers use language as a kind of identity badge that has the effect of excluding adults’-Pam Peters linguist
‘Teenspeak is commonly used by teenagers to promote individual and group identity by excluding those who do not understand”
The Norman’s context
1066 WTC foreign rule.. French became language of power
Stratify society
10,000 word borrowings
Under semantic field luxury e.g. banquet, mansion, jewellery
Governments e.g. government and parliament n
The Norman’s quotes
“The reason why we have different words for the flesh of an animal and the animal itself is because of the French invasion of 1066” Joel Golby, journalist
“As a result of the Norman invasion English has become an nation in which lati, English and French coexisted” David crystal
The printing press context
1476 William Caxton London dialect
Period characterised by variety
Evidence 50. Spellings for church prior standardisation e.g. Kirk, church and Kirke
Unintelligible 60 miles from London
Eggs etc.
The printing press quotations
“English at the time of Shakespeare was a language on a course to u infirmity thanks to the print revolution, but still containing words in multiple ways” the Rebecca Rideal, the guardian of
Dictionary context
Samuel Johnson’s dictionary published 1755 to “purify” into in an unchanging form
Innovation in lexicology incl e.g. beauty spelled multiple ways “bealte, buute, bewtee, beaute
Covered common vocabulary covering in written form defines “rules” that a language must be spoken
language is reduced (printing press) features = more fixed 500 ways to spell church
dictionary quotes
“18th century, many more scholars had come to believe that the English language chaotic and in desperate need of some firm rules”- The history OF ENGLish
