Examples For Change Flashcards

1
Q

Examples of top down change failing

A

Jonathan Swift wanting to “fix” the English language by having a language academy. This attempt ultimately failed and other academies in countries such as Italy and Spain were also unsuccessful in fulfilling their purpose.

During William the Conquerer’s reign, French became the language of the courts and was used by the elite but it failed to spread to the ordinary people.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

An example of a dialect that has a sense of prestige

A

Received Pronunciation (RP) is the dialect used by the BBC.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

Examples of lexical change in reference to functional theory (technology)

A

Text (as a verb)
Blog
iPhone
Selfie

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

An example of semantic change in reference to technology

A

Mouse (the animal) and mouse (the device used in accompaniment with a computer)
Virus (something that causes illness) and virus (a computer virus)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

An example of narrowing

A

“Meat” used to mean all food.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

An example of broadening

A

“Butcher” used to mean slaughterer of goats

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

An example of amelioration

A

“Nice” used to mean foolish.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

An example of perjoration

A

“Hussy” used to mean housewife.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

An example of weakening

A

“Terrible” used to mean causing terror

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

Example of semantic change - SAD

A

Used to mean mature and trustworthy

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

Example of semantic change - GIRL

A

Used to mean young person of either sex

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

Example of semantic change - AWFUL

A

Inspiring wonder - full of awe - negative meaning

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

An example of semantic change - INMATE

A

A tenant or housemate - a prisoner

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

An example of semantic change - BULLY

A

Superb, wonderful - An unkind person

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

Example of semantic change - GAY

A

Light-hearted, joyous - happy - connotations of immorality - a term for homosexuals

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

An example of a metaphor

A

Bug=insect= to annoy someone

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

An example of a euphemism

A

Passed away=kicking the bucket=died

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
18
Q

Examples of idioms

A

Break a leg
Beat around the bush
A blessing in disguise

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
19
Q

An example of reflectionism (Sapir-Whorf theory)

A

“Key” in German is masculine “schlüssel” so German speakers may describe a key as “hard” and “heavy”
Key in Spanish is feminine “llave” so Spanish speakers may describe a key as “golden” and “intricate”

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
20
Q

An example of Hockett’s random fluctuation theory

A

The misspelling of “owned” as “pwned” has become a common term in the gaming community.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
21
Q

An example of lexical gap theory

A

There is a term for when a child loses their parent (orphan) but there is not a term for when a parent loses a child.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
22
Q

Examples of French words that have entered our language

A

Duke
Parliament
Crime
Dress
Poem

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
23
Q

Examples of words borrowed from Latin

A

Species
History
Scripture

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
24
Q

Examples of compounding

A

Ice cream
Toothbrush
Thumbprint

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
25
Examples of back formation
Edit formed from editor Choreograph formed from choreography
26
Examples of blends
Smog Staycation Hangry Workaholic
27
Example of conversion
Text (noun) To text (verb)
28
Examples of clipping
Telephone - phone Influenza - flu Bicycle - bike Photograph - photo
29
Examples of initialisms
BBC FBI
30
Examples of acronyms
NASA NATO SCUBA
31
Examples of affixation
Selfless Hyperactive
32
An example of change from above
Political correctness
33
Examples of gender neutral job titles
Headmaster/mistress - principal or head teacher Fireman/firewoman - firefighter Policeman/policewoman - police officer
34
An example of semantic reclamation
The word “bitch” is now used as a sisterhood term in female rap music or between female friends instead of in a misogynistic way.
35
Examples of Webster’s American spelling reforms
Colour - color Defence - defense Theatre - theater Capitalise - capitalize
36
An example of a homograph
Wind = a gust of wind or the verb to wind up
37
Examples of homophones
Through and threw
38
An example of schwa
Uhbout rather than about
39
An example of Th-fronting
“Fink” rather than “think”
40
An example of assimilation
“Hanbag” instead of “handbag”
41
Examples of loan words form 8th-11th centuries as a result of invasions from other countries
Scandinavia - skirt, cog and, skip French - accompany, department, tax
42
Examples of loan words from the 16th-17th centuries as a result of Latin and Greek writers
Latin - benefit, temperature and the prefixes sub and trans Greek - catastrophe, pneumonia and the morphemes auto and pan
43
Examples of loan words from the 18th-19th centuries as a result the British Empire
Malaysia - amok India - shampoo
44
Examples of loan words from 20th century as a result of immigration to the UK and two world wars
China - wok The world wars exposed our language to contact with countries from around the world Post-war affluence led to a rise in travel and increased contact with other cultures
45
Example of politically correct language
Use 'wheelchair user' instead of 'wheelchair bound'
46
Examples of omission
- When speaking at speed some sounds within a group of sounds may be left out e.g. George bang(ed) the drum (past tense markers might be omitted in normal colloquial speech) - Makes language more fluent and flow more easily so it is not 'lazy' e.g. omitted the 't' in 'whistle'
47
Example of change in consonant use
- Before the 19th century, -ing was generally pronounced -in even by the middle and upper classes e.g. Walkin' - Nowadays this is associated with the lower class
48
Examples of the Queen's pronunciation
'hand' pronounced more like 'hend' 'tissue' pronounced more like 'tisyu'
49
What do CMC texts tend to involve?
- Increased interactivity - Multi modal texts - Text-image cohesion - Intertextuality - Collaborative writing/multiple authors
50
The Queens English Society, 1972
- A charity that aims to keep the English language safe from perceived declining standards - They treat English as an object to be defended and owned
51
Example of grammatical change
Double negations: used to be common in English but is now considered non-standard English e.g. I don't want nothing
52
An example of a lost superlative
Properest - Superlatives such as this one were grammatically accepted but in Present Day English you'd use 'most proper'
53
An example of a multiple comparative
More cleverer (used in the 19th century)
54
Examples of changes in word function
Tech - nouns (text, email, Facebook) become verbs Americanisms - adjectives used instead of adverbs e.g. I'm good!
55
Examples of contemporary English
Adverb 'well' used as an intensifying adverb e.g. 'That was well good' Tag question 'isn't it' is often shortened to the slang 'innit' 1990s - intensifying adverb 'so' used with 'not' e.g. 'I'm so not OK'
56
Examples of 18th century grammar rules (Robert Lowth 'short introduction to English grammar')
Pronoun 'thou' should no longer be used No split infinitives e.g. to quickly walk There should be a differentiation between 'who', 'which' and 'that'
57
Why were contractions popular in the 18th century?
Due to their use in poetry
58
An example of a significant event in standardisation
Caxton’s printing press, 1476 - The first ever printing press - Meant that identical copies of a text could be produced and this allowed for standardisation - Caxton decided which spelling to use - He chose the dialects used in courts, universities like Oxford and Cambridge - this gave the dialect a sense of prestige - Everyone was reading the same form of English - Provided a benchmark standard of English
59
Examples of features of EFL (English as a lingua Franca)
- Dropping 3rd person present simple -s - Using frequently used verbs of high semantic generality - ‘do’, ‘have’, ‘make’, ‘put’, ‘take’ - Explicit statements e.g. ‘how long time’
60
Example of the Great Vowel Shift evident in spelling
Blood was spelt as 'blod' in Middle English but was later spelt as 'blud' reflecting the move towards the long vowel
61
Examples of perceived difficulty with the spelling system
- Some words have silent letters e.g. knight - Some words are spelt the same but sound different (homographs) - Some words are spelt differently but are pronounced the same (homophones)
62
An example of Bailey’s wave model
MLE - The change spread quickly through London but took longer to diffuse out to wider areas.
63
Analogy for the wave model
The closer you are to the drop of water the stronger the ripple The model works on the same basis as a drop of water hitting the surface of a lake - it creates ripples This could be a good extended metaphor to put in a Q4 article about change. Could also link this idea with Crystal’s tide metaphor.
64
Why can change never reach 100% uptake?
Because people resisit change
65
A example of language change using the S-curve model
- At stage 1, ‘lol’ was used by teens texting. - At stage 2, more teenagers began to use it nationally, internationally and globally. This continued to spread and texters of other ages began to use it. - It received media publicity leading to stage 3 where there is now a large uptake from parents and older texters (note that it becomes almost obsolete amongst teens now). - We are currently at point 4, where many, many people know the term.
66
An example of effective change (S-curve model)
- In this model, change is shown to be effective as long as it can move out of a social group or geographical area. - For example, MLE has started to have an effective change on the country due to it spreading outside of London to places as far as Manchester (as detailed in research from Drummond).
67
An example of substratum theory (the media)
British English saw an increase in the use of ‘like’ as an intensifier as a result of American English use of it on TV shows like FRIENDS.
68
An example of Damp Spoon
The growing trend of ‘g-dropping’
69
Example of Infectious Disease
Text language is often described as infecting our language
70
Eponym
Forming a word based on a brand name or a person’s name e.g. ‘hoover’ for vacuuming from the brand ‘Hoover’.
71
Examples of Old English nouns
Son Daughter Youth Field Home