Final Examination Flashcards
(110 cards)
1
Q
Which type of French did English borrow vocabulary from?
A
Normand French (and not Paris French)
2
Q
What are the difference in Normand French pronunciation (compared to Paris French) which were seen in Middle English? Name 3
A
- Norman pronunciation of Germanic (GW) as (W)
- Norman pronunciation of q as (KW)
- Preserved Latin (K) before (A) whereas in Paris French it is (T^S)
- Retained -s- which was lost in French in the 12th century
- Retained (T^S)/(D^S) sound, softened in Paris French (13th Century)
3
Q
Which of the change do the following pairs of modern English and French words illustrate?
wicket - guichet
A
- Norman pronunciation of Germanic (GW) as (W)
GW > W
4
Q
Which of the change do the following pairs of modern English and French words illustrate?
wasp - guêpe
A
- Norman pronunciation of Germanic (GW) as (W)
GW > W
5
Q
Which of the change do the following pairs of modern English and French words illustrate?
waste - gâter
A
- Norman pronunciation of Germanic (GW) as (W)
GW > W
6
Q
Which of the change do the following pairs of modern English and French words illustrate?
question - question
A
- Norman pronunciation of q as (KW)
K>KW
7
Q
Which of the change do the following pairs of modern English and French words illustrate?
quit - quitter
A
- Norman pronunciation of q as (KW)
K>KW
8
Q
Which of the change do the following pairs of modern English and French words illustrate?
forest- forêt
A
-Retained -s- which was lost in French in the 12th century
9
Q
Which of the change do the following pairs of modern English and French words illustrate?
quality - qualité
A
- Norman pronunciation of q as (KW)
K>KW
10
Q
Which of the change do the following pairs of modern English and French words illustrate?
feast- fête
A
-Retained -s- which was lost in French in the 12th century
11
Q
When did the Battle of Hastings take place?
A
October, 1066
12
Q
Who fought against whom under whose leadership in the battle of Hastings?
A
William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy, at the head of his army of Norman French knights and barons, defeated Harold Godwineson, King of England.
13
Q
What areas of life were dominated by the French-speaking Normans for the three hundred years after the Norman Conquest?
A
William, as King of England William I, replaced Englishmen with Frenchmen in all the high offices of both state and church (partly to reward his French followers for their support, partly because he, justifiably, felt that he could not trust the English).
14
Q
What languages were used in England during the Norman Conquest and to which areas of life did they apply?
A
French, the language of the court and of the ruling class, which automatically became the language of prestige in England; Latin, the language of the Church and of science and general scholarship; and English, the language of the common people.
15
Q
Name 5 examples during the Norman Conquest of the use of French?
A
French: felony, perjury, attorney, bailiff (Law); nobility, servant, peasant, baron, page, squire, madam, sir, princess, duke, count, gentle(man) (Social Relationships and Ranks); government, state, country, city, village, reign, public, crown, court, tax, register, mayor, citizen (Government and Administration); enemy, battle, peace, force, advance, siege, attack, army, navy, soldier, captain, spy, march (The Military)
16
Q
Name 5 examples during the Norman Conquest of the use of Latin?
A
Latin: apocalypse, purgatory, limbo, remit (The Church); testament, confederate (Law); admit, comprehend, lapidary, temporal (Science).
17
Q
Name three Norman kings on the English throne.
A
William I (William the Conqueror), Henry III, King John, Richard II.
18
Q
In what way did the borrowings from French enrich the English language? (Provide three examples)
A
The borrowings from French Made English more refined. They enabled English to express fine shades of meanings thanks to a wealth of near synonyms, such as: royal, regal, sovereign (vs. OE kingly). For fine shades of meaning cf. word-groups: rise-mount-ascend; ask-question- interrogate; time-age-epoch (p.75)
19
Q
What, according to the authors, are the three reasons for the survival of English after the Norman Conquest?
A
1) OE was well established, very resourceful and vigorous (thanks to the fusion with the Scandinavian languages) before the Conquest, and after the Conquest it continued to be spoken by the demographically overwhelming part of England’s population;
b) the Normans who had settled in England almost immediately began to intermarry with those they had conquered;
c) when the Anglo-Normans who chose to declare their allegiance to the King of England rather than to the King of France lost their land in France in 1204, they stopped travelling to France and cut themselves off politically as well as emotionally, and consequently also linguistically, from their French roots.
20
Q
How did churches and universities try to stop the decline of French in the fourteenth century?
A
Churches and universities tried to stop the decline of French in the 14th century. E.g. Oxford University students were formally required to speak either French or Latin, but the regulation was obviously not observed. (p.77)
21
Q
What reputation did English French have at the time? Can you prove your answer?
A
English French was certainly NOT a prestige dialect in the 14th century, as witnessed e.g. by the ironic line in Chaucer’s description of the Prioress (The Canterbury Tales) who spoke French after the Stratford-at-Bowe school, for she did not know the French of Paris.
22
Q
Give a general characteristic of Middle English (ME). What period does it refer to? What basic changes from Old English does it represent? Why was it irregular at first?
A
ME (1250-1500): the period of lost inflections and of increased vocabulary
23
Q
When did Geoffrey Chaucer live and what are his major works?
A
Geoffrey Chaucer, born in 1340 and died in 1400, is the first great English writer, a poet and a translator into English, well known and appreciated also on the Continent. Major works: The Canterbury Tales – Chaucer’s masterpiece poem about a pilgrimage of various persons representing different social classes and types to Canterbury, a popular shrine after Thomas à Becket’s assassination there in 1170, The House of Fame, The Parlement of Fowles, Troilus and Criseyde + an English translation of Boethius’ Consolation of Philosophy.
24
Q
What variety of English did Chaucer promote?
A
Chaucer wrote in London dialect, as his family came from London, and naturally, promoted this dialect of English.
25
Who was the first English king to use English in official documents since King Harold? Give the date of one important document of the time.
Henry V (beginning of the 15th century) was the first English king since the Norman Conquest to use English in official documents. E.g. When he crossed the Channel in 1415 to fight the French, he dictated his first letter "on the French soil" in English, consciously avoiding the language of his enemy. (p.84)
26
Who was William Caxton and what is his contribution to the propagation of English?
William Caxton, a merchant and diplomat, who learned the art of printing on the Continent and introduced the printing press into England around the year 1476. The importance of the press for the re-establishment of the English language cannot be overstated: printing made literature in English easily available, it provided a model and a standard for the diversified English speech of the time and it fossilized the eclectic English spelling of the time and of the printer himself.
27
What difficulty did William Caxton encounter trying to print English for the first time?
Caxton had great problems trying to print the version of English "that would find favour with all readers" because of great regional variation in ME and of the lack of reliable grammatical and lexical standards
28
What is the story of the 15th century miracle play “Mankind”? Who was the play designed for, where were such plays performed and what impact did they have on the development of English drama?
Mankind is a fifteenth century miracle play, written about 1470 and designed for a company of strolling professional players (The players were paid for their acting: taking of a collection during the performance) who performed in church-porches or inn-yards and constantly moved from place to place with their "theatre". The story of Mankind is the story of a peasant who swears an oath of loyalty to the Devil under the spell of the Seven Deadly Sins and the devil Titivillus, but finally repents and is forgiven. Miracle plays like Mankind were designed for general popular audiences; they were immensely popular in the 16th century and they were the beginning of stable open-air theatres in England, such as the London theatre Shakespeare were to write for a few years later.
29
Why did the East Midlands dialect (a direct descendant of the OE Mercian dialect) replace West Saxon as the national standard?
The East Midlands dialect replaced West Saxon as the national standard for socio-political and economic reasons. The capital was moved from Winchester to London; London was an important trading centre for commerce with the rest of Europe and had been excluded from the Danelaw; London forms part of the important triangle of power known as Oxbridge (London, Cambridge and London)
30
From which language were these words borrowed and to what category do they belong?
ox, sheep, calf, house, hearty, strench, might, ask, wish, shun
Anglo-Saxon (common uses and concreate ideas)
31
From which language were these words borrowed and to what category do they belong?
beef, mutton, poultry, mansion, judgement, cordial, perfume, powder, desire, avoid
French (prestigious, aristocratic and abstract ideas)
32
What is the 100 year war?
(1337-1453): an intermittent conflict between England and France. The Hundred Years War produced anti-French sentiments among the English and helped assure the resurgence of English as England's national language.
33
What is the Black Death?
an epidemic that swept Europe and England in the 14th century
34
What is "Wat Tyler's Rebellion" or "The Peasants' Revolt"?
took place in 1381 under the leadership of Wat Tyler. In the feudal system, introduced in England by William the Conqueror, peasants were the "property" of the landlords who owned the land on which the peasants lived and worked. They could not leave this land and settle or work somewhere else. In the 14th century many peasants refused to remain tied to their feudal lords since, because of the labour shortages caused by the Black Death, they could sell their labour at higher prices in towns or in monasteries.
35
Who is Geoffrey Chaucer?
exemplifies the triumph of London English. He made a conscious choice to use the English of London and is seen as symbolizing the rebirth of English. He was a writer of genius, and he is responsible for some of its important transformations. He was alive to the energy and potential of everyday speech, using wordplay and puns in his satire, mocking the pretensions of those around him (see the book, pp.81-83);
36
Who is William Caxton?
imported the printing press to England and printed the first ever ‘English’ book. He set the standard for English spelling before any general consensus or agreement had been reached. He wrote in the dialect of London (Midlands) favouring it over the varieties and dialects found elsewhere on the island.
37
What is "Mankind"?
a play of the 15th century, written around 1470 and most probably would have been performed on a church porch. Its language is original, funny, and high-spirited and recognizable. Emerging from the shadow of French and Latin, English with this play demonstrates the versatility acquired over the last thousand years. (p. 88)
38
Who is King Philip of France?
King Philip of France seizing the Norman estates of the knights who live in England forces these knights to choose between Normandy or England. It further cuts ties between the Norman French living in England and those living on the continent. This isolation will start to allow English to reappear as a language.
39
What is the Plague?
kills many of the educated monks and nobles who maintained the variety of Norman French spoken in England. With their demise in great numbers, new scribes were required in the monasteries to copy the manuscripts, many of whom came from peasant families who knew neither French nor Latin. It is during this time that English spellings and words start to creep back into the language.
40
Explain the origin of these doublets?
later/latter
Doubling the root consonant was a common practice for the comparative/superlative form of adjectives in OE. The practice was lost in ME. The word latter remained and was given a different meaning,
41
Explain the origin of these doublets?
brothers/brethren
The OE plural of brother was brethren (-en plural instead of -s) the -s was added to brethren but it kept in a special usage.
42
Explain the origin of these doublets?
older/elder
elder is the comparative form of older in OE. It later specialized in meaning
43
Explain the change from OE to ME for this word: ealda
oolde : loss of gender distinction in the inflection, falling together as the -e form.
44
Explain the change from OE to ME for this word: stanas
stones: levelling of the "a" to a "e" (schwa) , -s is retained as indication of the plural
45
Explain the change from OE to ME for this word: stanu
stone: levelling of the "u" to a "e" (schwa)
46
Explain the change from OE to ME for this word: smaelne
smale: loss of the inflection on the adjective, both strong and weak form of the plural were reduced to -e
47
Explain the change from OE to ME for this word: ich
I: loss of the final (^C) and merging of the different forms of the first person singular pronoun
48
Explain the change from OE to ME for this word: the
the: no change
49
Explain the change from OE to ME for this word: beran
beren: levelling of the final "an" to "en" in infinitive.
50
Explain the change from OE to ME for this word: funden
founde: loss of the final -n in past participle of strong and weak verbs
51
Explain the change from OE to ME for this word: hundes
hound's : levelling of the "e" to schwa. genitive (possessive) becomes 's
52
Explain the change from OE to ME for this word: hit
it: levelling and loss of the alternative form "hit" for nominative and accusative neuter 3rd person singular, the form "it" was retained.
53
What factors led to the determination of Elizabeth I's reign as “the golden age of the English language”?
Three main factors determined the period of the reign of Elizabeth I and that of James I as the “golden age of the English language”:
a) the Renaissance
b) the Reformation
c) the emergence of England as a maritime (and industrial) power.
54
How did the words: education, maturity, dedicate get introduced into English? What roots are they based on?
Education, maturity, dedicate are based on Latin roots. These words were introduced into English by Sir Thomas Elyot in his book on education The Book Named Governour, published 1531.
55
What was the role of Latin at the time of Sir Thomas Elyot (1531)? Give examples of Latin borrowing.
Latin was still the predominant language in all fields of knowledge, considered by many “the proper medium of scholarship”.
Latinate words in the English of the time: agile, capsule, habitual (borrowed directly from Latin); catastrophe, lexicon, thermometer (borrowed from Greek through Latin). Other Latinate borrowings (a sample in the A-Z order, from Millward 1989, p. 244): ambiguous, biceps, census, decorate, emotion, fanatic, gladiator, harmonica, identical, joke, lichen, mandible, navigate, opponent, perfidious, quotation, ratio, scintillate, tangent, ultimate, vacuum, zone.
56
Why is the Renaissance described as the “Age of the Scientific Revolution”? What branches of science developed then and what was their effect on the development of the English vocabulary?
The Renaissance is often described as “the Age of the Scientific Revolution” because of the numerous discoveries and the scientific inventions introduced at that time, such as those of Galileo Galilei and Copernicus, which redefined our understanding of the universe; Vesalius’ revolutionary description of the human anatomy, and the work in physics of William Gilbert.
New scientific vocabulary introduced in the period of the Renaissance included words from Latin and Greek, such as: atmosphere, pneumonia, skeleton, encyclopaedia, gravity, excrement, strenuous, paradox, external, chronology.
57
Show how today's adjectives and nouns could be used as verbs in Elizabethan English. (Give five examples). How was such freedom explained?
Elizabethan English writers experimented with language in the true spirit of the Renaissance, when people felt that they were not bound by any constraints, and that they were free to challenge old rules, traditions, etc. Examples from the book: “In Elizabethan English you could happy your friend [adj > vb], malice or foot your enemy [n > vb], or fall an axe on his neck” [intransitive vb > transitive vb]. Also, see examples from Shakespeare’s unconventional use of words: out-Herod Herod, uncle me no uncle, how she might tongue me, Lord Angelo dukes it well.
This linguistic freedom can be explained by two factors: a) there was a need for these words, b) they manifested a certain “cultural courage”, so typical of the Elizabethan spirit.
58
What facts of Shakespeare's life are known to us?
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) the greatest English writer; born in Stratford-on-Avon in Warrickshire; married young and had two children; then left Stratford and went to London where he became an actor and a playwright for the Globe Theatre. He returned to Stratford towards the end of his life and died there. Not much more of Shakespeare’s life is known to us.
59
What words in Shakespeare's vocabulary betray his Warrickshire origin?
Many words in Shakespeare’s plays betray his Warrickshire origin, e.g. ballow (= cudgel), geck (= a fool), gallow (= frighten), potch (= thrust), etc.
60
How rich was Shakespeare's vocabulary?
His vocabulary totals ~34 000 words while the vocabulary of an average educated speaker of English is about 15 000 words.
61
What kind of English would Shakespeare have spoken?
Shakespeare must have spoken a North-Midlands dialect of the West Country English.
62
Give eight titles of Shakespeare's plays.
Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, King Lear, Macbeth, Othello. Comedies: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, Twelfth Night, As You Like It. Historical plays: Henry the Fifth, Henry the Fourth, Richard III.
63
List four of Shakespeare's famous characters.
Important characters: Hamlet, King Lear, Othello, Falstaff, Puck, Ophelia, Polonius, Titania, Macbeth, the Three Witches...
64
What was the pronunciation of “tea” and “sea” in Shakespeare's times? How do we know it?
Shakespeare’s tea would rhyme with tay, and his sea with say. Also, his language puns indicate that reason was close in pronunciation to raising, and grace phonetically resembled grass. These phonetic features are still preserved in the dialect of West Country and in Irish English.
65
What is a bellicose word?
bellicose words = (L bellum = war — aggressive, belligerent, hostile words; words used with reference to arguments and conflicts of the time (Today: bellicose governments). Many of bellicose words come from Spanish: desperado, embargo.
66
What is the Armada?
the Armada = the Spanish fleet (an armada) sent to attack England in 1588 and defeated by the English.
67
What are inkhorn terms?
“inkhorn terms” = learned borrowings into English (“woords of antiquitee” from Latin and Greek, numerous in the Renaissance, considered “mere pedantry” and accused of introducing “obscurity” into the English language. By the advocates of “plainnesse” in language (see passage by Thomas Wilson “Arte of Rhetorique” (1558) – Baugh, p. 217). Examples of such Latinate borrowings: retrograde, reciprocal, defunct, inflate. The battle between the foreign (inkhorn terms) and the native tradition in the vocabulary continued throughout the middle years of the 16th century.
68
What is first folio?
First Folio = folio is a book made with paper of a large size used especially in the earlier centuries of European printing eg. “a copy of Shakespeare’s first folio of 1623”; First Folio = the first volume of Shakespeare’s works published 7 years after his death
69
Name 3 of the transformations of the Great Vowel Shift?
Middle English > Modern English
| i:) > (ay
(u:) > (aw)
(e:) > (i)
(o:) > (u)
(ε:)> (e)
(၁:) > (o)
(a:) > (e)
70
Name one word that underwent this transformation because of the Great Vowel Shift?
(i:) > (ay)
mi:s > mays
mice
71
Name one word that underwent this transformation because of the Great Vowel Shift?
(u:) > (aw)
mu:s > maws
mouse
72
Name one word that underwent this transformation because of the Great Vowel Shift?
(e:) > (i)
ge:s > gis
geese
73
Name one word that underwent this transformation because of the Great Vowel Shift?
(o:) > (u)
go:s > gus
goose
74
Name one word that underwent this transformation because of the Great Vowel Shift?
(ε:)> (e)
brε:k> brek
break
75
Name one word that underwent this transformation because of the Great Vowel Shift?
(၁:) > (o)
br၁:k > brok
broke
76
Name one word that underwent this transformation because of the Great Vowel Shift?
(a:) > (e)
na:m>nem
name
77
Why are central vowels in threat, head, deaf, death pronounced with [ε] and not with [i:]?
It is an exception where the vowel shortened before d, t, th.
78
Why did ME [o:] became long [u:] in: boot, loose, mood, pool, soon, but short [u] in: foot, good, hook, wood, and was shortened to [Λ] in flood, blood?
ME [o:] became long [u:] in: boot, loose, mood, pool, soon, following the standard rising of vowel sounds characteristic of the Great Vowel Shift. Two subsequent changes affected the short [u] in: foot, good, hook, wood, where it was laxed to [Υ] and further shortened to [Λ] in words such as flood, blood.
79
Why are similar words of French origin sometimes pronounced with a long [i:]: police, ravine, and sometimes with [ai]: nice, vine ?
It reflect their having been borrowed either before or after the effects of the Great Vowel Shift. For example, the words nice and vine were borrowed during the 13th century while the word police was borrowed in the 15th century and the word ravine was borrowed in the 18th century.
80
Who are the “watermen” of Tangier Island, Virginia? What British dialect does their speech resemble? Give two characteristics of this dialect.
The “watermen” of Tangier Island, Virginia are fishermen are a part of the ‘hoi toiders’ or ‘bankers’ who have lived in relative linguistic isolation preserving many of the characteristic speech of their ancestors of the West Country in England. For example sing is pronounced zink, Mary and merry have a similar pronunciation. Paul and ball sound like pull and bull. They have a special local vocabulary: spider for ‘frying pan’, bateau for ‘skiff’ and curtains for ‘blinds’
81
What is “Tidewater English” and in what parts of the US can it be heard today?
“Tidewater English” is a variety of English spoken from the outer banks in North Carolina up into Delaware and Maryland. It is spoken by the people living along the coast and is a variety inherited from the first settlers which has resisted change over the centuries due to its geographical isolation.
82
What was the new emigration wave from England that took place in Massachusetts Bay (north of Virginia) starting in 1620? What features of the dialect spoken by those settlers characterize the speech of New Englanders?
The new emigration wave from England that took place in Massachusetts Bay were the Puritans, mostly from East Anglia and the eastern counties. The speech-features of East Anglia were transplanted to New England and still linger in the rural parts of certain counties. For example noo for new; the r is not sounded in words like bar, storm or yard
83
When did the first Black slaves arrive in America?
1620
84
List five geographical names of Indian origin in Canada and the US.
States such as: Massachusettes, North Dakota, South Dakota, Canada, Quebec, Ontario Cities such as Ottawa
Rivers such as:Restigouche, Miramichi, Penobscot, Kennebec, Merrimac, Passaic, Raritan, Susquehanna, Potamac
85
List five American English words that reflect the new experience of life in America.
Landscape: bluff, notch, gap, divide, clearing
Flora: hickory, live oak, sweet potato, eggplant, squash,
Fauna: bullfrog, groundhog, garter snake
Way of life: backwoodsman, squatter, prairie, clapboard, popcorn, bobsled sleigh.
86
What British archaisms are preserved in American English? (Give 5 examples).
The use of gotten instead of got, use of mad in the sense of angry, sick as general illness instead of BE of being faint, platter for a dish, fall for autumn and I guess.
87
Where did the American flat “a” [æ] of words such as dance, fast, past, can't, half, etc., originate?
The American flat “a” [æ] of words such as dance, fast, past, can't, half, etc., originated in the speech England and was a common speech pattern that has subsequently died out in England yet preserved in the US
88
Give five phonetic characteristics of American English that make it different from British English.
1. The flat [æ]
2. Pronunciation of r after vowels (lord, card, herd)
3. o in certain words was flat not rounded (hot, not, top, lot)
4. words ending in –ile reduced the emphasis on the last syllable (missile/missal, fertile/fertal, sterile/steral)
5. the emphasis on certain syllables of certain words shifted (detail/detail, research/research)
89
List five words in American English borrowed from Spanish
American English borrowings from Spanish: barbecue, chocolate, tomato, dagoes, enchilada, marijuana, plaza, tornad
90
List ten words borrowed from French into American English.
Borrowings from French: toboggans, caribous, bayou, butte, crevasse, levee, depot, cents, dimes, cache, brioche, jambalya, praline, gopher, chowder, picayune, cajun
91
List five that are borrowed from Dutch into American English.
Borrowings from Dutch: waffle, coleslaw, coffie, coffee, landscape, caboose, sleigh, boss, snooping, spook, yankee, poppycock
92
What are the Puritains?
Puritans (116) – adherents of Puritanism, a religious reform movement in the Church of England in the late 16th and 17th centuries that sought to “purify” the church from remnants of Roman Catholic “popery”. They were known for a spirit of moral and religious earnestness. Their goal was to make their own earnest life-style the pattern for the nation and thus influence the religious, political, economic and artistic institutions in the English-speaking world.
93
What are the Pilgrims Father?
the Pilgrim Fathers (117) – middle and low-class Puritans from East Anglia who crossed the Atlantic in the hope of finding a suitable place in the New World to build a truly austere, idealistic “kingdom of God.”
94
What is the Mayflower?
the Mayflower (117) – a boat, which in 1620, brought a large group of Puritan settlers (the Pilgrim Fathers) from East Anglia to Plymouth Rock in Massachusetts Bay, New England. The people on the Mayflower represented 30 different communities, but the majority of them came from East Anglia and spoke East Anglian dialect of English.
95
What are wigwam words?
wigwam words (121) – American Indian words (about 50 in number) which entered the English language soon after the Mayflower’s landing at Plymouth. Examples: wigwam (from Algonquin), hickory (tree), pecan (nuts), chipmunk, moose; hominy and pemmican (local foods); also words related to the local, Indian culture: squaw, moccasin, tomahawk, igloo, kayak.
96
What is mugwump?
mugwump (122) < mugquomp, a Natik Indian word denoting ‘great chief.’ Used in American political language to denote an Independent. Today, a term referring to a politician who straddles an issue or is ready to support either side.
97
What is to play possum?
to play possum (123) – an American idiomatic expression of Amerindian origin. Refers to a person who pretends to be unaware of something in order to deceive somebody (as a possum pretends to be dead when being attacked).
98
What is the etymology of the word "America"?
the name of the two continents in the New World. It comes from the name of the Italian navigator, Amerigo Vespucci.
99
What is the etymology of the word "Racoon"?
a small North American flesh-eating animal; a native Amerindian name.
100
What is the etymology of the word "gopher"?
burrowing rat-like N. American animal; name comes from the French ‘gaufre’ – ‘honeycomb’, apparently a reference to the animal’s digging pattern.
101
What is the etymology of the word "chowder"?
Chowder (127) – thick soup with vegetables and fish; popular in the eastern seaboard of the US; also in the Maritimes in Canada. Name comes from the Breton ‘chaudière’ meaning a cauldron, and it originated in Nova Scotia.
102
What is the etymology of the word "cajun"?
Cajun (127) – the dialect of Acadians (> Cadians > Cajuns), the French settlers in Louisiana who were deported there from Acadia (Nova Scotia) in 1755, after they had refused to pledge allegiance to the British crown when the British had captured the French colony of Acadia in 1716.
103
What is the etymology of the word "brooklyn"?
the original Dutch name of a district in New York City.
104
What type of English is referred to as General Canadian? What makes it different from other regional variants of North American English?
General Canadian English is based on the English spoken by the Loyalists, specifically those who settled west of Quebec and who dominated the making of modern Canada. It is an urban middle- class speech and not a rural variant. It differs from other regional variants of North American English in that it spans almost the whole continent instead of occupying only one area.
105
How is General Canadian perceived by the British by the Americans?
The British perceive Canadian English has very Americanized while Americans perceive it as being rather British.
106
What is Canadian Raising?
Canadian Raising is a distinctive, systematic difference in ou sounds. Canadians have two different pronunciations as in house vs houses and lout vs loud..
107
What was the Gold Rush and when did it hit America? What was the expression used to convey the experience of going to look for gold (often in vain)?
The Gold Rush, the finding of gold deposits in California, more specifically in the Sierra Mountains, started in 1848 hitting its peak in 1849. The expression used to convey the experience of going to look for gold (often in vain) was to see the elephant.
108
List five vocabulary items that made the English-Speaking Soldiers in World War I aware of the differences between British and American lexicons.
checkers/draughts, elevator/lift, garbage/rubbish, kerosene/paraffin, lumber/timber, mail/post, pants/trousers, sidewalk/pavement, vacation/holiday, wrench/spanner, zero/nought.
109
What are the origins of the following American names, words or expressions :
Goulash
a national Hungarian dish (stewed beef with paprika); the word brought into American English by immigrants from Central Europe. Origin: Hungarian.
110
What are the origins of the following American names, words or expressions : big deal
he game of poker phrase; today: ironical expression meaning “I’m not impressed.”
