Language Change

Question 1

What is a word that has died out?

Answer 1

Archaisms

Question 2

What is a word that is not used as much as it used to?

Answer 2

Dated Lexis

Question 3

What is a new word?

Answer 3

Neologisms

Question 4

What is the process where words are invented?

Answer 4

Coining

Question 5

What is an example of coining?

Answer 5

‘Haagen Dasz”

Question 6

What’s the process where new words are made up of two or more existing words?

Answer 6

Compounding

Question 7

What are examples of compounding?

Answer 7

“Whiteboard” “Housewife” “Catfish” “Keyboard”

Question 8

What’s the process where new words are mixed together to create a word?

Answer 8

Blending

Question 9

What are examples of blending?

Answer 9

“Spork” “Brunch” “Motel” “Smog” “Helipad”

Question 10

What is the process where new words are formed from parts of existing words?

Answer 10

Clipping

Question 11

What are examples of clipping?

Answer 11

“Rehab” “Ref” “Pro” “Rhino” “Uni”

Question 12

What is the process where new words are formed from the initial letters of other words?

Answer 12

Acronyms and initialisms

Question 13

What are examples of acronyms and initialisms?

Answer 13

“HIV” “AIDS”

Question 14

What is the process where new words are formed by adding a prefix or suffix to an existing word?

Answer 14

Affixation

Question 15

What are examples of Affixation?

Answer 15

“Asexual” “Atheist” “Supermarket” “Crackhead” “Petrolhead”

Question 16

What is the process where words from foreign languages are used in English?

Answer 16

Borrowing

Question 17

What is the process where proper nouns are used to name discoveries/inventions or brand names becoming generic?

Answer 17

Eponyms

Question 18

What are examples of eponyms?

Answer 18

“Sharpie” “Hoover” “Coke” “Lego” “Tom-Tom”

Question 19

What is the process where words meanings change from one meaning to another called?

Answer 19

Semantic shift

Question 20

What is an example of semantic shift?

Answer 20

“Gay”- meaning went from “colourful” to “happy” and now to “homosexual”

Question 21

What is the process where a words meaning used to mean a bad thing and now means a good thing?

Answer 21

Amelioration

Question 22

What are examples of amelioration?

Answer 22

“Boy” used to mean servant, now refers to a male child.
“Nice” used to mean foolish, now means pleasant.
“Naughty” used to mean evil, now means a disobedient child.

Question 23

What is the process where words used to mean a good thing and now means a bad thing?

Answer 23

Perjoration

Question 24

What are examples of perjoration?

Answer 24

“Notorious” used to mean worth paying attention to, now it means famous for bad reasons.

Question 25

What is the process where a word’s meaning becomes more specific or restricted?

Answer 25

Semantic narrowing

Question 26

What are examples of semantic narrowing?

Answer 26

“Meat” used to mean all food. Now it just means flesh derived from an animal.

Question 27

What is the process where a word’s meaning changes to be less specific or restricted?

Answer 27

Semantic broadening

Question 28

What are examples of semantic broadening?

Answer 28

“Troll” used to mean a mythological creature, now it is someone who bullies on the internet.

Question 29

What is the process where prepositions frequently change their meanings?

Answer 29

Prepositional drift

Question 30

What is an example of preposition drift?

Answer 30

“A game AT chess” rather than “a game OF chess”

Question 31

What is an example of borrowing?

Answer 31

“Ketchup” (China) “Barbecue” (Caribbean) “Safari” (Arabic)

Question 32

What is syntax change?

Answer 32

The changes in the order that words and phrases come in

Question 33

What does modern syntax look like?

Answer 33

Subject-Verb-(Object-Adverbial-Complement) Main Clause-Subordinate Clause Adjective-Noun Negator-Verb

Question 34

What is displacement?

Answer 34

When the order of a word in a sentence is unusual

Question 35

What is an example of displaced adjectives?

Answer 35

"I saw the leaders great and good". In contemporary English, we would say "I saw the great and good leaders."

Question 36

What is an example of a displaced complement?

Answer 36

"Strong was he" In contemporary English, we would say "He was strong."

Question 37

What is a displaced negator?

Answer 37

In Contemporary English, negators tend to come before the verb they're negating. In older texts, they often come afterwards.

Question 38

What is an example of a displaced negator?

Answer 38

"She likes it not." In contemporary English, we tend to say "She does not like it.

Question 39

What is inversion?

Answer 39

If two words have been swapped over. "The X and Y are inverted."

Question 40

What is an example of inversion?

Answer 40

"said he."" In contemporary English, we would say "he said."

Question 41

What are median adverbials?

Answer 41

Adverbials in contemporary English are usually placed at the start or the end of a sentence. They're rarely found in the middle of a sentence. Sometimes we use them in contemporary English.

Question 42

What is an example of a median adverbial?

Answer 42

"I for you shall do this." In contemporary English, we would say "I shall do this for you."