Language Change Flashcards
(53 cards)
Synchronic variation
Variation at any given time (e.g. if things are synchronous, they are happening at the same time)
Diachronic variation
Variation over time
Borrowings
Words from other languages are incorporated into English e.g. deja vu
Compounds
New words are made by joining two words together e.g. handbag
Blends
New words are made by blending other words together e.g. bromance
Acronyms
Acronyms become words through common usage e.g. phone
Initialisms
Phrases can become so commonly used that they become lexicalized e.g. FYI, FOMO
Word class changes
New meanings are formed when words were used in different word classes
Morphology
New words are formed when prefixes or suffixes are added to existing words e.g. unbothered
Coinages
Completely invented new words (often slang)
Abbreviations
Words getting shortened e.g. obvs, litch
Semantic change (or shift)
The general term for how words change their meanings. This can happen when words pick up new meanings (especially among the young), and the old meanings gradually drop away as the elder die e.g. gay
Amelioration
This is the process of semantic change whereby a word develops more positive connotations over time e.g. nice originally meant ignorant
Pejoration
This is the opposite of amelioration. When this happens, words take on a more negative meaning
Semantic reclamation
This is the process whereby particular groups consciously reclaim a pejorative and start to self-consciously ameliorate the meaning e.g. queer
Broadening
When words pick up wider and less specific meanings
Narrowing
When words gain more specific meanings and lose their broader meaning
4000 BC
English originated somewhere between south Russia and the Baltic around 4000 BC or slightly earlier.
0 AD
Britain, being part of the Roman Empire, was inhabited by celts who spoke Celtic and romanised celts who spoke a form of Latin. The romans then left, leaving the land to the celts.
5th century AD
Germaic tribes from northern Germany invaded the island. These tribes were known as the angles, the Saxons and the jutes. The celts retreated to the west where the Celtic languages survived (Cornish, welsh and Gaelic)
500-1100 AD
Old English
Approx. 700 AD
Beowolf
Mid 9th-11th centuries
Britain was invaded for the second time, this time by the vikings, who spoke old Norse. They colonised large parts of eastern and northern England
1066
The Duke of Normandy (William the conqueror) defeated and killed the last anglo-Saxon king of England at the battle of Hastings and made himself king. The norman conquest brought a huge influx of Latin and french vocab into English.
