Language Change Flashcards

Question

Pinker

Answer 1

Euphemistic treadmill Words that were polite eventually become offensive Eg Scope- originally named the national spastics society (a charity supporting people with cerebral palsy)- spastic, a once acceptable term, began being used as an insult forcing them to change their name

Answer 2

Amelioration- when a word takes on a more positive meaning eg priest - old man -> church leader Pejoration- when a word takes on a more negative meaning eg cunning - clever -> deceitful Strengthening- when a word takes on a more forceful meaning eg hilarity - calm joy -> hilarious Weakening- when a word takes on a less forceful meaning eg soon - immediately -> in a short while Broadening (generalisation)- when a word takes on a more general meaning eg place - a wide street -> any area Narrowing(specialisation)- when a word takes on a more specific meaning eg wife - a woman -> a married woman

Answer 3

More pleasant word/phrase used in place of an offensive or unpleasant word/phrase Eg pornography>adult entertainment

Answer 4

Categories based on score included 'moron', 'imbecile' and idiot' - medical terms

Answer 5

Euphemisms are necessary as they make it easier to convey potentially different information All words have connotations attached so its impossible to say things neutrally The more taboo a topic is, the more euphemisms it has Most euphemisms become less effective over time as they become offensive themselves

Answer 6

Anglish- a kind of english including native words rather than those borrowed from foreign languages eg ability (english) > skill (anglish), decide > choose Cutspel- browser extension which reforms english spelling, changes traditional spelling to an improved one, created due to inconsistency in spelling in english, uses cutting and substitution rules to remove redundant letters from words eg knife > nife, photograph > fotograf Noah Webster- published the first american dictionary, resulted in alterations in many spellings eg centre > center, plough > plow Inkhorn debate- suggests words coined/loaned from existing roots are unneccessary or over pretentious eg dismiss, celebrate, commit, some were angry with all these new terms

Answer 7

Lead to standardisation eg Johnsons dictionary (the first english dictionary)

Answer 8

Henry Fowler's modern english usage is an example of a usage guide- written in 1926 but still updated now Have lots of influence on professional writing

Answer 9

Official authority of French language Publishes official French dictionary- huge influence on French language Actively discourages borrowings from English

Answer 10

Aims to promote maintenance and clarity of the English language Not been very successful No official status

Answer 11

Terms used by the media particularly in news reporting can often influence usage Particularly true when neologisms are needed Eg Brexit- quickly adopted by the media despite abbreviations not normally being used by the media, then entered public use

Answer 12

Before 2004 tsumanis were incorrectly referred to as tidal waves but when the indian ocean tsunami hit on boxing day in 2004 the first reports were from scientific organisations who correctly referred to the event as a tsunami resulting in the word entering common usage The world health organisation WHO is influential in naming diseases to prevent racial discrimination eg monkeypox renamed mpox, named covid varients letters of the greek alphabet However the WHO failed to control the term 'social distancing' - preferred physical distancing but never took off

Answer 13

In 2021 the UK government recommended using the term 'ethnic minority' rather than 'BAME' (black asian and minority ethnic)

Answer 14

Brand names are often adapted even if not standard english eg iPhone written with lower case i, PowerPoint written in camel case 'Google' don't like their name being used as a generic verb for searching something 'hoover' dont like their name being used for all vacuum cleaners Apple popularised the word 'app' short for application, however prevent other companies calling their storefronts app stores

Answer 15

Geographic separation- when people more away from each other their language will diverge due to differing experiences Imperfect learning- when children learn the wrong thing from adults and this becomes standardised Economy- speakers tend to make their utterances as short and efficient as possible

Answer 16

Reflectionism- a person's language reflect stheir way of thinking eg someone who uses racial slurs is racist Conversely determinism is when people can be persuaded to accept a new way of thinking by using more acceptable terms

Answer 17

Safari- Arabic Loot- Hindi Anonymous- Greek Guru- sanskirt

Answer 18

Silent letters- additional letters outside phonetic alphabet eg knight, gnome Homographs- words spelt the same but sound different eg gust of wind/ wind up Homophones- words spent differently but pronounced the same eg weather, whether

Answer 19

Roman alphabet introduced to Britain in 6th century by Christian missionaries Old English alphabet like our current alphabet but didn’t include some consonants- j, q, v, k Some consonants and vowels that as don’t have in our alphabet that they used Old English was phonetic- words were spelt as they sounded et knight > knyht

Answer 20

First person to introduce printing press to England Had to establish a spelling system that made sense to everyone Selected East Midlands for basis of his texts However he himself was irregular with spellings eg would use ‘boke’ and ‘booke’ Also his typesetters didn’t contain all the letters

Answer 21

Abbreviations eg GIF (graphics interchange format) Numerical-phonetic substitution eg m8 = mate Emoticons Non standard punctuation

Answer 22

Enlargers- some believe current alphabet should be enlarged so sound snot adequately reflected can be given a corresponding letter Streamliners- those who believe the existing alphabet should be retained but letters that can’t be seen as distinct should be refined or removed American spelling- colour > color, labour > labor English spelling society- established in 1908, aimed to simplify spelling system Noah Webster- irritated by domination of British textbooks in American schools, wanted to fix growing divide between written and spoken English

Answer 23

Migration- loan words from other cultures, increased contact with worldwide community, world wars, post war affluence led to more travel, rise in technology increased communication with other countries Technology- social media encourages colloquialism, acronyms and initialism, coined terms for new inventions, rise in TV/movies so more exposure to regional variations, more communication due to phones etc Changing social attitudes- political correctness means new terms seen as acceptable, initialises for groups eg LGBTQ, more inclusive language in social groups Education- fighting against variations, promoting standard English War- war poetry, creating new lexis to describe experiences, invasions means mixing with other languages, letters between soldiers and family spreading lexis Politics- campaigns, jargon, newly coined words used by politicians eg brexit