Language Change Flashcards
(29 cards)
At what period did standardisation occur?
1750-1850
When was the printing press introduced?
It was introduced by Claxton was 1476
What were the three basic punctuation marks in early modern era?
the full stop, the colon, and a forward slash sign known as a virgule (/) which functioned like s comms
Influence of Latin and Greek
They have also gave lots of prefixes, like anto (greek), or bi (latin) AFFIXATION
Th Great vowell shift was the major phonological difference between middle English and Early modern english
naam became name
hoos became house
teem became time
Archaic grammar in early modern era
verb forms used such as art and second and third person inflections -st and -th as in lovest and loveth
double negatives and double comparatives were acceptable
Inverted syntax
when was the Johnson’s dictionary published?
- It laid down rules for the spelling and meaning of words .
In early modern English, different second person pronouns were used depending on a person’s status
You was used to address someone of a higher social rank, and thou was used for someone of a lower social rank
Neologisms in late modern English are a result of scientific progress, new inventions and cultural changes
For instance radio, chemotherapy and hippie
Improved communication and increased mobility in Late modern era meant people were exposed to a wide range of accents and dialects for the first time
Radio, films and television have affected RP
Invention of travel vehicles meant that dialects are more diluted
Compounding
Combining two separate words to create one word
Blending
is when two separate words are actually merged together
Conversion
New words are also created when an existing word changes class. e.g. many words that started off as nouns are also used as verbs. e.g. to text, or to mail.
Clipping
This is when you drop a syllable to create an abbreviation, e.g phone instead of telephone
Initialism
Where the first letters of a word create a word in itself. Pronounced letter by letter
Acronyms
Initial letters of words also combine to create a completely new word. Pronounced as a word in itself
Amelioration
e.g. nice used to mean foolish, tremendous used to mean terrible, but is now used to say something is very good, mischievous used to mean disastrous but now means playfully malicious
Pejoration
Notororious used to mean well known where as now it means well known for doing something bad
Broadening
e.g. place used to mean an open space in a city, market place or square but now refers to anywhere
Narrowing
meat used to mean food in general but now specifically refers to animal flesh
Semantic change by political correctness
purpose was to remove negative connotations from the language. e.g. old people referred to as senior citizens, disabled people as people with dissabilities, term ‘half caste’ no longer used
Metonym
is when we use a word associated with an object instead of the object itself. e.g. cash used to mean money box but now means money itself. This shows how figurative expressions give new meanings to old words
euphemism
the use of alternative words or phrases to avoif offending someone or to make something appear less unpleasant
cliché
if idioms become used a lot, they may become clichés, overused phrases which fail to excite the imagination. The business world has many clichés
