PAPER 1 - Q2 Flashcards
(12 cards)
The Renaissance
- 15th - 16 century
- French for rebirth
- Had cultural, intellectual and scientific advances
- Idea of humanism which is that man were at the heart of human endeavor due to increasing distrust within the church
- copiousness - important in linguistic diversion of eloquence as people wanted to bring back obsolete words
- standardization was also more common in dictionaries
- impact on English lang is that it bought about significant impacts on cultural and linguistic transformations
- create works in its own vernacular
William Caxton : Printing Press
- 15th century
- there was no standardization in the English language and so he had to choose what words, spelling and grammar etc should be used
- therefore, his choice of words helped to create a more standardized English
- homogenized regional dialects and adopted the most common London dialect
The Reformation
- 16th century
- prior to this the Bible was only available in Latin to avoid people straying away from dominant doctrines
- the great Bible helped the process of standardization in the English language and there was a shift towards using more english in churches
- had to create new words in order to actually translate the Bible successfully
First English Dictionary
- 1604
- status was now becoming heavily based off class as well as your ability to speak good standardized English and your knowledge of the language
- rise of the British empire also heavily influenced the spread of English and created more varieties in dialects
Late Modern English
- 19th century
- Differences in vocab were becoming more common and obvious
- Due to the industrial revolution which necessitated words for things and ideas which didn’t previously exist
- Advancements in tech etc which led to more neologisms
19th century Britain
- middle classes started looking at dictionaries for help and linguistic correctness was important in education
key dates
old english - 450 - 1150
middle english - 1150 - 1500
early modern - 1500 - 1700
modern - 1700 - now
renaissance - 1485 - 1603
enlightenment - 1685 - 1815
industrial rev - 18th and 19th century
lilys grammar - 1540 - led to prescriptivist and grammar and rules in syntax
key influences are :
- cultural
- social - education and urbanisation
- political
- technological
key words :
- neologisms
- borrowing
- broadening
- narrowing
- amelioration
- pejoration
- compounding and blending ( lexis and semantics )
frameworks
frameworks
- phonology
middle english - 1400- 1600 there was the great vowel shift which led to phonological changes such as pronounciation of longer vowels
early modern - phonological changes continued and there was a loss of consonant sounds
modern - continues these changes all the time as there are various regional accents etc which influence pronouciation as well as social factors
frameworks
- grammar
old english - complex inflectional endings and gendered nouns
middle english - simplification of these inflections
early modern - more simplified and no more inflectional endings
modern - have standardised grammar rules now and prescriptivist books which help us to follow grammar rules and we continue this grammar and try to simplify the old one
frameworks
- morphology
old - rich inflectional morphology
middle - more compounding and affixation
early modern - borrowing of morphemes
modern - new words developed through compounding etc
theories
- aitchinson - prescriptivist theory - mused metaphors to critique negative views of change
- crumbling castle - language was once beautiful and it has decayed overtime , aitch says that it evolved instead of
- damp spoon - implies that people are lazy with language , aitch says that it just involves complex patterns
- infectious disease - change of language is a virus - people adopt consciously - substratum - language change is influenced by language contact, non native speakers , social cultural mixing happens below surface level ( informal small shifts )
- crystal - descriptivism - technology and globalisation which have influenced language change and it is natural ended and dynamic
- deutshcer - political and social reasons - and language change is inevitable
