Language Change

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The flashcards below were created by user MrsBooth on FreezingBlue Flashcards.


  1. Coinage
    The creation of new words.
  2. Neologisms
    New words
  3. Borrowing
    Creating a new word by borrowing one from another language e.g. spaghetti
  4. Scientific progress
    The creation of new words due to scientific advances e.g. Internet
  5. Affixation
    New word creation by adding prefix of suffix to exisiting word e.g. hyper-hypersensitive etc
  6. Compounding
    Creating a new word by combining 2 exisiting words e.g. thumbprint
  7. Blending
    When 2 seperate words are merged together to form a new word e.g. nettiquette
  8. Conversion
    When an existing word changes class e.g. noun-text changed to to text-verb
  9. Clipping
    When you drop 1 or more syllables to create an abbreviation e.g. demo
  10. Initialism
    Where the first letter of a word stands for the word itself e.g. FBI
  11. Acronyms
    Initial letters combine to create a completely new word e.g. NASA
  12. Archaism
    A word that has dropped out of usage e.g. durst-dare
  13. Orthography
    Spelling
  14. Semantic change
    When a word's meaning changes
  15. Lexical change
    When new words are created
  16. Amelioration
    When a word develops a more positive meaning e.g. tremendous used to mean terrible
  17. Pejoraton
    When a word develops a negative meaning e.g. hussy used to mean housewife
  18. Broadening
    When the meaning of a word gets wider e.g. bird used to mean a young bird but now means all birds
  19. Narrowing
    When a meaning a of a word gets narrower e.g. meat used to mean all food
  20. Trivialising suffix
    Adding ess to words such as actor often no longer used due to political correctness
  21. Metonymy
    When a word we associate with an object instead of the object's actual name e.g. cash used to mean money box
  22. Idiom
    Sayings that don't make sense if they are literally interpreted e.g. It's raining cats & dogs
  23. Euphemism
    Use of alternative word for uncomfortable subjects e.g. passed away
  24. Cliche
    An idiom that has become overused e.g. at the end of the day
  25. Weakening
    When a word makes less impact than it used to e.g. terrible used to mean causing terror
  26. Syntax change
    Sentences used to contain a lot more subordinate clauses since 1700 there has been a shift to shorter sentences.
  27. Contractions
    Very popular up until early 19th century when there was a backlash against them.
  28. Double negatives
    Very common before 18th century now considered incorrect
  29. Word order change
    Word order has changed from verb-subject-object to subject-verb-object
  30. Phonological change
    Change in pronunciation
  31. RP
    Recieved pronunciation-standard English-prestige accent considered to be socially higher than regional accents
  32. Estuary English
    New accent that is beginning to replace RP in certain sections of the media-shares many features of cockney.
  33. Graphological change
    Appearance of letters and texts has changed over time.
  34. How have letters changed?
    • From 1700 -19th century s would be written as f
    • Until 18th century more capital letters were used compared to present day e.g word the writer wanted to emphasise could be capitalised
  35. How has typeface changed?
    Up to mid 20th century-serif typeface used from the sans-serif became popular. Also wider range now used due to technological advances
  36. How has newspaper layout changed?
    • Wide leading-text isn't close together
    • Bigger text
    • Colour & lots of pictures
    • Range of fonts
  37. What did the printing press do?
    Caxton 1476-helped to standardise English
  38. First dictionary?
    Samuel Johnson 1755 helped to standardise spelling
  39. What is prescriptivism?
    An attitude towards language that there are a set of correct linguistic rules that English should follow.
  40. External language change
    Change as a result of outside influences e.g. invasion, immigration
  41. Internal language change
    Change because of a need for simplification or ease of articulation
  42. Omission
    Phonological change when sounds are gradually lost from a language
  43. Assimilation
    When one sound is affected by the adjacent sound to produce a new pronunciation e.g. hambag
  44. Robert Lowth
    Wrote a Short Introduction to English Grammar 1762-prescriptivist attitude to English
  45. Thomas Sheridan
    Mid 18th century advocated standardised pronunciation and elocution lessons

Card Set Information

Author:
 MrsBooth
ID:
 213340
Filename:
 Language Change
Updated:
2013-04-14 13:22:03
Tags:
language change
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Description:
Cards to revise language change for A2 English language AQA B
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