ENGL 2646EL 12 - The Study and Evolution of the English Language

What are the three (main) types of affixes?

Suffixes, prefixes, and infixes.

patois

a regional dialect, especially a nonstandard one that has no written tradition

hypernym

a semantic category that names a more general class that contains less general members

vowel

a speech sound made with the vocal tract open

hyponyms

a word for the members of a class of someting (example: spaniel, collie, and beagle for dog)

kern

part of typeface letter that sticks out beyond its body

digraphs

two letters that represent one speech sound, such as "ch" for /ch/ in chin or "ea" for /e/ in bread.

Give an example of compounding in Netspeak.

webmail adware

pidgin

when two or more languages are combined in a simplified structure and vocabulary

Graphology

The writing system of a language

Deviance

Failure to confirm to the rules of the language.

Patois

A provincial dialect; often used disparagingly.

What is assimilation?

When one sound is affected by a nearby sound. in a word.

How many verb tenses are there in English?

2. Present and past.

How many classes of irregular verbs are there in Modern English?

7

How large is the lexicon of English likely to be?

750,000-1,000,000

Pejoration/deteriotation

A change of meaning in which a word acquires a negative evaluation.

Amelioration

A change of meaning in which a word loses an originally unpleasant sense.

Metonymy

A figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable.

What is the difference between a pidgin and a creole?

A pidgin happens when speakers of two different languages form a communication system that allows them to engage in trade, for example. A creole is a developed language that has native speakers.

Narrowing

A type of change in which a word becomes more specialilized in meaning.

Modal

A verb that signals contrasts in a speaker's attidude/mood

Monophthong

A vowel with no detectable change in quality during a syllable.

augmenting

Adding new symbles, like diacritics and invented letters, to reform spelling

connotation

All the meanings, associations, or emotions that a word suggests

What is the major influence on Canadian English?

American English

Semantic field/lexical field

An area of meaning identifeid by a set of mutally defining items.

What is vocal fry?

An easy example is found in the speech patterns of Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian. It is what happens when someone uses the lowest register in vocalizing.

regularizing

Appling existing rules more consistancy, or focus on restricted areas of the writing systems, to reform spelling.

What was the Chancery?

At first, this was a group of scribes whose output was documents, writings on parchments. These were formally created and therefore vastly led to the standardization of English, which was greatly needed given the great many variations. During this standardization, spelling, grammar, and usage were brought into line and helped to firm up the English language.

What is a back-formation? Give an example.

Back-formation is the creation of a simpler word from a more complex word, which is the opposite of what we usually see. An example is "conversate" from "conversation." I find I often do not like back-formations and I chose the word conversate to show how a back-formation can be needlessly created. Converse is appropriate.

What is the relationship between hypernyms and hyponyms?

Basically, a hyponym provides examples of a hypernyms. So, a hyponym could be: yellow, blue, red. And the hypernym would be: colour. The hypernym denotes a lexical category, and hyponyms make up the content of that category.

What's the difference between acronyms and initialisms? Give examples

Both represent a new word created from the first letters of a few words. Abbreviations. An acronym can be pronounced like a regular word: NASA, UNESCO. An initialism yields a series of letters pronounced as such: CIA, NSA, UFO.

What is the difference between a lexicologist and a lexicographer?

Both study the English lexicon and are experts in the language's lexemes. However, the latter specifically creates dictionaries to capture (some of) those lexemes for reference.

What are comparatives and superlatives?

Comparatives are used to emphasize a difference between two elements. Superlatives show that a word is a superior position compared to another or others.

What are the two types of multiple sentences?

Compound and complex sentences.

Give an example of a foreign plural noun.

Data

What is the difference between denotation and connotation? Give an example.

Denotation refers to the literal or exact meaning of a word, such as "hand" referring to the body part. Connotation refers to the wider meaning associated with a word, such as "hand" referring to assistance given by someone.

What is the difference between derivational and inflectional suffixes?

Derivational suffixes change the meaning of the base word. Inflectional suffixes supply some grammatical information.

What are emoticons and emoji, and how do they differ?

Emoticons represent facial expressions (or objects) by using elements on the keyboard, like punctuation. Emojis are graphical representations of faces, objects, and even concepts. One is typographical, one is graphical.

What is the difference between extension and narrowing? Give examples

Extension is when a lexeme is widened in terms of meaning, such as land, meaning specifically the ground or one's country. Narrowing is when a lexeme's meaning is focused to a specific meaning, such as how cousin used to mean generally anyone's familiar relation, but not specifically refers to the daughter or sone of a person's aunt or uncle.

Where did the Ye in Ye Olde Shoppe come from?

Given the history of the English language, by rights we should read that was "The Old Shoppe." Because of changes in practices, the letter thorn changed in use to the point where it looked much like a "y". This happened through the Middle English period and was likely not a problem at the start. It was a small change that worked at the time. So "the" becomes "ye". Then we forgot that the change was made. Scarcely anyone knows that we ought to pronounce it as "the".

Why is John Wycliff important to the history of English?

His efforts to translate the Bible into English while staying true to the original style and word usage of the texts led to an introduction of many Latin words. Each day we use many words whose roots are found in the Latin language. Wycliff was single-handedly responsible for bringing in over a thousand of those words.

What is a lexeme?

It is a unit of meaning. It can be a single word or a number of words. It communicates a particular meaning. Therefore, a single word, for example, can have multiple lexemes.

What's unusual about the word she?

It is not obvious how the word came about, given what took its place earlier was "heo". In fact, there is no single agreement on a solution that fits. Actually, there may be many factors operating on the word that changed it over time. Given that the English language has had so many instances of external interactions, it leaves many open possibilities as to what changes happened in what order to bring about the gradual change.

What is genericide?

It is when a generic name because a common word. Kleenex is often said when a facial tissue is meant.

Why is the study of biblical texts particularly useful to the study of the history of the English language?

It provides important insight into the changes English has experienced throughout the years, as the texts provide still-pictures of a language developing in motion over time. Clues about spelling, grammar, word usage, and style are revealed to the modern person in these texts.

What made Johnson's Dictionary an important achievement?

It was very wide-ranging and led to the stabilization of English, giving it regularity of spelling and meaning.

What is Canadian raising?

It's the tendency to raise the first part of the diphthong is articulated with a high quality. It's what's behind Americans' view that we say Oot and Aboot.

What do L1 and L2 mean?

L1 signifies that the language is the person's first language spoken. L2, the second. An L2 English speaker has English as his or her second language.

What are the two most important influences on the development of the English language in the final decades of the Renaissance?

Major works, such as those of the KJV Bible and those of Shakespeare, surely set a standard for English spoken and written at the time. Above that, I would further suggest foreign word borrowings and neologisms to address scientific terms were also a heavy factor.

standardizing

Making a form or usage conform the standard langauge, to reform spelling

What is the difference between mass nouns and count nouns?

Mass nouns cannot be counted, like "air." Count nouns can be counted, like "nouns"

Who is primarily responsible for the spelling system of American English?

Noah Webster

What is the major dialectal division in the England?

North/South

What are the three broad dialect areas of American English?

Northern, Midland, Southern.

What's unusual about the word they?

Perhaps that it is a very late addition the English language, not being introduced until during the 14th century. We might conclude that its widespread use was brought on artificially by Chaucer using it pervasively in this works. Whereas the more common usage was "hi".

What development is the key factor that distinguishes Early Modern English?

Printing press

What does RP stand for, and what is it?

Received pronunciation. It's the neutral accent in the UK that is preferred, because it aids in clear communication among parties with different accents.

supplanting

Replace all traditional othorgaphy letters byh new smybols to reform spelling.

Syntagmatic

Said of the linear relationship between elements in a word or construction.

Paradigmatic

Said of the relationship of substitution between a lingustiic unit and other units at a particular place in a strucutre.

What is a discourse?

Speech that spans a few sentences.

What is the difference between the language of taboo, the language of abuse, and the language of swearing?

Taboo language involves lexemes which one is to avoid uttering in public, as they are offensive to people generally. Abuse language has the intention of verbally attacking someone. Swearing is the use of crude words, often for emphasis or to express emotion. There can be overlap, either wholly or in part.

What is included in the inner circle of the English language?

The "traditional bases" of the language, which includes Canada, the US, UK, Australia, Ireland, and New Zealand. These are places where English is the primary and dominant language.

What influence did the Celtic languages have on Old English?

The Celtic tribes were present before the arrival of Germanic peoples. They strove with the Ancient Romans. And so, Celtic languages play a role to a certain degree in the English language. One of elements of Celtic language is on place names. For example, we have Thames, Avon, and London, all important features of the English landscape. That said, given the aggression demonstrated by Germanic invaders, we end up with not a great many Celtic words.

List three categories of Netspeak.

The Web chatgroups emails.

Social variation

The affects society, social structure, and function has on language.

Phonemics

The analysis of phonemes.

Lexicography

The art and science of dictionary making

Personal variation

The effects a person's individual choices and preferences that result in a distinctive or uniqe style.

Regional variation

The effects that geography has on language and its use.

Temporal variation

The effects that time has on language, in the short and long term, giving rise to various processes and varieties.

What is the difference between a monophthong and a diphthong?

The former has a vowel sound with no change in sound, the latter has two detectable changes in sound during the syllable.

Diffusion

The increased use of a language, or a feature of a language, in a given area over a period of tie.

Dissimilation

The influence sound segments have on each other, so that they become less alike.

Pholonoly

The pronunciation system of a language.

What is a phoneme?

The smallest contrastive unit in the sound system of a language

Grapheme

The smallest contrastive unit in the writing system of a language.

Morpheme

The smallest contrastive unit of grammar.

Phonetics

The study of speech sounds, how they are produced and heard.

Lexicology

The study of the history and present state of a language's vocabulary.

Othography

The study of the use of letters and the rules of spelling in a language.

Morphology

The study of word structure, especially in terms of morphemes.

Grammar

The system of rules governing the construction of sentences.

What is the distinction between the terms Old English and Anglo-Saxon?

The term Anglo-Saxon is likely too restrictive, focusing on the beginnings of English with its Angle and Saxon roots. We must keep in mind that there were influences that happened later and changes that occurred outside of those Germanic peoples' influence. What is more, the term Old English better denotes the start of a separate language entity, not merely the mashing together of Angle and Saxon speech, but the beginning of a timeline that brings us to Modern English.

Lexicon

The vocabulary of a language. G

What is Frenglish or Franglais?

These are blends of English and French that is the result of code-switching performed by bilingual speakers.

What are oral formulae and why are they important to sports commentary?

They sort of routinized speech patterns or canned elements of speech that allow the speaker to communicate quickly without being slowed down by being creative while speaking. In sports commentary, where the action is fast and the listener eager, the commentator can deliver information quickly and easily. This has the effect of exciting the listener, as well as keeping them (singular they) abreast of the action.

What is prescriptivism?

This is the authoritative preference of how language is used. It's often known for oppressively enforcing rules and practices that sometimes do not make common sense or are contrary to common usage.

What is a kenning? Give an example.

This term refers to figurative descriptions that are more imaginative, creative, and poetic than more straightforward descriptors. The textbook presents "whale-road" as a stand-in for "sea." I can also suggest "fast-air" for "wind".

What is singular "they"? Give an example in a sentence.

Typically seen as the plural of the third-person, it is sometimes used as a single pronoun in order to speak in gender-neutral terms. Somebody was just knocking on my door but I don't know what they wanted

What is a minor sentence?

Unlike major sentences, whose elements can be mixed and matched in predictable patterns, a minor sentence is irregular and does not fare well in being changed around, since they often do not follow normal rules of grammar.

What is the Old English thorn?

We know longer use this letter to represent the letters "th" in current writing conventions, but that is the purpose it served in OE. It comes from the runic alphabet.

What is a digraph?

When two letters combine to denote one sound.

Why is it called the English language — where does the name come from?

Word "English" ultimately comes from the word Angles, of the many invaders to the British Isles, and a source for the word "Anglo-Saxon." The Angles, as well as the other invaders, played a significant role in shaping the culture and the language of the land. These (early) invaders introduced the Germanic language to the shores of England.

creole

a pidgin language that has become the mother tongue of a speech commuity through the process of crolization.

convergence

a process of linguistic change in which dialects or accents become more like each other

Give an example of affixation in Netspeak.

hyperlink

Metonymy

semantic shift that happens when two things are closely associated with each other. So for instance bead originally meant prayer, coming from a root that also gives us the word bid. But because of the practise of the rosary or prayer beads, the sense transferred over from the prayers themselves to the little decorative balls on a string or chain that were used to count the prayers.

metaphor

something, usually concrete, gains a more abstract figurative meaning. Thus the older sense of field is an open grassy area, but the word gained a metaphorical meaning when used in the sense of say the "field of linguistics."

What's unusual about the word they?

t was borrowed from Old Norse, replacing the Old English form, which is unusual for pronouns.

collocation

the habitual co-occurance or mutual selection of lexical items.

denotation

the literal meaning of a word

syntax

the rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences in a given language