Language Change Dates and Theories

Syntax Change cont.

A change in word order - the subject is at the beginning of clauses Move towards complex sentence structures - influenced by Latin Preference for prepositions - lots of opposites changing.

Affixation

Adding a prefix or suffix to either end of the original word e.g. non-smoker, malfunction, outgrow or friendless.

Ways in which pronunciation shifts

Anglicisation of foreign words such as beef, port, government Movement towards spelling e.g. often, hospital (not 'ospital) Movement towards ease of pronunciation e.g. Christmas, probably.

Syntax Change

Auxiliary verbs - with adding 'do' to form negatives and questions. Pronoun change - with thee, thou move to modernisms Word endings - especially with plurals

Pronunciation

Before Modern English, there was a tendency to spell phonetically and this transposes to the changes as pronunciation changes, so does the spelling of the grapheme.

Blend

Blending to existing words such as heliport or smog.

Compounding

Combined morphemes, often Greek or Latin with Anglo-Saxon, e.g. microwave or internet.

1755

Doctor Samuel Johnson wrote 'A Dictionary of the English Language' that standardised the English language from various dialects. It established stability with orthography, determined meaning from usage and allowed the upper class to protect their accent.

Fashion

French conquest and the Renaissance brought England to add letters to some words because they had been used in their own contexts e.g. qu- and latinate words.

Conversion

From one part of speech to another e.g. (from noun to verb) access, bottle, finger, text (from verb to noun) smell, answer (from adjective to noun) bitter, final, mobile.

Eponym

From the name of the inventor of the thing in question, e.g. hoover, sandwich or biro.

Acronym

From the original letters e.g. UCAS, laser or radar.

Foreign influences

Historical periods such as the Renaissance and Era of Exploration added words to the dictionary and therefore changed the spellings of some words.

Coinage

Inventing a completely new word, e.g. jazz or grunge. (usually music types)

1794

Lindley Murray wrote 'English Grammar' which developed on Robert Lowth's grammar book and standardised grammar in Britain but also in America, where due to the mixing of nationalities it had been made difficult to point out one single rule for grammar.

How are new words formed

New experiences or inventions require new words to fit the bill. Sometimes our need to express ourselves creates new words or neologisms, however we rarely start from scratch and borrow a lot.

Why do new words appear?

New inventions e.g. CD-ROM. Also, we import words from other languages e.g. pyjamas. We can also shorten words to form new ones e.g. pub or laser. New words also update the old ones e.g. 'minger' replaces 'a very unattractive rapscallion'.

Metaphor

Noticing likenesses with existing objects e.g. mouse, crane

Narrowing

One specialised use or meaning becomes dominant e.g. undertaker or intercourse

1762

Robert Lowth published 'A Short Introduction to English Grammar' which along with Lindley Murray's 'English Grammar' standardised the grammatical conventions that was to define Modern English.

Clipping

Shortening a word to make it easier to say e.g. advert, quote, pub, bus, phone.

1922

The BBC was established, creating a new pronunciation guide: Received Pronunciation. Arguably, this would have standardised the pronunciation of words and built on the prescriptivism of the past.

1870

The Education Act was passed in Britain, which made primary education compulsory and allowed for children to be able to read and write with the correct grammar and orthography thanks to the prescriptivism of the past.

Writing and Printing

The English printer, Caxton had to choose a dialect to standardise all texts he would print. He chose the East Midlands dialect - due to London. However spelling changed idiosyncratically until dictionaries.

1960

The first computers were developed with spell-checkers to make sure that orthography was certified for the modern age.

Broadening

The word acquires an extra layer of meaning, which explains many definitions for one word e.g. file or green

Why do old words disappear?

The word is no longer needed due to the noun no longer being in use e.g. Inkwell. Words also drop out because they are replaced by a more popular synonym e.g. damsel

Why does spelling change?

There are a number of different reasons why orthography changes, but ultimately the English system is chaotic and changeable.

The Alphabet

There are approximately 40 phonemes in English, and only 26 graphemes. There lies a problem as we cannot spell every single phoneme with a separate grapheme and we are not consistent with our phonemes as we can spell them in many ways.

Rationalisation

There have been attempts to make the spelling system more logical such as with Mulcaster, adding the letter e to the end of monosyllabic words with a vowel, to make them longer e.g. pin -> pine. Microsoft has also influenced spelling through spellcheckers.

Why do words change meaning?

To reflect technological and social change, or to be different or fashionable or 'rediscovery'.

Analogy

Using an old word in a new, similar situation e.g. dashboard

Hyperbole

We have a tendency to dramatise and exaggerate - the net result is that words become weaker e.g. thunderstruck

Dictionaries

Without question, the most influential factor as Doctor Johnson's dictionary standardised the spelling of many dialectal words and of previous words that proved difficult to spell.

Degeneration

Words deteriorate in meaning e.g. villain or mistress

Amelioration

Words improve their meanings e.g. lady (formerly a kneader of dough)