HEL FINAL
To what extent did the Norman Conquest affect the grammar of English?
The NC brought events which made it possible for grammatical change (inflectional decay) to occur. --certain idioms & syntactic uses, -it just sped up the process
When was the first English dictionary published? What was the main purpose of English dictionaries throughout the seventeenth century?
-Robert Cawdry (1604) explained hard words. -Nathaniel Bailey (1721) first attempt to list all the words in the language ----they explained words, especially hard words.
the period of greatest borrowing of french words occurs
after 1250
Nathaniel Bailey
1721 publishes 1st full dictionary: "Universal etymological English Dictionary; attempted to list all the words in the English language.
americanism
1781 coined. " A use of phrases or terms or construction of sentences even among persons of rank different than in great britain". Words that are distinctly AMERICAN. Not slang.
In what year was the final section of the Oxford english dictionary published???
1928 (name changed in 1933)
Linguistic Atlas of the United States and Canada:
1939 began. Studied living speech communities, tried to map out linguistic geography that tracked diff accents and stuff. In canada and US.
"A dictionary of americanisms, on Historical Principles, the work of Mitford Mathews, was published in 2 volumes in
1951
prefix
Adding a prefix on to the front of the word: (transoceanic, transcontinental, defrost)
suffix
Adding a suffix to the end of a word: (eventful, thankful, celebration)
It is generally believed that-----English is more conservative than British English
American
What are the main historical dictionaries of American English?
Anthropologists.... Looking at our language that changes...= A dictionary of American English on Historical Principles (University of Chicago 1938-1944). A Dictionary of Americanisms on Historical Principles (Mittford Mathews 1951). Dictionary of American Regional English (Frederick Cassidy 1985).
What did eighteenth-century writers mean by ascertainment of the English language? What means did they have in mind?
Ascertainment: was not so much to learn by inquiry as to settle a matter, to render it certain and free from doubt. It is a settled rule; an established standard. Means:to reduce the language to rule and set up a standard of correct usage to refine it- to remove supposed defects and introduce certain improvements to fix it permanently in the desired form.
What are the main national and areal varieties of English that have developed in countries that were once part of the British Empire?
Australia, Africa, South Asia, Canada and America. They are dialects of the Standard British English due to colonization.
robert lowth
Authored A Short Introduction to English Grammar in 1762. He was a clergyman that eventually became a bishop and he also worked as a grammarian.
analogy
applying past knowledge of how to form a word and using it on a new word that you don't necessarily know how to conjugate. --the tendency pf language to follow patterns and adopt a less common form to a more familiar one.
----- is a highly simplified linguistic structure that develops as a means of establishing communication between two or more disparate language groups.
Pidgin
Samual Johnson
Published an English Dictionary on April 15th 1755. More scientifically based than previous dictionary attempts. Johnson opposed many of Swift's ideas about the establishment of an English Academy.
The English Academy failed to materialize due to the death of ______ in 1714.
Queen Anne
How did prescriptive grammarians such as Lowth arrive at their rules?
Reason, etymology, example of Latin and Greek
____ diction is a stylistic device used by writers (like Lydgate, Henryson, James I, and Dunbar) in the 15th century which incorporated unusual latin words in order to make writing more beautiful.
aureate
Why were the losses not so great in the personal pronouns? What distinction did the personal pronouns lose?
because most distinctions remained. Dative and accusative cases= combined and causes a loss of dual number
What was the general attitude toward inkhorn terms by the end of Elizabeth's reign?
being accepted; those who opposed it still opposed the principle more than the actual process. the attitude was one of compromise: no Elizabethan could wholly avoid the use of the new words.
Name five strong verbs that were becoming weak during the thirteenth century.
bow, brew, climb, flow, weep
How did Shakespeare's usage in adjectives differ from current usage?
by comparative/superlative degrees. OE: often double comparative/superlateive degrees (use both -er/-est and more/most) Now: monosyllables take -er/-est 2+ syllables take more/most
The term ------ refers to the revival of old words found in Chaucer's literary works as well as the process of creating new word formations that suggest an older period
chaucerisms!!!
Name five strong past participles that have remained in use after the verb became weak.
cloven, graven, hewn, laden, molten
Jonathon Swift objected to certain "corruptions" in the English Lang, including
colloquialisms, clipped words, AND contracted verbs
palatal
consonants are articulated on the HARD palate (Young)
velar
consonants are articulated on the soft palate (Kin)
postalveolar
consonants are similar to alveolar, but more retracted (SHin)
dental
consonants have the tongue making contact with the upper teeth (Thin, theta)
alveolar
consonants have the tongue touching the front (alveolar ridge) (tin and sin)
What kind of contact did the English have with speakers of Flemish, Dutch, and Low German during the late Middle Ages?
constant, and in close relation. Gradual infiltration. wool traders!
What were some of the ways in which Latin words changed their form as they entered the English language?
cut off the Latin ending, and often required to change the remaining ending. -us --> -ous -tas --> -ty (brevitas-->brevity) etc.
Samuel Johnson hoped that his dictionary would provide....
definitions, establish word usage, and regularize spelling.
what was the general attitude towards inkhorn terms by the end of Elizabeth's reign?
despite the few vocal oppositions, most found the adoption of foreign words as important for the enrichment of the lang.
Great Vowel Shift
during this period, mainly changes in long vowels. [know p.197 chart] -all the long vowels came to be pronounced with a greater elevation of the tongue and closing of the mouth. -those that couldn't be raised became diphthongs. --> brought the language within measurable distance of what exists today!
What effect did the decay of inflections have upon grammatical gender in Middle English?
elimination of grammatical gender, case, and number
What nouns with the old weak plural in -n can be found in Shakespeare?
eyen (eyes), kneen (knees), fleen (fleas) today remaining: oxen
Robert Cawdrey
first of dictionary-type works were explanations of hard words. He wrote: A Table of Alphabeticall of Hard Words (1604), explaining some 3,000 words.
How would cultivated speakers of Elizabethan times have regarded Shakespeare's use of the double negative in "Thou hast spoken no word all this time—nor understood none neither"?
fits with spirit of his age; outside conventional grammar. seen as more emphatic a usage. p.242. ---its just acts as an intensifier
noah chomsky
"Father of modern linguistics". Argued for Generative Grammar- biologically embedded ability for us to form grammatically correct sentences. Older behaviorist said you learn it from your parents and through feedback and repetition. But language doesn't work that way... or else some kids wouldn't be able to communicate bc their parents aren't active in their lives. There are certain language structures in your mind. Goes against the taxonomy hypothesis....
John Dryden
(Late 17th century) Disliked the fact that English did not have a set standard and actively spoke out that a standard to the English Language would be much more beneficial than speaking English in a barbarous manner.
According to Baugh and Cable, what eight American dialects are prominent enough to warrant individual characterization?
(section 250, know some of the differences)... Eastern New England, New York City, Upper North, Lower North, Upper South, Lower South, General (?) American, African American Vernacular English
Sir Thomas More
--->introduced a BUNCH of words to english wrote Utopia. A writer; Elyot's older contemporary;
_____ is the representation of the sounds of a language by written or printed symbols. It is part of the lang study that deals with letters and spelling.
orthography
Oversea language
people who proudly used foreign words from their travels as a sign of their well-traveledness. criticized by those who wanted to keep the language pure.
What is the origin of the th- forms of the personal pronoun in the third person plural?
scandinavian
Latin influence of the Fourth Period
the renaissance period. English added 12,000 words, most from Latin, during this time, about 1/2 of which are still words today. gave the language a wealth of synonyms.
Certain similarities in the speech of NEw ENgland and that of the south are due to the preponderance of settlers from _______ in the Virginia and New England Colonies.
the south of england
Group possessive
when a group of words needs a possessive form: -->e.g.: [Duke of Gloucester's] niece
who was responsible for introducing the printing press into england in 1476?
william Caxon
What principle is illustrated by the pairs ox/beef, sheep/mutton, swine/pork, and calf/veal?
words for animals are englis bc the peasants raised them -But served meat as food to the French upperclass.
Chaucerisms
words imitations of Chaucer; most commonly used among poets who tried to use old English words to avoid borrowing from Latin/other languages.
standard english
written lang. that in the course of the 15th century won general recognition
Thomas Wilson
wrote Art of Rhetorique (1553); hated inkhorn terms (largely because of their obscurity) and wrote burlesque letter full of them stating why he hated them. p.216
rise-mount-ascend comes to us from
old english, french, and latin
What forms for the the third person singular of the verb does one find in Shakespeare? What happened to these forms during the seventeenth century?
-eth and -es; some characters use both interchangeably mid-sentence. BUT: in SHR's time, -s was used in spoken language. during 17th C, -s became universal in spoken lang, -eth commonly written. (-s becomes ending of 3rd person PLURAL also)
What distinctions, at different periods, were made by the forms thou, thy, thee? When did the forms fall out of general use?
-in the earliest period, thou=singular, ye=plural of 2nd person pronoun. -in the 13th C, singular forms (thou/thy/thee) were used in addressing children/inferiors and ye/your/you as a mark of respect. -by 16th century, most of the distinction was gone.
Why were some words in Renaissance English rejected while others survived?
-it is hard to say why some words, seemingly just as good as others, were dropped. -however, the most common reason is if a word was not needed.
are some langs. harder than others?
-languages don't have an inherent value... it all depends on perception. Economics, demographics, etc -english was in the right place at the right time. English is a dominant language bc the british empire...this might change in the future, we don't know. ---L1 to L5... ALEC= All Languages are Equally Complex. Degree of difficulty depends on the language that the person ALREADY speaks.
What were the principal changes in the verb during the Middle English period?
-leveling of inflections -weakening of endings -Serious loss to strong verbs new verbs were formed from nouns, adj., or borrowed words (weak)
What two methods of indicating the plural of nouns remained common in early Middle English?
-s and -es and -en
weak v strong adjectives (OE)
-weak inflectional endings if a definite article or possessive pronoun preceded (it needs its friends lol) -strong inflectional endings if no such word was present
What 18th century writers meant by ascertainment is that they wished to codify the English lang and to direct its course. This process fell under three main categories:
1) reduce the lang to rule and to set up a standard of correct usage 2)to refine the lang (remove supposed defects and introduce certain improvements) 3)to fix it permanently in the desired form.
What is the period of the greatest borrowing of French words? Altogether about how many French words were adopted during the Middle English period?
1. 1250-1400 2. 40% of french words= over 10,000 words!!! (75% are still in use today)
What three great periods of European immigration can be distinguished in the peopling of the United States?
1. Settlement of Jamestown (1607)- End of Colonial Times English 2. Continental Congress/ Expansion West: Civil War- Irish (potato Famine) & German (failed revolution of 1848) 3. 1860-Present: Diverse Language
What new forces began to affect the English language in the Modern English period? Why may it be said that these forces were both radical and conservative?
1. printing press (1476 by William Caxton) 2. rapid spread of popular education 3. increase communication and means of communication/transportation 4. growth of specialized knowledge 5. emergence of various forms of self-consciousness about language
approximately _______ French words are adopted during the middle english period.
10,000
when did who begin to be used as a relative pronoun?
16th cent. !!!
When did who begin to be used as a relative pronoun? What are the sources of the form?
16th century
There are three main levels of formality with which people speak and write (cultural levels). Different situations and ppl call for different registers. what are they?
1st- written standard: the language of books, and it ranges from the somewhat elevated style of poetry to that of simple yet cultivated prose. 2nd- Spoken standard: language heard in the conversation of educated ppl. 3rd- popular or illiterate language: lang of those who are ignorant of or indifferent to the ideals of correctness by which the educated are governed.
bilabial
2 lips -produced with the lips held together (-p, -n in Pin/Bin)
How many of the Old English strong verbs remain in the language today?
68**
How long did it take to produce the Oxford English Dictionary?
70 years wowie
what percentage of french words adopted during the middle english period are still in use?
75%
What were some of the weaknesses of the early grammarians?
A failure to recognize the importance of usage as the sole arbiter in linguistic matters; ignorance to the process of linguistic change
How long did it take to produce the Oxford English Dictionary? By what name was it originally known?
A new English Dictionary on Historical Principles, took 44 years.
By what name was the "Oxford English Dictionary" originally known?
A new English Dictionary on Historical Principles; founded mainly on the Materials Collected by the Philological Society
In the borrowing of French words into English, how is the period before 1250 distinguished from the period after?
A slow but long process of vocabulary growth. pre-1250= First stage of french borrowing -less words that were assoc. with the lower class (servant, dame, messenger) - Most assoc. with the church 1250+= Second period French speakers to English Aristocratic began to speak English Gov't/ admin ability Military
Regeneration of meaning
A word changes from a negative meaning to a more accepted meaning (smock)
common word from proper name
A word named after a person or place...(earl of sandwich)
degeneration of meaning
A word retains a meaning that is less favorable (bitch)
To what may one attribute certain similarities between the speech of New England and that of the South?
Because originally the colonists in New England came from the south of england.
----- is the deliberate invention of a word (refrigerator, kleenex, Xerox)
Coinage
slang
Colloquialism...words or phrases that are regarded as informal
Self-explaining compound-
Combining two words to make a new statement. (hitchhiker, lipstick, skydiving, greenhouse effect)
Verb-adverb combination
Common verb plus an adverb (gather up, bring in). You need both words for the meaning.
Accusative
DIRECT OBJECT(receives the action) ex:Bob threw the BALL.
Who were among the supporters of an English Academy? When did the movement reach its culmination?
Dryden, Evelyn, Sprat, Waller, Swift; when Swift published his "proposal"
Which dialect of Middle English became the basis for Standard English? What causes contributed to the establishment of this dialect?
East midland --it's where Cambridge and Oxford are from -midlands were fertile
What had been accomplished in Italy and France during the seventeenth century to serve as an inspiration for those in England who were concerned with the English language?
England bemoaned its lack of dictionary, France and Italy had dictionaries because of academies
What are the principal regional dialects of English in the British Isles? What are some of the characteristics of these dialects?
England, Wales, Ireland, Scotland, Northern Ireland. Pronunciation is different on vowels.
What groups settled the Middle Atlantic States? How do the origins of these settlers contrast with the origins of the settlers in New England and the South Atlantic states?
English, Quakers, Welsh, Irish, Germans. There was more diversity and movement in the language. Southern atlantic settlements had a lot of political religious refugees, and english debtors. People fleeing.
old northwest territory
Expanded after the revolution by settlers coming from New England, PA, WV, and KT. Mostly German scandinavians. It opened after the revolution, opening of the Erie (?) Canal. Brought colonists from other areas into this land.
T/F The old Northwest territory began to be opened up shortly after the Revolution by settlers coming from three different directions: One path began in New England and Upper NY, earlier colonized from western New England; a second route brought colonists from Pennsylvania and from other states who came through pennsylvania. The third crossed the Ohio from TX and CA and accounts for the large number of southerners who migrated to the territory.
FALSE.
Which foreign lang contributed the most words to english during the 18th century
FRENCH
Noah Chomsky explained that grammatical knowledge is biologically endowed or tacit. The brain contains a Language Acquisition Device that analyzes linguistic data and forms a set of linguistic rules. Although the input or stimulus may be limited or finite, a speaker can still create an infinite number of linguistic expressions. That grammatical knowledge is biologically based is a key concept in....
Generative Grammar
narrowing of meaning
Giving a word a more specific purpose (Doctor)
Into what general classes do borrowings of French vocabulary fall?
Governmental Ecclesiastical Law Military (army/navy) Fashion, meals and Social Life Arts, learning, and medicine
Sir John Cheke
Had a system of spelling that he adhered to fairly closely He was a word purist and didn't want to borrow words; opposed inkhorn terms.
Why did English have to be defended as a language of scholarship? How did the scholarly recognition of English come about?
Had to be given value; it was just as good as classical languages if it were to be used properly. It wasn't as well developed yet. The Romans spoke latin, the greeks Greek; English should speak English. Scholarly superiority wanted to keep things in lofty Latin.
In tracing the growth of progressive verb forms since the 18th century, we see the following pattern:
He was on laughing---> He was a laughing--> He was laughing.
Dative
INDIRECT OBJECT(to whom/what) ex: Bob kicked the ball TO PETER
In tracing the growth of progressive verb forms since the eighteenth century, what earlier patterns are especially important?
In Old English expressions like he was teaching are often found. In middle English, they are rare. Their growth is credited to the period since 16th century. Use of the participle as a noun governed by preposition
how many ppl speak english?
It's impossible to know just how many ppl know english....some ppl are native speakers and some not. There's a spectrum. There are 3 main categories/circles. Engl as Foreign lang versus as a second lang. 1.Inner circle- UK, ireland, America, New zealand 2. Outer Circle- learned as a second lang, bc these are colonized areas. India, singapore, subsaharan africa. 3. Expanding Circle- europe japan china, many other countries. They learn english as a foreign lang.
In what features of American pronunciation is it possible to find Webster's influence?
It's more uniform, and there's more emphasis on accented vowels. We pronounce more clearly than them. (advertisement, secretary, laboratory).
During the 17th century,_______ and _________ formed language academies that served as an inspiration for those in England who were concerned with standardizing the language.
Italy....France
Why did an English Academy fail to materialize? What served as substitutes for an academy in England?
John Oldmixon's dissension as well as the queen's death; dictionaries and individuals
Generally what happened to inflectional endings of nouns in Middle English?
LEVELING. they just started disappearing...
The publication of ------ began in 1939 and maps out the distributions of various speech areas in two different countries. This study takes into account regional pronunciation, word usage, and various grammatical features
Linguistic Atlas of the United States and Canada
How would you characterize the difference in attitude between Robert Lowth's Short Introduction to English Grammar (1762) and Joseph Priestley's Rudiments of English Grammar (1761)? Which was more influential?
Lowth wanted to pick every little thing apart. Priestly wanted to enjoy the language and be simple.
The eastern third of Pennsylvania below the Northern-Midland line, the souther half of New JErsey, the northern half of Delaware, an the adjacent parts of maryland comprise a group known as...
Mid Atlantic States
phoneme
Minimum unit of speech sound in any given lang or dialect by which a distinction is conveyed. (p in peter, b in boy).
african american vernacular
NOT a dialect of all african americans. Just a variety. This is a misleading category. Serves to identify a coherent linguistic situation on the west coast of africa and in the carribbean, ppl fforcibely brought over during the slave trade.
pidgin
NOT its own dialect, it doesn't have its own grammar. It's basically a mix of two languages of ppl from diff langs who are trying to communicate with eachother. A means of the european and african ppl trying to communicate w eachtoher. Using bits of phrases and words. Eventually became creole.
coinage
New word is created from seemingly nothing, deliberate invention. (kleenex)
Is American English more or less conservative than British English? In trying to answer the question, what geographical divisions must one recognize in both the United States and Britain? Does the answer that applies to pronunciation apply also to vocabulary?
No, both have many dialectical differences just within their countries. There are too many divisions within the nations to say one is more conservative than the other. We preserve the flat "a", narrower definitions. Linguists say that when you transplant a language, it stalls for a while before changing...but vocabulary started to flourish right away with new words so this is contested.
---- sketched a model of grammar that was unlike existing models because it proposed that the human brain can generate an infinite number of sentences from a finite set of rules
Noah Chomsky!
What are the five principal dialects of Middle English?
Northern, East Midland, West midland, Southern, Kentish
The three main dialects in American English distinguished by dialectologists associated with the publication of the linguistic atlas of the united states and canada ARE
Northern, Midland, Southern
What three main dialects in American English have been distinguished by dialectologists associated with the Linguistic Atlas of the United States and Canada? What three dialects had traditionally been distinguished?
Northern, midland, southern. ** KNOW DIFF BETWEEN THEM
five principle dialects of Middle English
Northern, southern, east midland, west midland, and Kentish
His-genitive
OE - hit/his/him/hit --> MidEng - hit/his/hit --> "hit" weakened to "it" --> Modern period - "it" was the usual form for the subject and object. (p.234)...[his became it both in shortening and loss of grammatical gender. needed a neuter possessive???]
What is the origin of the form its?
OE - hit/his/him/hit --> MidEng - hit/his/hit --> hit weakened to it --> Modern period - "it" was the usual form for the subject and object.
flat "a"
One of the earliest changes in the english language in America, distinguishing it from the mother country. (also the treatment of "r").
What happened to the demonstratives s￣e, s￣eo, pat and p.es, p￣eos, pis in Middle English?
Only the and that survived due to pronominal inflections and this-pis Simplifications of forms was due only slightly to the weakening of final syllables that played so large a part in the reduction of endings in the noun and adj. the decay made it necessary to depend less upon formal indications of gender, case and number. and rely more upon juxtaposition, word order and prepositions. -----> they were lost with the decay of inglections, especially the demonstratives
Generative
POSSESSION ex: BOB'S ball (Godes mercy)
What considerations moved Noah Webster to advocate a distinctly American form of English?
Patriotism, BUT mainly- the dictionary of americanisms by john pickering. He did it in a disrespectful way, thought webster. So that's why he wanted to make his own dictionary. He thought American english should be its own thing.
How were the intellectual tendencies of the eighteenth century reflected in attitudes toward the English language?
People were searching for stability after the Civil War and the Restoration. This was reflected in the language because the English wanted to "standardize, refine, and fix" the language
a ----- is a minimum unit of speech sound in any given language or dialect that conveys distinction. Thus the initial sounds of pit and bit are different.
Phonemes
Nominative
SUBJECT ex:BOB kicks the ball.
---- was a poet, essayist, and literary critic who published the "dictionary of the english language" in 1755.
Samuel Johnson
Sir James A. H. Murray
Scottish schoolmaster; was approached about writing a dictionary that would rival Webster/Worchester, but this project was abandoned. Member of the Philological Society who entered into an agreement with Oxford Press to be the editor of the society's dictionary. (died before it was finished) He was the primary editor of the Oxford English Dictionary from 1879 until his death.
_____ was the primary editor of the "Oxford English Dictionary" from 1879 until his death.
Sir James A.H. Murray
Who were among the defenders of borrowing foreign words?
Sir Thomas Elyot, Richard Mulcaster, Roger Ashem, George Pettie, William Bullokar
----- was in the service of Henry VIII and introduced a large number of new Latin and Greek words in the english vernacular.
Sir Thomas More
In which Middle English writers is aureate diction most evident?
Some in Chaucer and Lydgate. -but a lot in James I, Henryson and Dunbar
allophone
Speech sounds that represent a single phoneme. Like coup and kodak. They have the same first sound. They sound the same!!! Just represented by two diff symbols.
Jonathan Swift
Swift believed that the golden age of the English language had occurred during the Elizabethan period. Swift also believed that language always followed a downward trend that led to corruptions and discontinuities within the language. Proposed a letter in 1712 to the earl of Oxford (A Proposal for Correcting, Improving, and Ascertaining the English Tongue)
T/F The first half of the 18th century was known as the Augustin Age... intellectuals sought to retain from the 17th century the best features of rational discourse that had been established, while rejecting the uncontrolled proliferation of what sober minds regarded as dangerous tendencies in English prose.
TRUE
T/F the main efforts to reform spelling in England and the US involved creating dictionaries and featuring debates/ discussions on the subject in popular publications.
TRUE
t/f the general classes of borrowings from french vocab include governmental and administrative words, ecclesiastical words, legal words, and cultural words.
TRUE
t/f leveling is the shift from a highly inflected (synthetic) lang like Old English, to a language with few inflections (analytic), like Modern English.
TRUE
t/f All languages are equally difficult. As a second language, the degree of difficulty depends on the lang the learner already knows.
TRUUUU
Compound formed from Greek or Latin elements
Takes the root of a classical word & add English meanings. ("Eugenics" = two greek roots "well" and "to be"---well born offspring to parents.)
What was the main source of Latin borrowings during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries?
Text and the wycliff translated bible terms relating to law, medicine, theology, science and literature
Give an example of the progressive passive. From what period can we date its development?
The house is being built; very late 18th century
which is an example of the progressive passive verb form??
The house was being built by Tom.
What distinction has been drawn between cultural levels and functional varieties of English? Do you find the distinction valid?
The literary standard, the spoken standard, and popular speech. Seems valid
What accounts for the high degree of uniformity of American English?
The national mingling and movement of diverse immigrants, people moved around so much that they carried the language with them. Bad for the regional dialects because they could no establish solid regional dialects and now they are slowly converging to one uniform sound. People are constantly communicating with each other, they're all moving around back and forth and mixing the language.
To what may one attribute the preservation of r in American English?
The ppl from northern england and scotland and germans, they settled in the middle US and pushed west
What kinds of "corruptions" in the English language did Swift object to? Do you find them objectionable? Can you think of similar objections made by commentators today?
The shortening of words (phone for telephone), the contracting of words (disturbed to disturb'd), and modern terms (sham, mob)
Summarize the main efforts at spelling reform in England and the United States during the past century. Do you think that a movement for spelling reform will succeed in the future?
There was a simplified spelling board that tried to simplify certain spellings, but they met opposition. Only some of the spellings stuck
creole
There's a few creole langs. Fully developed vocabulary and grammar. It's a pigeon that transitioned into a full language. Has its own system. More complex. (louisiana)
What tendency may be observed in the following sets of synonyms: rise—mount— ascend, ask—question—interrogate, goodness—virtue—probity?
Three levels of synonyms= popular, literary, and learned
is there still a purist argument today?
You have purists for every age in every language always... "these kids and foreigners are ruining our lang.".
What were the aims of the eighteenth-century prescriptive grammarians?
To codify the principles of language and reduce it to rule; to settle disputed points and decide cases of divided usage; point out common errors or what were supposed to be errors and the thus correct and improve the language
What did Johnson hope for his Dictionary to accomplish?
To record usage of words and act in the same way an academy would.
What are the most noticeable differences in pronunciation between British and American English?
We use flat a (grass). Round/open "o" (not, hot). We use the rounded "r" (car)
extension of meaning
Widening a word to cover more meaning (great)
Borrowing (CH. 10)
Words are directly taken from another language. Examples during this time: Chiffon, Garage,= French Confetti= Italian Canyon, Patio = Spanish
old word with new meaning
Words that have been in the language but have adopted new meanings (skyline)
john wilkins
Worked with linguistic matters of language. Worked to decipher philosophical ideas of universal linguistic principles. He wrote Essay Towards a Real Character and a Philosophical Language in 1668.
noah webster
Wrote "A Grammatical Institute of the English Language", which is a 3 vol. set with a spelling, grammar and reader book. Later republished as the "American Spelling Book". Then his greatest work was "An American Dictionary of the English Language" 1828 to promote American usages, pronunciations and spellings. Advocated an american dictionary that used Americanisms. He was pissed at John Pickery (who criticsized American English).
Why are the French words borrowed during the fifteenth century of a bookish quality?
french lit. was thriving, and this was the primary source of words
hybrid forms
french root w/ English prefix/suffix (poorness)
Which foreign language contributed the most words to English during the eighteenth century?
french!
Despite the changes in the English language brought about by the Norman Conquest, in what ways was the language still English?
grammar, and basic elements of vocabulary
From the discussions in Baugh and Cable §177 and below, summarize the principal features in which Shakespeare's pronunciation differs from your own.
he pronounced [e] for [i] - er/ir/ur union was on its way though not yet established. - [e:] and [i:] were distinct from each other (i.e., see and sea didn't rhyme). - [u:] - e.g., blood and mood rhymed **differences in quality (sound) of vowels and differences of accent. -->situation would have been quite different with earlier language of Chaucer b/c he was pre-GreatVowelShift
What changes have occurred in English grammatical forms and conventions during the past two centuries?
here were very few grammar reforms -Verb- adverb Combo -"You were" for "You Was" -"It is I" is now less used
labiodental
holding the upper teeth to the lower lip (f in fin)
creole hypothesis
in opposition of the anglicist hypothesis that said the europeans went to africa and picked up ppl from lots of countries w diff cultures, and eventually they lost their individual langs and adopted american english over the generations. Current african american english results from Creoles.
Latin influence of third period
influence of the Norman conquest--the ultimate source of French words and also large number of borrowed words
What classes of strange words did sixteenth-century purists object to?
inkhorn terms/oversea language/chaucerisms -also: Aureate words (term from earlier chapters): words used in ME period borrowed from other languages for stylistic purposes, mostly in poetry.
aureate diction
introduction of unusual words from latin became a stylistic device for writers
how would cultivated speakers of Elizabethan time regard shakespeare's use of the double negative in.....
it was acceoted as it was regarded as an intensifier (strong negative)
Why did the speech of London have special importance during the late Middle Ages?
it was/still is the political and commercial center of england
Central French
lang. of paris, it gets standardized
what was th emain source of latin borrowing during the 14th and 15th centuries?
literature
The main difference between Chaucer's lang and our own is in the pronunciation offffff.....
long vowels
. Which form of the adjective became the form for all cases by the close of the Middle English period?
nominative singular
leveling
occurs when one form of the word begins to be used in multiple cases
Inkhorn terms
of latin origin. -they're longer & use more ink.
How consistently were the nominative ye and the objective you distinguished during the Renaissance?
some authors were careful, but even SHR switches up the meanings sometimes. ye finally disappeared, and Ascham and Elyot make no distinction. -In 17th C, "you" becomes the regular form for both nominative and objective cases.
Orthography
spelling - problem: lack of uniform spelling in English. (Mulcaster called it "right writing")
Sir Thomas Elyot
statesman and scholar; wrote what has been called the first book on educated printed in English (The Governour); translated Greek Socrates into English; wrote Doctrinal of Princes (1534). p.212 Champion of english language p.202
What accounts for the -e in Modern English stone, the Old English form of which was st￣an in the nominative and accusative singular?
the -e was extended by analogy to the nominative and accusative singular
Beginning in the 12th century until the 18th century (main effects in 15th/ early 16th centuries) the sounds of long stressed vowels in English changed their place of articulation. This was known as....
the Great Vowel Shift
All of the following new fores began to affect the English language in the modern english period except
the birth of King george III, who standardized english
What phonetic changes brought about the leveling of inflectional endings in Middle English?
the change of "m" to "n", vowels were obscured to a sound. -endings of "-a,-u,-an,-um" reduced to just "-e".
What accounts for the difference in pronunciation between words introduced into English after the Norman Conquest and the corresponding words in Modern French?
they are different dialects. -what was introduced into english was from norman french -modern french is derived from Paris -continuing change in both langs, after the initial borrowing
What generally happened to the Old English prefixes and suffixes in Middle English?
they disappeared
What problems did the modern European languages face in the sixteenth century?
they seemed immature, unpolished, and limited in resources. not as good as the elevated classical languages, not as much to work with.
How consistently were the nominative ye and the objective you distinguished during the Renaissance?
they were quite consistently confused
T/f The creolist Hypothesis was the first major alternative to the Anglicist Hypothesis (This theory suggests that when slaves were brought to the US from Africa, they initially spoke a number of languages However, by bein exposed to English, they began to learn it. AS slaves has children, their native languages were preserved less and less. This was pop until the mid 1960s). This hypothesis suggests that African-American Vernacular English developed from a creole lang that was a result of the early contact between Africans and Europeans.
true, know ALLL this info
Anglo-norman
variety of french that is used in England after the norman conquest (post 1066 and in normandy)
OE verb
weak= walk,walked strong=sing sang sung