Language Change Keywords

Suitable for CIE A Level English Language. Covers keywords in Section A: Language Change for Paper 3

graphology

the study of handwriting/written language including layout, colour, and other features of graphical communication

orthrography

the conventions of writing a language including spelling and grammar

phonology

how speech sounds and patterns are produced to convey a message i.e consonants, vowels, and intonation

lexis

words of a language i.e English lexis refers to all the words of the English language

morphology

the study of words, how they are formed, and their relationship to other words in the same language

syntax

the study of how words are combined to form larger units i.e sentences

semantics

the study between words and meanings

pragmatics

how context is relevant to human language and their users

grammar

the rules that make up both spoken and written language

etymology

the history of a word including origins and derivation

derivation

forming a new word using an existing word

inflection

changing of the endings of (commonly) nouns to change the meaning e.g dog can be inflected to dogs to become plural

conjugation

changing the endings of (commonly) verbs to relate to person, tense, or noun e.g walk can be conjugated to walking to become present tense

telescoping

the contraction of a phrase, word, or part of a word

coalescence

where two adjacent sounds can combine into a single sound; part of phonology; common in child language

acronym

a shorter word formed from a larger name or phrase e.g USA for United States of America (using the capital letters)

conversion

the creation of a word in a different word class from an already existing word in another word class

compounding

joining two words together to form a new word

backformation

the creation of a new word by removing endings from another word e.g edit from editor

blending

sometimes called a portmanteau; a word formed from parts of two or more other words

borrowing

the use of a word from another language that has been incorporated into a different language e.g rendezvous (originally French) is also an English word with the same meaning

amelioration

a semantic change that changes a word’s meaning over time, usually from negative to positive

pejoration

a semantic change that changes a word’s meaning over time, usually from positive to negative

broadening

a semantic change that broadens a word’s meaning, making it more inclusive

narrowing

a semantic change that narrows a word’s meaning, making it less inclusive

what was the random fluctuation theory?

that language develops and changes randomly due to the uneven use of spoken language; often comes in the form of accents where users pronounce words differently until it becomes a desirable form of speech

who developed the random fluctuation theory?

Charles Hockett, 1958

cultural transmission theory

how language develops over socialisation in different cultures. including the use of symbols to share cultural ideas, slang, and forms of address

theory of lexical gaps

the belief that there is a certain need for new lexis

substratum theory

language change happens because of globalization

what is the functional theory?

the theory that language is used as a tool for evolving economic and social functions; new lexus is invented/adapted for innovations and contractions occur more frequently for fast communication

who developed the functional theory?

Michael Halliday

tree model

tracing back language to an initial parent language (protolanguage) that then splits into separating branches

what is the wave model?

language evolves from one center and ripples out, becoming weaker as it moves away from its origin (geographically)

who developed the wave model?

Johannes Schmidt

collocation

the familiar grouping of words; from the Latin for “place together“