English Language U2 AOS1 metalanguage

Cognate

lexemes that are markedly similar to each other and indicate relationship across languages

False cognate

false relationship between lexemes that we assume but doesnt actually exist

Doublets

words that mean exactly the same, instead of one taking over, they are both adopted into the language

Morphological changes

affixation, abbreviation, acronym, backformation, blending, compounding, contraction, conversion, initialism, shortening

Affixation

process of adding affixes to create new words

Abbreviation

shortened form of a word or phrase

Acronym

taking first letter of each word, pronounce as word

Backformation

process of removing mistakenly thought affixes

Blending

adding together parts of two different words

Compounding

adding two whole words together

Contraction

removing letters of words and marking them with apostrophes (')

Conversion

process of using a word in a role of different parts of speech

Initialism

taking the first letter of each word and pronouncing them individually

Shortening

cutting words into smaller forms

Lexical changes

neoligsm, commonisation, borrowing, nominalisation, drivers for change

Neologism

words new to the language

Commonisation

proper nouns becomes common noun

Borrowing

taking words from other language

Nominalisation

making nouns from verbs or adjectives

Drivers for change

lexemes are invented, repurposed or lost due to movement between domains, innovation requiring new lexemes or societal changes

Movement between domains

terms from other domains are used for more specialised or generic way

Innovation

new inventions lead to a creation of new terms

Societal changes

social norms change, changing elements of language or losing lexemes

Obsolete lexemes

words that are permanently lost from our language

Archaism lexemes

words that are otherwise obsolete but are only used in other contexts (ceremonies, idiomatic expressions)

Brevity

words become too short so they are cut from language

Taboo

words that are avoidant or banned and are often lost

Semantic changes

broadening, narrowing, shift, elevated/ameliorate, deteriorate/pejoration

Broadening

word meaning expands to include more than was originally intended, adding additional meaning

Narrowing

words used to have multiple meanings, but now has confined to one specific meaning

Shift

word meanings dramatically change

Elevation/ameliorate

when words change they take on a positive connotation

Deteriorate/pejoration

when words change to take on a negative connotation

Phonological changes

assimilation, elision, vowel reduction (schwa), insertion, metathesis

Assimilation

speakers make a sound segment similar to neighbouring one

Elision

speaker drops a sound segment (phoneme) and is elided

Vowel reduction (schwa)

clean vowel sound becomes unspecified and turns into an "uh" sound

Insertion

adds a sound where there isn't usually one

Metathesis

mispronunciation of different cluster of sounds

Syntax in Old English

nominative, accusative, dative, genitive

Nominative

subjective, where noun=subject

Accusative

objective, where the action of the verb carries out noun/pronoun

Dative

the person the person or thing which the action is done/affected

Genitive

possessive, noun shows possession or ownership