English Language - Language Change (AO1)

Addition of (often classical) bound morphemes to an existing word (library+’ian’ = librarian).

When a word changes its word class without adding a bound morpheme - accounts for 20% of new words (‘bottle’ - ‘bottled’, ‘to cheat’ - ‘a cheat’).

A word made by saying each initial letter of a longer phrase separately (‘OMG’, ‘ADHD’, ‘FAQ’).

Blending initial letters of a phrase together, pronouncing as syllables (‘BOGO’, ‘AIDS’, ‘SCUBA’).

Creation based on similarities with an existing lexeme (‘blind as a bat’, ‘busy as a bee’).

The removal of an imagined morpheme from an existing word (television - to televise, burglar - to burgle).

Joining parts of existing words together (emoticon = emoji + icon).

Removing part of a word without changing the semantics (public house - pub, robot - bot).

Joining two whole lexemes together (firefighter, notebook, railroad).

Created with two (usually rhyming) elements (‘easy-peasy’, ‘hocus-pocus’, ‘super-duper’).

A brand name widened to a whole category (coke, aspirin, band-aid)

Naming an item after its creator (newton - Isaac Newton)

Transmission of language across the same generation.

Grandparent/parent to child transmission of language.

Unrelated influence e.g. teacher to student, TV to viewer.

Higher status language influencing lower status language e.g. Norman Conquest, colonisation and slavery (British Empire).

Lower status language influencing higher status language e.g. RP influenced by other London accents, Standard English influenced by MLE.

Languages of equal status influencing each other e.g. Old English and Old Norse.

Change gives word more pleasant or positive meaning e.g. pretty used to mean sly, cunning, wicked.

Change in meaning becomes less favourable e.g. notorious used to simply mean widely known.

Meaning becomes less specific e.g. holiday originally meant ‘holy day’ of religious importance.

Meaning becomes more specific e.g. meat used to refer to food in general.

Words losing strength of meaning over time e.g. soon means near future but used to mean immediately.

Words acquire new meanings because they are used metaphorically e.g. ‘plain sailing’, ‘high and dry’, ‘clear the decks’ all originally nautical terms.

Word associated with an object instead of object’s actual name e.g. cash used to mean money box but came to mean money itself.

Don’t make sense through literal interpretation, usually have some factual, literacy or historical basis e.g. ‘It’s raining cats and dogs’, ‘In the doghouse’.

Avoid causing offence or making something less unpleasant e.g. ‘passed on’, ‘no longer with us’.

Over-use of idiom, fails to excite imagination e.g. ‘thinking outside the box’, ‘hitting the glass ceiling’.

Also known as ‘medial’ or ‘descending s’. Latin grapheme representing /s/ or /z/ that entered English with spread of Christianity. Often appeared in Middle and early to mid Modern English in manuscripts and printing. Dropped out of use due to the printing press and similarity with cursive ‘f’.

First used in 19th century as accounting abbreviation, meaning ‘at the rate of’. Eg. 5 apples @ £1 = £5. Became late 20th century computing marker.

Designated a number until early 21st century when first used for ‘hashtagging’ on twitter to suggest significance, often in a link.

Massive sound change affecting the long vowels of English, beginning in the 15th century. Long vowels (eg. /u:/, /i:/) shifted upwards. Many became diphthongs, with a glide between two places of articulation. Meet = me:t → mi:t, goose = go:s →gu:s.

Nouns: monarch/y, duke, enemy, war farm, constitution, crime. Adjectives: royal, legal.

Old English lexeme: cow, oxen → synonym from Norman French: beef.

Old English lexeme: sheep, lamb → synonym from Norman French: mutton.

The main similarities between Old English and Modern English are pronouns such as: ‘I’ and ‘You’. 

Adj. - cōl (‘cool’)

N. - cōlnes (‘Coolness’)

^^^ addition of the ‘ness’ suffix, similar to Standard English as we know it.

A lot of lexical borrowing from Old Norse eg. common nouns like Arm - Arm, Bag - Baggi, Cake - Kaka. Many towns in England still have the Nordic word for town, ”by” eg. Helperby, Thornby, Denaby.

• Borrowing from Latin and Greek: new scientific, philosophical, and artistic terms were derived from Latin and Greek, such as 'atmosphere', 'hypothesis', and 'perspective'.

• Borrowing from other European languages: English borrowed numerous words from languages like French, Italian, and Spanish, including 'embassy', 'silhouette', and 'guitar'.

• Verb conjugation: Early Modern English saw the regularisation of verb conjugations. For instance, the conjugation of the verb 'to have' transitioned from 'hath' (third person singular) to 'has'. Another example is the transition of '-eth' endings to '-s' endings in the third person singular of most verbs, such as 'doeth' becoming 'does'.

• Younger Singaporean speakers pronounce ‘r’ consonant after a vowel in words like ‘car’.

• American English speakers pronounce ‘tt’ sound as a ‘d’ sound in words like ‘butter’.

Lexical borrowing between different English variants eg. New Zealand English employing American English features like ‘trunk’ (boot of a car) and ‘pants’ (trousers).

• New telegraphese and text acronyms/initialisms, eg. BRB, LOL, GTG

• Popular Internet buzzwords from 2016 derive from AAVE, eg. 'lit’, ‘shade’, ‘slay’.