Language Change

• English has Germanic origins due to the German invasion
• Old English had around 25 thousand words
• Danish settlement in England led to some Danish words in English, mainly place names and people’s surnames (such as those ending in -son)
• William The Conquerer’s ruling meant that old French became more widely used in England and around 10,000 French words made their way into English
• Diachronic variation


  Variation of language through time
• Synchronic variation


  Variation of language across society at a single point in time
• When was Old English used?

  5th-10th century
• When was Middle English used?

  11th-15th century
• When was Early Modern English used?

  15th-18th century
• When was Modern English used?

  18th-20th century
• Since when was Present-day English used?

  20th century
• Neologism


  The deliberate creation of a new word
• Borrowings/loan words


  Borrowing if words from other languages. They are either anglicised or retain their original spelling and pronunciation
• Compounding


  Words are compiled together to form new words. These can be open, hyphenated, or solid
• Clipping


  Words are shortened. This shortened form becomes the norm.
• Blending


  A combination of clipping and compounding. Two words are shortened and then compounded
• Affixation


  One or more free morphemes are combined with one or more bound morphemes
• Conversion


  A word shifts from one class to another, usually from a noun to a verb
• Eponym


  Names of a person or company are used to define particular objects
• Back formation


  A verb is created from an existing noun by removing a suffix
• Functional theory


  Language changes because society does. It changes to suit the needs of its users. E.g. development of new technologies or new scientific discoveries lead to words being invented to describe this phenomenon
• Generalisation/broadening


  The meaning of a word broadens. It retains its old meaning but also takes on added meanings
• Specialising/narrowing 


  The meaning of a word becomes more specific
• Amelioration


  A word develops a more pleasant or positive meaning over time. For example, pretty used to mean sly or cunning
• Pejoration


  A word develops a more negative meaning over time. For example, notorious used to just mean ‘widely known’
• Weakening/bleaching


  The loss or reduction of the force of meaning of a word over time. For example, ‘thing’ used to refer to a meeting or assembly
• When was Johnson’s dictionary written?

  Began writing in 1746. Completed in 1754. Second draft completed in 1774.
• Why did Johnson decide to write his dictionary?

  “The chief intent… is to preserve the purity and ascertain the meaning of our English idiom.”
• The citations that Johnson used for his dictionary were highly selective, chosen mote for their literary or moral value than for their clarity. Half of the citations were from just seven sources: Shakespeare, Dyron, Milton, Addison, Bacon, Pope, and the Bible
• Entries of Johnson’s dictionary

  • Oats - a grain which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people
  • Etch - a country word, of which I know not the meaning
• Johnson’s dictionary contained the meanings of how many words?

  Approximately 40,000
• V V


  used to represent W in Early Modern English
• V


  used to represent U in Early Modern English
• U


  used to represent V in Early Modern English
• Features of Early Modern English

  • u and v used differently
  • vv would represent w
  • long s was sometimes used
  • additional e in words
  • omitted e in some words
• Noah Webster


  An American lexicographer who wrote the first American English dictionary
• Webster’s dictionary


  Published in 1806. Webster attempted to standardise American spelling and differentiate it from British spelling
• Jonathan Swift book


  A Proposal for Correcting, Improving and Ascertaining the English Tongue
• Jonathan Swift’s ideas


  Argued that spoken and written English was riddles with ‘abuses’ and ‘absurdities’. Swift proposed that we eliminated 'defective' grammar and employed more archaic grammar systems.
• Jonathan Swift appealed to the government of England to establish an ‘Academy’ of English that would fix its vocabulary, spelling, and grammar to resist the great changes that had happened over the last hundred years or so — the kind that were already being complained about in the ‘inkhorn controversy‘