Question | Answer |
standardisation | making all variations of language conform to the standard |
diachronic change | historical language change over a timespan |
synchronic change | theoretical point in time, disregarding historical context |
lexicon | the vocabulary of a language |
political correctness | words or phrases used to replace those viewed as offensive |
overt prestige | status of producer, using the most official and standard form of language e.g. Received Pronunciation and Standard English |
covert prestige | status of producer who doesn't adopt a standard dialect |
borrowing | introduction of a word from one language to another |
eponym | the name of a person after whom something is named |
proprietary names | the name given to a commercial product by one organisation, which is then commonly used for other products e.g. Hoover |
acronym | word made up from initial letters of a phrase (sounded as a word) |
initialism | word made from initial letters, each being pronounced |
clipping | new word produced by shortening an existing one |
affixation | addition of bound morphemes to an existing word |
prefixes | addition of a bound morpheme to the beginning of a root word |
suffixes | addition of a bound morpheme to the end of a root word |
conversion | when a word changes its word class |
compound | combining two separate words to create a new word |
blend | two words fusing to make a new one |
obsolete | no longer having any use |
drift | process of linguistic change over a period of time |
amelioration | when a word takes on a different, positive, meaning than previously - gaining status |
pejoration | when a word takes on a different, negative, meaning than previously - losing status |
weakening | when a word loses the strength of its original meaning |
narrowing (specialisation) | when a word becomes more specific in its meaning |
broadening (generalisation) | when a word keeps its original meaning, but also acquires others |
euphemism | inoffensive word/phrase used to suggest something unpleasant |
idiom | an expression that is peculiar grammatically, or cannot be understood from the clause element individual meanings |
archaism | an old word/phrase no longer in general use |
influential power | power used to influence/persuade |
instrumental power | power used to maintain and enforce authority |
omission | leaving out a phoneme in a cluster e.g. "hangin(g)" |
assimilation | the effect of the pronunciation of one phoneme on another |
informalisation | process of increasingly information language being used in all areas of society |
received pronunciation | the prestige form of English pronunciation |
divergence | when a person's language becomes more individualised, away from other individuals |
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