Term
| How many words account for fully half of all English words in common use? |
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Definition
| 43 words account for fully half of all the words in common use and that just nine accound for fully one quarter of all words in almost any samoke if written English. Those nine are: and be have it of the to will and you |
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Term
| Do dictionaries contain more "meanings" than "definitions" of any given word? Explain. |
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Definition
| In short dictionaries may be said to contain a certain number of definitions, but the true number of meanings contained in those definitions will always be much higher . pg. 151 |
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Term
| The _____________________________________ took more than four decades to complete and contains 15,000 pages of information. |
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Definition
| Oxford English Dictionary...The man chosen for this was James Murray...he thought the whole business would take a dozen years at the most...in the event the project more than four decades and sprawled across 15,000 densely printed pages pg. 158 |
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Term
| Did Samuel Johnson and Noah Webster feel bound by rules of spelling or of definition in formulating their dictionaries? Please give evidence of this. |
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Definition
No, yet even here webster was by no means consistent. His dictionary retained many irregular some of which have stuck today (acer and glamour) He gave us Schedule instead of the english shedjulle. Soop, bred, groop,fether pg.155 and 156
Johnson His dictionaries allowed many spelling inconsistencies to be perpetuated deceit but receipt deign but disdain hark but hearken. He wrote downhil with one L but uphill with two Ls |
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Term
| What physiological trait (significant to linguists) made Cro-Magnon man different from his predecessors? |
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Definition
| He has the ability to choke due to the change that pushed mans larynx deeper into his throat...also brought with it the possibility of sophisticated well articulated speech. pg22 |
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Term
| Present one theory as to how language began. |
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Definition
| There are a number of theories about how language began the theories have names that seem almost to be begging began. the bow wow theory the ding dong toeyr the pooh pooh theory the yeheho theory they are generally based in one way or another ... for instance the welsh word for owl gwdihu pronounced goody hoo may mimnic the sound an owl makes (onomatopoeic) |
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Term
| According to Bryson, English is well on its way to becoming a __________ language, largely because of English's rich ____________,_____________,and relative simplicity of ______________ and _____________. Yet while __________________ in contrast to many |
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Definition
Global, Vocabulary, Flexibility, Spelling, Pronunciation, Concise, Complexity
He gave answer in class |
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Term
| Based upon what is presented in Bryson, who would have an easier time learning a language, a child age 1-4 or a PhD. in Semitic Languages? |
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Definition
| "The process has been called basic child grammar. Indeed children in the first five years of life have such a remarkable facility for language that they can effortlessly learn two structurally quiete different languages simultaneously." |
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Term
| True/False. The developing Romance languages simplified the grammar and syntax of the Latin Vulgate. |
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Definition
| " the romance languages are not the outgrowths of the elegant measured prose of cicero but rather the language of the streets and of the common person the latin vulgate." pg 33 TRUE |
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Term
| The Celts must have felt a great sense of indignity after being overrun by the primitive, barbaric ________________. |
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Definition
Anglo-Saxons "is is difficult to conceive of the sense of indignity that the Celts must have felt at finding themselves overrun by primitive unlettered warriors from the barbaric fringes of the roman empire" "Not only were the Anglo-Saxons relatively uncultured they were also pagan"
pg 48 |
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Term
| England's first great poet, _____________, arose in Northumbria in the early Middle Ages. |
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Definition
"here on the ooutermost edge of the civilized world sprang forth Englands first great poet, the monastic Caedmon"
pg 51 |
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Term
| During the Middle Ages, English no doubt became a more (simple or complex) language due to its subordinate position under Norman French. |
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Definition
" Its lowly position almost certainly helped English to become a simpler less inflected language"
pg 56 |
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Term
| The process of change whereby NAPRON became APRON is called ________________________. |
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Definition
" The process is called metanalysis. Thus Napron became an apron..."
pg 63 |
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Term
| True/False. Shakespeare took advantage of the changing structure of English to greatly enrich the language. |
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Definition
"the changing structure of English allowed writers the freedom to express themselves in ways that never existed before, and non took up this opportunity more liberally than shakespeare"
pg 64 |
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Term
| True/False. Shakespeare took advantage of the changing structure of English to greatly enrich the language. |
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Definition
"the changing structure of English allowed writers the freedom to express themselves in ways that never existed before, and non took up this opportunity more liberally than shakespeare"
pg 64 |
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Term
| English grammar is complex and confusing because it is based on ____________________, a language very different from it. |
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Definition
" English grammar is so complex and confusing for the one very simple reason that its rules and terminology are based on Latin a language with which it has precious little in common"
pg 137 |
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Term
| A "solution" to the problems of grammar and language was found in the establishment of the French _____________________ _____________________ by Cardinal Richelieu in 1635. |
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Definition
The model for all these was the Academic Francaise founded by Cardinal Richelieu in 1635
pg 138 |
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Term
| "A man, a plan, a canal, Panama" is an example of a ______________________________. What is the length of the longest one? |
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Definition
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Term
| What is a "rebus"? Where does it commonly appear these days? |
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Definition
a kind of verbal riddle in which words and symbols are arranged in a way that gives a clue to the intended meaning most often used on License plates
pg 230 and 231 |
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Term
| Give an example of "amphibology." What is this phenomenon? |
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Definition
| Construct intentionally ambiguous sentences that can be taken in either of two ways as in the famous if no doubt apocryphal notices in a restaurant saying "customers who think our waiters are rood should see the manager" |
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Term
| "He felt in his heart a half-warmed fish" is an example of a _______________________ or, using its technical name, ______________________. |
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Definition
| spoonerism, Transpositions pg. 234 |
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Term
| The rhyming slang represented by "loaf of bread = head" is called what? |
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Definition
hemiteleia formal name (i think it is called rhyming slang also)
pg 237 |
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Term
| Settlers in the New World borrowed words into English from several sources. Name three of these sources and give an example of borrowed words. |
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Definition
Dutch:cookie landscape and caboose (pg 161)
Indian: yet we borrowed no ore than three or four dozen indian words for everyday objects canoe, raccoon, hammock, and tobacco (pg 162)
French: names for indian tribes territories and rivers Sioux, Mackinac, Illinois, Detroit, Des Plaines, Beloit also prairie dime (pg 163) |
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Term
| There are three reasons that people all over America speak with a more or less uniform English. What are these reasons? |
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Definition
1. the continuous movement of people back and forth across the continent militated against the formation of permanent regionalism
2. Intermingling of people from diverse backgrounds worked in favor of homogeneity
3. social pressures and the desire for a common national identity encouraged people to settle on a single way of speaking.
Pg 169 |
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Term
| Many words brought to America by English settlers died out in England. Likewise, many American English words made their way to England. Give two examples of each. |
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Definition
"it is certainly true to say that america in general preserved many dozens of words that would have otherwise almost certainly have been lost to English the best noted is Gotten... Fall as a synonym for autumn mad for angry progress as a verb platter for a large dish deck of cards slim mean trash I guess pg 170 and 171
America also introduced many words and expressions that never existed in Britain... commuter bedrock snag striptease cold spell gimmick babysitter lengthy sag soggy teenager telephone....
pg 171 |
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Term
| Are those British authorities that attack "vile Americanisms" (such as "minimize" or "input") correct in their criticisms? |
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Definition
the english and american languages and literature are both good things but they are better apart than mixed
pg 174 |
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Term
| Have movies and television helped to bring American and British English closer together or to move them further apart? Explain. |
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Definition
" people dont often appreciate just how much movies and television have smoothed the differences between British and American English words that are commonplace in Britain now were quite unknown until the advent of talking pictures"
pg 176 |
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