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Definition
- Expression of thought by means of words
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Words: signs made with vocal organs
- Word language is derived, through French, from lingua (L “tongue”) |
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| Humans attempting to imitate the sounds of nature |
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Definition
• Language began as reflexive sounds in response to external stimuli
- sounds match meaning
• Max Muller |
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Definition
| • Language began as involuntary exclamations (“oh!” “bah!”) |
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| “poetry is the mother tongue of man” |
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Definition
• Hamann (philosopher involved in sturm und drang movement)
• Shared belif of romantics in 18th century
• primitive man spoke in response to the sounds of nature
• Response to the natural human tendency to appreciate rhythm |
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Term
| • What is literary language? |
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Definition
- “literary” English is English as it is learned from literature, schools
- Distinguished from the language of those who are absolutely illiterate
- May have many dialects, but is substantially uniform and dialects do not prevent understanding |
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Definition
- regional variations of a language
- do not affect understanding
- precede literary langauge (ll are elevated dialects) |
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Term
| Anglo-Saxon Conquest of Britain, 5th-7th C |
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Definition
- Numerous Anglo-Saxon groups
- Main groups were Angles, Saxons, and Jutes
- Many dialects, none took precedence
- No written language, but much oral literature (oral precedes written) |
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| Anglo-Saxons in Britain, 8th C |
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Definition
- Main tribes had become independent kingdoms
- Dialects had become more unique, still not mutually unintelligible
- Main dialects were Saxon, Mercian, Kentish and Northumbrian |
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Definition
- Anglo-Saxon dialect
- poised to become literary English in 8th C
- Was then conquered by West Saxon under King Alfred and Saxon took precedence
- in 14th c, became Scottish |
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Term
| Norman conquest of Britain |
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Definition
- 1066
- interrupted development of West Saxon dialect
- Norman nobles spoke Anglo-Norman (predecessor of French)
- common people continued to speak English, adapting Anglo-Norman words
- Outnumbered, the Normans began to adopt English dialects as well as Old French |
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Term
| English between 12th and 14th C |
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Definition
- dialects had developed into three main ones, unique to the point that they could not be understood by one another
- Northern dialect from Northumbrian, Southern dialect from Saxon, Middle dialect from Mercian |
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Definition
- East Midland dialect was most powerful
- Used in London, universities, Wycliffe's Bible, and by Chaucer
- poised to become English litlang, Chaucer sped the process |
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Term
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Definition
- Canterbury Tales, 1380s
- sped the adoption of East Midlands English as litlang
- first to write with ease, style, regularity |
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Term
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Definition
– study of the history of a language, tracing it backwards chronologically. Also called historical linguistics
o Child childless childlessness |
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Term
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Definition
– study of a language at a given point in time without regard to past or future
o Synchronically, the verb tenses of “sing,” “sang,” and “sung” are irregular
Germanic English, known as strong verbs
Learned as exceptions (learned forms), whereas regular verbs are learned by applying productive rules
o Diachronically, they reflect a regular system of internal vowel changes known as ablaut |
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Term
| • Prescriptive linguistics |
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Definition
studying language with the intent of “saving” it
o If language dies, culture dies and vice versa—the decay of language is a sign of the decay of culture/society |
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Term
| • Descriptive linguistics |
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Definition
– study free of judgement of the development of language
o Changes are not mistakes as long as they are formulaic
EXAMPLES:
Too hard a test = “right”
Too hard of a test = “wrong”
I’m having fun = “right,” (fun is a noun)
This is fun = “wrong,” (fun is not an adjective)
• Change is systematic, not a random slip |
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Term
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Definition
| – a system in which 1 symbol = 1 sound |
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Term
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Definition
– a system in which 1 symbol = 1 syllable
o Mycenaean Greek, some Native American languages |
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Term
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Definition
– addition glyph added to primary glyph
• Cedillas, accents, etc |
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Term
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Definition
Diachronic
Moves through one language
• Old English Middle English Modern English |
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Definition
Diachronic
Moves between language lines, branches on staumbaum
• French English |
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Definition
Synchronic
Comes from process of combination of elements within one language system
• Home homeless homelessness |
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Definition
– process by which one sound cluster becomes another when two sounds merge
o “eat your” [it jɔr] becomes “eachur” [itʃʊr] |
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Term
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Definition
– process by which similar consonant or vowel sounds in a word become less similar
o Often happens in English with [r] sound
When two [r] sound are near each other in the middle of a word, the first often dissimilates
• Berserk becomes “beserk”; surprise become “suprise”; governor, “govenor”
o Doesn’t affect “government” because there is only one [r].
“meridian” is borrowed from Latin “medidiem” (mid day)
• First [d] dissimilated to an [r]
o Other examples
“dachshund” is borrowed from german, derived from “dacsh” (badger) + “hund” (dog)
• Pronounced [daksnt], not [daksənd] |
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Definition
– word derived from an abbreviation
o Scuba, sonar, Nazi |
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Term
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Definition
– word derived from shortening another word
o Con (confidence man), demo (demonstration), typo (typographical error)
o Does NOT change part of speech |
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Term
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Definition
– the process by which a new word is created from an old one by removing actual or supposed affixes
o creates new part of speech
Verbs from nouns
• Edit editor
• Diagnose, enthuse diagnosis, enthusiastic
• Notable suffixes that are removed are –ator and –ation
o Spectator spectate?
o Donate donation
Verbs from adjective
• Laze lazy |
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Term
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Definition
- form of back formation where a supposed plural is singularized
Cerise cherry; pea pease
Kudos
• The pronunciation makes it seem plural |
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Term
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Definition
1. accents
• détente, éclat
2. unpronounced final consonants
• debut, rendezvous, mardi gras
3. –et/-ette as diminutives or feminizations
• Cigarette, pocket
• -ette is also productive in English (bachelorette, dinette)
4. suffixes
• -eur/euse
o Chanteuse, masseur
• -ique
o Boutique, clique
• -ine
o Limousine, cuisine
• -ee
o Employee, refugee
5. oi spellings
• noise, poison, royal
6. ou pronounced [u]
• souvenir, mousse
7. au pronounced [o]
• taupe, faux
8. –ge pronounced [z]
• Rouge, mirage
9. nasalized vowels
• détente, denoument
10. ch pronounced [ʃ]
• panache, gauche |
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Term
| DISTINGUISHING ITALIAN AND SPANISH |
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Definition
1. Spanish words can end in consonants
• Canyon, matador
2. Spanish does not allow initial sp, st; Italian does
• Studio, spumoni
3. Italian has the sound [ts], spelt z or zz; in Spanish, z = [s]
• Pizza
• Corazon
4. Spanish does not have intervocalic (between vowels) [z]; Italian does
• mesa [mesa], Pisa [piza]
5. Italian has long consonants, Spanish does not
• Latte (laaahtte), espresso (espreeeso)
6. Spanish has silent h, Italian does not
• Hombre [ombre]
7. [č] sound
• Spanish
o spelt as ch (chicano)
• Italian
o spelt as ci before A,O,U (ciao)
o spelt as c before I,E (concerto)
8. [k] sound
• Spanish
o spelt as c before A,O,U (cabana)
o spelt as qu before I,E (quiero)
• Italian
o Spelt as ch before I,E (Chianti)
o Spelt as c before A,O,U (concerto, canto)
9. [j] sound
• Spanish
o Spelt either y or ll (yo, calle)
• Italian
o Spelt before I and E as g (Genoa) |
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Term
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Definition
o [aj] sound
1. spelt “ei”
o [ts] sound
1. spelt “z” |
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Term
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Definition
o Prefixes
1. inter-, trans-, super-, sub-, ad-, circum-, retro-, com-, ex-, ab-, in-
o suffixes
1. singular –a, plural –ae
• alumna, alumnae
• alga, algae
o algae [ælji] shows palatalization
2. singular –us, plural –i
• fungus, fungi
• magus, magi
o magi [mæjai] shows palatalization
3. singular –um, plural –a
• curriculum, curriculi
• -um is also a verbal derivitave called the gerundive
o Denotes “to be…-ed”
Memorandum (thing to be remembered)
Agendum (thing to be done)
• Obsolete; exists still in plural agenda (things to be done)
4. –ior for adjective
• Inferior, superior
• Anterior, posterior
5. –ix in nouns
• Cervix, appendix
• Aviatrix, dominatrix
o –trix is fem of –tor
6. –ible, -able
• Edible, invincible
• -able is now productive in English
o Doable, drinkable
o Not borrowed
7. –ant, -ent
• Stimulant, resident
• Also, circumstance, ambulance |
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Term
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Definition
Greek came first and was Latinized by the Romans
1. podium
• “-pod” is Greek for foot, “-um” is a Latin suffix
o Should be “pedium,” as Latin root for foot is “ped-“ |
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Term
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Definition
o Latin stress rules
1. Stress first syllable, if disyllabic
• RO-ma
2. If polysyllabic, stress second to last syllable, UNLESS the syllable has a short vowel
• Never stress the last syllable of a polysyllabic word
• am-I-cus
3. If the second to last syllable has a short vowel, stress the third to last
• so-ci-A-bi-lis |
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Term
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Definition
- Celtic (Welsh, Irish, etc)
- Germanic ([EG] Gothic; [NG] Scandinavian-- Danish, Icelandic; [WG] English, German, Dutch)
- Italic (Latin > Romance languages
- Hellenic (Greek)
- Balto-Slavic (Russian, Polish, Lithuanian)
- Indo-Iranian (Farsi, Sanskrit, Hindi, Punjabi) |
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Term
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Definition
- sounds that do not constrict the airway
- have a rich, full quality
- includes vowels, nasals, liquids and glides |
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Term
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Definition
- consonants that allow air to escape freely through the nose
- /m/, /n/ |
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Term
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Definition
- consonants that do not correspond to a specific vowel
- non fricitaves that can be sustained
- /l/, /r/ |
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Term
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Definition
- vowels that form a dipthong when coupled with another vowel
- /y/, /w/ |
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Term
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Definition
- sounds that obstruct the breath stream
- fricatives, africates, stops |
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Term
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Definition
- sounds created by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators (teeth, tongue, lip, palate, etc)
- /f/,/v/
- also includes sibilants, which are made when air is being forced through narrow channel and then being directed by tongue over the edge of the teeth (/z/, /s/) |
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Definition
- sound produced by stopping airflow
- /p/, /t/, /k/ |
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Definition
- stop with a frictional release
- /ch/, /ts/ |
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Term
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Definition
- a consonant is "voiced" when the vocal cords are vibrated
- /f/ is voiceless, /v/ is voiced
- /p/ is voiceless, /b/ is voiced |
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Term
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Definition
- the process by which a voiced consonant becomes devoiced, usually when it immediately followed a voiceless obstruent
- "have to" becomes "hafta" [/v/ becomes /f/ because 't' is voiceless] |
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Term
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Definition
- the process by which certain consonant sounds in a word disintegrate
- happens often with f,s,x > /h/ > disappearing |
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Definition
- process of creating a noun by adding affixes to other word classes
- legalize/legalization; careless/carelessness; react/reaction |
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Definition
- loss of an unstressed first syllable/sound in a word
- Egyptian -> Gyptian -> Gypsy; amend -> mend; |
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