1. A2 English Language – Language
Change
• Objectives
• Learn and understand word
formation processes and how
they relate to language change
• Understand different attitudes to
language change.
• Work on an exam question.
• Activities
• Follow powerpoint
• Short activities to engage with
EME word formation processes
using sugar paper.
• Short activities to engage with
ME word formation processes
using worksheet.
• Application of terminology learnt
to words in different contexts.
• Analysis of quotations to uncover
attitudes to language change
• Discussion of the the word ‘gay’
2. A2 English Language – Language Change
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Resources
Powerpoint presentation
Sugar paper & pens
Worksheet
Exam question
• Context
• Students are half-way
through the topic of
language change.
• So far they have focussed
on the history of the
language.
• They are now moving on to
understand the mechanisms
of change.
• Students are grouped on
the basis of recent mock
exam results
3. • Many times as we went through the history of
language we mentioned that certain events &
people led to lexical expansion. Some
examples?
• But where do these words actually
come from?
• Many like the exclamative “Eureka!” are
borrowings from other languages.
4. • Are they all created out of nothing?
• Actually very few are …most come from other words in
various inventive different ways….(word formation
processes)
5. • In EME there were 3 main types of word
formation processes
• Affixation
• Clipping
• Compounding
6. • In 1 minute write as many words as you can
think of using the prefix “post-” meaning
after.
• In 1 minute write as many words as you can
think of using the suffix “ise-”.
• What do you notice about the word class of all
the “–ise” words?
7. • In the 16th Century, neologisms "smelling too
much of the Latin" - as the poet Richard Willes
put it - were frowned upon by many.
• Examples included portentous, antiques,
despicable, dismiss, homicide, destructive,
encyclopaedia and ingenious, all of which he
labelled "ink-horn terms“ (borrowed from
Classical languages or by using Latinate
affixes)
10. Other
Shortenings
parts of the word
left out for
economy
Acronyms
takes the first letter of
each word in a phrase
to make a new word
Scuba (Self Contained
Underwater Breathing
Apparatus)
Initialisms
takes the first letter of
each word in a phrase –
but then sounded as
each letter in sequence
e.g. BBC
11. • Acronymy is not a totally new word formation
process…some have been around for many many
years:
• SPQR
• INRI
• BUT it became hugely popular in the 20th
century (ie in Modern English)when the vast
majority of acronyms where created (indeed the
noun acronym itself dates from the 1940s)
• They became prolific in business & during the
war.
13. • Try to fill in the worksheet – there might be
some surprises in there…. NO MOBILE
PHONES CHEATERS!!!
• You have 5 mins.
• Can we make up a blend ourselves?
• If we can get it trending on facebook & twitter
we will be changing language!
15. Jean Aitchison is one of the biggest contributors to this area through her book
“Language Change: Progress or Decay?” (1991).
Within this she posits that there are 3 ways of viewing the phenomenon of language change:
1. Decay
2 Progress
3. Neither
progress nor decay, but inevitable
JA herself tells us that change is “natural, inevitable, continuous”.
16. Pick one word
from Text B
State its word
class
State the word
formation
process
What
contextual
information
could we link
this to?
What sentence
type is used in
the definition?
Could you say
anything about
clauses?
17. Remember the 3
stages?
How is the
language issue
represented?
How does the
author represent
himself &
others?
How does the
author shape the
reader’s
response?
18. • Write on your whiteboard which of the 3
views is represented in the following
quotations.
19. • “We now comment with satisfaction on the
flexibility, range and versatility of the English
lexicon”
• David Crystal
20. • “It is the relentless onward march of the …
SMS vandals... They are destroying it: pillaging
our punctuation; savaging our sentences;
raping our vocabulary. And they must be
stopped.”
• John Humphrys
21. • “There is no predictable direction for the
changes that are taking place. They are just
that: not changes for the better; not changes
for the worse; just changes”
• David Crystal
22. GAY
• What words can you think of that have been formed from the word gay?
23. • On the blog read the article called “Gay
abandon” by Dan Clayton
• Also check out the poster on the politically
correct usage of the word ‘gay’
• In your extended reading pack you should also
read the article “Blends and Ends”
24. Amelioration
- the meaning
of the word is
more positive
than the
original.
Pejoration the meaning
of the word is
more
negative than
the original.
Narrowing the meaning
of the word
narrows so
that it
includes
fewer
objects/ideas.
Widening the meaning
of the word
broadens to
include more
objects/ideas.
Conversion Words change
their ‘class’.
Inversion –
words come
to mean the
opposite of
their original
meaning.
Editor's Notes
What’s another word for borrowings? (Beth)
What does affixation mean? (Tom S)Who can already give me an example of words created through one of these processes? (Tom R; Eli; Hannah)
Why were there words coming from Latin in the 16th century? (Heejin)What would we term these people who “frown upon” new words? (Ellis)
What might be the point of clipping? (rhiannon)
What word classes are these words? (Ryan; Charlie; Fran)
Are there any words you can think of that combine the 2 processes? (Jamie)
