Welcome to the flashcards tool for ‘The Study of Language, 5 th edition’, Chapter 17 This is designed as a simple supplementary resource for this textbook, and aims to help students grasp the meaning of the core essential terms within the book. Each term will appear on its own, and you can then click to check the definition. Click or press [space] to begin.

philology [ click for answer ] term:

the study of language history and change [ click for next term ] definition:

Proto-Indo-European [ click for answer ] term:

the hypothesized original form of a language that was the source of many languages in India and Europe [ click for next term ] definition:

cognates [ click for answer ] term:

words in different languages that have a similar form and meaning (e.g. English friend and German Freund) [ click for next term ] definition:

comparative reconstruction [ click for answer ] term:

the creation of the original form of an ancestor language on the basis of comparable forms in languages that are descendants [ click for next term ] definition:

majority principle [ click for answer ] term:

in comparative reconstruction, the choice of the form that occurs more often than any other form in the set of descendant languages [ click for next term ] definition:

most natural development principle [ click for answer ] term:

in comparative reconstruction, the choice of older versus newer forms on the basis of commonly observed types of sound change [ click for next term ] definition:

liquid [ click for answer ] term:

a sound produced by letting air flow around the sides of the tongue (e.g. the first sound in lip) [ click for next term ] definition:

Middle English [ click for answer ] term:

the form of English in use between 1100 and 1500 [ click for next term ] definition:

Old English [ click for answer ] term:

the form of English in use before [ click for next term ] definition:

Modern English [ click for answer ] term:

the form of English in use since 1700 [ click for next term ] definition:

L1 [ click for answer ] term:

first language, acquired as a child [ click for next term ] definition:

natural class [ click for answer ] term:

a set of sounds with phonetic features in common, such as /p/, /t/ and /k/ in English, which are all voiceless stops [ click for next term ] definition:

Early Modern English [ click for answer ] term:

the form of English in use between 1500 and 1700 [ click for next term ] definition:

external change [ click for answer ] term:

influences from the outside that cause changes in a language, in contrast to internal change [ click for next term ] definition:

internal change [ click for answer ] term:

change in a language that is not caused by outside influence, in contrast to external change [ click for next term ] definition:

sound loss [ click for answer ] term:

a sound change in which a particular sound is no longer used in a language (e.g. the velar fricative [x], in Scottish loch, but not in Modern English). [ click for next term ] definition:

L2 [ click for answer ] term:

second language [ click for next term ] definition:

epenthesis [ click for answer ] term:

a sound change involving the addition of a sound to a word (e.g. timr --> timber) [ click for next term ] definition:

metathesis [ click for answer ] term:

a sound change involving the reversal in position of two sounds (e.g. hros --> horse) [ click for next term ] definition:

prothesis [ click for answer ] term:

a sound change involving the addition of a sound to the beginning of a word (e.g. spiritus --> espı´ritu) [ click for next term ] definition:

broadening [ click for answer ] term:

a semantic change in which a word is used with a more general meaning (e.g. foda (animal fodder) --> food (any kind)), in contrast to narrowing [ click for next term ] definition:

narrowing [ click for answer ] term:

a semantic change in which a word is used with a less general meaning (e.g. mete (any type of food) --> meat (only animal flesh)), in contrast to broadening [ click for next term ] definition:

diachronic variation [ click for answer ] term:

differences resulting from change over a period of time, in contrast to synchronic variation [ click for next slide ] definition:

synchronic variation [ click for answer ] term:

differences in language form found in different places at the same time, in contrast to diachronic variation [ click to exit ] definition: