Midterm Exam Study Questions
Use McMahon, Crowley, class discussions, your own experiences, your own creativity, your own examples, and your outside reading to study the following:
1. Describe the "Great English Canine Shift" in detail and explain its significance in terms of lexico-semantic change.
2. Use the word "sister" to exemplify polysemy in terms of central, peripheral, metaphorical, and extended meanings.
3. Discuss and exemplify the role of homeostasis (structural pressure or structural equilibrium) in language change and comparative historical linguistics.
4. Give a brief outline of significant dates, events, influences, and language contact in the history of the English language.
5. Explain and exemplify the four categories of contiguity and similarity in sense and form (Ullmann). McMahon
6. Explain and exemplify the linguistic approaches of the Neogrammarians, Structuralists, and early Generativists as they relate to language change.
7. Explain the significance of automorphism as subtype of iconicity (McMahon).
8. Explain the role of analogy in historical linguistics and language change.
9. Explain the importance of writing in historical linguistics. Why is it important that Sanskrit, Latin, and Greek were written languages? Would we have been able to make the same advances in philology if they were not?
10. Explain five of the following terms and give an example of each: lenition, rhotacism, cluster reduction, apocope, syncope, haplology, metathesis, epenthesis, prothesis, assimilation, dissimilation.
11. Use the spelling of the following words to explain sound changes that have occurred in the history of English: lamb, sing, night, rough, stone, mate, tune, Christmas.
12. What is the comparative method?
13. Discuss the major sub-groups of the Indo-European family of languages.
14. Discuss the difference between genetic relationships and cultural contact in languages.
15.Explain the factor responsible for the following unpredictable changes from Standard English in Papua New Guinea English:
hibiscushibiscuit
lingua francalingo franco
surnamesir name
16.In the past there have been theories that the Polynesians originated in South America or from the islands off the coast of British Columbia. Why do many scholars disregard such theories? What do you think?
17.What is the relationship between language change and dance?
Define and exemplify the following terms:
back formation
synonym
homonym
eponym
periphrastic constructions
linguistic substrate (McMahon 220 ff.)
inkhornism
calque
extension
restriction
pejoration
amelioration
euphemism
boojum
conversion (functional shift/category shift)
grammaticalization
syntagmatic vs. paradigmatic
diachronic vs. synchronic
Exercises in TC:
#4 p.36.
#4 p.60.
#5 p.60.
#1 p.73.
#1 p.114.
#16 p.120.
#1 p.129.
#6 p.161.
Midterm Exam Sample
Part I. Choose 10 questions (10 points)
1. Describe the "Great English Canine Shift" in detail and explain its significance in terms of lexico-semantic change.
2. Discuss and exemplify the role of homeostasis (structural pressure or structural equilibrium) in language change and comparative historical linguistics.
3. Give a brief outline of significant dates, events, influences, and language contact in the history of the English language.
4. Explain and exemplify the four categories of contiguity and similarity in sense and form (Ullmann). McMahon
5. Explain the significance of automorphism as subtype of iconicity (McMahon).
6. Explain the role of analogy in historical linguistics and language change.
7. Explain five of the following terms and give an example of each: lenition, rhotacism, cluster reduction, apocope, syncope, haplology, metathesis, epenthesis, prothesis, assimilation, dissimilation.
8. What is the comparative method?
9. Discuss the major sub-groups of the Indo-European family of languages.
10. Explain the factor responsible for the following unpredictable changes from Standard English in Papua New Guinea English:
hibiscushibiscuit
lingua francalingo franco
11.What is the relationship between language change and dance?
12. What is the comparative method?
Part II. Define and exemplify 5 of the following terms:
1. back formation
2. homonym
3. restriction
4. linguistic substrate
5. calque
6. conversion (functional shift/category shift)
7. amelioration
8. boojum
Part III. Exercise in TC. Choose one.
#1 p.114.
OR
#1 p.129.
Final Exam Study Questions
Use McMahon, Crowley, class discussions, your own experiences, your own creativity, your own examples, and your outside reading to study the following:
1. Use the word "sister" to exemplify polysemy in terms of central, peripheral, metaphorical, and extended meanings.
2. Explain the importance of writing in historical linguistics and thus in modern linguistics. Why is it important that Sanskrit, Latin, and Greek were written languages? Would we have been able to make the same advances in philology if they were not?
3. Use the spelling of the following words to explain sound changes that have occurred in the history of English: lamb, sing, night, rough, stone, mate, tune, Christmas.
4. In the past there have been theories that the Polynesians originated in South America or from the islands off the coast of British Columbia. Why do many scholars disregard such theories? What do you think?
5. Ralph Waldo Emerson said that "every word was once a poem." Write a poem or a rich prose paragraph using the Indo-European roots and meanings of words to make connections and lexical music.
6. Discuss the role of religion in the history of human language and literacy.
Define and exemplify the following terms:
synonym
eponym
periphrastic constructions
inkhornism
extension
pejoration
euphemism
grammaticalization
syntagmatic vs. paradigmatic
diachronic vs. synchronic
Exercises in TC:
#4 p.36.
#4 p.60.
#5 p.60.
#1 p.73.
#16 p.120.
#6 p.161.
Be prepared to give short answers to questions about the presentations of your class colleagues.
Final Exam Sample
Use McMahon, class discussions, your own experiences, your own creativity, your own examples, and your outside reading to answer five of the following questions in depth, one from each category below (about twenty minutes each). I will evaluate your exam with four criteria: Content, Organization, Expression, and Creativity. Please remember examples, accuracy, support, cohesion, original thinking, and so forth as you present your answers.
Part I. Choose one.
A. Describe the "Great English Canine Shift" in detail and explain its significance in terms of lexico-semantic change.
B. Use the word "brother" to exemplify polysemy in terms of central, peripheral, metaphorical, and extended meanings.
Part II. Choose one.
A. Explain and exemplify the four categories of contiguity and similarity in sense and form.
B. Use definitions, models, and examples to illustrate homonymy, homography, synonymy, polysemy, and so forth.
Part III. Choose one.
A. Discuss and exemplify the role of homeostasis, or structural equilibrium, in language change and comparative historical linguistics.
B. Discuss why actuation is such a challenge in the field of historical linguistics.
Part IV. Choose one.
A. Write a poem or prose paragraph using the root meanings and derivations of three to five Indo-European roots.
B. Explain what language change has to do with McMahon's initial quotation on dancing.
Part V. Everybody choose this one.
Match the following English words with their cognate forms or synonyms from the German and French song lyrics I gave you. Then explain as much as you can about how these words were derived and how they relate to each other, using five specific examples:
1._____belovedA. pourpre
2._____yellowB. prière
3._____danceC. gelb
4._____daleD. Haus
5._____doublyE. rivage
6._____houseF. coeur
7._____purpleG. amour
8._____cupH. lieben
9._____heartI. Thal
10.____nightJ. Tanz, tanzen
11.____singingK. nuit
12.____shoreL. Père
13.____to bloomM. chantante
14.____voiceN. Blümelein
15.____FatherO. coupe
16.____prayerP. fleurisse
17.____truthQ. chère
18.____dearR. doppelt
19.____loveS. vèritè
20.____little flowersT. voix
Part VI. Extra Credit: Choose one or two.
A.Draw and label the family tree for Indo-European languages.
B.Discuss the significance of iconistic automorphism in language. Discuss the relationship between iconicity and analogy.
C.Define and exemplify grammaticalisation. Discuss the relation between grammaticalisation and iconicity.
D.Explain the role that stylistic choices, rhetorical figures, and poetic devices can play in language change.
E.Present Diebold's typology of lexico-semantic change with examples.
F.Give a brief outline of language contact in the history of the English language.
