Language Change and Issues

1. ‘Perjoration’ is a process by which b) words increasingly acquire negative meanings
    
2. ‘Ethnic cleansing’, ‘collateral damage’ and ‘nuclear deterrent’ are examples of: c) euphemism
    
3. ‘Dialect levelling’ is: a) a decrease in dialect differences (HSBC they predicted less differences between dialect)
    
4. ‘Prescriptivism’ is: a) the study of language with the intention of controlling it – by dictating rules of usage
    
5. 1755 is significant for the development of the English Language because: b) Samuel Johnson published his dictionary
    
6. ‘Jargon’ is: a) technical language or highly-specific vocabulary
    
7. ‘Amelioration’ is a process by which: c) words become more socially accepted or prestigious
    
8. Which one of the following processes could the word ‘cupboard’ not be used as an example of: b) borrowing
    
9. The ‘etymological fallacy’ is: a) the mistaken belief that the earliest historical meaning of a word is its only true meaning  
    
10. Time was once pronounced more like team, see like say, now like noo and so like saw; and are all examples of the phonological differences brought about by: c) the Great Vowel Shift
     
11. ‘Fax’, ‘flu’, ‘celeb’, ‘bike’, ‘gym’ and ‘memo’ are all examples of: d) abbreviations or shortening
     
12. The use, in the USA, of phrases such as ‘I guess’(for ‘I think’) and ‘gotten’ are example of: b) Americans retaining an earlier English form after its use has largely died out in Britain
     
13. ‘Biadilectalism’ is a term used, by David Crystal and others, to describe: a) the ability to use two dialects of the same language
     
14. ‘Government’, ‘peasant’, ‘crime’, ‘justice’, ‘fashion’, ‘biscuit’ and ‘leisure’ are words loaned from: c) French
     
15. The prescriptive ‘Short Introduction to English Grammar’ (1762) was written by: a) Bishop Robert Lowth
     
16. The printing press was introduced into England by: c) William Caxton in 1476
     
17. ‘Accommodation theory’ was developed by Howard Giles to suggest: b) we adjust our accent/speech in response to the person we are addressing
     
18. The words ‘children’, ‘oxen’ and ‘men’ are among a handful of now irregular plurals that are a hangover from a time when English had a greater number of: a) inflections
     
19. What is Jonathon Green describing as ‘the counter language… the language of the rebel, the outlaw, the despised, the marginal, the young’? b) slang
     
20. ‘The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis’ put forward the theory that: b) language controls or determines the way we think