- Old English-5th Century
- Middle English-11th Century
- Early Modern English-15th Century
- Modern English-18th Century
- Present Day English-20th Century
Lexical Change:
Links to the creation and disappearance of words in language.
Lexical change is frequent and noticeable
Neologism-New words i.e. selfie and unfriend
Borrowing-Where a language 'borrows' a word from another language i.e. yoghurt(Turkish) Ukulele(Hawaiian)
Compounding-Combining two words to create one new word i.e. smartphone and stir-fry
Clipping-Shortening a word i.e. omnibus>bus and perambulator>pram
Blending-Similar to compounding however words are combined to make a new word i.e. motor+pedal=moped and spoon+fork=spork
Acronyms-Takes the first letter of a series of word to make one word i.e. NATO and AIDS
Initialisms-Similar to acronyms however pronounced as separate letters i.e. BBC and OMG
Descriptivist-Someone who welcomes language change and is not opposed to it i.e.David Crystal
Prescriptivist-Someone who doesn't welcome language change and is opposed to it i.e. John Humphries.
Do not confuse lexical change for semantical change as lexical change is a new form of language whereas semantical change is where words take on new and different meanings.
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