Last modified 9 April 2009
Answer the questions below in a Word file and upload it to the Assignments Module in the class Owlspace site by the morning before class on Thursday April 16. (the grace period goes to 1 p.m.)
As with the last exam: this one is open book, notes, video, and written sources in general, but you need to work alone. So no discussion of the exam with either classmates or people not taking the class is allowed. (You can ask instructor if there are any unclarities in the questions.) Suggested time about 2 hours.
Again repeated from last exam: If you discover information that conflicts with that given in the textbook, the textbook takes priority (unless specifically corrected in the class). If you use such conflicting information in your exam, point out that it conflicts with the book and give a reference to where you found the conflicting information outside the textbook (e.g. specific book, website, etc. )
You should be aware by now that some websites are more authoritative than others. In particular, word origins found on the web are often just wrong. Consult the Oxford English dictionary for the most authoritative etymological information.
Total Points: 100
Part I. Loanwords (20 points)
1. Look up the the following loanwords in an authoritative source. What period of English did each arrive, and what is the date of earliest example(s) in English? What is the etymology of each word? Be sure to include source language(s), and earliest meaning if available. What cultural/social event in history brought these words into English? (one sentence is sufficient for the last question.) (15 Points)
a. vanilla (5)
b. alligator (5)
c. avocado (5)
2. Find a loanword from Dutch that entered English sometime in the 16th, 17th, or 18th centuries. When did your word enter the language and what is its etymology? What semantic domain does the word come from (i.e. food, military, etc.) and how does this illustrate the cultural influence of Holland on England? (one or two sentences is sufficient for last question.) (5)
Part II. Processes in the History of English (20)
3. Give an example of grammaticalization. Describe the change including the changes in both form and meaning that occurred. (One paragraph) (5)
4. Give an example of reanalysis that occurred in the history of an English word (native or borrowed). Describe the reanalysis, including both the original analysis and the new analysis of the morpheme in the word. (The description can be brief, a sentence or two will suffice.) (5)
5. Give an example of a suffix that entered English via loanwords. It should be a productive suffix, that is, one that can be used to form new words. Say what language it came from and give examples of words it can occur in. In which period did the suffix enter English? (5)
6. Give an example of a word that underwent metaphorical extension in English. Include the old meaning and the new and explain why you consider the change an example of metaphorical change. (A few sentences to one paragraph.) (5)
Part III. People. Match the people with their descriptions. (12)
7. Samuel Pepys
8. Kit Marlowe
9. Noah Webster
10. Samuel Johnson
11. Jonathan Swift
12. Oscar Wilde
13. Charles Dickens
14. Emily Brontë
15. Alexander Pope
16. James Murray
17. John Cheke
18. George Bernard Shaw
a. Early 18th century poet who wrote the mock epic poem "The Rape of the Lock".
b. Contemporary of Shakespeare and author of the play Tamburlaine. Possibly a government spy; apparently died in a barroom brawl.
c. Kept a journal of his daily life in London in the 1660s. Liked to fondle his servingwomen.
d. Wrote the first English dictionary to contain quotations from actual writers to exemplify usage.
e. Primary editor of the Oxford English Dictionary. Put out a public call for quotations to illustrate word usage (and was supplied, unwittingly, by a murderer).
f. Anglo-Irish satirical writer who believed in maintaining grammatical purity of English; wanted to fix the rules of the language.
g. Thought English should be kept "cleane and pure, unmixt and unmangeled with borrowing of other tunges".
h. Wrote famous Romantic novel set on the Yorkshire moors.
i. Novelist and social critic whose work gives us a vivid picture of 19th century London life.
j. Wrote a dictionary with mild spelling reforms aimed at visually differentiating British and American English.
k. Anglo-Irish playwright and society wit sent to prison for sodomy.
l. Anglo-Irish playwright and social critic who left his fortune including future royalties to a society for reforming English spelling.
Part IV. World Englishes (10)
19. State two grammatical features found in one or more variety of English outside Britain and the U.S. (i.e. World English varieties). Grammatical features are features of morphology or syntax. Your features do not have to be found in the same variety, but specify what variet(ies) each feature is found in and give an example. (Answer can be a few sentences to a paragraph.)
Part V. Texts.
20. Comment on the features of the language of the King James Bible as illustrated in the passage below. Include remarks on morphology (prefixes/suffixes, verbal endings, pronouns) and syntax, as compared with Modern English. (Spelling has been largely modernized so you can omit reference to it.) Make observations also on vocabulary (loanwords and their sources): is the number of loanwards in this text typical for Early Modern English? (18)
King James Bible (King James Version), 1611
Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. (Genesis 3)
21. Observe the passage below from Dr. Johnson's Preface to his dictionary (1755), and comment on its linguistic features (spelling, morphology, syntax, style, vocabulary) in comparison with earlier and/or later English. (18)
Such defects are not errours in orthography, but spots of barbarity impressed so deep in the English language, that criticism can never wash them away; these, therefore, must be permitted to remain untouched: but many words have likewise been altered by accident, or depraved by ignorance, as the pronunciation of the vulgar has been weakly followed; and some still continue to be variously written, as authours differ in their care or skill: of these it was proper to enquire the true orthography, which I have always considered as depending on their derivation, and have therefore referred them to their original languages: thus I write enchant, enchantment, enchanter, after the French, and incantation after the Latin; thus entire is chosen rather than intire, because it passed to us not from the Latin integer, but from the French entier.
--Dr. Samuel Johnson, Preface to A Dictionary of the English Language, London, 1755.
Part VI. Survey
(2 points for answering. Specific answers are
obviously not graded however. As in the last exam, don't worry about
how long it took you; we are just trying to determine averages.)
22a. How long approximately did it take you to do this exam?
22b. How many sittings? (i.e. how many times did you go back to it after leaving your computer for more than 5 minutes?)
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© 2009 Suzanne Kemmer
Last modified 9 April 2009