Paper 3 Question A

       The first text, entitled Advice to a Young Man upon First Going to Oxford: In Ten Letters, From an Uncle to His Nephew, is a letter excerpt from 1832 written by Edward Berens. Even within the age of Late Modern English, changes across the English language are still afoot. Words and phrases go through constant changes based on new purposes such as the development of new technology, new trends, or different functions. Linguist Michael Halliday developed the functional theory, which bases language change on society’s social and economic changes. In relation to Text A, as society has created more commonly used words such as “fool,” the use of the word “coxcomb” has become obsolete. This means the word has fallen to archaism and is no longer used in everyday language.

In Text A, the author mentions a “mixed party” which during the time that the letter was written, referred to company or guests. Over time, the meaning of the word “party” has broadened to also signify a celebration, a gathering of people, or a formal political group. From the social gathering, a neologism - the verb “party” - has been created which deals with having a fun time. The simplistic semantics of this word has evolved and expanded within the past two centuries.

Text B, a collocate chart from the British National Corpus, stated words that are most often associated with “taste.” Based on the use of the adjectives “good” in both Text A and Text B, and “bad,” or “personal” from Text B, “taste” serves the purpose of describing style. This has broadened from being solely connected with our senses and describing flavors such as sweet, salty, or sour.

Moreover, both Text A and Text B use the word “judgment” in the context of a decision. During the nineteenth century, “judgment” was typically associated with courts, where judges work, and people of higher authority with the power to make these executive decisions. The word was derived from Old French where “juger,” meaning to judge, and “-ment,” which is a suffix indicating a result, were combined. However, language has broadened slightly to also consider a “judgment” as an opinion, which is not always accurate. Nowadays, “judgment” has gone through pejoration, developing a negative connotation because people tend to dislike being judged.

The final text is an n-gram graph that displays the frequency of phrases similar to “apt to be” from Text A. Text C illustrates the popularity change that this phrase endured due to the reduced formality in letters over the years. Text A was very formally written, which was normal for that time period. In Present Day English, more conversation-like pieces are written informally and use casual language. The context where “apt to be” was used in Text A makes the phrase mean “destined” or “predisposed.” The frequency here is very high and the situation is assumed to be the case. In comparison to “likely” and “tend,” there is a difference in frequency. “Tend to be” means that the condition has high chances of occurring. “ Likely to be” provides the reader with an even deeper sense of certainty. The phrase “tend to be” is now more commonly used because it establishes a middle ground between possibilities and promises. 

The slight alteration seen here can cause an entire semantic change. In Text A, “apt” seemed to have a negative and assumptious intent. In Present Day English, “apt” is usually linked with having an aptitude, or a natural ability. Having a natural ability to do something is looked at positively. Therefore, an amelioration from a negative connotation to a positive connotation has taken place.