n-gram graphs representing changes in language use over time

Introduction: Tracking the Life of Words

Have you ever wondered why we don't say "hither" or "thou" anymore, but everyone suddenly knows what a "podcast" is? Language is constantly moving, breathing, and changing. In your English Language (9093) course, you need to understand how and why these changes happen. One of the coolest tools we use to see this in action is the n-gram graph. Don't let the name scare you—it’s just a way of turning the history of words into a picture!

In these notes, we will break down what these graphs are, how to read them, and how they help you analyze the context and vocabulary of the texts you’ll encounter in your exams.

What exactly is an "n-gram"?

Before we look at a graph, we need to know what we are counting. An n-gram is simply a sequence of items (usually words) from a large body of text. The "n" stands for a number.

• 1-gram (unigram): A single word. Example: "Telephone".
• 2-gram (bigram): A two-word phrase. Example: "Mobile phone".
• 3-gram (trigram): A three-word phrase. Example: "Smart mobile phone".

Quick Review: Think of an n-gram as a "word chain." The number tells you how many links are in the chain.

Understanding the Graph

An n-gram graph (like the Google Ngram Viewer) shows how often specific words or phrases have appeared in books over a long period of time. When you see one in an exam, here is how to read it:

The Horizontal Axis (X-axis): This represents Time (usually years or decades). It tells you when the data was collected.
The Vertical Axis (Y-axis): This represents Frequency. It tells you how popular the word was. Usually, this is shown as a percentage like \( 0.0001\% \). This shows how many times that word appeared for every million words written that year.

Analogy: Imagine the graph is a "popularity contest" for words. If the line goes up, the word is winning! If it goes down, the word is "losing" and being forgotten.

Why do the lines move? (Analyzing Change)

This is the most important part for your Paper 1 and Paper 2 analysis. You aren't just looking at lines; you are looking at history. When you see a change on an n-gram graph, ask yourself "Why?"

1. Upward Trends (Rising Popularity)

When a line climbs, it often signals a social or technological change. For example, the n-gram for "internet" stayed at zero for centuries and then shot up vertically around 1990.
• New Inventions: Words like "automobile" or "computer" appear when the technology is born.
• Social Shifts: The phrase "women's rights" shows a massive spike during the 20th century as society changed its focus.

2. Downward Trends (Falling Popularity)

When a line drops, a word is becoming archaic (old-fashioned) or obsolete (no longer used).
• Replacement: Often, one word "dies" because a newer word takes its place. You might see the line for "wireless" go down while the line for "radio" goes up.
• Loss of Relevance: Words like "apothecary" dropped because we started using the word "pharmacist" or "chemist" instead.

3. Spikes and Dips

Sometimes you will see a sudden "mountain" in the graph that disappears quickly. This is often linked to a specific historical event. For example, the word "rationing" spikes during World War I and World War II but is very low at other times.

Key Takeaway: Every line on an n-gram graph tells a story about the context of the world at that time. If the line moves, something in the world changed!

Connecting to the Syllabus: Linguistic Elements

Your syllabus asks you to demonstrate knowledge of linguistic elements like vocabulary and word classes. Here is how n-grams help:

• Lexis (Vocabulary): N-grams are the ultimate proof of how our lexis evolves. You can use them to discuss how informal language (slang) becomes more common in written texts over time.
• Morphology: You can see how word endings change. For example, comparing "learnt" vs. "learned" shows how American English spelling has influenced British English over time.
• Pragmatics: Sometimes a word doesn't disappear, but its meaning changes. While an n-gram can't always show meaning, it can show how a word like "gay" shifted in frequency as its primary usage changed from "happy" to a specific social identity.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Mistake 1: Confusing "Percentage" with "Total Number."
Don't worry if the numbers on the Y-axis are tiny (like \( 0.000005\% \)). There are millions of words in the English language! What matters is the direction of the line, not the specific small number.

Mistake 2: Ignoring the Context.
If you see a word spike in 1860, don't just say "it became popular." Use your history knowledge! Mention that this might be related to the American Civil War or the Industrial Revolution. Context is key for top marks.

Mistake 3: Thinking a "Flat Line" means a word isn't used.
A flat line just means the popularity stayed the same. It’s called stability. Words like "the," "and," and "of" have very flat, high lines because we always need them!

Quick Review Box

Did you know? The collection of texts used to make these graphs is called a corpus. It’s like a giant digital library that a computer "reads" to find the data.

Memory Trick: Think of N-grams as "Now-grams" vs "Then-grams." They compare what we say now to what they said then.

Summary of Steps for Analysis:

1. Identify the n-grams (the words or phrases being compared).
2. Look at the time period on the bottom axis.
3. Describe the trend (Is it rising, falling, or stable?).
4. Explain the why (Relate it to historical, social, or technological factors).
5. Connect it to linguistic terms (lexis, archaisms, neologisms).

Don't worry if this seems tricky at first! Once you start seeing words as "living things" that grow and shrink in popularity, reading these graphs becomes like reading a map of human history.