Chapter 2 The development of the English Vocabulary

1、 Chapter 2 The Development of the English Vocabulary1 The Indo-European Language Family2 Three Phases of the Historical Development3 General Characteristics4 Foreign Elements in the English Vocabulary5 Growth of Comtemporary English Vocabulary1 The Indo-European Language Familyl1 3000 languages in t

2、he world are divided into 300 language families on the basis of similarities in their basic word stock and grammar. lThe Indo-European is made up of most languages of Europe, the Near East, and India. lOver long periods of complete isolation from each other, these dialects of a single language chang

3、ed so much that they became separate languages. lThe Indo-European language mainly includes the following different language groups:1. Indo-Iranian group: It gradually developed into the modern language- Persian, Hindi.2. Armenian: Armenian.3. Balto-Slavic: Russian Polish4. Hellenic: Greek.5.Italic:

4、 French, Italian, Spanish, Portugese;6. Celtic: Scotish, Irish;7. Albanian: It gradually developed into the modern language Albanian8.Germanic: English, German, Dutch,.2 Three Phases of the Historical developmentlThe development of a language (including words) has a close relationship with the histo

5、ry of a nation.lThe earliest natives on British isles are Celts, or Briton. About 55 B.C Celts were driven into mountains of Welsh and Scotland by the Romans, headed by Julius Caesar. Until 410 A.D the Romans control of the British isles was over.lAfter the Romans, the Germanic tribes from the north

6、 of Germany invaded and took control of the isles in the 5th century. They were Angles, Saxons and Jutes. lThe English language is the language used by Angle-Saxons. People studying history of language classify the development of English into three phases: Old English, Middle English and Modern Engl

7、ish.2.1. Old English (450-1150)lOld English (also the Angle-Saxon)lThe Germanic speakers took permanent control of the land that was later called England. Their language, historically known as Anglo-Saxon, dominated and almost totally blotted out the Celtic.l Many dialects existed in that period, bu

8、t there were three ones: the Anglican dialects in the north; Northumbrian and Mercian, the Saxon dialects in the greater part of the South,lAnd the most important of which was the dialect of Wessex ( West-Saxon) and the Kentish dialect. lThough the Saxons were numerical superior to the Angles, the l

9、atter were influential enough to impose their name on the whole. That is why the country was called England, and the language English.lFeatures of Old English (50000-60000 words):l1) monogeneous vocabulary with only a few borrowings from Latin and Scandinavian. lLatin words are borrowed because of C

10、hristianity in the 6th century;lThe Scandinavian words entered the English language with the invasion by Norwegian and Danish vikings in the 9th century. l2) highly inflected. lFull endingslNouns, pronouns, adjectives verbs and adverbs had complex systems of endings or vowel changes or both, which d

11、iffer greatly from the language that we use today.2.2 Middle English ( 1150-1500)lIn the 11th century, Normans invaded England from France.lNorman Conquest in 1066 started a continual flow of French words into English.lAfter the Norman Conquest, the Normans held all important positions in the church

12、 and government. Therefore those in power spoken French. lThe English were relegated to the status of an inferior people, Norman French became the polite speech.l By the end of the 13th century, English gradually came back into schools, the law courts, and the government and regained social status.l

13、 It made the final step back to a position of importance when it emerged once again as a respected literary medium with the Wycliff translation of the Bible and the writings of Chaucerand others.lFeatures of Middle English: lleveled inflections. lEndings of nouns and adjectives marking distinction o

14、f number, case and often of gender lost their distinctive forms. The same is true of the verb. 2.3. Modern English (1500 up to the presentlModern English began with the establishment of printing in England (in 1500). lConsidering the changes in vocabulary, it is necessary to subdivide it into Early

15、(1500-1700) and Late (1700-up to now) Modern English.lIn the early period of Modern English, Latin and Greek were recognized as the languages of the Western worlds great literary heritage and of great scholarship. But translators were rapidly making great literary works available in English.l From 1

16、500s through 1700s, many writers experimented with words. Over 10,000 new words entered the English. Many of these were taken from Latin and Greek by scholars who wanted to replace the forms earlier adopted from French.lSince the mid-17th century, England experienced the Bourgeois Revolution followe

17、d by the Industrial Revolution and rose to be a great economic power. With the growth of colonization, British tentacles began stretching out to every corner of the globe, thus enabling English to absorb words from all major languages of the world.l lSince the beginning of the 20th century, particul

18、arly after WWII, the world has seen breathtaking advances in science and technology. lAs a result, thousands and thousands of new words have been created to express new ideas, inventions, and scientific achievements.l. Now new words are multiplied in all walks of life: politics, economy, commerce, c

19、ulture, entertainment, education, sports, transportation, mass media, etc.Features of Modern English: Lost endings; ( word endings were mostly lost with just a few exceptions. )It can be concluded that English has evolved from a synthetic language to analytic language. Compare the following examples

20、:Old Middle ModernlLeorn-ian lern-en learnlMon-a mone-e moonlStan-as ston-es stoneslSun-ne sun-ne sun 3. General CharacteristicslThe world-wide appeal of English is due to the qualities and characteristics inherent in itself. lThe more obvious and striking features are summed up by Wrenn in his book

21、, The English Language.l1) receptivity, adaptability and heterogeneity l2) simplicity of inflectionl3) relatively fixed word-order4. Foreign Elements in the English VocabularylEnglish vocabulary owes most of its words to foreign languages, which came to settle in English through borrowing. lFor conv

22、enience, we shall call Borrowed words “foreign elements.l lFour major contributors: Latin, Greek, French, and Scandinavian, which have exercised great influence on the English vocabulary.l Other languages have also done their part in the development of modern English vocabulary. l(The Scandinavian l

23、anguage: Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, and Icelandic)5 Growth of Comtemporary English Vocabulary1 Rapid growth of science and technology2 Social, economic and political changes3 The influence of other cultures and languages6 Modes of Vocabulary DevelopmentlThree channels:l1 Creation lThe formation of

24、new words by using the existing materials;lThis is the most important way of vocabulary expension.l2 Semantic ChangelAn old form takes on a new meaning;lEg, mouse, break dancel3 BorrowinglIt is important, especially in the earlier stage.HomeworklI. fill in the blanks according to the text.lThe langu

25、age used between 450 and _ is called_, which has a vocabulary of _. Middle English refers to the language spoken from 1150 to _, followed by the _ period, subdivided as early modern English( ) and late ( )(1700-up to now.lII. Decide whether the statements are true or false.l1. English is more closel

26、y related to German than French.l2. Scandinavian languages refer to Icelandic, Norwegian, Danish and Swedish.l3. Old English was a highly inflected language.l4. In early Middle English period, English, Latin, and Celtic existed side by side.l5. The introduction of printing into England marked the be

27、ginning of modern English period.l6. Modern English is considered to be an analytic language.l7. The four major foreign contributors to English vocabulary in earlier times are Latin, French, Scandinavian and Italian.l8. In modern times, borrowing brings less than ten percent of modern English vocabu

28、lary.l9. the major factors that promote the growth of modern English vocabulary are advances in science and technology as well as influence of foreign cultures and languages.l10.The most important mode of vocabulary development in present-day English is creation of new words by means of word formation.l11 Old English vocabulary was in essence Germani with a small quantity of words borrowed from Lantin and Scandinavian.l12 Middle English absorved a tremendours number of foreign words but with little change i