Modern English Lexicology Borrowing as a Source of English Word-Stock 2010
Sources of English vocabulary How large is English vocabulary? What percentage of English words is native? What characteristics do native English words have? Why does English borrow words from other languages? What are major sources of borrowing? What are minor sources of borrowing?
The composite nature of English vocabulary “The most characteristics feature of English is usually said to be its heterogeneous [made up of different kinds] character.” (Ding 2004:30) The vocabulary of the language is seen as “a continually changing entity with new words and new uses of old words being added and old words falling into disuse.” (ibid.)
The size of English word-stock Question 1 : How large is English vocabulary? Answer : The size of English word-stock is roughly estimated to be over 750,000, if we combine both Webster’s Third New International (1961) and The Oxford English Dictionary (1989).
Question 2 : Why is it difficult for us to decide the vocabulary size? Answer : (1) words are continually growing and dying; (2) difficulties in deciding whether words of a different class, compound words, proper names, words of dialects are counted as separate entries.
The native words of the English language (1) Define ‘native words’. Native words are usually words of Anglo-Saxon origin. Words whose origin cannot be traced to any other language are also regarded as native words. (e.g. path ) How many Anglo-Saxon words are left in English? At least ¾ of English vocabulary is Anglo-Saxon (Matthews 1979: 93)
The native words of the English language (2) What characteristics do native English words have? (1) In structure , they are mostly monosyllabic words. (2) In meaning they express the fundamental concepts dealing with everyday objects and things . (3) In grammar they include most parts of speech . Refer to Table 3.1 and discuss characteristics of native English words.
The native words of the English language (3) Reading comprehension check: “ Native words are very important due to their marked stability, wide collocability , great derivational potential, wide spheres of application and high frequency value.” (Ding 2004: 32)
Borrowing : An overview (1) Definition of ‘borrowing ’: words of foreign origin that have found their way into English Why does English borrow words from other languages? (1) Influenced by the Roman civilization, Latin came as the language of learning and religion. (2) As the language of the conquerors, Old Norse ( 古斯堪的那维亚语 ) merged with the native language. (3) As the language of the conquerors, French became the language of upper classes, of official documents and school instructions (11 th -14 th ). (4) A large proportion of borrowings (41%) is scientific and technical terms. …
Borrowing : An overview (2) How can we identify the source of borrowing? With the help of some peculiarities in pronunciation, spelling, morphological and semantic structures. Note : G. =German; Gr. = Greek; Fr. =French; L. =Latin; It. =Italian; Ofr. =Old French; Jap. =Japanese; Chin =Chinese Hindi 印地语
Borrowing : An overview (3) Pronunciation & spelling : waltz (G.), psychology (Gr.), souffl é (Fr.), v olcano (It.), v ase (Fr.), v accine (L.), jungle (Hindi), g esture (L.) g iant (Ofr.), z eal (L.), z ero (Fr.) z inc 锌 (G.) morphological structures: neuro sis 神经症 (Gr.), violon cello 大提琴 (It.); papyr a 纸莎草 (Gr.), beau x (Fr.), bacteri a (L.) semantic structures: rickshaw 东洋车 (Jap), pagoda 宝塔 (Chin.)
Major sources of borrowing How many languages have been sources of modern English vocabulary? Over 120 languages. Latin Scandinavian French Greek
Latin borrowings (1) Who used Latin? What language family does it belong to? What is it used for? Latin is the language of ancient Rome and its empire. Latin is a member of the Italic branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Latin is still used for scientific names in biology and astronomy.
Latin borrowings (2) How did Latin influence the English vocabulary? Five major Latin influences on English
Borrowings Periods zero period the early contact between the Romans and the Germanic tribes words of commerce, domestic life and foods wine, fishmonger, pillow, line, butter 1st period words from the British Celts -cester 2 nd period (597-1066) since the introduction of Christianity into Britain church-related words church, bishop, altar, angel, temple 3 rd period (1066-1500) the Norman conquest words of upper class allegory, contempt, interrupt, legal, suppress, 4 th period (1500-1800) the Renaissance abstract and scientific words; abbreviations allusion, vacuum, emancipate; e.g., i.e., etc.
Scandinavian influences What language family (branch) does Scandinavian belong to? North Germanic branch, Indo-European language family , comprising Danish , Norwegian , Swedish , Icelandic and Faroese . The Vikings were men who sailed from Scandinavia and attacked villages in most parts of north-western Europe from the 8th to the 11th centuries.
How did Scandinavian influence the English vocabulary? Scandinavian place names: endings –by, -thorpe, -thwaite, -toft (see Table 3.2, p.36) Scandinavian borrowings of colloquial language, covering a variety of word classes. (see Table 3.3) words beginning with sc-/sk- ( scathe 损伤 , scorch 烧焦 , score 分数 , scowl 怒视 , scrape 刮 , scrub 刷;矮树丛 , skill, skin, skirt, sky ) (See Table 3.4)
French loan words (1) Historical background: the occupation of England by William, Duke of Normandy in 1066. How did Norman Conquest (1066) influence the English vocabulary? Around 10,000 French words came into the English vocabulary , words largely connected with the mechanisms of administration, religion and law.
French loan words (2) French loan words also included such fields as fashion, food & drink, learning & art, and many other general terms. (See Table 3.5 for examples) French loan words in Modern English reflect French dominance in the fields of fashion, lifestyle, arts and sciences ( gown, luxury, romance, tragedy, engineer, physician ).
Greek adoptions What language family (branch) does Greek belong to? the sole member of the Hellenic branch ( 希腊语支 ) of the Indo-European language family . Historical background: the Renaissance (1300-1650), when there was a new upsurge of learning ancient Greek and Roman classics. How did Greek influence the English vocabulary?
How did Greek influence the English vocabulary? Some Greek words came in through Latin or French, while others through Greek directly. (See Table 3.6 for examples)
Minor sources of borrowing (1) What are the minor sources of borrowing? Afrikaans 南非荷兰语 American Indian Language 美洲印第安语 Australian Languages 澳大利亚语 Chinese 汉语 Czech ([tʃek] 捷克语 ) Dutch 荷兰语 Eskimo 爱斯基摩语 Finnish 芬兰语 Gaelic( 爱尔兰,苏格兰 ) 盖尔语 , German 德语 , Hebrew 希伯来语 , Hindi 北印度语 , Hungarian 匈牙利语 , Italian 意大利语 , Japanese 日语 , Nahuatl( 墨西哥 ) 纳瓦语 , Norwegian 挪威语 , Persian 波斯语 , Portuguese 葡萄牙语 , Russian 俄语 , Sanskrit 梵语 , Spanish 西班牙语 , Swedish 瑞典语 , Tonga( 南太平洋 ) 汤加语 . Refer to Table 3.7.
Minor sources of borrowing (1) Why does English borrow words from these languages? Not for the reasons of invasion and conquest, but for the reason of cultural interchange .
The Indo-European Language family Definition : the family of languages spoken originally in Europe and parts of southern Asia. Family members : Indo-Iranian group : Persian, Sanskrit… Armenian : Armenian Slavic : Russian, Polish Hellenic : Greek Italic : Latin, Romance languages(French , Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian) Celtic : Gaelic, Welsh, Breton Albanian : Albanian Germanic : English, German, Dutch, Yiddish, the Scandinavian languages
Mini-research 14: H1N1 virus related words What do you know about Influenza A (H1N1) virus? Introduce to the class words related to it. For Group 3. Please present it orally to the class this Sunday. A PPT file is preferred.