1、1,Chapter 3The development of the English Vocabulary,2,Contents of this chapter,3.1 Origins of the English people 3.2 The Indo-European language family 3.3 Three periods of the English vocabulary 3.4 Growth of the present day Englishvocabulary 3.5 Exercises,Stalin pointed out that vocabulary isthe b
2、uilding material of a language,4,Significance of its development,The study of the historical development of the English vocabulary should not be treated with isolation from the history and the growth of the English itself. Understanding the history may give us an insight into the nature of English,
3、an extremely rich and heterogeneous, a heavy borrower, full of synonyms, global language.,5,3.1 The English People and the English LanguageThe British people are a mixture of many different races, and all these races invaded Britain at various times from Europe.,6,7,8,9,3.2The Position and Character
4、 of the English Language in the Indo-European Family,The world has nearly 3,000 languages, which can be grouped into roughly 9 language families on the basis of similarities in their basic word stock and grammar. The Indo-European is made up of most of the languages of Europe, the near East, and Ind
5、ia.,10,English is classified as a Germanic language. To be more exact, English belongs to the Low West Germanic branch of the Indo-European family. The Germanic family consists of the four Northern European languages: Norwegian, Icelandic, Danish and Swedish, which are generally known as Scandinavia
6、n languages. Then there is German, Dutch, Flemish and English.,11,12,Armenian Albanian,13,14,15,16,Norwegian Icelandic Danish Swedish,17,3.3.Three periods of English vocabulary,1. Old English or Anglo-Saxon period (450-1100) 2. Middle English period (1100-1500) 3. Modern English period (1500 to date
7、) a. Early modern English period (1500- 1700) b. Late modern English period (1700 to date),18,The beginning of Old English, which had 50.000 to 60.000 words, is marked by the arrival of the Germanic tribes called Angles, Saxons, and Jutes. People generally refer to Anglo-Saxon as Old English. Old En
8、glish is a highly inflected language. In this period, many latin words and Scandinavian words came into the English language.,(OE) He cw. Solice sum man hfde twegen suna. 12 a cw se gingra to hys fder syle me mynne dl mynre hte. e me to gebyre. a dlde he hym hys hta. 13 a fter feawa dagum ealle hys
9、yng gegaderode se gingra sunu 7 ferde wrclice on feorlen ryce. 7 r forspylde hys hta lybbende on hys glsan.,20,Middle English period began with the Norman conquest. In this period, many words of French and Dutch origins were borrowed into English. Middle English was charaterized by its losses of man
10、y inflectional endings so that it was a language of levelled endings.,21,Modern English began with the establishment of printing in England. Because of the influence of the Renaissance Movement, many words of Latin and Greek origins, etc came into English. Also because of the fast development in sci
11、ence and technology, many new words were created. Though borrowing remained an important means of English vocabulary expansion, yet more words were created through word formation,22,Old English is highly inflected language. Words were full of endings. ME were leveled endings and modern English are l
12、ost endings.,23,During the Old English period, English language borrowed a considerable number of Latin words, especially after the introduction of Christianity into Britain in 597. e.g. bargain, cheap, inch, pound; cup, dish, wall, wine; abbot, altar, candle, disciple, hymn, martyr, nun, priest, po
13、pe, shrine, temple and a great many others. .,24,The transitional period from Old English to Modern English is know as Middle English (ME 1100-1500), which is characterized by the strong influence of French following the Norman Conquest in 1066.Since the French-speaking Normans were the ruling class
14、, French was used for all state affairs and for most social and cultural matters; but the masses continued to speak English.,25,The French loan words（借词）were found in every section of the vocabulary:e.g. law and governmental administration (judge, jury, justice; government, parliament, state); milit
15、ary affairs (conquer, sergeant, victory); religion (baptism, confess, divine, sermon); clothing (coat, dress, gown, robe); food (beef, mutton, pork, dinner); art (beauty, image, design); literature (chapter, poet, prose); science (medicine, remedy, surgeon), and so on.,26,The English language from 1
16、500 to the present is called Modern English. In the early stages of this period (including the years between 1500 and about 1700) the Renaissance brought great changes to vocabulary. In this period, the study of classics were stressed and the result was the wholesale borrowing from Latin. The Latin
17、loan words were mostly connected with science and abstract ideas.,27,e.g. chemist, function, scientific, vacuum; area, irony, theory, education, adapt, exist, appropriate, precise. The renewed study of Greek also led to the introduction of some Greek words directly into the English vocabulary. Greek
18、 borrowings were mostly literary, technical and scientific words. e.g. drama, comedy, tragedy, lexicon, criterion, botany, physics and so on.,28,From the 16th century onward, English borrowed words from an increasing number of languages, For example, French: attach, caf and so on; Italian (mainly in
19、 the fields of music, art and architecture): concert, duet, piano, soprano, solo, tenor; model, bust, studio; dome, balcony, piazza and so on; Spanish: armada, cargo, vanilla, cocoa and cigar; Portuguese: caste and pagoda; German: bismuth, cobalt, nickel and zinc; Dutch: dock, freight and keel; Russ
20、ian: vodka, troika, ruble and tsar;,29,Australian: boomerang, kangaroo and dingo; Arabic: sugar, sultan and alcohol; Indian: coolie, cashmere and khaki; Hebrew: schmozzo and schmalts; Chinese: tea, typhoon, yamen, Mao-jacket, Japanese: kimono and tycoon; African: gorilla and zebra. In fact English h
21、as adopted words from almost every known language in the course of its historical development.,Features of Old English:,Old English contained some 50 to 60 thousand words. Old English was a mixture of Anglo-Saxon, Old Norse (the Scandinavian language in its very early stage, as a result of the Scand
22、inavian conquest of England in the 9th century) and Latin. Old English was a highly inflected language. Nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs had complex endings or vowel changes marking distinction of number, case and of gender.,Features of Middle English,Middle English was characterized b
23、y the strong influence of French. It showed vast and significant changes in the vocabularythe loss of a large part of the Old English word-stock and the adoption of thousands of French words, e.g. government, state, robe, beauty, poet, chapter, beef, mutton, pork, dinner, bacon, fry, roast. Middle E
24、nglish retains much fewer inflections. Endings of verbs, nouns and adjectives marking distinction of number, case and of gender lost their distinctive forms.,32,3.4 Growth of the present day English vocabulary,After World War II, neologisms (new words or new meanings for established words) swept in
25、at any rate much faster than that of the pre-war period. The main reasons for the frequent appearance of neologisms are three: .,33,3.4.1. Marked progress of science and technology:Since the end of World War II, tremendous new advances in all fields of science and technology have given rise to the c
26、reation in the English language of tens of thousands of new words,34,The great majority of these are technical terms known only to the specialists, but a certain number of them have become familiar to the public and passed into general use. e.g. Words used in connection with the nuclear bomb: chain
27、reaction, radioactivity, fall-out; clean bomb, overkill, neutron bomb and medium-range ballistic missiles and so on. Words connected with the exploration of space: astronaut, countdown, capsule, launching pad, spacemen, space suit, space platform and space shuttle etc.,35,3.4.2. Socio-economic, poli
28、tical and cultural changes: (aspects that connect with the introduction of new words) e.g. New social habits and new living conditions: hire purchase, credit card, fringe benefit; chores, house sitter, house sitting, pressure cooker, microwave oven, instant noodle, supermarket etc. Drug addiction: u
29、pper (a stimulant drug), downer (a depressant drug) Some subculture: hippie, yuppie, gay, lesbian etc.,36,Womens Liberation Movement: Ms, chairperson, spokeswomen, saleswoman, feminism, malechauvinism, and sexism. Changes in education: open classroom “an informal flexible system of elementary educat
30、ion in which open discussions and individualized activities replace the traditional subject-centered studies”, Open University etc.,37,3.4.3.The influence of other cultures and languages: Examining the English vocabulary in its historical perspective, one can see that English is characterized by a m
31、arked tendency to go outside her own linguistic resources and borrow from other languages. Although this borrowing has slowed down, it is still an important factor in vocabulary development,38,.e.g. discotheque from French, sputnik from Russian, mao tai from Chinese and so on.The development of scie
32、nce, the rapid changes in society, the receptive and flexible nature of English with regard to the influence of other cultures and languages-all these have resulted in a dramatic increase in vocabulary.,39,3.5 Exercises,1. The Indo-European language family consists of_. A. all the languages in Europ
33、e and India B. all the languages in India and some languages in Europe. C. most of the languages of Europe, the Near East, and India. D. Some of the languages of Europe and all the languages of the Near East,40,2. The Eastern set of Indo-European language family includes such languages as _. A. Poli
34、sh, Welsh and Hindi B. English, French and Russian C. German, Persian and Irish D. Armenian, Albanian and Bulgarian,41,3. The Germanic family consists of the four European languages: _. A. Slovenian, Czech, Romany and Italic B. Norwegian, Icelandic, Danish and Swedish C. Scottish, Irish, Welsh and B
35、reton D. Portuguese, Italian, English and German,42,4. _ only made a small contribution to the English vocabulary. A. Latin B. Celtic C. Danish D. Spanish,43,5. The first peoples known to inhabit what is now England are _. A. Anglo-Saxons B. French speaking Normans C. Celts D. Jutes,44,6. The most i
36、mportant mode of vocabulary development in present-day English is the creation of new words by means of _. A. translation-loans B. semantic loans C. word formation D. borrowings,45,7. Old English has a vocabulary of about _ words. A. 30,000 to 40,000 B. 50,000 to 60,000 C. 70,000 to 80,000 D. 80,000
37、 to 90,000,46,8. Some words in the basic word stock are said to be stable because they _. A. are complex words. B. are technical words C. refer to the commonest things in life. D. denote the most important concepts.,47,9. Early Modem English refers to the language spoken_. A. from 1066 to 1500 B. fr
38、om 1150 to 1500 C. from 1500 to 1700 D. from 1600 to 1800,48,10. _ consists of technical terms used in particular disciplines and academic areas. a. Slang b. Argot c. Dialect d. Jargon 11. Content words are ever growing in number while the functional words remain _. a. limited in use b. Unstable c.
39、Active in change d. Stable 12. Which of the following group of words belong to the Denizens: a. confrere, wunderkind and mikado b. chopstick, silk and typhoon c. dream, gift and black humour d. die, skirt and husband,49,13.Germanic language branch of the Indo-European language family includes such l
40、anguages as _. a. Irish, French, and German b. Swedish, Dutch and English c. Polish, Slovenian and Welsh d. Greek, Italian and Icelandic 14. People generally refer to _ as Old English. a. Celtic b. Breton c. Anglo-Saxon d. Romans 15. Modern English began _ in England. a. with the establishment of printing b. with the placement of a Danish king c. with the arrival of Norman French speakers d. with the outbreak of the World War II,
