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INTRODUCTION TO
MORPHOLOGY AND
LEXICOLOGY
UNIT 2: WHERE DO ENGLISH
WORDS COME FROM?
Ch2: Where do English words come from?
2.1 The origin of English
2.2 Historical development of English
vocabulary
2.3 Native English vocabulary
2.4 The process of borrowing
2.5 Creating new English words
2.6 Characteristics of modern English
vocabulary
Classification of languages
About 5000 languages in the world
About 300 language families (based on similarities
in basic word stock and grammars)
English language:
Indo-European language family
Germanic branch
West Germanic branch
The Indo-European language family
Most of Europe, The Near East, North India
Branches (examples):
Italic Latin Romance languages
Hellenic Greek
Celtic Irish Gaelic, Scottish Gaelic; Breton, Welsh
Balto-Slavic Lithuanian; [Old Slavic ] Russian,
Polish, Czech,...
Indian Sanskrit Hindi
Iranian
Germanic
Germanic branch
East Germanic branch
E.g., Gothic, Vandalic, Burgundian [extinct]
North Germanic branch
E.g., Danish, Sweedish, Norwegian, Icelandic
West Germanic branch
E.g., modern German, Dutch, Frisian (NW Netherlands
+ Friesland), and English
Q: Which of the languages is the closest relative to
English?
How English came to England
Celts – the first known inhabitants, I-E language
55-54 BC – Roman invasion (attempt to add the
land to the Roman Empire), Romans defeated
AD 43-410 the island of Britain
occupied by the Romans
(military & government officials)
Settlements: Doncaster, Gloucester,
Lancaster < lat. CASTRA, ‘camp‘
How English came to England
Withdrawal of Romans invasion of lowlands by the
Picts and Scots (tribes in the north of Britain)
Celts ask Germanic tribes from across the North Sea
for aid (Angles, Saxons, Frisians, and Jutes)
The allies became the conquerors
Celts were pushed to the fringes of the country (Wales,
Cornwall, Cumbria, Scottish highlands) or they left for
French Brittany; those who stayed become assimilated to
Anglo-Saxon society.
The name of the language
The Celts called the invaders Sassenachs ‘Saxons‘
by the end of 6th century – the term was replaced
by the term Angli ‘Angles‘
C17 – the usual Latin name for the country was
Angli or Anglia Engle in OE, language = Englisc
[‘sc‘ /∫/]
C10 – Englaland [ England]
2.2 Historical development of English vocabulary
The Old English period (450-1066)
The Middle English period (1066-1500)
Early Modern English (1500-1800)
The Modern English period (1800-present)
OE: Match the period and the event
1. C5-C6 A) Beowulf (heroic poem)
2. C6 B) the first scattered OE
manuscripts in runic alphabet
brought by Anglo-Saxons
3. Around 700 C) glossaries of Latin translated
into OE
4. C9 D) Kind Alfred; Latin works
translated into OE
5. Around1000 E) arrival of Christian
missionaries from Rome
The Old English period (450-1066)
C5-C6 the first scattered OE manuscripts in runic
alphabet brought by Anglo-Saxons
C6 arrival of Christian missionaries from Rome =
beginning of literary age
Around 700 glossaries of Latin translated into OE
C9 Kind Alfred; Latin works translated into OE
Around1000 Beowulf (heroic poem)
OE letters, spelling and words
Absence of capital letters
Different shapes of some letters; Roman symbols
Variation is spelling (even with a single scribe)
Words in prose – close to Modern English X poetry
OE vs. Modern English: omitting the ge- prefix
Geseted > -seted (seated)
Geseah > -seah (saw)
Gehyrde > -hyrde (heard)
X glimplice (suitable), beboden (entrusted),...
Old English Letters
Prologue from Beowulf https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CH-_GwoO4xI
OE lexicon: Kennings
What are kennings?
(Any examples?)
OE lexicon: Kennings
Kenning= a type of coinage; frequent in OE
Kennings = vivid figurative descriptions often involving
compounds (Old Norse)
Sometimes difficult interpretation (synonyms – shades of
meaning; 20 terms for man in Beowulf; poetry)
Hronrad (whaleroad) = sea; banhus (bone-house) =
body; Moncynnes wead (guardian of mankind) = God
Lexicon: OE vs. Modern English
1. OE: strong preference for synonymous expressions
and the construction of compounds
2. OE: word-formation based on native elements
families of morphologically related words
3. OE: Introduction of loan translations (calques)
Praepositio/ unicornis (Lat.) – foresetnys/ anhorn
(OE) – preposition/ unicorn (ModE)
4. Grammatical relationships expressed by inflexional
endings (vs. word order) – C11-C12 – main stress at the
beginning of the word – difficult to hear the endings
5. OE corpus: 24.000 different lexical items, mainly
germanic, only 3% loanwords (ModE 70%)
The Middle English Period (1066-1500)
Much richer documentation than in OE X early
material written in Latin or French (surveys
commissioned by monarchy) – places, names
C14 – increase in translated writings from Latin
and French, texts teaching Latin or French
MidE poetry influenced by French literary
tradition
Literature – authors start to be known: Geoffrey
Chaucer, John Wyckliff, William Langland;
‘Scottish Chaucerians‘ (poets)
The Middle English Period (1066-1500)
Diversity in spelling greater than in OE, e.g.,
NEVER [neuer] spelled as naure, noeure, ner,
and neure.
Altegaedere (altogether), cyrceiaerd
(churchyard),...
Borrowing: after 1066 – massive borrowing from
French (EN-FR bilingualism)
In the early Middle English period – over 90% of
the lexicon was of native English origin X at the
end – 75%
Word formation: compounding, affixation
The Middle English Period (1066-1500)
PRINTING REVOLUTION
What was it about?
What were its consequences?
Early Modern English (1500-1800)
1476 – PRINTING REVOLUTION - William
Caxton set up his press in Westminster
(beginning of Early ModE) norms of spelling
and pronunciation, wide circulation of published
works
C16 Scholars start being interested in language
(grammar, lexis, writing system, style)
Middle of C15 – 1650 – Renaissance (renewed
interest in classical languages and literatures;
science, arts); Protestant reformation, discoveries,
explorations impact on English, esp. lexis
Early Modern English (1500-1800)
Latin words introduced (translations –
theology, medicine)
Purists (against borrowings)
Renaissance
W. Shakespeare, 1564-1616, info about
pronunciation, word formation, syntax, and
language use; introduced/ popularized new words
King James Bible, 1611, appointed to be read
throughout the kingdom, the translators aimed for
a dignified style, older forms of language (despite
the existing modern ones), conservative
King James Bible
Contains many phrases that have entered the
language as idioms, e.g., can the leopard
change its spots, fight the good fight, if the
blind lead the blind...
TASK:
Complete the following idioms:
King James Bible
Idioms:
A ---- in sheep‘s clothing
In the t-------- of an eye ( = in a very short time)
Money is the ---- of all evil
The ---- of the earth (the ones who ‘enhance‘
the flavour of life in this world)
By the ---- of my teeth (to describe a situation
one barely managed to escape from)
A t---- in the flesh (a constant bother/
annoyance to someone)
King James Bible
Idioms:
A wolf in sheep‘s clothing
In the twinkling of an eye ( = in a very short time)
Money is the root of all evil
The salt of the earth (the ones who ‘enhance‘ the
flavour of life in this world)
By the skin of my teeth (to describe a situation
one barely managed to escape from)
A thorn in the flesh (a constant bother/
annoyance to someone)
Early Modern English (1500-1800)
Borrowing, word formation; semantic changes
C17 many critics felt that English was
changing to rapidly and randomly
Need to stabilize the language debates on
language corruption public attention
Grammars, spelling guides, pronunciation
manuals, dictionaries (e.g., Robert Cawdrey,
‘dictionary of hard words‘, 3000 entries, mostly
borrowings, e.g., abbettors glossed as
‘counselors‘, 1st synonym dict. )
Dictionaries
Robert Cawdrey
Nathaniel Bailey – Universal Etymological
English Dictionary
Samuel Johnson – Dictionary of the English
Language (1755)
Descriptive approach in lexicography
The first accurate description of the complexity of
the lexicon and of word usage
The Modern English Period (1800 – present)
Gradual change from Early Modern to ModE
Lexis – 3 main features:
Growth of scientific vocabulary
C19, industrial revolution, exploration, discovery;
‘scientific English‘ as a variety of the language
American English as a dominant variety
C20 – US – leading economic power, involved in
world affairs, Europe (incl. UK) open to US culture,
mass media, US and UK Eng. – more and more
alike, US + UK – 70% of all Eng.speakers (En.1st lg)
The emergence of ‘New Englishes‘ (varieties)
The Modern English Period (1800 – present)
‘New Englishes‘
Influenced by the other languages of the regions
where they are used
Origin in colonial era
Indian English, Philippine English, Singapore
English, African Englishes...
Varieties associated with geographical area OR
subject matter (telecommunication, computing;
religious and legal English)
The Modern English Period (1800 – present)
A large number of countries in the world where English
is spoken
CLASSIFICATION of English speaking countries
based on the status that the English language has
(Kachru 1983)
English-speaking countries (classification)
Classification based on the status of the language,
Kachru (1983)
1. INNER CIRCLE
English = primary language ... (Examples of countries?)
2. OUTER/ EXTENDED CIRCLE
English = second language in a multilingual setting,
used in the leading institutions; countries affected by
collonization ... (Examples?)
3. EXPANDING CIRCLE
Countries with no history of colonization, English has no
special administrative status X recognized as important
... (Examples?)
Native English Vocabulary
What is the origin of the native English
vocabulary? (i.e, „Who brought it & who
influenced it?“)
Anglo-Saxon words
Represent the native English vocabulary (which
is also influenced by the Celtic language)
Most of them – common words of the language,
the nucelus of the English language
Generally short and concrete
Anglo-Saxon words - examples
Anglo-Saxon words - examples
Parts of the body (arm, bone, chest, eye, ear,
foot, hand)
The natural landscape (field, hedge, hill,
meadow, land)
Domestic life and animals (door, house; cow,
dog, fish)
The calendar (day, month, moon, sun, year)
Common adjectives and verbs (dark, wide; do,
go, kiss)
The influence of Celtic on English
Not very significant (cf. the conditions of the cultural
contact); regionalisms; just a few have survived
Binn (bin), carr (rock), luh (Scots: loch, Irish: lough) lake
Celtic-based place names: Avon (river), Thames, Don
Town names: Dover (water), Eccles (church), London
Introduction of a few Celtic words into English from Irish
Gaelic (C17) – brogue, galore, shamrock and from Welsh –
crag.
Celtic has a rather negligible influence of English.
2.4 The process of borrowing
Loanwords from various sources:
Latin
Scandinavian
Greek
French
German
Dutch
Romance loans other than French
...
2.5 Creating new English words
Root creation
Echoic words
Ejaculations
Word formation
Root creation
= building a word that has no relationship with any
previously existing word
Ex. Kodak
Most tradenames usually suggested by already
existing words:
Vaseline = Wasser (German) + elaion (Greek)
Echoic words
= onomatopoeic
They have origin in the specific sound that they are
meant to represent.
Imitative (meow, bow-wow)
Symbolic (bump, flick, flash)
Doubling (bow-wow, choo-choo)
Ejaculations
= words that attempt to imitate instinctive vocal
responses to emotional situations.
= ‘natural utterances‘ which have become
conventionalized and so became lexical items (ha-
ha, ho-ho – laughter)
Uh-huh (agreement), phew (reaction to a bed smell/
avoidance of disaster)
Word formation
= using existing language material (words,
morphemes) to create new lexical items
Compounding (free morpheme + free morpheme)
N: Craftsman, highway
Adj.: Banana-flavoured
V: Download, safeguard
Prep.: Inside
Affixation (use of prefixes & suffixes)
Forget-ful, green-ish, pre-figure
2.6 Characteristics of modern EN vocabulary
The size of the vocabulary
Frequency of occurrence and use of Anglo-Saxon
words
‘Englishness‘ of the vocabulary
2.6.1 The size of the vocabulary
How many entries are listed in each of 2 biggest
dictionaries, i.e., Websters Third New International
(1961) and Oxford English Dictionary (1989),
respectively?
450,000 & 600,000 entries, respectively
Disparity in headwords (e.g., Oxford – more
historical references and British dialect terms than
Websters X Websters – more local American terms)
Combined lexicon might exceed 750,000 entries
2.6.1 The size of the vocabulary
Besides:
no comprehensive coverage of ‘New Englishes‘
Words common in spoken use but not recorded in
writing – not included
Abbreviations, acronyms,...
Crystal‘s estimation:
Conservative: over 1,000,000 lexemes
More inclusive estimate: might be even 2,000,000
Only a small fraction of this total is learned and used
2.6.2 Anglo-Saxon words in English
Most frequent
Considered ‘warmer‘ than words of foreign origin
The most frequent 200 words in BrE and AmE consist
overwhelmingly of 1 syllable
The only 4-syllable item in this group is...
...the word American
For the 10,000 most frequent words in EN, nearly
__?__% have their origin in OE.
32% (Crystal, 1995)
2.6.2 Anglo-Saxon words in English
In formal style, specialized language greater
proportion of foreign loans than in everyday
conversation
Anglo-Saxon words preferred in everyday speech
bcs they are vague and convey many shades of
meaning ( X loanwords: more precise, restricted)
Native English words considered human, emotional
X loans from Greek, Latin, Romance lg – cold,
formal (start X initiate, commence)
2.6.3 ‘English‘ vocabulary
Predominance of foreign words is felt only with
reference to the total word stock
X
Items actually used in writing and speech: native
English (Anglo-Saxon) words
Many foreign words assimilated to the
pronunciation and spelling of English – their foreign
origin is no longer recognized by native speakers.
Practice and revision:
1 Give the basic characteristics of the Old
English vocabulary.
Practice and revision:
2 Give the basic characteristics of the Middle
English vocabulary.
Practice and revision:
3 Give the basic characteristics of the Early
Modern English vocabulary.
Practice and revision:
4 Give the basic characteristics of the Modern
English vocabulary.
Practice and revision:
Try and identify the language of origin of the
following words:
addendum
baguette
cannelloni
con brio
criterion
HINT: French, Latin, Greek, Italian 2x
Cannelloni
Practice and revision:
Try and identify the language of origin of the
following words:
id est (i.e.)
in loco parentis
mañana
sang-froid
vis-à-vis
HINT: Latin 2x, French 2x, Spanish
Practice and revision:
Try and identify the language of origin of the
following words:
zucchini
robot
piano
yogurt
zebra
HINT: Czech, Italian 2x, Bantu, Turkish
Practice and revision:
Try and identify the language of origin of the
following words:
lilac
alcohol
pretzel
power politics
gas
quark
HINT: German 2x, Arabic, Persian, invented 2x
Thank you for your attention
& participation!
Enjoy the rest of the semester!