introduction to morphology and lexicology · ch2: where do english words come from? 2.1 the origin...

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)


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


PRINTING REVOLUTION

What was it about?

What were its consequences?


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


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)


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)


‘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)


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.


2 Give the basic characteristics of the Middle

English vocabulary.


3 Give the basic characteristics of the Early

Modern English vocabulary.


4 Give the basic characteristics of the Modern

English vocabulary.


Try and identify the language of origin of the

following words:

addendum

baguette

cannelloni

con brio

criterion

HINT: French, Latin, Greek, Italian 2x

Cannelloni



following words:

id est (i.e.)

in loco parentis

mañana

sang-froid

vis-à-vis

HINT: Latin 2x, French 2x, Spanish



following words:

zucchini

robot

piano

yogurt

zebra

HINT: Czech, Italian 2x, Bantu, Turkish



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!

introduction to morphology and lexicology · ch2: where do english words come from? 2.1 the origin...

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