Ethnic hybrids increase the number of words in the English vocabulary. The document traces the development of the English vocabulary from Old English (449-1100 AD), to Middle English (1100-1500 AD) with influence from French, to Modern English (1500-present) with increasing borrowings from Latin, Greek, French, Spanish, Italian and other languages as English expanded globally. The ever-growing inclusion of words from other languages, especially Chinese English, is expected to push the total English vocabulary to 1 million words.
Ethnic hybrids increase the number of words in the English vocabulary. The document traces the development of the English vocabulary from Old English (449-1100 AD), to Middle English (1100-1500 AD) with influence from French, to Modern English (1500-present) with increasing borrowings from Latin, Greek, French, Spanish, Italian and other languages as English expanded globally. The ever-growing inclusion of words from other languages, especially Chinese English, is expected to push the total English vocabulary to 1 million words.
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Ethnic hybrids increase the number of words in the English vocabulary. The document traces the development of the English vocabulary from Old English (449-1100 AD), to Middle English (1100-1500 AD) with influence from French, to Modern English (1500-present) with increasing borrowings from Latin, Greek, French, Spanish, Italian and other languages as English expanded globally. The ever-growing inclusion of words from other languages, especially Chinese English, is expected to push the total English vocabulary to 1 million words.
Copyright:
Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
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Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
number of words in English vocabulary The Development of English Vocabulary
• 1 Old English or Anglo-Saxon period
(449-1100) • 2 Middle English(1100-1500) • 3 Modern English(1500-the present) Old English or Anglo-Saxon period The vocabulary of Old English contains some fifty or sixty thousand words, which were chiefly Angl o-Saxon with a small mixture of Old Norse( 古诺 斯语) words. Old Norse words: are, they,call,die,give,ill,etc. Latin words: cheap,bargian,inch,dish,wall,wine,etc. Most of the Latin words borrowed at that time are r elated to religion:candle,nun,priest,temple,etc. Middle English(1100-1500)
This period is characterized by the strong influence of
French following the Normans Conquest in 1066. Law and governmental administration ; judge ,jury Military affairs: conquer , sergeant victory Clothing: coat, dress, gown (长袍) Art : beauty, image Literature: rime, chapter, prose Science: surgeon, medicine Modern English(1500-the present)
• Latin borrowings : chemist, scientific, theory,
education… • Greek borrowings: drama, comedy, criterion, botany… From the sixteenth century onward, English borr owed words from an increasing number of lan guages ,the major ones being the three Roma ns languages, French, Spanish and Italian. From French like attaché , chargé, café… From Italian like concert, duet, piano, bust… From Spanish like armada ([ɑ:'mɑ:də] 无敌舰队 ), cargo, vanilla(n. 香子兰,香草 ) At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, as a res ult of exploration , colonization, and trade, many words came in from non-European languages. S ome examples are : Boomerang (['bu:məræŋ] n. 飞去来器;自食其果的行为 ;回飞棒 ), kangaroo (n. 袋鼠 ) from Australian; coolie (['ku:li] 苦力;小工 ) , cashmere (n. 羊绒 ), khaki f rom Indian ; yamen(n. 衙门 ), loquat (n. 枇杷 ) from Chinese; Kimono(n. 和服 ), tycoon(n. 巨头;巨富 ) from Japanes e; • Champions of English language are about to mark a momentous point in its 1500-year hist ory----the creation of its 1 millionth word. • 据《星期日泰晤士报》报道,全球语言监测中 心日前指出,由于中式英语 (Chinglish) 的广 泛使用以及其他“杂交”英语的与日俱增,具 有 1500 年历史的英语词汇不断得到丰富,预 计词汇总量将增加至 100 万。 Payack believes that English has triumphed because it is open to change.
“In the 1960s , 250 million people spoke Englis
h ,but now it’s closer to 2 billion, or one in thr ee people in the world.”----Professor David C rystal.