Ways of developing the

vocabulary
Prepared by;Bakhytkyzy.D, Kydykenova.D, Ryskaliyeva.D


REPLENISHMENT OF
THE VOCABULARY
OF THE MIDDLE
ENGLISH LANGUAGE

The change in vocabulary

was influenced by the
development of social
relations and the
borrowing of words and
morphemes from other
languages.

КТБ • 2020 год

 CHANGES IN THE
The composition and sound WORD
PRODUCTION
appearance of some affixes have SYSTEM
changed:
suffix -ere > -er (hunter, leader, carter, miller, worker).
from French > butcher, farmer, carpenter, painter, prisoner,
stranger.
estre > er
-hood (< OE hвd) brotherhood, falsehood, neighеbourhood.
suffix -dom was used extremely rarely.
-scipe > ship: hardship, fellowship; ladyship, lordship.
-ing : begynnyng, huntyng, smylyng.
ness (to form nouns from adjectives) : kindness, mekeness,
weikness.
man: craftsman, gentilman. Changes in the
-ig > -y angry, bushy word production
-lic > -ly friendly
-ful > fearful, useful system
-sum > some handsome, tiresome
-mis (for the formation of new nouns and
verbs with the meaning of an erroneous
incorrect action): misunderstanden.
-un: unhappy, unjust, undon.
be- (new verbs): behave (have), believen
(leven)

КТБ • 2020 год

 THE SYSTEM OF WORD
COMPOSITION.

1. N+N: bonfire, football, handicraft,

penknife, horseback, etc.
2. Prep+N: afternoon, thoroughfare
3. Adj+N: grandfather, grandmother.
4. V+N: breakfast from break fast
(нарушать пост)
5. Adv+N: income (доход)
CONVERSION

at the end of the mid.English period, a new way of

forming words appeared, namely, without the help
of any word-forming affixes. This method of
forming new words belonging to different parts of
speech is called the root method (or conversion).
So, in the 14th and 15th centuries, the following
new words were formed:

Verbs from nouns: comb > to comb; land > to land.

Nouns from verbs: to call > a call; to smile > a smile.

КТБ • 2020 год



In the mid. English period, many pronouns were

formed, mostly indefinite: any + body > anybody;
som(e) + body > som(e)body; no + body > nobody,
etc.
new complex adverbs: meien (средний) + whil(e)
(время) > meanwhile; any + wher(e) > anywher(e);
bifore + hand > beforehand; all + ready > already;
sometimes; today; tomorrow; always (< др.-англ.
ealne weg - весь путь).

КТБ • 2020 год

 Svandinavian Influence

A considerable part of the vocabulary

was common to English and to
Scandinavian dialects.

КТБ • 2020 год

Another part of Scandinavian

vocabulary did not correspond
to English. It is in this sphere
that Scandinavian dialects
influenced English.

For example, lagu – law; wrang

– wrong, hu:sbonda – husband,
casten –cast, ta:ken –take,
fe:ologa – fellow, etc.

КТБ • 2020 год

The phonetic structure of the English words changed under
Scandinavian influence. For example, the OE word ʒiefan
corresponded to the Scandinavian gefa. In late ME, that is in the
15th century, we find the word give.

The same refers to OE ʒietan (receive), Scandinavian geta and

ME getan

Compare also the words for sister: OE swestor, Scandinavian

systir, and ME sister.

Scandinavian elements became part of many

georgraphical names. For example, by –village (Whitby,
Derby), toft – grassy spot (Langtoft), beck – rivelet
(Troutbeck); ness – cape (Inverness) etc.

КТБ • 2020 год

FRENCH INFLUENCE

Penetration of French loan

words into English did not start
immediately after the Norman
Conquest. It only started in the
12th century, and reached its
climax in the 13th and 14th
centuries.
After the conquest French was
introduced as the language of
the law courts, debates in
Parliament
 The outcome of the struggle would be different in
different cases. There were three main possibilities:

1. The struggle ends in favour of the French word;

its native English synonym disappears.

2. It is the native word that gets the upper hand;

the French word, after existing in English for some
times, disappears.

3. Both words survive, but a difference in meaning

develops between them, which may be either
semantic or stylistic. The table below illustrates
these examples.

FRENCH LOAN WORDS

Another type of differentiation may be found in
the pair of synonyms: beginnen – commencen.
The native word beginnen has stayed on as a
colloquial word, while the French commencen
is an official term and is mainly used in
documents.In other examples, work –labour, life
– existence, etc. the native word acquired a
more concrete meaning, while the French one
is more abstract.
French derivational suffixes
Thanks for your attention!