September, 2009 Wang Haizhen

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1 September, 2009 Wang Haizhen
Modern English Lexicology Chapter Three Borrowing as a Source of English Word-Stock September, 2009 Wang Haizhen

2 Outline Presentations
G1 (Borrowing words from French or Japanese…) G2 (Borrowing words from Chinese/Mandarin) Chapter Three: Borrowing as a source of English word-stock

3 Chapter Three: Sources of English vocabulary
How large is English vocabulary? What percentage of English words is native? What characteristics do native English words have? Why does English borrow words from other languages? What are major sources of borrowing? What are minor sources of borrowing?

4 The composite nature of English vocabulary
“The most characteristics feature of English is usually said to be its heterogeneous [made up of different kinds] character.” (Ding 2004:30) The vocabulary of the language is seen as “a continually changing entity with new words and new uses of old words being added and old words falling into disuse.” (ibid.)

5 3.1 The size of English word-stock
Question 1: How large is English vocabulary? Answer: The size of English word-stock is roughly estimated to be over 750,000, if we combine both Webster’s Third New International (1961) and The Oxford English Dictionary (1989).

6 Question 2: Why is it difficult for us to decide the vocabulary size?
Answer: (1) words are continually growing and dying; (2) difficulties in deciding whether words of a different class, compound words, proper names, words of dialects are counted as separate entries.

7 3.2 The native words of the English language (1)
Define ‘native words’. Native words are usually words of Anglo-Saxon origin. Words whose origin cannot be traced to any other language are also regarded as native words. (e.g. path) How many Anglo-Saxon words are left in English? At least ¾ of English vocabulary is Anglo-Saxon (Matthews 1979: 93)

8 3.2 The native words of the English language (2)
What characteristics do native English words have? (1) In structure, they are mostly monosyllabic words. (2) In meaning they express the fundamental concepts dealing with everyday objects and things. (3) In grammar they include most parts of speech. Refer to Table 3.1 and discuss characteristics of native English words.

9 3.2 The native words of the English language (3)
Reading comprehension check: “ Native words are very important due to their marked stability, wide collocability, great derivational potential, wide spheres of application and high frequency value.” (Ding 2004: 32)

10 3.3 Borrowing: An overview (1)
Definition of ‘borrowing’: words of foreign origin that have found their way into English Why does English borrow words from other languages? (1) Influenced by the Roman civilization, Latin came as the language of learning and religion. (2) As the language of the conquerors, Old Norse (古斯堪的那维亚语 ) merged with the native language. (3) As the language of the conquerors, French became the language of upper classes, of official documents and school instructions (11th -14th ). (4) A large proportion of borrowings (41%) is scientific and technical terms. …

11 3.3 Borrowing: An overview (2)
How can we identify the source of borrowing? With the help of some peculiarities in pronunciation, spelling, morphological and semantic structures. Note: G. =German; Gr. = Greek; Fr. =French; L. =Latin; It. =Italian; Ofr. =Old French; Jap. =Japanese; Chin =Chinese Hindi 印地语

12 3.3 Borrowing: An overview (3)
Pronunciation & spelling: waltz (G.), psychology (Gr.), soufflé (Fr.), volcano (It.), vase (Fr.), vaccine (L.), jungle (Hindi), gesture (L.) giant (Ofr.), zeal (L.), zero (Fr.) zinc 锌 (G.) morphological structures: neurosis 神经症(Gr.), violoncello 大提琴(It.); papyra 纸莎草 (Gr.), beaux (Fr.), bacteria (L.) semantic structures: rickshaw 东洋车(Jap), pagoda 宝塔 (Chin.)

13 3.4 Major sources of borrowing
How many languages have been sources of modern English vocabulary? Over 120 languages. Latin Scandinavian French Greek

14 3.4.1 Latin borrowings (1) Who used Latin? What language family does it belong to? What is it used for? Latin is the language of ancient Rome and its empire. Latin is a member of the Italic branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Latin is still used for scientific names in biology and astronomy.

15 3.4.1 Latin borrowings (2) How did Latin influence the English vocabulary? Five major Latin influences on English

16 zero period the early contact between the Romans and the Germanic tribes words of commerce, domestic life and foods wine, fishmonger, pillow, line, butter 1st period words from the British Celts -cester 2nd period ( ) since the introduction of Christianity into Britain church-related words church, bishop, altar, angel, temple 3rd period ( ) the Norman conquest words of upper class allegory, contempt, interrupt, legal, suppress, 4th period ( ) the Renaissance abstract and scientific words; abbreviations allusion, vacuum, emancipate; e.g., i.e., etc.

17 3.4.2 Scandinavian influences
What language family (branch) does Scandinavian (斯堪的纳维亚语)belong to? North Germanic branch, Indo-European language family, comprising Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Icelandic and Faroese法罗群岛语. The Vikings were men who sailed from Scandinavia and attacked villages in most parts of north-western Europe from the 8th to the 11th centuries.

18 北欧海盗 [Viking] 又译维京人。又称古斯堪的纳维亚人(Norsemen)。
指9～11世纪进行侵袭和在欧洲广大地区开拓殖民地的斯堪的纳维亚航海武士。可能是由于本国人口过剩，国外受害者相对软弱，以及他们在造船与航海方面的非凡才能，促使他们从事冒险。865年征服了东英吉利亚和诺森伯里亚，并蚕食麦西亚大部。878年与阿尔弗烈德大王达成停战协议，承认英格兰的大部分落入丹麦人的手中。892～899年阿尔弗烈德击败维金人，阿尔弗烈德之子于924年收复了麦西亚和东英吉利亚。诺森伯里亚的维京人于954年被一扫而光。980年，维京人再次开始袭击英格兰，该国最后成为克努特大帝的帝国的一部分。当地的王室于1042年恢复统治。斯堪的纳维亚人对英格兰的社会结构、方言及人名、地名方面留下了深远的影响。在西方的海洋上，斯堪的纳维亚人在900年左右移居冰岛，又前往格陵兰和北美。795年入侵爱尔兰，在都柏林、利默里克和沃特福德建立了王国。克朗塔夫战役(1014)结束了斯堪的纳维亚人统治的威胁。维京人时时侵袭法国，但并没有进行统治。 11世纪北欧海盗的活动结束。

19 How did Scandinavian influence the English vocabulary?
Scandinavian place names: endings –by, -thorpe, -thwaite, -toft (see Table 3.2, p.36) Scandinavian borrowings of colloquial language, covering a variety of word classes. (see Table 3.3) words beginning with sc-/sk- (scathe 损伤, scorch 烧焦, score 分数, scowl 怒视, scrape 刮, scrub 刷；矮树丛 , skill, skin, skirt, sky) (See Table 3.4)

20 3.4.3 French loan words (1) Historical background: the occupation of England by William, Duke of Normandy in 1066. How did Norman Conquest (1066) influence the English vocabulary? Around 10,000 French words came into the English vocabulary, words largely connected with the mechanisms of administration, religion and law.

21 3.4.3 French loan words (2) French loan words also included such fields as fashion, food & drink, learning & art, and many other general terms. (See Table 3.5 for examples) French loan words in Modern English reflect French dominance in the fields of fashion, lifestyle, arts and sciences (gown, luxury, romance, tragedy, engineer, physician).

22 3.4.4 Greek adoptions What language family (branch) does Greek belong to? the sole member of the Hellenic branch (希腊语支) of the Indo-European language family. Historical background: the Renaissance ( ), when there was a new upsurge of learning ancient Greek and Roman classics. How did Greek influence the English vocabulary?

23 How did Greek influence the English vocabulary?
Some Greek words came in through Latin or French, while others through Greek directly. (See Table 3.6 for examples)

24 Four types of Greek loan words
保留希腊语词尾但采用拉丁语拼写： abiogenesis自然发生说, analysis, antithesis 对立面, thesis, charisma 超凡魅力, genesis起源, phenomenon, synthesis, 直接采用拉丁语词尾： chrysanthemum 菊花, hippopotamus 河马 借入后抛弃或更改希腊语词的词尾： alphabet, alphabetic, analyst, analytic, biologist, biology, charismatic神赐力量的, phenomenology 现象学 采用希腊语词的词根或词缀： tele-: telescope望远镜 anthrop-“人”: philanthropy 博爱，慈善, misanthrope厌恶人类的人 hyper-: hypercritical 吹毛求疵的 , hypersensitive; micro-; mono-; thermo-, etc.

25 3.5 Minor sources of borrowing (1) What are the minor sources of borrowing?
Refer to Table 3.7. Hindi北印度语, Hungarian匈牙利语, Italian意大利语, Japanese日语, Nahuatl(墨西哥)纳瓦语, Norwegian挪威语, Persian波斯语, Portuguese葡萄牙语, Russian俄语, Sanskrit梵语, Spanish西班牙语, Swedish瑞典语, Tonga(南太平洋)汤加语. Afrikaans南非荷兰语 American Indian Language美洲印第安语 Australian Languages 澳大利亚语 Chinese 汉语 Czech ([tʃek]捷克语) Dutch荷兰语 Eskimo爱斯基摩语 Finnish芬兰语 Gaelic(爱尔兰，苏格兰)盖尔语, German德语, Hebrew希伯来语,

26 3.5 Minor sources of borrowing (1)
Why does English borrow words from these languages? Not for the reasons of invasion and conquest, but for the reason of cultural interchange.

27 3.6 Influences of borrowing

28 2.1.2 The Indo-European Language family
Definition: the family of languages spoken originally in Europe and parts of southern Asia. Family members: Indo-Iranian group 印度-伊朗语族：Persian波斯语, Sanskrit 梵语… Armenian 亚美尼亚语族：Armenian Slavic 斯拉夫语族：Russian, Polish Hellenic古希腊语族：Greek Italic 意大利语族：Latin, Romance languages 罗曼语言(French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian) Celtic 凯尔特语族：Gaelic盖尔语, Welsh威尔士语, Breton布列塔尼语 Albanian 阿尔巴尼亚语族： Albanian Germanic 日耳曼语族：English, German, Dutch, Yiddish依地语, the Scandinavian languages

29 Mini-research 14: H1N1 virus related words
What do you know about Influenza A (H1N1) virus? Introduce to the class words related to it. For Group 3. Please present it orally to the class this Sunday (Sept. 27). A PPT file is preferred.

30 Mini-research 15: Chinese traditional festivals and foods
Why do people eat moon cakes on Mid-Autumn Festival? What special foods are associated with other festivals? Please give more examples, introduce the Chinese culture, and try to analyze the underlying reasons. For Group 4. Please present it orally to the class this Sunday (Sept. 27). A PPT file is preferred.

31 Mini-research 16: words related to China’s 60-year development (1)
Chinese people in 2009 are celebrating the 60th anniversary of the founding of People's Republic of China. Could you reflect on the historical development of PRC ( ) and pick out words that are associated with different periods? Please give necessary explanations. For Group 5. Please present it orally to the class next Wednesday (Sept. 30). A PPT file is preferred.

32 Mini-research 17: words related to China’s 60-year development (2)
Chinese people in 2009 are celebrating the 60th anniversary of the founding of People's Republic of China. Could you reflect on the historical development of PRC ( ) and pick out words that are associated with different periods? Please give necessary explanations. For Group 6. Please present it orally to the class next Wednesday (Sept. 30). A PPT file is preferred.