02 English Vocabulary.pptVIP

2. The Development of English Vocabulary The Indo-European language family A historical overview Growth of Present-day English vocabulary Modes of vocabulary development The Indo-European language family The eastern set Balto-slavic (Prussian, Lithuanian, Polish, Czech, Bulgarian, Slovenian, Russian, etc.) Indo-Iranian (Persian, etc.) Armenian Albanian The Indo-European language family The western set Celtic (Scottish, Irish, Welsh, Breton, etc.) Italic—Latin (Portuguese, Spanish, French, Italian, Romanian) Hellenic (Greek) Germanic (Norwegian, Icelandic, Danish, Swedish, German, Dutch, Flemish, English) The Indo-European language family Inflected alphabetic languages: various forms of a given word showed its relationship to other words in a sentence. Dialects changed so much that they became separate languages. All these languages have some influence on English to a greater or lesser extent because each has lent words into the English vocabulary. A historical overview Celts (the first people): Celtic Then the Roman Legions (55 BC): Latin The Germanic tribes: Anglo-Saxon. The Celts were driven to the north. A number of place names have remained: Avon, Kent, London, Thames, etc. A historical overview Old English (450-1150) Middle English (1150-1500) Modern English (1500-up to now) Old English (450-1150) The Germanic tribes: Angles, Saxons and Jutes. The land was called England (the land of Angles) and their language known as Anglo-Saxon—referred to as old English. Latin-speaking Roman missionaries came to spread Christianity and brought many words into English (candle, altar, amen, etc.). The land was invaded by Norwegian and Danish vikings. Old English has a vocabulary of about 50,000 to 60,000 words. Middle English (1150-1500) Normans, led by William the Conqueror, invaded England from France in 1066. The Norman conquest started a continual flow of French words into English. The English were reduced to an inferior people, and so was their language. By the end o