Chapter2thedevelopmentoftheEnglishvocabulary解析.ppt

Chapter two The Development of the English Vocabulary Contents of today’s lecture Indo-European Language Family History of the development of English vocabulary General characteristics Foreign elements in the English language Growth of contemporary English vocabulary Modes of the development of modern English vocabulary 2.1 The Indo-European language Family 3000 (some say 5000) languages in the world 3000—300 language families The Indo-European Language Family is made up of most languages of Europe, the Near East, and India. 2.2 Three Phases of the Historical Development 1. Old English (450-1150) Romans invaded the British Isles and occupied till about 410. After the withdrawal of Romans, Anglos, Saxons and Jutes came. Old English=Anglo-Saxon 2. Middle English (1150-1500) ①It has a comparatively large vocabulary. The Norman Conquest happened in 1066. ② Normans brought large numbers of French words. Those in power spoke French; the native tongue became a despised language 3.Modern English (1500-present) Early Modern English (1500-1700) and Late Modern English (1700 up to the present) Early Modern English(1500-1700) Renaissance: Classicism Large numbers of Greek and Latin words were brought in. Late Modern English (1700-present) Since the mid 17th century: Bourgeois Revolution followed by the Industrial Revolution England became a great economic power Colonization: absorb words from all major languages of the world 2.3 General Characteristics of Modern English 1.Receptivity, Adaptability and Heterogeneity Anglo-Saxon was almost a pure language, but later it received all kinds of foreign elements 2.Simplicity of Inflection Old English— ‘full endings’ Middle English– ‘leveled endings’ Modern English– ‘lost endings’ Examples: Old Middle Modern leorn-ian lern-en learn mon-a mone-e moon stan-as ston-es stones sun-ne sun-ne