Chapter 2
1 - It is assumed that the world has approximately 3, 000 (some put it 5, 000 ) languages, which can be grouped into roughly 300 language families on the basis of similarities in their basic word stock and grammar.
2 - The Indo-European is one of them. It is made up of most of the languages of Europe, the Near East, and India.
3 - They accordingly fall into eight principal groups, which can be grouped into an Eastern set: Balto-Slavic , Indo-Iranian , Armenian and Albanian ; a Western set: Celtic, Italic, Hellenic, Germanic.
4 - In the Eastern set, Armenian and Albanian are each the only modern language respectively. The Balto-Slavic comprises such modern languages as Prussian, Lithuanian, Polish, Czech, Bulgarian, Slovenian and Russian.
5 - In the Indo-Iranian we have Persian. Bengali, Hindi, Romany, the last three of which are derived from the dead language Sanskrit.
6 - In the Western set, Greek is the modern language derived from Hellenic.
7 - The Germanic family consists of the four Northern European Languages: Norwegian, Icelandic, Danish and Swedish, which are generally known as Scandinavian
languages. Then there is German, Dutch, Flemish and English.
languages. Then there is German, Dutch, Flemish and English.
8 - Old English (450-1150)
Anglo-Saxon as Old English. Old English has a vocabulary of about 50, 000 to 60, 000 words. It was a highly inflected language just like moderm German.
Anglo-Saxon as Old English. Old English has a vocabulary of about 50, 000 to 60, 000 words. It was a highly inflected language just like moderm German.
9 - Middle English (1150-1500)
Although there were borrowings from Latin, the influence on English was mainly Germanic.
Between 1250 and 1500 about 9000 wordsof French origin poured into English. Seventy-five percent of them are still in use today.
If we say that Old English was a language of full endings. Middle English was one of leveled endings.
10 - Modern English (1500-up to now)
Modern English began with the establishment of printing in England.
Early (1500-1700) and Late (1700-up to the present) Modern English
Modern English began with the establishment of printing in England.
Early (1500-1700) and Late (1700-up to the present) Modern English
In the early period of Modern English, Europe saw a new upsurge of learning ancient Greek and Roman classics. This is known in history as the Renaissance.
Latin and Greek were recognized as the languages of the Western world’s great literary heritage and of great scholarship
In fact, more than twenty-five per cent of modern English words come almost directly from classical languages.
It can be concluded that English has evolved from a synthetic language (Old English) to the present analytic language.
11 - Three main sources of new words: the rapid development of modern science and technology(45%); social, economic and political changes(24%);
the influence of other cultures and languages(11%).
the influence of other cultures and languages(11%).
12 - Modern English vocabulary develops through three channels: creation, semantic change, borrowing.
Creation refers to the formation of new words by using the existing materials, namely roots, affixes and other elements. In modern times, this is the most important way of vocabulary expansion.
Semantic change means an old form which takes on a new meaning to meet the new need. This does not increase the number of word forms but create many more new usages of the words, thus enriching the vocabulary.
Borrowing has played a vital role in the development of vocabulary, particularly in earlier times. Borrowed words constitute merely six to seven percent of all new worlds. In earlier stages of English, frnch, greek and Scandinavian were the major contributiors.
Reviving archaic or obsolete words(复活古词和废弃词) also contributes to the growth of English vocabulary though quite insignificant.
