Chapter 2 The Development of the ...

Chapter   2   The Development of the English Vocabulary

1．The Indo-European Language Family

2．A Historical Overview of the English Vocabulary

1) Three Historical Periods of English Development

(1) Old English (450-1150)

  The beginning of Old English is marked by the arrival of the Germanic tribes called Angles, Saxons, and Jutes. People generally refer to Anglo-Saxon as Old English.Old English is a highly inflected language. In this period, many latin words and Scandinavian words came into the English language.

(2)Middle English (1150-1500)

  Middle English period began with the Norman conquest. In this period, many words of French and Dutch origins were borrowed into English. Middle English was charaterized by its losses of many inflectional endings so that it was a language of levelled endings.

(3)Modern English(1500-Now)

  Modern English began with the establishment of printing in England. Because of the influence of the Renaissance Movement, many words of Latin and Greek origins, etc came into English. Also because of the fast development in science and technology, many new words were created. Though borrowing remained an important means of English vocabulary expansion, yet more words were created through word formation

3．Growth of Present-day English Vocabulary

1)Major Causes of Present-day English Vocabulary Expansion  

(1) the rapid development of modern science and technology

(2)the social, economic and political changes            

(3)the influence of other cultures and languages                      

 4．Modes of Vocabulary Development

            1) creation: It refers to the use of existing materials such

              as the word-forming stems to create new words.

            2) semantic change: It means that an old form picks up a new

              meaning.

            3)borrowing: It means borrowing words from other languages.