Review questions English lexicology 1. Size of English vocabulary – 1) Old English – 50,000 to 60,000 words OE – homogeneous; 1/3 of the vocabulary has survived About 450 Latin loans (Amosova) Viking invasions added 2,000 2) Middle English – 100,000 – 125,000 English becomes heterogeneous (Norman French, English, Latin), hybrid of Germanic and Romance languages Norman French influence – about 10,000 words, 75 % are still in use (Baugh) Latin influence continues 3) Early Modern English – 200,000 – 250,000 English becomes a polycentric language; polyglot, cosmopolitan language 4) Modern English – 500,000 words (OED) At present at least 1 billion lexical units 2. Core and periphery – Minkova & Stockwell,2006 Origin of the 10,000 most frequent words: Old English 31.8 % French 45 % Latin 16.7 % Other Germanic languages 4.2 % Other languages 2.3 % The core vocabulary is predominantly Germanic (
English lexicology 1. Size of English vocabulary Vocabulary is a sum total of words used in a language by speakers or for dictionary-making. Active and passive vocabulary. The Old English vocabulary was homogenous. There were about 50 000 – 60 000 words, 1/3 of which have survived. o About 450 loans from Latin o About 2000 from the Viking invasions. The Middle-English vocabulary became a heterogeneous hybrid of Germanic and Romanic languages. 100 000 to 125 000 words. o About 10 000 loans from Norman French, 75% are still in use o Continuing Latin influence Early Modern English. 200 000 – 250 000 words o English becomes a pluricentric language. o Polyglot. Cosmopolitan language Modern English. 500 000 words o At present at least 1 billion lexical units 2. Core and periphery. Origin o
Review questions English lexicology Size of English vocabulary. Average speaker 45,000-60,000 words, a total of about 200,000. Core and periphery. English has been heavily influenced by other languages. 31.8 % comes from Old English, 45% comes from French, 16,7% comes from Latin, 4,2% other germanic languages and 2,3 other languages. The very core is mono-syllabic (93 of the first 100 words and the other seven are two-syllabic). The core vocabulary is predominantly germanic. Native and foreign element. Native words belong to very important semantic group (modal verbs-shall, will, can, may; pronouns- I, you, he, my, his; preps- in, out, under; numerals and conjunctions::but, till, as. Native words are head, arms, back; mother, brother, son, wife; snow, rain, wind, sun; cat, sheep, cow; old, young, cold, hot, dark; do, make, go, come, see. Many native words have developed many meanings (nt, hand, man, head). Most native words have become parts of set expressions, borrowed words haven't.
1.Lexicology as a science L. studies the voc of lg as a system. Word-learning, lexis-logos. The task of L is to establish the general features of modern Engl voc. Theoretical L. gives a complete picture of voc. Practical value lies in using and appretiating the lg more conciously. There is diachronic (historical) L that studies origin and development; syncronic studies voc at a given historical period. There are general L (studies words disregarding particular features of any particular lg); special L (studies specific features of a separate lg, there is Engl that bases on general L); contrastive (compares vocabularys in different languages). 2. Connection of L with other linguistic disciplines a) the word performes a certain grammatical function (nt, he always misses the class, how many misses are there; the girl powders her nose, soliders face powder)In speech words are combined according to grammatical rules. The plural of nouns may carry a new meaning (nt, arms-weapons, looks-ap
Leixcology revision questions 1) Composition of english vocabulary Vobabulary is the sum of a total of words used in a language by speekers or used in a dictionary. English vocabulary cosists of six units: Simple words- fall Complex words- prefall Phrasal word- face up to Compound word- face lift Multiword expression- face the music Shortened forms- prefab (prefabely?) 2) Core and pherifery English has been heavily influenced by other languages. 31.8 % comes from old english, 45% comes from french, 16,7% comes from latin, 4,2% other germanic languages and 2,3 other languages. The very core is mono-syllabic (93 of the first 100 words nad the other seven are two-syllabic). The core vocabulary is predominantly germanic. 3) Native and foreign elements Native vocabulary: INDO-EUROPEAN- mother, foot, heart, father, sea, night etc GERMANIC- friend, bidge, ship, life, heaven OLD-ENGLISH- bad, bird, woman, lady and gospel LATIN- cheap, pepper, street, mile, butter, cheese, wine, i
English structure revision for the exam 1. Terms Language → A systematic, conventional (tavakohane) use of sounds, signs or written symbols in a human society for communication and self-expression. Human language at all levels is rule- or principle- governed (valitsema) meaning that language corresponds to the grammar. Natural language is usually spoken, while language can also be encoded into symbols (such as letters, morse etc) For example: Estonian, English. Linguistics → The scientific study of human natural language. Broadly, there are three aspects to the study which are Pragmatics (studies the use of language → interested in the gap between the sentence’s meaning and the speaker’s meaning). Semantics (concerned with the meaning of the language aspects and the way they change, also how objects and language and thinking and language are related). Syntax (concerned with the rul
LEL 2E Notes on Vocabulary One of the key facts about the lexicon of any language is that it reflects in various ways the physical and cultural environment in which the language is spoken. A people unfamiliar with, say, horses is unlikely to have a word for `horse'; similarly with ploughs, printing presses, and internet porn sites. For the most part this is trivial it's hard to imagine how it could be otherwise, given the general nature of human language. People tend to make a great deal of the alleged fact (see Pullum 1989) that "the Eskimos have lots of words for snow", but it doesn't take much thought to realise that any language spoken in a given physical and cultural environment is likely to have efficient ways of referring to distinctions that are important in that environment. That doesn't mean that you can read very much into individual words and individual facts about the lexicon of a given language (this topic has already come up in connection with debates about the locat
1. STYLE The term "style" is polysemantic (has many meanings): a Latin word "stilus" originally meant a writing instrument used by ancient people. Already in classical Latin the meaning was extended to denote the manner of expressing one's ideas in written or oral form. Jonathan Swift defined style as "proper words in proper places". In present day English the word "style" is used in about a dozen of principle meanings: 1. the characteristic manner in which a writer expresses his/her ideas (e.g. style of Byron) 2. the manner of expressing ideas, characteristic of a literary movement or period 3. the use of language typical of a literary genre (e.g. the style of a comedy, drama, novel). 4. the selective use of language that depends on spheres / areas of human activity (e.g. style of fiction, scientific prose, newspapers, business correspondence, etc.). STYLISTICS Stylistics is the study of style. The very term "stylistics" came in more com
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