Chapter-2-The-Development-of-the-English-Vocabular

Chapter2TheDevelopmentoftheEnglishVocabularyItisestimatedthatthereareabout5000languagesallovertheworld,whichcanbegroupedintoabout300languagefamilies,suchasSino-TibetanFamily,Indo-EuropeanFamilyandsoon.ChineseisamemberintheSino-TibetanFamily,whileEnglishisamemberintheIndo-EuropeanFamily,whichhostsmostlanguagesofEurope,theNearEast,andIndia.ThebranchofIndo-EuropeanthatincludesEnglishiscalledtheGermanicgroup.TheEnglishpeopleareofamixedblood.TheearlyinhabitantsoftheislandwenowcalledEnglandwereCeltsorBritons.In55B.C.BritainwasinvadedbytheRomanconquerorJuliusCaesar.In410A.D.alltheRomantroopsreturnedtotheContinent,thusendingtheRomanoccupationofBritain.AtthebeginningofthefifthcenturyBritainwasinvadedbythreetribesfromNorthernEurope:theAngles,SaxonsandJutes.Thesethreetribesmergedintoonepeople.Andthethreedialectstheyspokenaturallygrewintoasinglelanguage--theEnglishlanguage.ThehistoryoftheEnglishlanguageisdividedintothreeperiods：TheOldEnglish(450-1100)TheMiddleEnglish(1100-1500)TheModernEnglish(1500-present)2.1TheOldEnglish(450-1100)ThehistoryoftheEnglishlanguagebeginswiththeconquestandsettlementofwhatisnowEnglandbytheAngles,Saxons,andtheJutesfromabout450AD.ThelanguagetheyspokewasAnglo-Saxon,whichreplacedtheCelticspokenbytheformerinhabitantsCelts.TheOEvocabulary,estimatedatthesizeof50,000to60,000words,isalmostpurelyGermanic.Althoughsome85%ofitisnolongerinuse,thosethatsurviveallbelongtothebasicwordstockofModernEnglish.OwingtotheChristianizingofBritainandtheVikings’invasionsoftherelativelyfewborrowingsaremainlyLatinandScandinavian.Some500Latinwords,manyofwhichhavetodowithreligiouslife(candle,amen,apostle,altar…)appearinEnglishwritings.Atleast900everydaywordsofScandinavianorigin(skill,skirt,egg,get,they,leg…)havesurvivedinModernStandardEnglish.2.2TheMiddleEnglish(1150-1500)TheMiddleEnglishperiodisfrom1100to1500.ThemostimportanteventtoaffectthehistoryofEnglish,theNormanConquest(1066),tookplaceattheendoftheOldEnglishperiod.ThebigchangesthatthisinvasionproducedintheEnglishsocietywereaccompaniedbyequaleffectsinthevocabularyofMiddleEnglish.Aftertheirvictoryin1066attheBattleofHastingsunderWilliamtheConqueror,theNormansquicklyassumedleadershipandprivilegeinEngland.TheNormanswereoriginallyVikings—theirnamecomesfromNorthman(i.e.,‘Norse’).Inasense,theNormanConquestcanbeseenasyetanotherGermanicinvasion.Buttherewasadifferencethistime.TheNormanshadearlierbeengiventhecontrolofalargepieceoflandalongthenortherncoastofFrance—Normandy.AsFrenchsubjects,theyhadadoptedFrenchculture.SothelanguagetheybroughtwiththemwasnotaGermaniclanguage,butFrench.TheNormanFrenchimposedanewpoliticalandculturallifeonthelandofAnglo-Saxon,andchangedgreatlythedevelopmentoftheEnglishlanguage.TheNormanConquestvirtuallyintroducedFrench-EnglishbilingualismintoEngland.TheEnglishweredefeated,butnotkilledoff,norweretheydrivenfromtheircountry.Theywerereducedtothestatusofaninferiorpeople.NormanFrenchbecamethepolitespeech.TheNormandialectofFrenchbecamethelanguageoftheupperclass,whileEnglishcompletelylostitsscholarlyandliteraryimportance,andwasusedonlybythepeasantsandpeopleoftheworkingclass.Bytheendofthe11thcentury,almostallofthepeoplewhoheldpoliticalorsocialpowerandmanyofthoseinpowerfulchurchpositionswereofNormanFrenchorigin.ThisresultedinamassiveborrowingofFrenchwordsintoEnglishvocabularyBytheendofthe13thcentury,Englishgraduallycamebackintotheschools,thelawcourts,andgovernmentandregainedsocialstatusthankstoWyclifftranslationoftheBibleandthewritingsofChaucer.Between1250and1500about9,000wordsofFrenchorigin(state,power,prince,duke,pork,bacon,fry,coat,dress,mercy,peace…)pouredintoEnglish.Wecanfindwordsrelatingtoeveryaspectofhumansociety.2.3ModernEnglish(1500-uptonow)EarlymodernEnglishperiod(1500-1700)ModernEnglishbeganwiththeestablishmentofprintinginEngland.IntheearlyperiodofModernEnglish,EuropesawanewupsurgeoflearningancientGreekandRomanclassics.ThisisknowninhistoryastheRenaissance.ThankstotheRenaissance(early14thC-1650),greatnumbersofLatinandGreekwordswereaddedtoEnglish.LatinandGreekwererecognizedasthelanguagesoftheWesternworld’sgreatliteraryheritageandofgreatscholarship.ScholarstranslatedliteraturefromLatinandGreekintoEnglish,soover10,000Latin(focus,status,bonus,genius,criteria,species…)andGreekwords(democracy,logic,philosophy,astronomy,mathematics,alphabet,drama,grammar,poem,chaos,method,mystery…)enteredtheEnglishlanguage.LatemodernEnglishperiod(1700-present)ThiswasatimeofstabilizingandpurifyingtheEnglishlanguage.SamuelJohnsoneditedADictionaryoftheEnglishLanguage(1755),settingstandardsforusingEnglishwordsinspelling,meaningandusage.Inthemid-seventeenthcentury,EnglandexperiencedBourgeoisRevolutionfollowedbytheIndustrialRevolutionandrosetobeagreateconomicpower.Withthegrowthofcolonization,Britishtentaclesbeganstretchingouttoeverycorneroftheglobe,absorbingwordsfromallmajorlanguagesoftheworld.The19thand20thcenturiessawanunprecedentedgrowthinscientificvocabularyasaconsequenceoftheindustrialrevolutionandthescientificexplorationanddiscovery.Sincethebeginningofthelastcentury,especial