New English vocabulary changes

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 388.

The changes in Syntax

Weak verbs

There was a tendency to greater regularity and order. The development of the inflexion –(e)de in Early NE shows the origins of the modern variants of the forms of the Past Tense and Participle II in standard verbs:

MENE

lookede /lokqdq/ looked /lHkqd/

wantede /'wantqdq/ wanted /wOntId/

1. The order Subject – Predicate – Indirect Object – Direct Object was established. Thus, the position of a noun in the structure of a sentence but not its case inflexion as in OE showed whether this noun is the subject or the object.

2. In most questions inversion became the rule (the verbs placed before the subject).

3. One of the characteristic features of the NE period was the development of structural substitutes (e.g. there, it, one, do). E.g. It is pleasant to dance.

4. The development and the extensive use of infinitive, gerund and participle complexes.

5. In the 16-17^th centuries the structure of the sentence became more complicated. In the 15-18^th centuries the number of coordinating connectives was almost doubled (and + in consequence, in fact, to conclude …, neither … nor).

The Renaissance was marked by a great influence of Latin and Greek on the English vocabulary. At this time thousands of Latin bookish words often scientific or technical terms like “formula, maximum, minimum, item, radius” were borrowed. Many words in –ate, -ute were assimilated (e.g. separate, irritate, execute, constitute).

There appeared Latin-French etymological doublets such as: pauper – poor, history – story, example – sample.

These are Latin-Latin doublets and even triplets. E.g. Latin “discus” (< Greek) is represented in English by “dish” (OE borrowing), “disk” (ME borrowing), disc and discus (NE borrowing)

Greek loans are even more specifically terminological. The names of most sciences are of Greek origin: mathematics, physics, botany, lexicology. Such words as synonym, antonym, metaphor, metonymy, archaism are also of Greek origin.

These are compounds that never existed in Greek but have been coined from Greek morphemes: telephone, microscope, photograph. One of the results of the Latin and Greek influence on the English vocabulary is the formation of numerous hybrids. Latin and Greek affixes were widely used with English roots: talkative, starvation, antiaircraft and English affixes with Latin or Greek roots: underestimate, unjust, membership, falsehood.

The influx of French borrowing continued through the New English period. In most cases these new loan-words are distinguishable from previous French borrowings by their phonetic and spelling peculiarities.

E.g. ME village, NE mirage

a) the stress shifted according to English accentuation

mi'rage – stress on the last syllable remained

b) g /G/ - typical English sound

/Z/ - French sound

E.g. bourgeois, regime, machine, chemise can be easily identified by spelling and pronunciation.

English borrowed much from other languages:

▪ Italian – mostly words relating to the arts: violin, portico, solo, ballerina, sonata, tempo but also ballot, manifesto, casino, algebra, zero, bankrupt.

▪ from Spanish and Portuguese: potato, cocoa, tobacco, cigar, canoe, embargo, contraband.

▪ Russian borrowings: tsar, duma, rouble, copeck, tundra, taiga, samovar, vodka, decembrist, bolshevik, Soviet, sputnik.

▪ from Dutch: dock, landscape, easel, sketch.

About 70% of all the words in an unabridged dictionary of Modern English are said to have been fully or partially borrowed from other languages.