Old spelling Latin form New spelling

sutel subtilis subtle

egal eqaulis equal

dette debitum debt

doute dubito doubt

As we can see, in some words, due to etymological consideration, there appeared a consonant which nevertheless was not reflected in pronunciation.

In some cases the etymology was erroneous. Thus, in the word iland (from OE i3land) letter s was inserted by analogy with the word isle (from Fr. isle). OE rīm (rhyme) got such a form by analogy of the word rhythm typical of loanwords from OGrm.

17-18^th centuries is the period of French loanwords, characterized by their preservation of pronunciation and accent typical for French: ballet, machine, bouquet, buffet, etc.

17-18^th centuries is also the period of colonial expansion: control of seas, acquisition of colonies throughout the world (Bermuda, Jamaica, Bahamas, Honduras, Canada, American colonies, India, Gambia, Gold Coast, Australia, New Zealand). This led to a great number of loanwords from non-Indo-European languages, spread of English around the world.

LOANWORDS:

From Latin and Greek: anonymous, appropriate, atmosphere, autograph, catastrophe, climax, delirium, emphasis, encyclopedia, enthusiasm, exact, exaggerate, expectation, expensive, explain, external, fact, impersonal, relaxation, scheme, skeleton, soda, species, system, etc.

From or via French anatomy, battery, bizarre, chocolate, colonel, comrade, detail, entrance, equip, explore, invite, moustache, passport, pioneer, ticket, vase, volunteer, etc.

From or via Italian balcony, carnival, cupola, design, lottery, macaroni, opera, solo, sonata, sonnet, soprano, violin, volcano

From or via Spanish or Portuguese alligator, apricot, banana, barricade, canoe, cockroach, cocoa, guitar, hurricane, maize, mosquito, mulatto, Negro, potato, sombrero, tobacco, etc.

From other languages bamboo, ketchup (Malay), bazaar, caravan, turban (Persian), coffee, yoghurt kiosk (Turkish), cruise, easel, knapsack, landscape, yacht (Dutch), curry (Tamil), flannel (Welsh), guru (Hindi), harem (Arabic), troll (Norwegian), trousers ( Irish Gaelic), etc.

The principal distinction between early- and late-modern English is vocabulary. Pronunciation, grammar, and spelling are largely the same, but Late-Modern English has much more words. These words are the result of the rise of technological society. This necessitated new words for things and ideas that had not previously existed.

The industrial and scientific revolutions created a need for neologisms to describe new creations and discoveries. For this, English relied heavily on Latin and Greek. Words like oxygen, protein, nuclear, and vaccine did not exist in the classical languages, but they were created from Latin and Greek roots.

This burst of neologisms is continuing today, perhaps most visibly in the field of electronics and computers, e.g. byte, cyber-, bios, hard-drive, and microchip.

Finally, the 20th century saw two world wars, and the military influence on the language during the latter half of this century has been great. Before the Great War, military service for English-speaking persons was rare; both Britain and the United States maintained small, volunteer militaries. Military slang existed, but with the exception of nautical terms, rarely influenced Standard English. During the mid-20th century, however, virtually all British and American men served in the military. Military slang entered the language like never before. Blockbuster, camouflage, radar, roadblock and landing strip are all military terms that made their way into Standard English.

American English. Also significant at around 1600 AD was the English colonization of North America and the subsequent creation of a distinct American dialect. Some pronunciations and usages "froze" when they reached the American shore. In certain respects, American English is closer to the English of Shakespeare than modern British English is. Some "Americanisms" that the British decry are actually originally British expressions that were preserved in the colonies while lost at home (e.g., fall as a synonym for autumn, trash for rubbish, frame-up which was reintroduced to Britain through Hollywood gangster movies, and loan as a verb instead of lend).

The American dialect also served as the route of introduction for many native American words into the English language. Most often, these were place names like Mississippi, Roanoke, and Iowa. Indian-sounding names like Idaho were sometimes created that had no native-American roots. But names for other things besides places were also common. Raccoon, tomato, canoe, barbecue, savanna have native American roots, although in many cases some original Indian words were mangled almost beyond recognition.

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 1017