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MODERN ENGLISH VOCABULARY

The vocabulary is changing quickly. Many new words are formed to express new notions, which are numerous. Ways of enriching the vocabulary:

1. inner means (conversion: hand => to hand);

2, outer means. The sources here are numberless, as the English have not only direct, but also indirect (through books, later — TV, radio, films) contacts with all the world. In the beginning of the Early New English (15th—16thcentury) — the epoch of the Renaissance — there are many borrowings from Greek, Italian, Latin. The ,17th century is the period of Restoration =>.borrowings come to the English language from French (a considerable number of these words being brought by Charles II and his court). In the 17th century the English appear in America => borrowings from the Indians' languages are registered. In the 18 century the English appear in India => borrowings from this source come to the English language (but these words are not very frequent, for they denote some particular reality of India, ex.: curry). In the 19 century the English colonisers appear in Australia and New Zealand => new borrowings follow (kangaroo).At the end of the 19th—beginning of the 20th century the English appear in Africa, coming to the regions formerly colonised by the Dutch => borrowings from Afrikaans and Dutch appear. Old English and Middle English Russian borrowings are scarce — the contacts between the countries and their peoples were difficult. In New English there are more borrowings: sable (very dark), astrakhan, mammoth; in the 20lh century — soviet, kolkhoz, perestroika, etc.

 

28. ETHYMOLOGICAL STRATA IN MODERN ENGLISH

The English vocabulary of today reflects as no other aspect of the language the many changes in the history of the people and various contacts which the English speakers had with many nations and countries. The long and controversial history of the people is reflected in its vocabulary and especially in the number of loan words in it, different in origin and time of their entering the language and the circumstances under which the acquisition of the foreign element took place. So large is the number of foreign words in English that it might at first be supposed that the vocabulary has lost its Germanic nature. However, the functional role of the native element: the lotions expressed by native words, their regularity and frequency of occurrence, lack of restrictions to their use in written and oral speech of different functional styles, proves that the Germanic element still holds a fundamental place, and the English vocabulary should be called Germanic. English native words form two ethymological strata: the Common Indo-European stratum and the Common Germanic stratum.


Date: 2015-01-12; view: 2690


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