欢迎来到天天文库
浏览记录
ID:253669
大小:90.50 KB
页数:6页
时间:2017-07-14
《The Development of English Vocabulary英语论文》由会员上传分享,免费在线阅读,更多相关内容在学术论文-天天文库。
1、TheDevelopmentofEnglishVocabularyBroadlyspeaking,allthewordsinalanguagetogetherconstitutewhatisknownasitsvocabulary.Justasabuildingcannotbeconstructedwithoutthebuildingmaterials,nolanguageisconceivablewithoutvocabulary.Inthestudyofwords,itisimportanttoknowabouttheoriginandgrowthoft
2、hevocabulary.TheEnglishlanguageisnotthelanguageoftheearlyinhabitantsoftheBritishIsles.Wheredoesitcomefrom?WhyisitknownasEnglish?InwhatwayisEnglishrelatedtootherlanguages?HowmanyperiodsisEnglishbeendivided?Howhasitdevelopedintowhatisnowagreatlyhugemodernvocabulary?Thisarticlewillgiv
3、eanswerstothesequestions.Itisassumedthattheworldhasapproximately3000languages,whichcanbegroupedintoroughly300languagefamiliesonthebasisofsimilaritiesintheirbasicwordstockandgrammar.TheIndo-Europeanisoneofthem.EnglishisthemostimportantlanguageintheIndo-European.Thestudyofthehistoric
4、aldevelopmentoftheEnglishvocabularyshouldnotbetreatedinisolationfromthegrowthoftheEnglishlanguageitself.ThehistoryoftheEnglishlanguagebeginswiththeconquestandsettlementofwhatisnowEnglandbytheAngles,SaxonsandtheJutesfromabout450AD.ThelanguagetheyspokewasAngloSaxon,whichreplacedtheCe
5、lticspokenbytheformerinhabitants.Thenextsevenhundredyears(449-1100)areknownastheOldEnglish(OE)orAnglo-Saxon(AS)periodoftheEnglishlanguage.ThevocabularyofOldEnglishcontainssomefiftyorsixtythousandwords,whichwerechieflyAnglo-SaxonwithasmallmixtureofOldNorsewordsasaresultoftheScandina
6、vianortheDanishconquestsofEnglandintheninthcentury.Besidesthese,longbeforetheirinvasionofEnglandtheAnglesandSaxonshadhadvariouscontactswithRomans,throughwhichtheyborrowedaconsiderablenumberofLatinwords.Duringmostofthisperiodthecaseendingsofthenoun,theadjective,andtheconjugationofth
7、everbwerenotwakened.ThetransitionalperiodfromOldEnglishtoModernEnglishisknownasMiddleEnglish(ME1100-1500),whichischaracterbythestronginfluenceofFrenchfollowingtheNormanConquestin1066.SincetheFrench-speakingNormansweretherulingclass,Frenchwasusedforallstateaffairsandformostsocialand
8、culturalmatters;butthemass
此文档下载收益归作者所有