The Development of English Vocabulary英语论文

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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