A N D R E Y K U Z N E T S O V 1 S T E N G L I S H T E A C H E R S ’ G R O U P

THE NATURE OF THE ENGLISH LEXICON

PLAN OF MY REPORT

• Abbreviation and its types• Old English Vocabulary• Middle English Vocabulary• Lexical Invasions• Proper names• Some statistics about lexical items in professions • Shekspeare and his incidence on English lexicon• The sources of the lexicon (foreign borrowings)• Lexical structure (parts of the word). Compound

words • Literary Neologizing

ABBREVIATION AND ITS TYPES

Initialisms MP, BBC, DJ, USA

Acronymes NATO, UNESCO

Clippings Maths, gents, specs

Blends Eurovision, Heliport

Awkward cases UFO, CD ROM, BBC

Fecetous forms TGIF, AAA

OLD ENGLISH VOCABULARY

• Caedmon extract• Unfamiliar spelling• Unexpected inflections• Kennings

CAEDMON EXTRACT

nu scylun hergan hefaenricaes uardmetudæs maecti end his modgidancuerc uuldurfadur swe he uundra gihwaeseci dryctin or astelidæhe aerist scop aelda barnumheben til hrofe haleg scepen.tha middungeard moncynnæs uardeci dryctin æfter tiadæfirum foldu frea allmectig

Now [we] must honour the guardian of heaven,the might of the architect, and his purpose,the work of the father of glory as he, the eternal lord, established the beginning of wonders;he first created for the children of men

heaven as a roof, the holy creatorThen the guardian of mankind,the eternal lord, afterwards appointed the middle earth,the lands for men, the Lord almighty.

MIDDLE ENGLISH VOCABULARY

LEXICAL INVASIONS

1. Early latin loans (before 1000)Epistula –epistol (letter)Fenestra- fenester (window)Planta –plant (plant)2. Late latin loans (after 1000)Grammatica –grammaticMechanicus –mechanicsPhilosophus –philosophNorse effectAgain anger bag bank bath kid knife law

PROPER NAMES

• White house• William the Conqueror• Communite Party

SOME STATISTICS ABOUT LEXICAL ITEMS IN PROFESSIONS

• 10 000 -12 000 words postgraduated pupil• 20 000 -25 000 words college graduated student• 31 500 –office secretary• 63 000 – a business woman• 56 250-a voracious reader

SHEKSPEARE AND HIS INCIDENCE ON ENGLISH LEXICON

• 29 066 different word combinations • 884 647 total amount of words

THE SOURCES OF THE LEXICON (FOREIGN BORROWINGS)

• Anglosaxon vocabulary• Celts (Bishop, church, priest, school, giant,

lobster) • Scandinavian invasion (dirt egg, kid, leg, skin,

sky)• Latin and french language (philosopher)

LEXICAL STRUCTURE (PARTS OF THE WORD). COMPOUND WORDS.

• Suffixes: -tion, -ship, -ness, -able, -ery, -ese, -ling, -like • Types of prefixes: 1) Negation (a-, dis-, in-, non-, un- )2) Reversal (de-, dis-,un-)3) Disparaging (mal-, mis-, pseudo-)4) Size and degree (arch-, co-, hyper-, )5) Orientation (anti-, auto-, contra-, counter-, pro-)6) Location and distance (extra-, fore-, inter-, intra-, pan-, super-, tele-, trans-)7) Number (bi-, demi-, di-, mono-, multi-, semi-, tre-)

LITERARY NEOLOGIZING

• Elements of foreign languages • Wide range of classical alllusions owl-light half-

way house

ADDITIONAL MATERIALS

• David Crystal The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language • http://www.lingvotech.com/zaimstvovaniya• http://www.bestreferat.ru/referat-39543.html

Thank you for your atttention