论英语中的外来词汇

论英语中的外来词汇 On Loanwords in English _____________________ _____________________ ____ _ __________ The Loanwords in English , 1 2 3 4 Crystal, D. English as a Global Language. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, 2001 Ellis, R. The Study of Second Language Acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994 Kachru, B. The Other Tongue: English Cross Culture. Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 1992 , 1989 1998 (3)6~14 , 2006 , 1993 (4)7~9 5 80% , : , , 6 ABSTRACT English is the most extensive language in the world because of the Loanwords. Loanwords are the words in English language, which originate in foreign language. It is reported that 80 percent of English words are Loanwords so that English language is the intersection of all kinds of languages. A language is not isolated, and it develops with the cultural exchanges. The history of English shows that the Loanwords are from Scandinavian, French, Latin, Greek, Chinese, Italian, German, Japanese and so on. In the paper, the development of Loanwords in English is divided into three periods: Anglo-Saxon period, Middle English period, Modern English period, and analyses the ways of borrowing. Moreover, the paper declares the influence of Loanwords, that is, it not only makes the English language abundant, but also has an effect on pronunciation, semantics, grammar, morphology, and syntax. The existence of Loanwords reflects the connection among the cultures of different countries and makes English an international language. Now the Loanwords have entered into all the aspects of English, and play an important role in English. Therefore, it will be helpful for people to better understand the culture, people and society of England in the process of study the Loanwords in English. KEY WORDS LoanwordsEnglishBorrowingElements 7 Contents Introduction………………………………………………….…………...(9) Chapter One The Development of Loanwords in English……….…...… .(10) 1.1 Anglo-Saxon period…………………………...…………….......(10) 1.2 Middle English period…………………………………….....….....(10) 1.3 Modern English period……………………….…………......…......(11) Chapter Two The Borrowing of Loanwords in English……………….….…(12) 2.1 Causes of borrowing into English………………………….....….(12) 2.2 The ways of English borrowing……………….….………….......(12) ……………………..…..(12) 2.2.1 Direct borrowing…………….… 2.2.2 Indirect borrowing…………………………………….…..(13) 2.3 The influence of the Loanwords in English….………………..….(14) 2.3.1 The influence on pronunciation………………………….….(14) 2.3.2 The influence on semantics……………………..………......(14) 2.3.3 The influence on grammar…………………..………………(14) Chapter Three The Foreign Elements in the English Vocabulary………….(16) 3.1 The Scandinavian element in the English vocabulary………........(16) 3.2 The French element in the English vocabulary……………..…….(17) 3.3The Latin element in the English vocabulary……………….…….(19) 3.3.1 The zero period of Latin influence……………..………....(19) 3.3.2 The first period of Latin influence…………………….….(19) 3.3.3 The second period of Latin influence……………….……(19) 3.3.4 The third period of Latin influence…………….…...........(20) 3.3.5 The fourth period of Latin influence……………….……..(20) 3.4 The Greek element in the English vocabulary…………….…...….(21) 3.5 The interrelation between the native and foreign elements in the English vocabulary………...........................................................................(21) Conclusion………………………………………………….……………..…..(23) Acknowledgements………………………………………………...…………(24) Bibliography………………………………………………………...………...(25) 8 Introduction According to its origin, the English vocabulary is composed of two major elements, that is, the native element and the foreign element. Loanwords refer to the foreign element. A loanword, according to Webster‘s college dictionary, can be defined as a word in one language that has been borrowed from another language and usually naturalized. It is true that the native element should be the first point for the study of the English vocabulary, because it is the fundamental part. But it cannot overshadow the effect and importance of foreign element the Loanwords in English, which can be viewed from these two angles: the quantity of Loanwords in English vocabulary and the fields they cover. Loanwords have an extensive share in the English vocabulary, in fact, more than seventy per cent of the English vocabulary is composed of Loanwords, and only less than thirty per cent is composed of native words. As the English vocabulary might be much larger than any other one in the world, it can be imagined how huge the number should be. Meanwhile, Loanwords have a powerful influence on the English vocabulary. The time of Loanwords came into English could be divided into Anglo-Saxon period, Middle English period, and modern English. In Anglo-Saxon period, Roman culture enters into England, when Christianity is introduced into England. So many Latin words were borrowed. In Middle English period, Norman conquest is the event which led to a large number French words coming into England and becoming English period, Renaissance is a new factor for some Latin and Greek words entering into English vocabulary. Moreover, the development of science and two world wars also promoted the expansion of Loanwords in English is the result of culture communication and the war. English can adopt the foreign words directly, but usually English borrow foreign words though the ways of changing affix translation-loan and semantic borrowing, and changing them into another form in order to be accepted by people easily. The influence of Loanwords in English is mainly on the aspects of pronunciation, semantics and grammar. The influence on pronunciation creates many phonemes, and the influence 9 of semantics creates many synonyms, and both make the expressions of English diversified. Those Loanwords are coming from different fields, like connected wit government, religion, law, army, food. It is obvious that the Loanwords have affected every side of English. 10 Chapter OneThe Development of Loanwords in English As known to all, the earliest English belongs to Celtic, one of the Anglo-Saxons. At that time, there are about 50000 to 60000 words in the old English, now it grows to 1 million, many of which are Loanwords. Analyzing the historical development of the English language, the time of borrowing words are divided into 3 periods, those 3 periods also could be considered the periods of culture invasion, those are Anglo-Saxon English period, middle English period, and modern English period. 1.1 Anglo-Saxon period Anglos, Saxons and Jutes occupied England and settled down, and their language replaced the local language, which was only saved some words about place names, like London, The Thames River, Ben Nevis. At that time, the number of vocabulary is fifty thousand to sixty thousand. After the two historical events, many Loanwords appear in the English .One is that Christianity is introduced into England. In 597AD, a pastor came into England to preach, and Roman culture spread in England though Christianity. During all this time, Latin words were borrowed by English language. Because many new conceptions that followed in the train of the new religion would naturally demand express and would at times find the resources of the language inadequate. Latin was immediately adopted like abbot, altar, disciple, candle and so on. The other one is the Scandinavian invasions of England .The Scandinavian invaded the England, then settled down and lived with Englishman. Later, they gave up their language, but they still kept some Loanwords like they, theirs, scrape, skirt, sky and so on. 1.2 Middle English period In the period, the greatest effect on the Loanwords were Norman Conquest, After the 11 Norman conquest in 1066, the government and church were controlled by Norman, who obtruded culture on Englishman, and requested people use French in the important areas, so that people can not speak English in public. So at this time, a number of French Loanwords came to the fore. The number of those loan words is huge, and the covering field is large, for example, there are judge, state relating to law and government, baptism, confess, divine, sermon are relate to religion, victory conquer are relate to military, coat, dress robe are relate to daily, beef, pork, dinner are relate to food. Beauty, image, design are relating to art. 1.3 Modern English period In the early stage of modern English, the Renaissance is the new factor for Loanwords entering into English vocabulary. In order to oppose feudal culture of Middle age, laying stress on study culture of ancient Roman and Greek, large numbers of loan words from Latin, Greek and Italian spread into England, and promoted the development of English language. Among them, most of loan words are from Latin concerning with the academic words, like education, tuberculosis, civil, mass, palm, science. Some Loanwords from Greek are about literature and technical, e.g. drama, comedy, tragedy, criterion. Some from Italy is concern with music, art, build, e.g. concert duct, piano, studio, dome. From 20 century, the science develops rapidly. After the world war, the relationship among the countries is close, and they have chances to exchange culture. Though the speed of borrowing was slow, borrowing is still an important way to develop English vocabulary. 12 Chapter Two The Borrowing of Loanwords in English 2.1 Causes of borrowing into English Though reading the history of English, it is easy to find two causes of borrowings into English: historical factor and social factor. Historically, on one hand, English shares with West Germanic languages many common words and similar grammatical structures; on the other hand, more than half of the English vocabulary is derived form Latin. Some of those borrowings like have been direct, but a great many came though French as well as other Romance languages, like Italian, Spanish and Portuguese. The influence of foreign languages on the English language has been the result of the succession of invaders who came into contact with the English people during the Middle Ages, on one hand. On the other hand, they have carried English to most parts of the world and at the same time brought many words from foreign languages into English. Socially, as the word develops so does the English language. Especially in the twentieth century, owing to the rapid development of the modern mass media, and the international and cultural exchange a great number of borrowed words have come into English. They have become an essential component part of the English vocabulary to satisfy needs of society. 2.2 The ways of English borrowing 2.2.1 Direct borrowing Direct borrowing is to borrow from the foreign language without any change of the foreign sound and spelling. Due to the differences of custom and life, among the counties, there is some sin English language. So those words become English directly. For example, ―salad‖ originated in France, and this dish doesn‘t exist in Britain, and English language also does not have this word to express this meaning. So English absorbs this word directly. 13 There are some other examples, opera and piano originate in Italy before opera and piano come to England, so English absorb them without any change. Kowtow coming from China and beer coming from German are taken in English through the way. 2.2.2 Indirect borrowing Indirect borrowing is words borrowed from a foreign language with a transformation of the foreign sound and spelling into native forms. One case is giving up the suffix or changing the suffix like consult (-are) exotic (-us), while another case is loan blending, that is to say some Loanwords confirm to native words even in adoption of English affix, suffix or prefix, e.g. Faultless. Fault is French word and – less is an English suffix, eventful. Event is a Latin word and -ful is an English suffix, talkative. Talk is an English word, and –ative is a Latin suffix. Translation-loans are words borrowed from foreign languages by means of transition. It may find Translation-loans in English compounds. Sometimes English compounds are borrowed from other languages, but their components are translated into English. These are called loan-translations or Translation-loans. The compound black humor, for instance is a translation loan from French humor noir .The Translation-loans found ―object‖ comes from French object trouve; sometimes only a part of a compound is borrowed from a foreign language .The compound auteur theory is a typical example, which is borrowed from French ―politique des anteurs‖. Words that have acquired a new meaning under the influence of other languages are called semantic borrowing. The word ―bloom‖ meaning flower came from Scandinavian ―blom‖, which meant ―flower bloom‖. The meaning of the Modern English word bloom was borrowed from the Scandinavian word ―blom‖. So was the word ―gift‖. The Old English word ―gift‖ meant ―the price of a wife‖ while the Scandinavian, word ―gift‖ meant gift present. The word has acquired a new 14 meaning under the influence of the Scandinavian language. 2.3 The influence of the Loanwords in English. Loanwords in English influence the language greatly. Besides enriching English Loanwords affect English language on pronunciation, semantics and grammar. 2.3.1 The influence on pronunciation In a view of absorbing among French words. In those words has a two. Consonant [v] and [3] which didn‘t exist in English before; moreover consonant [f] and [v] isn‘t distinguished by a strict demand that [v] is a morph of [f] when f in the prefix pronounces [f], between two. ―V‖ in vowels is [v], later because the Loanwords from French have some words with the prefix [v] like veel, in which [v] because a style phoneme. 2.3.2 The influence on semantics A large number of Loanwords are absorbed by English languages, which there are obviously a lot of homograph and homonym. The example is ―fair‖, which in old English means beautiful, attractive, but in Latin means periodical gathering for the sale of goods. So ―fair‖ in English have those two meanings. At the same time a large number of synonyms appear. The meaning of great physical or mental strength in English is said ―weight‖ while Loanwords from French are ―power‖. So does the mean of ―understanding‖. In English is ―know‖ while the French is ―perceive‖. Generally speaking, the native English is colloquialism and those words are often Anglo-Saxon words. The Loanwords from French are solemn and elegant and the loan words from Latin are written forms. For example, in an informal occasion, we can say ―I went down the high street to the north‖, but in the formal occasion, it should say ―I proceeded down the high street on the northern direction‖ ―Went‖ is an old English word while ―proceed‖ is a Latin word. There are some synonyms as follow: 15 Anglo-Saxon word French word Latin word Ask Question Interrogate Time Age Epoch Rise Mount Ascend 2.3.3 The influence on grammar The influence on grammar is mainly embodied on morphology and syntax. Suffix is often borrowed in Loanwords, the example is that, the noun suffix –ation and –ment, prefix sub- and re- are from Norman the suffix anti- from Greece and the prefix de- from Latin. As personal pronouns like ―their‖ and ―them‖ are from Denmark instead of ―here‖ and ―hem‖ which are old English. Because borrowing, the structure of sentence has a great change. The sentence is longer on one hand like the which, for the which, wherein, wherefore are very often, used to lead a new clause. In the middle time, many articles are translated from French directly. So the version is still use the structure of syntax of French on the other hand. In the renaissance, many English men like to imitate the structure of syntax of Latin, the feature of it is the clause is overtopped and tight but is too long. So the structure of syntax of Latin is also affect the English language in some way. 16 Chapter Three The Foreign Elements in the English Vocabulary There are many foreign elements in English vocabulary. This thesis describes the following foreign elements. 1) The Scandinavian element; 2) The French element; 3) The Latin element; 4) The Greek element; 3.1 The Scandinavian element in the English vocabulary Towards the end of the eighth century, the Danes appeared in England, first as raiders, then as conquerors and settlers. At that time the country was divided, the northern half being ruled by the Danes, the southern half by the Anglo-Saxons. The English King Alfred the Great obliged to recognize the Danish rule over the territory covering two thirds of modern England. In 1016, after Alfred‘s death, a Danish King, Canute, became King of all England as well as of Denmark and Norway. The language spoken by the Danes was similar to the language of England. Words like come, father, grass, house, lend, man, mother, ride, see, summer, think, town, tree, wife, will, winter and many others were common to both languages. Though the words were similar, the endings were different. It may cite a few examples to distinguish Scandinavian words from native English words. In Old English, the sound sk was first pronounced as sh, bur written as sc, whereas in the Scandinavian languages it was pronounced and written as a hand sk sound. However, native words borrowed from Scandinavian are still pronounced with same way, the hard pronunciation of letters ?k‘ and ?g‘ in such words as egg, kid, get, gild, give, etc. is a sign of Scandinavian origin. 17 An interesting feature of the language is a number of Danish forms existing side by side with the English forms in the English vocabulary, e.g. English Danish blossom bloom drop drip from fro no nay rear raise shirt skirt sit seat The Scandinavian words that made their way into English were not only nouns, adjectives, but also pronouns, prepositions, adverbs, and verbs. Here a brief list of the Scandinavian borrowings is given below, Nouns: birth, gap, guess, guest, leg, score, sister, and skill. Adjectives: fast, flat, ill, low, sly, thick, tight, ugly, and weak. Pronouns: both, some, their, them, they. Prepositions: fro, till. Adverbs: aloft, seemly. Conjunctions: though. Verbs: areto be, call, die, drown, get, give, lift, raise, scare, take. It should be noted that most of the Scandinavian borrowings belong to the colloquial language. These words have become the common core of the English vocabulary. They suggest the familiar character of the words. 3.2 The French element in the English vocabulary When in January 1066, Edward the Confessor died childless. England was again faced with the choice of a successor. The day after Edward‘s death Harold was elected king. William, the Duke of Normandy, however, was a second cousin to the late king. While William was on a visit to England, Edward had promised him that he should succeed him. Only by force, then, could William hope to obtain the England crown. The battle of Hastings fought in 1066, resulted in the defeat of the Anglo-Saxon army. While William won the battle of Hastings, he had not yet succeeded to the English throne. It was only after he had burned and plundered the southeast of England that 18 the citizens of London decided that further resistance would be useless. At last, they surrendered and on Christmas Day 1066 William was crowned King of England. This is one of the most important events in the history of England. The conquerors became masters of the country for a long time and left a deep influence upon the English language. All the important places in the government, at the courts and in the churches were filled by French-speaking supporters of the conquerors. These conditions brought about by the upper classes of England, by landowners attached to the courts and in the counties. But the common people in England spoke English. Therefore England became a bilingual country at that time. The Normans belonged to a race of Scandinavian origin, but during the residence in Normandy they had given up their native language and had adopted the French dialect of that region. The Normans introduced into England a variety of the French language call it Norman-French, and the other variety is Parisian French. By the end of the thirteenth century Parisian French began to enter England, and more still in the fifteenth century. A large number of French words made their appearance in the works of Chaucer and other English writers, especially in many English writers, especially in many English translations of French literary works published at that time. The French influence on the English language brought about great changes in its grammar and vocabulary. The influence of the French language upon the English language is direct and evident. These two languages existed side by side for a long time in England, and the transference of French words into the English vocabulary could not be avoided. In fact, the number of French words that came into English was very great in the Middle English period and even after this period. As a linguist Henry Sweet said, the words came to English earliest are about living, like supper, money, fruit, and some words about rank, like noble, servant. It is show that French‘s living level is high. As the servant, Anglos and Saxons should know those words to serve Norman. Later, Loanwords about government, religion, army and other aspects came into England. For example, tax, peace, clergy and court. In the modern English Period, many French words were still borrowed into English, 19 like fiancée, rouge, etc. Most of them keep the character of French. 3.3 The Latin element in the English vocabulary The Latin element came into the English vocabulary at different times. There were influences of Latin in five stages English language. 3.3.1 The zero period of Latin influence The first Latin words to find their way into the English language owe their adoption to the early contact between the Romans and the Germanic tribes on the Continent .One of the most important branches of Roman commerce with the Tautens was the wine trade .The Latin name ―vinum‖ survives not only in the English ―wine‖ ,but also in Germanic ―wein‖ and the Scandinavian ―vin‖. Another Latin word, connected with trade ,was ―man-go‖ ;it survives in the English ―manger‖, which has now become a component part of such compoundsas costermonger(), ironmonger(), warmonger(). To this period the English vocabulary owes a number of Latin words relating to domestic life: cuppe (L.cuppa, cup), disc (L.discus, dish),line (L.linea, rope, line), and scaml (L.scamellum, bench). 3.3.2 The first period of Latin influence There was no opportunity for direct contact between Latin and Old England; so many Latin words came in through Celtic transmission. The Celtic word caster ,for instance ,which represents the Latin word castar (camp),forms a familiar element in English place-names such as Lancaster(), Manchester(), Winchester(), and many others. 3.3.3 The second period of Latin influence The greatest influence of Latin upon Old English was occasioned by the introduction of Christianity in 597 to the close of the Old English period is a stretch of over five hundred years. During this period Latin words had been making their way 20 gradually into the English language. A few words such as church and bishop were borrowed earlier. Many words were reintroduced later. The examples may be given in their modern forms. The list includes altar, angel, candle, discipline, mass, minister, nun, offer, organ, rule, temple and others. The church also exercised a profound influence on domestic life. This is seen in the adoption of many words such as box, cap, chest, lily, lobster, mat, pear, pine, plant, radish, sock, and silk. Among Latin loans of this period we also find such words as glass, grammatical, muster, meter, school, and verse. These words reflect another aspect of the church‘s influence. 3.3.4 The third period of Latin influence The influence of the Norman Conquest is generally known as the third period of the Latin influence. In fact, French words themselves are also looked upon as the Latin influence for their oaring. This period was especially prolific in Latin borrowings. A list of examples for direct borrowings from Latin is given below: abject(),allegory,contempt,genius, gesture, historyand many others. 3.3.5 The fourth period of Latin influence: The influence of the Renaissance on English was great and far-reaching in this period. The Latin words that were introduced at this time were often basic words—nouns, adjectives ,and verbs, like allusion(), expensive(), adapt(). A great many Latin abbreviations that are in common use today were introduced in this period, for instance: a.m. (ante meridiem) -----before noon cf. (confer) -----compare e.g. (exempli gratia) -----for example 21 etc. (et cetera) -----and so on i.e. (id est.)-----that is to say p.m. (post meridiem) -----afternoon pet. (per centum)-----per cent viz. (videlicet) -----that is to say, in other words v.v. (vice versa) -----the other way round 3.4 The Greek element in the English vocabulary The Greek element is an important element in the English. Vocabulary .The influx of Greek words into English began at the time of the Renaissance. Many Greek borrowings came in chiefly through the medium of Latin or French. Most of them are professional words, like hepatitis(), neurology(). There are many English words based on Greek roots in Modern English. Bio(life)-----biochemical(),biology, etc. Gam (marriage)-----bigamy,monogamy,polygamy , etc. Gen(to produce ,to give birth to)-----genesisgenuine , etc. Anthrop(man ,human)----anthropology,etc. Auto(self)-----autocrat, automobile, etc. Phone(voice)-----phonics, phonotactics ,etc. Photo(light)----photobiologist, photochemicaletc. 3.5 The interrelation between the native and foreign elements in the English vocabulary In book The Romance of Words Ernest Weekly wrote:‖ The bulk of our literary language is Latin and consists of words either borrowed directly or taken from ―learned‖ French forms. The everyday vocabulary of the less educated is of Old English, commonly called Anglo-Saxon.‖ This passage represents the views of some English linguists who overlook the 22 importance of native words in the English vocabulary. In fact, no language has so complex and varied a vocabulary as English. The English vocabulary has been adopted from more than fifty languages. As a cosmopolitan language English has no rival. That is to say, up to seventy percent of the English vocabulary consists of Loanwords, and only thirty percent are native words. In spite of large-scale borrowings, it is the native words that are from the basic stock of Modern English vocabulary. Although the actual number of native words is much smaller than the number of Loanwords in the English vocabulary, native words are used in everyday speech and writing more frequently than borrowed words. In the course of historical development borrowed words have extended the total number of the English vocabulary, and Latin or Greek roots, prefixes or suffixed have changed the structures of English words. 23 Conclusion Language is a tool of communication, originating and developing as the society develops. The base of language is the vocabulary that is dynamic and open. So it is an important way to develop by borrowing new words. With the development of society, new words and new concepts appear, and then English adopt them. So English is the most plentiful language in the world, which should attribute to Loanwords in English. Loanwords are the result of culture exchange and scientifically development, which make England understand the world more easily. The toleration makes England adopt the advanced theory in all aspects more directly. Because of this advantage, English has a leading function on adapting different languages, and English becomes a leading language in the international communication. At the same time, it also has brought ―the English hegemonism‖. It could be said that every country will be found the English words in the languages of their country. However, it should pay attention one point that a lot of Loanwords enter English, but English still keeps the characters of its own, and develops continuously. It does not change into another language. On one hand, the development of English is dialectical and English borrows the words from other languages to enrich itself. On the other hand, other nations also absorb the essence from English. The relationship among them is mutual promotion and development. Loanwords make great contribution to enrichment of English language while the English language makes greater contribution to world. As the development of society and science, the course of Loanwords in English is also go on, so it is essential to use a developing view to study the Loanwords in English, understand the history, culture, people, and society on the process of studying of Loanwords in English. 24 Acknowledgements First and foremost, my particular gratitude is due to my supervisor Lv Hui for her kindness in offering so many invaluable suggestions and materials and her painstaking correction of this paper, which has led to the improvement of the paper. Special thanks should go to all teachers who have taught me during my university life. Their courses are of great help during my writing and will benefit me for the rest of my life. And I also want to express my sincere thanks to all my friends and classmates who constantly extend their concern and suggestions to me. Last but not least, I am indebted to my family for their encouragement and understanding. 25 Bibliography Crystal, D. English as a Global Language. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, 2001 Ellis, R. The Study of Second Language Acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994 Kachru, B. The Other Tongue: English Cross Culture. Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 1992 , 1989 1998 (3)6~14 , 2006 , 1993 (4)7~9 26