Free Essay

The Impact of English Loanwords on Russian Language

In: English and Literature

Submitted By yago
Words 3802
Pages 16
The impact of English loanwords on the Russian lexis for the recent decades

Introduction
Russian people for a long time have been involved into the political, commercial, scientific and cultural relations with other nations. At the same time the Russian language has been replenished with words from other languages. Loanwords from ancient languages Greek and Latin, words from Dutch, German, Polish, Ukraine and other languages mastered the Russian language in different historical periods without prejudice to its national identity, but rather enriched and expanded its range. Those words named new things, products, concepts, etc. Russian language vocabulary contains approximately 10% of borrowed words, most of which are nouns (Proshina (2006). Among those borrowings are many words from the English language. The most considerable penetration of English words in Russian language is observed in the late 80's - 90's of the last century with changes in political, economic, cultural and moral orientation of society.
The Reconstruction and the collapse of Soviet Union have brought considerable changes both as in foreign policy relations so as in the lexical sphere of Russian language. This period is characterized by the democratization of the socialist governance of the country to the Western model. The reconstruction in the political structure of governance had played an important role in the appearance of words such as: president, vice-president, minister, prime-minister, mayor, instead of secretar’, pomoshnik secretarya, predsedatel’, pomoshnik predsedatelya, glava administratsii. With the import of American goods, appearing ‘McDonalds’ many English words replaced the former French and German ones (make-up is now more frequent than maquillage; sandwich and hot dog is used instead of Butterbrod, etc.)
At the time of the Soviet Union, the main foreign languages being learned at schools were German and French, now they are displaced by English, which is not only the major foreign language at school but is considered to be a language for intercultural and international business communication. Many Foreign negotiations are conducted in English, which is labeled as lingua franca. For example Chinese-Russian or Japanese-Russian negotiations are not infrequently conducted in English (Proshina 2006).
High prestige of English words is revealed in a great number of Anglicized words in advertisement, brand names, company names, and others (A11, Hi-tech, Charmzone, Outhall, Pacific Tourservice, etc.). English words are associated with elite style, success, and progress (image-maker, gym, diving, weekend, shopping, engineering, consulting, training, player, etc.). English loans are used as euphemisms, often due to their greater prestige (for instance, office manager instead of secretary). It is interesting that one can see or hear obscene English-american words instead of Russian ones because they seem to be sound less insulting than similar Russian words. Academic Yevgeny Chelyshev, the Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, states that in the American word "killer" the negative assessment contained in the Russian word "ubiytsa" had blurred and the appearance of such kind of words is dangerous for the recipient language because it destroys its national basis. "Skazat’ cheloveku ty ubiytsa – eto vynesti emu surovy prigovor, a nazvat ego killerom – eto kak by prosto opredilit ego professiyu: «Ya - diller, ty - killer, oba vrode delom zanimayemsya…" [To tell a man "You're ubiytsa" - is to make him a harsh sentence, but to call someone a killer - is like just define his profession: "I am - a dealer, you – are the killer, we both have our business […]". www.allsoch.ru/.../7816-vhozhdenie-zaimstvovannyh-slov-v-leksiku... Certain English words are typical of various social groups. For instance, the slang of young people is abundant in English words, journalists spread new Anglicized words through mass media and professionals (businessmen, financiers, politicians, scholars, etc) are also responsible for disseminating of English borrowings. But the main issue is that the dissimilation of English words comes very fast and many of foreign words are not understandable for the Russian people, and it is sometimes accompanied by a distortion of their original meaning. Thus, the British word teenager - a young girl or a boy between 13 and 17 years old (Karantirov I. (2004), in Russian language is used not only in the sense of a teenager it gets more ‘mystery’ -"someone like a punk or a hippie."
"Teenager – dlinnye nogi, dlinnye volosy - prishel trudoustraivat’sya…"
["Teenager - long legs, long hair – is looking for a job [...]" (Golub 1997:64) Krysin (2000) argues that there are certain tendencies in accepting loans:
1) The older a speaker is, the less she or he patient to loanwords;
2) The more educated speaker, the easier she or he accepts borrowed words;
3) Professionals in the field of humanities are more tolerant toward English borrowings than those whose profession is not related to language and culture.
Therefore, this work is characterized by the cultural studies approach to the problem indicated in the title. The relevance is determined by the importance of English language in the life of Russian society. The object of my work is studying the borrowing English words in the modern Russian language for the recent decades. The object of the study is based on the observing of lexical items of English origin words and their derivatives. The purpose of the work is to determine the degree of influence of English on the Russian language and frequency of use of loan English words in the modern Russian language. The main tasks are following:
1. To determine the causes and stages of developing English loanwords in Russian language.
2. To consider the ways of formation of English loanwords.
3. To classify the most used English borrowings of the ХХ-XXI c., according to the fields of communication.
4. To select English names among Kaliningrad companies and enterprises, make conclusions.
5. To find out which English borrowings are used by students of 29 Kaliningrad Secondary school, Russia; find out the attitude of adults and adolescents towards the loanwords.
6. To present the results of the poll survey opinion. For the solving of the stated above problems I have been used the following methods and techniques:
1. The descriptive method with the methods of observation of linguistic phenomena.
2. Acceptance of the systematic and classification.
3. Poll survey opinion. The causes for borrowings from English Language
Loan words by definition that gives Vvedenskaya (1991: 38):
"Zaimstvovannye slova – inostrannye slova, polnostiyu voshli v leksicheskuyu sistemu russkogo yazyka. Oni priobreli leksicheskoe znachenie, foneticheskoe oformlenie, grammaticheskie priznaki russkogo yazyka, upotreblyayutsya v razlichnyh stilyah, pishutsya bukvami russkogo alfavita…"
"[…] loanwords are foreign words, fully included in the lexical system of the Russian language. They acquired the lexical meaning, phonetic processing and grammatical features of the Russian language, used in a variety of styles, written letters of the Russian alphabet […]".
The beginning of the penetration of English words in the Russian language is considered to be the middle XVI century (Aristov 1978: 24-87). August 24, 1553 the first ship of the English King Edward VI had come to anchor at the mouth of Northern Dvina. The aim of the expedition was to find new markets. Already in 1561, Ivan IV gave to the English merchants permission to come with goods to all Russian harbors freely.
Since the beginning of trade, relations between Russia and England also had been established very strong political and diplomatic relations. British ambassadors constantly were located in Moscow and Russian in London. Written by ambassadors reports are remarkable monuments of the first Anglo-Russian language contact. Already in those early documents there were many words of English origin.
With the accession to the throne of Peter the Great and his frequent trips abroad, learning of English language had acquired greater importance in Russia. Throughout the XVIII century Russian language had enriched with English loan words, mainly military and craft terms, names of some household items, new concepts in science and technology, maritime affairs, administration, art, etc. (a cutter, a fleet, a lacquer, a compass, a port, Midshipman, Captain, General, deserter , the cavalry, the office, the act, etc.) (D’yakov 2003:12)
During the reign of Catherine, In the XVIII century, had been founded translation company, where had been translated English books about agriculture, law, religion, history, the English way of life, fashion, etc.
The international prestige of England by the end of XVIII - beginning XIX century has increased significantly due to the rapid industrial development. That event had contributed to the flourishing of science and technology in England. The creation of a mechanical spinning wheel, "Jenny," the invention of the steam engine, the appearance of the first locomotives, railway construction and other achievements in England - had become known in Russia. The descriptions of technical inventions had appeared on a paper, their descriptions had been given in various magazines, which had been sold well in Russia. Thus, technical changes and scientific discoveries had produced a new influx of English words into Russian.
The collapse of the Soviet Union meant the destruction of obstacles which had been standing in the way of communicating with the Western world. Business, scientific, commercial and cultural relations intensified, foreign tourism blossomed, long work of Russian experts in the institutions of other countries and functioning the joint Russian-foreign enterprises on the territory of Russia have become commonplace. In an obvious way, that meant an intensification of communication of Russian native speakers with native speakers of other languages, which was crucial not only for the direct borrowing vocabulary from those languages, but also for introducing native Russian speakers to international (as established on the basis of English) terminology systems, in such areas as computer science, economics, finance, commerce, sports, fashion etc. Thus, in a professional environment the Russian language terms have appeared related to computer science: a computer, a display, a file, an interface, a printer and etc. (Krysin 2007). The names of sports: windsurfing, skateboarding, arm wrestling, kickboxing, freestyle. The additional time in the game of football or hockey is increasingly referred to as ‘overtime’; the repeated game after a has game drawn – ‘play-off; and even the traditional 'boyez' in kickboxing has replaced by English word ‘fighter’. (D’yakov A. 2003)
As we see the main reasons for penetrations of English words into the Russian language were:
• The expansion of international politic relations
• The development of the world market, economy, information technology • The increase of the business, trade, intercultural ties (sports competitions, show)
• The Increase of the tourism relations
• The prolonged work of Russian experts in the institutions of other countries
• The functioning joint Russian-foreign enterprises on the territory of Russia
• The emergence of the global Internet computer system. The ways of formation of borrowings
I used the classification of Sologub (2002).
1. Direct borrowing - a word is directly taken into one language from another with little or no translation (a weekend, money, negro, menu, disk, boyfriend, teenager, ).
2. Hybrids - are formed by joining to the root of borrowed word of Russian suffixes, prefixes and endings. There is often seen some differences in the meaning or the words, comparing to the source of language (askat’ – to ask, busit’ - busy, yusat’- to use, clevyi – clever, creativnyi – creative, interactivnyi - interactive).
3. Calque – loan translation is related to concept whereby it is the meaning or idiom that is borrowed rather than the lexical item itself ( perestoyka- reconstruction, neboscryob-skyscraper,)
4. Ekzotisms - words describe the specific national traditions of the other nations. They are used to describe the non-Russian reality. A distinctive feature of these words is that they have no Russian synonyms and have the same pronunciation. For example: chipsy (chips), hotdog (a hot-dog), pab (a pub),
5. Composites - words consist of two English words (second-hand – a chip shop for selling used clothes), (video salon - a room for watching movies), (body art - painting on the body).
6. Jargon words – the words, which appeared as a result of any sound distortion (krezanuty ‘crazy’) – strange).
The modern Anglicized words of the XX- XXI
Since the changes had occurred in political, economic and cultural life of Russians it is important to present English borrowings of the last decades according to the lexical-semantic-field of the use.
1. The socio-political vocabulary:
Before 1990 Now
Secretar’ (the secretary)
Predsedatel’ (the chairman)
Zamestitel’ predsedatelya
Glava goroda (the head of the city)
Verhovnyi sovet (The Supreme Council)
Covet Predsedateley
Rukovodstvo
Otdel
Veschatel’ Prezident – President
Minister- Minister
Vize-Primier –Vice Premier
Mer – mayor
Parlament – Parliament
Kabinet ministrov- The Cabinet of Ministers
Administraziya - Administration
Department – department,
The Speaker
With the development of science, economic, mass media, sport relationships in European countries, in Russian language came new words which labeled those concepts, so far they are accepted and widely used in the represented below fields. Some of them have saved their original spelling and meaning, some have changed endings according to Russian spelling.
2 The economic vocabulary leasing, manager, leader, voucher, distributor, office, impeachment, (electorat) electorate, (monicipalitet )municipality, (legitimirovat’)legitimate, consensus, barter, broker, dealer, investment, marketing, (fucherskie kredity) futures loans, (inaguratsiya)inauguration.
3. The mass media and journalism: press-conference, briefings, exklyusivnye interview,( exclusive interviews)
4. The computer vocabulary: computer, modem, printer, joystick, disk drive, scanner, poster, display, file, interface, browser, blog, blogger, decrement ,increment , internet ,internet service provider , interface ,upgrade, assembler, click, login, laptop, microprocessor, online, parsing, login, pixel, plug in, software, spam, spammer, hacker , hosting, hi-tech, offline, site ,etc.
5. Sports vocabulary: overtime, playoff, transfer, windsurfing, arm wrestling, freestyle, skateboarding, kick-boxing, baseball, handball, goal, gamer, goalkeeper, jogging, drag racing, dribbling, kiting, kite surfing, knockout, knockdown, penalty, rugby , rally, ring, softball, sportsman, time out , forward, freestyle, half-back.
6. Vocabulary of fashion and "show business": (eksklyusivny) exclusive, top model, price list, image, rap, hip-hop, remix, music video, TV show, video clip, video, video card, (nominatsiya)nomination, casting, PR (public relation)and many others.
7. Consumer vocabulary: Coca-Cola, Coke, Pepsi, Pepsi-Cola, sneakers, bubble-gum body, jeans, ketchup, hot dog, sandwich, make up, lipstick, etc.
8. Criminal vocabulary: kidnapping, killer, killer-sky,(reket) racketeering, etc.
9. Lexicon of common use culture: boyfriend, playboy, baby, outside , (baksy) bucks ,boycott ,gadget, crossword, shopping tour, second-hand, underground, smile, smell, ting, biker .
10. The Business world lexis: businesswoman - business class, businessman, merchandiser, leasing, marketing, manager, management, a presentation, a sponsor, dealing, leasing, bestseller, billing (bill) ,outsourcing, promotion.( Krysin 2007:127)
Characterizing lexical structure of the Russian language at the turn of XX - XXI centuries we can highlight the following features:
1. Mass occurrence of English vocabulary in its American version: businessman, marketing, trailer, stringer, killer etc.,
2. The use of complex composite foreign words to name the new realities of Russian society as a result of economy of speech's efforts: shopping tour, second-hand, underground, etc.
3. The increase of use English words borrowed from American youth slang in its American variant: smile, Ting, bubble-gum, biker, bucks, etc.
4. Widely spread the using of foreign words and phrases in the headlines and titles of newspapers and names of shops and companies. In Moscow newspapers: " Today ", "Moscow News, "" Evening Moscow "," Evening Club ".
Exploring the Engllish loanwords for the recent decades in the Russian language, we came to the conclusion that if the word affects on important field of human life, the word becomes commonly used and accepted.
The usage of English words in the names of Kaliningrad companies and enterprises.
To find out why most of Kaliningrad companies prefer to use English words in their names instead of Russian ones, I have carried out a Skype interview. As a result of that interview, I present bellow the following data:
1. Fashionable and popular
2. Short, easier to understand
3. It is easier to remember
4. Using the well-known brands
5. Focusing on the consumer (client)
I have divided all the collected names into four groups:
1. The full English word. For example - "Baby Boom", "DPI", "Help" “Business-travel”, “City professional”,” Trendyphoto” etc.
2. The combination of English and Russian words, "Chic”, «Vip Triumph" Art-studiya "Valeriya" , "TianDe", "Abrikos -art" “Soft-Kaliningrad” and others.
3. Russian words written with English letters, for example: «Potolkoff» "Ladoshki” “Planeta” and etc.
4. English words written with Russian letters, such as “Смайл-Сити"(Smile City), “Фуд-Сити”(Food City),” Ланч-кафе”(Lunch-cafe), the name of car wash service"Форвард”(Forward), “Кристмас Дрим”(Christmas Dream), etc.
The Attitude of the young and old generation towards English loans
There are two foreign languages have been studying at the 29 school of Kaliningad - German and English. But if one compares the number of children in the German group to the English group the ratio would be 1 to 5 in favor of English language. This is one more piece of evidence of the growing spread and prestige of English language in Russia. Teenagers in 8-11 grades between 14-17 y.o were selected for the survey. Teenagers actively use Internet, play computer games, listen to contemporary popular music, watch movies, participate in international sports competitions, in sum they use modern English words. The Anglicized words are used in the speech of adolescents 1. Words which have English roots but Russian suffixes and pronounced differently. klyovyi (from clever but with the meaning cool) perensy (from parents) fignyushka (from thing but contains a negative meaning, thing which is not good quality) askat’(ask), youzer(user),usat’ (use), tokat’(talk), ignorirovat’(ignore) pikaper (a man who is looking for an acquaintance with a girl) zapikapt’(from pick up, to get aquainted with a girl) shuzy(from shoes), bootsy (boots), haier (hair), cool’no(cool), okeyno(OK) tatooshka(tatoo) 2. English words which have saved their meaning and pronunciation.
Looser, hi, wow, oops, ice, beautiful, fashion, action, nonsense, bye, boyfriend, baby, ignore, face super, make up, net.
Teenagers had been asked a question why did they use Anglicized words in their speech? They had given the following answers:
1. It is fashionable
2. Not to be different from the others
3. Using English words we can send information to each other so that others (mostly adults, parents) do not understand the meaning
4. It is very accepted in our circle
5. English words are unusual and, to use them, you seem educated
As we can see, most of the teenagers deliberately use in their speech borrowed from the English language words to explain their significance. They consider themselves as a special group, thinking that their language is incomprehensible to others.
The poll survey opinion
The purpose of the survey was to include English elements in review as well as to determine the attitude of the teenagers and old generation toward the Anglicized words.
There were obtained following results
The attitude of old generation (40-50 y. o) towards Anglicisms The attitude of adolescents (14-17y.o) towards Anglicisms:

Positive 13%
Indifferent 5 %
Negative 82 % Positive 65%
Indifferent 10%
Negative 25%

Thus, the adolescents have more positive attitude towards borrowings than the older generation, who relates the using of English words to contaminating of their speech. Young generations on the contrary consider using of English words makes their speech more modern and prestigious.
Conclusion
Over the last decades, the Russian language has largely been replenished by English loanwords. Some borrowings have not changed their forms and meanings, and became part of the language as the names of concepts, inventions and import goods (printer, computer, impeachment, briefing, sneakers). The others have saved only the English roots and accepted Russian endings. These words are mostly verbs and adjectives (usat’,askat’,esklusivny, creativny). Through their prestige, the loanwords ousted Russian synonyms and even replaced the borrowed earlier German and French words (manager – instead of ‘upravlyaushiy’, make up – maquillage). With the end of the Cold War and the development of Russian-American relations have came a significant number of words from the speech of the American youth slang (bucks, killer, racketeering, looser). English words increasingly being used in the names of Russian companies and stores, in order to attract the attention of customers and because they are considered to be more prestigious than Russian words. But in spite of all these factors the process of borrowing cannot be viewed as a negative phenomenon. This is one way of language development and enrichment of its vocabulary.
Language is able to self-clean, get rid of the superfluous and unnecessary. Is it better the cumbersome "electronno-vychislitelnaya-mashina" or even a short EVM than the computer? In our age of rapid flow of ideas, goods, information, technology requires rapid naming of objects and phenomena, forces involved in the existing foreign language titles. The scientific, military, financial, banking, sports vocabularies worldwide are committed to internationalization. Tendency for scientific and technological progress to civilization is reflected in language and there occurs partial equalization of the Russian vocabulary to the international standard. I support the point of view of experts (D’yakov, Golub, Chelyshev), who argue that there is no reason to worry about the future of the Russian language. The problem is not the language itself, but the proficiency, the correct usage of words.
In my opinion there should be made certain demands towards English loan words such as:
• Any borrowing must be necessary
• Foreign words should be used correctly and accurately in the sense that it has a source in the language
• The words must be clear to those who use them.

Word count: 3477
Bibliography
1. Aristov V. (1978) Anglo-Russkie yazykovye kontakty [English-Russian language contacts (Anglicisms in Russian)]: Article / - L.p. 46.
2. Golub I. (1997) Stilistika russkogo yazyka. Moskowsky Gosudarstvenny universitet pechati [The style of the Russian language] Moscow State University of Printing.135p
3. D’yakov A. (2003) Prichiny intensivnogo zaimstvovaniya anglizismov v russkom yazyke [Reasons for the intensive borrowing Anglicisms to Russian language] - Novosibirsk: Language and Culture.
4. Karantirov I. (2004) Etimologichesky slovar’ russkogo yazyka dlya studentov [Etymological Dictionary of Russian language for students] - Moscow: Slavonic Book House Company. 437 p
5. Krysin L. (2000). Inoyazychnoe slovo v kontekste sovremennoi obschestvennoi zhizni. [A foreign word in the context of modern social life]. Moscow: Yazyki russkoi kul’tury.
6. Krysin L. (2007) Slovar’ inostrannyh slov. [Dictionary of foreign words] Moscow: AST.
7. Pavlovskaya A. (2004). Angliya i anglichane [England and the English] Moscow: AST(34-46)
8. Proshina Z. (2006). Russian English: Status, attitudes, problems. The Journal of Asia TEFL, University Press-Triada 3(2), 79-101.
9. Sologub O. (2002). Usvoenie inoyazychnyh strukturnyh elementov v russkom yazyke[Assimilation of foreign-language structural elements in Russian language] Scince. University. Proceedings of the Third Scientific Conference. - Novosibirsk, 2002. - S. (130-134)
10. Vvedenskaya L. (1991) Russkoe slovo [The Russian word] Moscow "Education"(36-38).
11. Zakharenko E. (2003) Noviy slovar’ inostrannyh slov [A new dictionary of foreign words]: 25,000 words and phrases / M.: Azbukovnik.
12. http://www.philology.ru/linguistics2/krysin-00.htm
13. http://www.allsoch.ru/svobodnaya-tema/yazyk-slovo/7816-vhozhdenie-zaimstvovannyh-slov-v-leksiku-russkogo-yazyka/
14. http://starling.rinet.ru/~minlos/thesis/Dyakov2001.pdf
15. http://www.hi-edu.ru/e-books/xbook028/01/part-012.htm

Similar Documents

Free Essay

Hoe Russisch Is Russisch?

...Hogeschool-Universiteit Brussel Faculteit Taal & Letteren Studiegebied toegepaste taalkunde Bachelor in de toegepaste taalkunde Hoe Russisch is Russisch? Een onderzoek naar de Engelse leenwoorden in de Russische taal Bachelorproef aangeboden door Lieze HARDY tot het behalen van de graad van Bachelor in de toegepaste taalkunde Promotor: Martine VAN GOUBERGEN Academiejaar 2012 – 2013 Voorwoord Voor een studente van de opleiding Bachelor in de Toegepaste Taalkunde is deze bachelorproef een hoogtepunt en een mooi sluitstuk van deze driejarige bacheloropleiding. In dit onderzoek kon ik zowel mijn interesse voor Engels als voor Russisch uitdrukken. Het heeft veel tijd en energie in beslag genomen, maar ik denk dat ik er best fier op kan zijn. Graag zou ik enkele personen willen bedanken, aangezien zij bijgedragen hebben aan de realisatie van deze bachelorproef. Eerst en vooral zou ik mijn promotor Martine Van Goubergen willen bedanken. Ik wil haar bedanken voor alle hulp die ik tijdens het schrijfproces van haar heb gekregen. Zonder haar begeleiding en bijsturing had ik dit nooit kunnen schrijven. Vervolgens wil ik mijn medestudente, Eveline Bosmans, bedanken. Zonder haar hulp en zonder haar adviezen was het nooit gelukt. Ook al schreven we elk een aparte bachelorproef, toch kunnen we hier spreken van hechte samenwerking. Ten slotte wil ik mijn ouders en mijn vriend bedanken voor alle steun en begrip tijdens het schrijfproces. Zij, die in uitzichtloze en inspiratieloze tijden...

Words: 12436 - Pages: 50

Free Essay

The Origins and Development of the English Language (Textbook)

...THE ORIGINS AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE This page intentionally left blank THE ORIGINS AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE SIXTH EDITION ± ± John Algeo ± ± ± ± ± Based on the original work of ± ± ± ± ± Thomas Pyles Australia • Brazil • Japan • Korea • Mexico • Singapore • Spain • United Kingdom • United States The Origins and Development of the English Language: Sixth Edition John Algeo Publisher: Michael Rosenberg Development Editor: Joan Flaherty Assistant Editor: Megan Garvey Editorial Assistant: Rebekah Matthews Senior Media Editor: Cara Douglass-Graff Marketing Manager: Christina Shea Marketing Communications Manager: Beth Rodio Content Project Manager: Corinna Dibble Senior Art Director: Cate Rickard Barr Production Technology Analyst: Jamie MacLachlan Senior Print Buyer: Betsy Donaghey Rights Acquisitions Manager Text: Tim Sisler Production Service: Pre-Press PMG Rights Acquisitions Manager Image: Mandy Groszko Cover Designer: Susan Shapiro Cover Image: Kobal Collection Art Archive collection Dagli Orti Prayer with illuminated border, from c. 1480 Flemish manuscript Book of Hours of Philippe de Conrault, The Art Archive/ Bodleian Library Oxford © 2010, 2005 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this work covered by the copyright herein may be reproduced, transmitted, stored, or used in any form or by any means graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including...

Words: 164520 - Pages: 659

Premium Essay

English Introduction

...Introduction. * Old English. 5- mid 12th centuries (1150). German tribes arrive to England (Angles, Saxons, Jutes). The Celts also influenced English language. Then Romans came. Influence of Latin. Full inflections, with four cases: Nom., Acc., Gen., Dat. * Middle English. 1150 - 1500. Battle of Hastings (1066). Death of Anglo - Saxons. Feudalism. Norman invasion. Three languages live together: English, French and Latin. In 1476 printing press is invented by William Caxton. Levelled inflections, full inflections gradually disappear. * Early Modern English (1476 - 1756). Renaissance. Lost inflections, only a few endings survive. The grammar becomes far simpler. Different spelling live together for the same word. There are no authoritative dictionaries or voices. * Late modern English (1756 - nowadays). First authoritative dictionary of the English language, by Samuel Johnson, which provided spellings, sounds and ethimology. It was decided not to establish an Academy of English. Importance of the English language. A language lives only when it is spoken by anyone. Its importance depends on the importance or influence of the people who speak it. English is spoken by 340 million people as a mother tongue. It is the language of Western languages. Political, economical and scientific reasons are related to the importance of a language. But English is also very broadly spoken as second language (communication, commerce). The growth of the Spanish language goes with the growth...

Words: 14563 - Pages: 59

Premium Essay

Ewbufghefews

...his article is about the academic discipline. For a general history of human beings, see History of the world. For other uses, see History (disambiguation). Page semi-protected Historia by Nikolaos Gysis (1892) Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.[1] —George Santayana History (from Greek ἱστορία - historia, meaning "inquiry, knowledge acquired by investigation"[2]) is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians. It is a field of research which uses a narrative to examine and analyse the sequence of events, and it sometimes attempts to investigate objectively the patterns of cause and effect that determine events.[3][4] Historians debate the nature of history and its usefulness. This includes discussing the study of the discipline as an end in itself and as a way of providing "perspective" on the problems of the present.[3][5][6][7] The stories common to a particular culture, but not supported by external sources (such as the legends surrounding King Arthur) are usually classified as cultural heritage rather than the "disinterested investigation" needed by the discipline of history.[8][9] Events of the past prior to written record are considered prehistory. Amongst scholars, the 5th-century BC Greek historian Herodotus is considered to be the "father of history", and, along...

Words: 7792 - Pages: 32

Free Essay

English Langugae

...The Syllable John Goldsmith December 7, 2009 Contents 1 Overview and brief history 1.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2 Sonority waves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.3 Constituents and structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.3.1 Pike, Hockett, Fudge: the arboreal view . . . 1.3.2 Syntagmatic and Paradigmatic . . . . . . . . 1.3.3 How to parse CVC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.4 Syllable timing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.5 Classical generative phonology . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.6 Pulgram on the syllable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.7 Natural phonologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.8 Flat structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.9 Metrical phonology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.10 Sonority redux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.11 Slots that hang from trees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.12 Government relations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.13 Derived sonority . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.14 Optimality theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.15 Must we choose between sonority and constituency? 1.16 Phonotactics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.17 Onsets, codas, and word-appendices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...

Words: 18260 - Pages: 74

Free Essay

Test2

...62118 0/nm 1/n1 2/nm 3/nm 4/nm 5/nm 6/nm 7/nm 8/nm 9/nm 1990s 0th/pt 1st/p 1th/tc 2nd/p 2th/tc 3rd/p 3th/tc 4th/pt 5th/pt 6th/pt 7th/pt 8th/pt 9th/pt 0s/pt a A AA AAA Aachen/M aardvark/SM Aaren/M Aarhus/M Aarika/M Aaron/M AB aback abacus/SM abaft Abagael/M Abagail/M abalone/SM abandoner/M abandon/LGDRS abandonment/SM abase/LGDSR abasement/S abaser/M abashed/UY abashment/MS abash/SDLG abate/DSRLG abated/U abatement/MS abater/M abattoir/SM Abba/M Abbe/M abbé/S abbess/SM Abbey/M abbey/MS Abbie/M Abbi/M Abbot/M abbot/MS Abbott/M abbr abbrev abbreviated/UA abbreviates/A abbreviate/XDSNG abbreviating/A abbreviation/M Abbye/M Abby/M ABC/M Abdel/M abdicate/NGDSX abdication/M abdomen/SM abdominal/YS abduct/DGS abduction/SM abductor/SM Abdul/M ab/DY abeam Abelard/M Abel/M Abelson/M Abe/M Aberdeen/M Abernathy/M aberrant/YS aberrational aberration/SM abet/S abetted abetting abettor/SM Abeu/M abeyance/MS abeyant Abey/M abhorred abhorrence/MS abhorrent/Y abhorrer/M abhorring abhor/S abidance/MS abide/JGSR abider/M abiding/Y Abidjan/M Abie/M Abigael/M Abigail/M Abigale/M Abilene/M ability/IMES abjection/MS abjectness/SM abject/SGPDY abjuration/SM abjuratory abjurer/M abjure/ZGSRD ablate/VGNSDX ablation/M ablative/SY ablaze abler/E ables/E ablest able/U abloom ablution/MS Ab/M ABM/S abnegate/NGSDX abnegation/M Abner/M abnormality/SM abnormal/SY aboard ...

Words: 113589 - Pages: 455