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The Evolution of the English
Language: From Old English to
Present-Day Varieties
Standard Language and Varieties of English
Standard English
Standard English is a variety of the English language that is used by governments, in the media, in schools, and for international communication. There are different standard varieties of English in the world, such as North American English, Australian English, and Indian English. Although these standard varieties differ in terms of their pronunciation, there are few differences in grammar between them.
Non-Standard Varieties
In contrast to standard English, there are non-standard forms of the language that are used in different regional dialects. These non-standard varieties are different from each other and differ from the standard variety.
Differences between Varieties
The main differences between varieties of English lie in vocabulary, with each variety having a set of words that are only used in that specific variety. For example, in British English, the word "biscuit" is used, while in American English, the word "cookie" is used (derived from Dutch). Another example is that in South Africa, traffic lights are called "robots". There are also differences in the use of words like "family", where in some varieties, the verb is singular ("The family is going on holiday"), while in others, it is plural ("The family are going on holiday").
Historical Development of English
The first inhabitants of England spoke German languages, and it was only around the 11th century AD that one dialect, West Saxon, acquired power and became the model for Old English. West Saxon was used for writing all texts, as the Saxon kingdom had managed to stop the Danish invasion, making it the most important dialect.
When the French arrived in England in the 13th century, the English elite spoke Latin and French, and West Saxon lost its power, allowing other dialects to rise again. During the Empire, England became the most important country, and at the end of the 19th century, phoneticians started to codify the oral language, establishing the "noble-spoken-English" as the standard. British English was considered the standard, and American English was seen as a "bad English".
Monocentric vs. Polycentric Language
English used to be considered a monocentric language, where everyone learned English according to British English. However, with the rise of American English after World War II, English is now considered a polycentric language, with various centers of diffusion and different varieties. Countries such as New Zealand, South Africa, and Canada have developed their own varieties of English, with distinct vocabularies and features.
Challenges to the Monocentric View of Language
The text presents several challenges to the monocentric view of language:
There is not just one language with a single norm, but rather multiple varieties and standards. A specific nation is not necessarily represented by a single language norm, as there can be multiple varieties within a nation. Individuals within a nation are not expected to speak only the "correct" standard variety, as there are many non-standard varieties in use. The "good and correct" usage of the language is not limited to a small elite, but rather there are multiple norms and standards. The language norm is not solely decided at the center or capital, but can emerge from the periphery as well. The objectives of monocentric language policies, such as fighting against language unity and spreading the language globally, are challenged by the reality of linguistic diversity and multiple standards.
Word Formation in English
Derivation
Derivation is a word-formation strategy in which a new word is formed by adding a derivational morpheme (usually a suffix or prefix) to the root. Suffixation: A new word is formed by adding a suffix to the root (e.g., happy + ness = happiness). Prefixation: A new word is formed by adding a prefix to the root (e.g., un + happy = unhappy).
Morphemes and Word Formation
-Er Morpheme
The root word is the base to which bound morphemes are attached. For example, in the word "un+system+atic+al+ly", the root word is "system" and the bound morphemes are "un-", "-atic", "-al", and "-ly". Grammatical bound morphemes change the grammatical function of a word but do not create a new word. For example, the word "skip" has various forms like "skipping" (present progressive) and "skipped" (past tense), but these are still the same word. Derivational bound morphemes, on the other hand, create new words that get their own dictionary entries. For example, from the root "act", we can create new words like "react", "enact", and "actor" by adding derivational prefixes and suffixes.
Task: Morpheme Breakdown
"creating" = "create" + "ing" "unhealthy" = "un" + "health" + "y" "seaward" = "sea" + "ward" "waiter" = "wait" + "er" "Wastage" = "waste" + "age" "Reconsider" = "re" + "consider" "Poetic" = "poet" + "ic" "keys" = "key" + "s" "modernize" = "modern" + "ize" "incompletion" = "in" + "complet" + "ion"
Noun-Forming Suffixes
-age (passage, marriage) -ance/-ence (assistance, predominance) -dom (freedom, kingdom) -ee (employee, referee) -eer (engineer, profiteer) -er (fisher, manager) -ess (manageress, heiress) -ist (columnist, economist) -hood (adulthood, singlehood) -ing (building, meaning) -ion/-sion/-tion/-ition/-ation (production, conclusion) -ism (consumerism, perfectionism) -ment (agreement, investment) -ness (effectiveness, happiness) -ship (friendship, ownership) -ty/-ity (productivity, prosperity) -ure/-ture (procedure, expenditure)
Conversion and Classification
Verbs can be formed from nouns (to nurse, to hand, to e-mail, to finger, to hammer, to empty, to up, to blind). Nouns can be formed from verbs (a go, a hunt, a lift, a find, pros and cons, whys, ups and downs, a black, breakdown, make-up, comeback, take-off, the rich). Occasional formations (nonce words) are emotionally charged words coined for a unique occasion (e.g., "Don't darling me!", "Don't yes-mum me!"). Marginal cases of conversion include shifts in stress, such as verb to noun (abstract, import, refill, transfer) or verb to adjective (frequent, moderate, perfect).
Compounding
Compound words are created by joining two free morphemes together. The head of a compound is usually the right-hand member, which supplies the category and basic meaning for the whole compound. Endocentric compounds have a clear determinant and determinatum, where the central meaning is carried by the second word (head), such as "ashtray", "mousetrap", "stepladder". Exocentric compounds have a meaning that is external to the literal meaning of the compound, such as "scarecrow", "redhead", "pickpocket", "showoff", "paperback". Compounds can be written as solid words (shareholder), hyphenated (user-friendly), or as open compounds (snail mail, junk food).
Quantitative Changes
Clipping
Clipping is the shortening of words, resulting in a new lexical unit. Types of clipping include: Final clipping (ad, advert, memo, lab, gym, vac) Initial clipping (chute, phone, copter, plane, 'cause) Middle clipping (Elizabeth, flu, fancy, maths, ag'st)
Blending
Blending is the formation of a new lexeme from parts of two or more other words. Examples include "smog" (smoke + fog), "brunch" (breakfast + lunch), "tranceiver" (transmitter + receiver), "Chunnel" (Channel + tunnel).
Graphical Abbreviations
Acronyms are new lexical units formed from the initial letters of words, pronounced as one word (UNESCO, AIDS, NATO, laser, radar).
Food and Cuisine : The text references Italian food items such as "broccoli", "pasta", "spaghetti", "tutti-frutti", and "chianti wine".
Societal Aspects : The text mentions Italian words and concepts related to organized crime ("mafia", "vendetta"), law enforcement ("carabiniere"), and cultural traditions ("confetti", "credenza", "Ferragosto", "ciabatta", "carpaccio", "ballerina shoes", "spaghetti junction", "Azzurri").
Music, Visual Arts, and Architecture : The text provides additional examples of Italian terms in these domains, including "coda", "bottega", "ottocento", "Gioconda", and "verismo".
Internationalization : The text notes that the word "ciao" is used globally, indicating the widespread adoption of this Italian expression.
Sense Relations
The text also delves into the concept of sense relations, which refers to the semantic relationships between words. The following types of sense relations are discussed:
Synonymy : This is the semantic relation between two words that have the same or nearly the same meaning. The text notes that it is difficult to find complete synonyms, as most synonyms are partial, differing in their connotations.
Hyponymy : This is the semantic relation of subordination, where the meaning of a specific item (hyponym) is included within the meaning of a more general term (hypernym). The text provides examples of flowers as hyponyms of the hypernym "flower".
Antonymy : This refers to the semantic relation of opposites. The text discusses three types of antonyms: gradable antonyms (e.g., hot-cold), complementary antonyms (e.g., dead-alive), and relational antonyms (e.g., doctor-patient).
Meronymy : This is the semantic relation of part-whole relationships, where a word represents a part of a larger whole (e.g., hand-arm).
Polysemy and Homonymy
The text also explores the concepts of polysemy and homonymy:
Polysemy : This refers to a single word having multiple related meanings. The text provides examples of polysemous words, such as "plain" and "play".
Homonymy : This occurs when two or more words have the same written or spoken form but different, unrelated meanings. The text gives examples of homonyms, such as "bank" (financial institution vs. river bank) and "fine" (quality vs. penalty).
Lexicography
The text provides a brief history of English dictionaries, tracing their development from early bilingual and multilingual lexicons to the modern, comprehensive dictionaries like the Oxford English Dictionary (OED). It also discusses different types of dictionaries, including monolingual, bilingual, learner's, electronic, and specialized dictionaries.
Clauses
Definition of Clauses
A clause is a syntactic construction containing a subject and predicate (verb) and forming part of a sentence or constituting a whole simple sentence. Clauses can be classified according to their:
Structure : Which elements compose the clause? Function : Is the clause active/passive, main/subordinate, finite/non- finite? Position : How are clauses embedded within other clauses or phrases? Meaning : Is the clause relative, negative, or verbless?
Clauses can be part of a complex sentence (consisting of a main clause and one or more subordinate clauses) or a compound sentence (having two or more main clauses).
Examples of Clauses
"When it rained they went inside" consists of two clauses: "when it rained" and "they went inside". "I can't cook very well but I make quite good pancakes" has two main/ independent clauses. "I'll get you some stamps if I go to town" has a main clause "I'll get you some stamps" and a subordinate/dependent clause "if I go to town".
Ditransitive Verbs and Clauses
Certain ditransitive verbs, such as allow, ask, give, lend, offer, order, pay, permit, promise, refuse, request, say, send, show, teach, and tell, often appear in a specific clause pattern.
Text and Discourse
Definitions of Text and Discourse
Text : A stretch of language, either in speech or writing, that is semantically and pragmatically coherent in its real-world context. A text can range from a single word to a sequence of utterances or sentences in a speech, letter, novel, etc.
Ideology
Ideological Power in Discourse
Ideological power is the power to project one's practices as universal and "common sense" (something acceptable). Ideological power is particularly significant when it is exercised in discourse. Ideology is most effective when it is less visible, achieved when ideologies are brought to discourse as background assumptions. For example, the statement "Make America Great Again" implicates that the candidate can do that, and also implicates that America at that moment was not great.
Text and Discourse in Social Context
Text/discourse do not exist in a vacuum. They are enacted within a social context, are determined by the social context, and contribute to the way in which the social context continues to exist.
Texture
Minimal Text
The minimal text "Stop" is complete and makes sense if it appears in context.
Cohesion and Texture
If two or more words are found together, they should go well together. If the sequence of words is random, then we are not dealing with a text, and the words will lack texture. Cohesion is one of the elements which give the text texture. Cohesive relations can be grammatical and/or lexical.
Grammatical Devices
Co-reference
Endophoric co-reference (inside the text) can be subdivided into: Anaphoric co-reference (referring to something that has already been mentioned) Cataphoric co-reference (referring to what is going to be mentioned) Anaphoric co-reference is far more common, e.g., "The media tycoon [...]. He has been convicted of bribing [...]."
Lexical Devices
Lexical cohesive devices involve ties between lexical (or content) words. There are ties between expressions which come from the same semantic field, such as: Repetition: the same word repeated Synonymy: different words defining the same thing (e.g., "jail, prison") Antonymy: two words with opposite meaning (e.g., "good, bad") Hyponymy: superordinate and subordinate terms (e.g., "financial crimes and giving bribes, illegal financing of parties") Meronymy: part/whole relationship (e.g., "tree, branch, twig, leaf")
Structural Cohesion
Theme and Rheme
The fundamental structural pattern in English is that of Theme and Rheme. The Theme is the element which serves as the point of departure of the message, and the Rheme is the part in which the Theme is developed. For example, in the sentence "Money is not the only problem," the Theme is "Money" and the Rheme is "is not the only problem."
Given vs. New Information
To communicate effectively, sentences must contain some New information and some old or Given information. Structurally, an information unit consists of an obligatory New element plus an optional Given element. English sentences usually start with a Theme, the first element (the Given) in the sentence, which normally contains information that is known, and continue with a Rheme, which normally tells us something new about the Theme.
Marked Themes
When the thematic position is occupied by other parts of the clause, it is considered a Marked Theme. For example, "At no time was safety compromised" or "In the advert from a travel agency, the thematic position is occupied by the prepositional phrase "In the advert from a travel agency."
Passive Sentences
Passive sentences announce the topic of the sentence (e.g., "The co- pilot was forcibly removed from the cockpit as the airplane was diverted to Shannon airport."), whereas active sentences focus on the agents (e.g., "The flight crew and a passenger [...] restrained him.").
