Transcript 15.1 Words and histories

So Where Did Our Words Come From?
L/O: to discover from where English words
derived, and how derivation affects meaning
What can you remember from last lesson?
• What is morphology?
• What is an affix?
• Write down three words with prefixes.
• For each word explain what the prefix means
• Name the two types of suffix
• Give two inflections of the word ‘run’
• Give two examples of the other type of suffix
Morphology and Coining words
Coining is the general term for creating words. Many new words are
created through derivational affixation (adding a prefix or suffix that
changes the class and meaning of the word).
1. Clipping – suffixes or prefixes are dropped. Eg: gymnasium = gym,
telephone = phone
2. Compounds – created by combining two free morphemes. Eg: mankind,
blackbird, sleepwalk.
3. Back-formation – a free morpheme that looks like it has a suffix which
is then adapted to create a word. Eg: editor (free morpheme) = edit
(verb)
4. Blends – created by fusing two words into one. Eg: alcoholic +
chocolate = chocoholic
So where did our language come from?
• Recorded History of English begins in the 5th century –
the arrival of the GermanicLexical/semantic
tribes in Britain
field of body
• Lexical/semantic
This was later assimilated with the Norse languages of
the
Viking
invaders
field
of family
= the ancestor of modern English andLexical/semantic
is a major source of
field of food
many of our most commonly used words.
The, knee, I you, and father, bread, for, of, shirt, in,
daughter, sister, to, hat, heart, on - all originated in the
Old English period (wayyyyyyyy before Shakespeare –
that dude is modern!)
Look at the word classes and the lexical (or semantic =
meaning) fields in the list. Why do you think these
groups of words have remained from such an early
period?
Is English really that pure?
Hells no! James Nicoll (1846-1918) said:
“The problem with defending the purity of the
English language is that the English language is
as pure as a crib-house whore. It not only
borrows words from other languages; it has on
occasion chased other languages down dark
alley-ways, clubbed them unconscious and rifled
their pockets for new vocabulary.
Loan words: words/phrases borrowed from other
languages. Can you think of any that you use
regularly?
Sushi, wok, karaoke, tobacco, bonanza, jazz,
tattoo are just a few. Look up their origins and
see where they actually came from!
Where does English come from?
Origins = Old
English
Middle English
borrowed
from
everyone!
French and Latin
were
associated
with Church,
law and
chivalry
Latin and Greek
were – and
still are! –
associated
with formality,
knowledge
and learning
French words
are often
associated
with
sophistication
Speeches: a King vs a President.
Read Ronald Regan’s and Marin Luther
King’s speeches.
Using the internet (www.dictionary.com),
look up the origins of the underlined
words.
Which text uses frequent, everyday words?
Which text uses more Latin or Greek words?
What is the overall effect?
Which, in your opinion, is the most effective
speech?
Can you think of any words that
contain the following:
Prefixes
• Bio- (Gk)
• Chrono- (Gk)
• Peri- (Gk)
• Gen- (Gk)
• Mono- (Gk)
• Thermo- (Gk)
Suffixes
-gon (Gk)
-itis (Gk)
-phobia (Gk)
-cide (Ltn)
-ology (Gk)
Some Latin(ate) words and
phrases
Incantation
Admonish
Premonition
Excursion
Dominion
Decapitate
Vivacious
De jure
De facto
Non sequitur
A priori