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English Lexicon

English Lexicon

English Lexicon

English Lexicon

English Lexicon

English Lexicon

English Lexicon

English Lexicon

English Lexicon

English Lexicon

English Lexicon

English Lexicon

English Lexicon

English Lexicon

English Lexicon

English Lexicon

English Lexicon

English Lexicon

English Lexicon

English Lexicon

English Lexicon

English Lexicon

English Lexicon

English Lexicon

English Lexicon

English Lexicon

Diapositiva 27

English Lexicon - Celtic

Diapositiva 29

Religious Latin

Diapositiva 31

Norman French

Norman French

Norman French

Norman French

Norman French

Norman French

Norman French

English Lexicon

English Lexicon

English Lexicon

Norman French

The Black Death

Norman French

Middle English

Middle English

Middle English

Middle English

Middle English

Middle English

Middle English: the Bible

Middle English: the Bible

Middle English: the Bible

Late Middle/Early Modern
English

Late Middle/Early Modern
English

Late Middle/Early Modern
English

Modern English:
Dictionaries

Modern English

Modern English

Modern English

Reference

English Lexicon

Fine della presentazione. Fare clic per uscire.

English Lexicon

English Lexicon

How can we talk about English
Lexicon dealing with thousands of lexemes?

English Lexicon

How can I make the right choice
in translation?

English Lexicon

Late Middle English    Classical: Latin and Greek

1066                                         Norman
French

787              Scandinavian

597              Religious Latin

455               Anglo-Saxon

55 AD               Colonial Latin

2000 BC                      Celtic

Map of Europe

Historical Atlas of Europe

English Lexicon

Modern English:

Old English (brought by Anglo,
Saxons and Jutes in V c.)

Norman French (battle of
Hastings in 1066)

Greek and Latin

English Lexicon

A variety of linguistic layers
defined 3 different registers:

Germanic > general register

Norman-French > formal
register

Classical languages >
intellectual, abstract, scientific, technical register

English Lexicon

Definition of register:

“a particular variety of
diction or choice of word appropriate to a given social situation or literary
context”

DECORUM

English Lexicon

English Lexicon

English Lexicon

English Lexicon

Sir James Murray:

“whose 'Anglicity'
[Englishness] is unquestioned... they are the Common Words of the language.
But they are linked on every side with other words which are less and less
entitled to this appellation, and which pertain ever more and more distinctly
to the domain of local dialect, of the slang and cant of 'sets' of classes,
of the peculiar technicality of trade and processes, of the scientific
terminology common to all civilized nations, of the actual languages of other
lands and peoples. And there is absolutely no defining line in any direction:
the circle of the English language has a well-defined centre but no
discernible circumference.” (Oxford English Dictionary, 1884)

English Lexicon

Murray states that words are
‘in’ the language at differing degrees

He  establishes a hierarchy of usage: common,
literary, colloquial and slang

English Lexicon

To build a semantic field we
can use Murray’s diagram.

English Lexicon

Exercises:

MAD  (insane, gaga, mental, flaky, possessed,
daft, hyperchondriac, bereft of reason, batty, barmy, wacky, nuts, crazy,
catatonic, melancholic, neurotic, psychotic, cuckoo, loony, schizoid, manic,
bananas)

CHILD (baby, sprog, infant,
toddler, youngster, youth, adolescent, teenager, minor,kid, nipper, bairn,
juvenile, shaver; offspring, issue, progeny, daughter, decendant)

SIN (crime, fault, err,
misdeed, trespass, malfeasance, misdemeanour, wrongdoing, lapse, wrongdoing)

English Lexicon

In various technical fields,
there is a division of register reflected between the general and the
specialist term. Even in general vocabulary, the base-term will commonly be
in Saxon, but the descriptive adjective will be classical:

English Lexicon

Language for Special Purpose is
often defined by a high register:

English Lexicon

additional (extra)

advise (tell)

applicant (you)

commence (start)

complete (fill in)

comply with (keep to)

consequently (so)

ensure (make sure)

forward (send)

in accordance with (under,
keeping to)

in excess of (more than)

English Lexicon

Anglo-Saxon words are generally
shorter, less formal, and concrete; Latin and Greek words are longer,
essentilly abstract, and used in formal or technical contexts.

Examples

English Lexicon

With the advent of improved
microsurgery techniques, congenital cataracts are being operated on at very
young ages. The insertion of a polysulfone inlay might prevent the
development of amblyopia. When the child is a few years old, it might be
possible to remove the inlay and replace it with either an intraocular lens
or an extended-wear contact lens. (Acta XXIV International Congress of
Ophthalmology)

With most contact lenses you
put them in and take them out every day, but some designs such as
extended-wear contact lenses can be kept in for longer periods; overnight or
up to a week. The exact amount of time depends on your eyes. (information
leaflet)

English Lexicon

English Lexicon

English Lexicon

English Lexicon

English Lexicon

English Lexicon

English Lexicon

U non-U

Diapositiva 27

English Lexicon - Celtic

Welsh

Breton

Irish

Scottish Gaelic

Manx

Cornish

Diapositiva 29

Religious Latin

Saint Augustine

Christianization

Latin

Language of the Church

http://www.euratlas.com/travel_time/europe_north_west_0700.html

Diapositiva 31

Norman French

Under William the State of
England became an estate of Normandy

every position of power in the State
and in the Church

History was no longer with the
Anglo-Saxons. Norman cut out memory and history

Norman French

At the beginning no more
than  3 or 5 % of the population spoke
Norman French

Yet the language, and
especially grammar, kept changing as a evidence of its power and its
vivacity.

When the Danes and the
Wessexled English began to trade across the Danelaw in the 10th century, the
rub between the two not dissimilar languages led to changes which affected
the way they talked then and we talk now. The main feature of such a change
was for sure the inflected forms of
the language that flatten in favour of the use of prepositions which
came into play around that time.  This
is still going on in the 12th century. Prepositions like ‘to’, ‘by’, ‘from’
were performing more than the functions of the old words endings, and word
order itself was becoming more fixed. ‘The’ becomes more used than the range
of different words used for the definite articles.

The plurals as well changed.
For ex. The old English plural for ‘Naman’ began to be formed by adding an
‘s’>>’nam-es’

Norman French

But the longer Norman French
dominated, the weaker English would become.

English- speaking  peasants and French-speaking masters lived
in two very different contexts. For ex.: English speakers tended the living cattle,
which are still called by the Old English words ‘ox’ or ‘cow’. French  speakers ate prepared food which came to
the table called by the French word ‘beef’.

English animal --- French meat

Sheep --- mutton

Calf --- veal

Deer --- venison

Pig --- pork

The English laboured, the
French feasted!

Norman French

Similarly

French brought over craftsmen
who gave us the names for the tools of the trade: for ex. ‘measure’, ‘mallet’
(maglio), ‘chisel’, ‘bucket’, trowel’ (cazzuola).

French controlled also the market:
‘merchant’, money (monai), price (pris), bargain (bargaine), contract
(contract), partner (parcener), and so on.

The Old English names began to
die out: out went Ethlbert, Aelfric, Dunstan, Wulfstan, Wulfric; in came
Richard, Robert, Simon, Stephen, John, William.

Norman French

Norman French

In 1204, John, King of
Aquitaine and England, lost his Norman lands in a war with the Kingdom of
France. So the Norman dukedoms were now
part of another empire. The Norman Barons of England had to choose
where their alliance lay: Philip II of France or King John.

Most important, French began to
be thought as foreigner in London, and there were strong anti-French
feelings. What happened is that Norman in England had to begin to consider
themselves as anti-Normans.

Indeed, the Magna Charta
written by the barons against King John was drawn up in Latin (the language
of the Church, deep tradition, common language of the western civilised
world).

Women: when they married a
French speaking man, they took their own language into the court, as well as
their own servants and wet nurses. So many children were grown up bilingual.

Norman French

French words, after the middle
of the 13th century, continue to stream into English, as well as their ideas
(virtue, trade).

Bilingualism was considered a
way to clarity of thought, accuracy of expression. See ask/demand [demand
to ask for something forcefully, in a way that shows that a refusal is
not expected:], room/chamber, wish/desire, liberty/freedom, bit/morsel,
answer/respond.

DIFFERENCE BTW FRENCH AND OLD
ENGLISH WORDS >> almost synonyms are one of the glories of the English
language

English Lexicon

Double origin > SYNONYMS

English Lexicon

English Lexicon

Norman French

English used the invasion to

increase its own strength

The Black Death

1348 the worst plague arrived
in the islands: The Black Death killed a disproportioned number of the clergy,
thus reducing the grip of Latin all over the land. The Latin- speaking clergy
was much reduced, in some part of the country by almost a half.

Many of their replacement were
layman, barely literate, whose only language was English.

Shortage of labour made wages
increase. Many peasants, artisans, and working-class people discovered
plague-emptied farms and superior houses, which they occupied or bought. With
them also English was breaking through.

Richard II was the first
monarch using English since the Conquest. Unsatisfaction among the
working-class made English became the language of the protest.

Norman French

English replaced French into
classrooms. As education and literacy spread, the demand for books in English
increased.

In 1362 English was
acknowledged as the language of official business.

In 1399, King Richard II was
deposed by Henry, Duke of Lancaster. The document deposing him was in
English. Henry made his speech to claim the crown not in Latin - language of
state business - not in the royal household French, but in his ‘Mother
tongue’, English.

Middle English

Chaucer, the first writer of
the newly emerged England. He writes in the new English (London-based
English), middle English, the language which was regaining control of the
country in which it had been nourished.

He writes in a language to be
read aloud to a public more than in private. About 25 % of the vocabulary
used by Chaucer is from the French, but there’s no sense that English had
been taken over. The language is English.

All function words are from Old
English.

Cross-class characters >>
variety of the language

The base of Standard English

Middle English

Until Henry V, English kings
used to speak English but all court documents were written in French since
1066. Henry V preferred to write in vernacular, the easier way to spread
throughout the land.

He decided that Signet Office
(Westminster) should use English (Office where the monarch letters were
written and sealed).

English became the language of
the rule and English clerks gained control.

Middle English

But which English was it? The
obstinacy of English dialects is impressive. There were much differences
between northern dialects and southern ones.

And pronunciation was nothing
compared to spelling: there was the need to agree on a common linguistic
standard. The scribes of Westminster took on the control in the Chancellery
(later Chancery) to standardize the language. The standard they applied still
admitted a lot of variation and we are not going to see a spoken standard
until much later.

Middle English

Chancery English shaped the
English word standard, by scores of anonymous men attempting to clarify and
refine the way we used the words we spoke when we transferred them to write.

Language became not only the
language of the state but also the language of the class of people most
expected to be the state’s closest supporters.

Middle English

Another arbiter of the written
language was Caxton a printer who many times had to choose the ‘correct’
English spelling. He tended to use common daily used vocabulary.

By the end of the 15th c
English was the language of the State

Middle English

1588 colonial conquests

As England imported a huge
cargo of goods, English imported a huge cargo of vocabulary

10-12.000 new words entered
English during this Elizabethan and Jacobean period, as well as new ideas and
a new map of the world.

Loans came from France, Spain,
Portugal, Holland

Sailors, but also artists,
scholars and aristocrats began to explore Europe and take back home new ideas
and words.

Italy, above all, and the
language of art and architecture, and music.

Middle English: the Bible

14th and 15th c. Latin is the
language of the Church. There was no Bible in English.

God was beyond understanding.

Mystery Plays tell the
Christian story from the Creation to the resurrection of Christ, but they are
not the scriptures. > biblical soap operas.

Middle English: the Bible

In the 14th c John Wycliffe,
philosopher and theologian, believed that knowledge should be shared by
everyone. So he launched a furious attack on the power and wealth of the
Church.

He first of all wanted to
distinguish the eternal, ideal Church of God from the material one of Rome.
He attacked transubstantiation, clerical celibacy, enforced confession,
indulgences, pilgrimages, Mystery Plays.

He stated that the Bible was
the only religious faith and practice and that everyone had the right to read
and interpret scripture for himself. He used to speak and write in Latin.

Wycliffe prepared the first
translation of the Bible, but the burden of it was taken by Nicholas
Hereford.

The translation is very
straightforward and easy but many familiar phrases have their English origin.

He kept the Latin word order.

It is a word for word
translation.

The text is shot through with
Latinate words.

In the end the Church did not
accepted the translation and all the operation. Wycliffe and his itinerant
preachers were caught and many of those tortured and killed.

The Bible was outlawed.

Middle English: the Bible

William Tyndale (an Oxford
classical scholar, ordered priest) also thought that English was the language
of God

He left England for Cologne;
met Erasmus and Luther

He translated the new Testament
not form Latin but form the original Greek and Hebrew

Printed abroad, the Bible was
smuggled into England. Two years later there were 6.000 copies. Beautiful
edition

He was recognised guilt of heresy and killed

Late Middle/Early Modern
English

Another twist in the adventure
of English was realized by the revival in the study of classical texts, after
the translation of the  Bible in
English.

All this happened essentially
in Oxford and Cambridge.

Humanists saw Latin as the language of
classical thought, science, philosophy. Latin of the universal language they
could communicate through Europe. Latin was the language of international
debate and controversy.

All that impetus was due to the
translation of the Bible in English. Latin was no longer the acknowledge word
of God, and the servant of the Church..

Late Middle/Early Modern
English

Thousands of new words came
into English vocabulary of educated people. >> soon they found their
place in essays, pamphlets, plays, poems, etc.

Science, medicine >>
concept, invention, technique

Words also arrived from Greek
via Latin: skeleton, tendon, larynx, glottis, pancreas. From Latin: tibia,
parasites, pneumonia, thermometer, capsules, tonic. We talked about our
bodies in ancient tongues.

It became snobbery to use a
certain vocabulary.

Late Middle/Early Modern
English

The Inkhorn Controversy:
Controversy between  the supporters of
new Latin words and the defenders of true English. In poetry: which is the
truer way of writing English?

Edmund Spenser: we should
revive obsolete English Words

and make use of little-known
words from English dialects: algate for altogether, sicker for certainly.

Many words did not survive.

To fatigate > to make tired

To Obtestate > to bear
witness

Arreption a > sudden removal

To Latrate > to bark like a
dog

Modern English:
Dictionaries

-1000 first Sanskrit Dictionary

- 100 first Arabic Dictionary

1604: first English Dictionary

+8 first Italian Dictionary

+ 35 first French Dictionary

2543 words, no  everyday words.

It is a recognition of the new
status of  the English  language: “full of Hard Usuall English
Wordes borrowed from Hebrew, Greeke, Latine, or French & C.”

Modern English

The language of the court was
drifting further from the language of the people.

Attitudes towards regional
varieties of speech and their accents were hardening. Class was discovering a
fertile home in speech differences. But by this time to be at the top table
was not to speak Latin or French but English of a particular variety. The
Received Pronunciation was that of London and the Home Counties.

The struggle for the ‘right and
proper’ way to speak was and is a continuing debate.

We witness also the split away
of literature from everyday speech. Dialect is still considered to be below
the salt. Literature still belong to
the high table, and realists of the 16th c saw this and identified it.

The story hasn’t changed much
since. The dialect in southern Kent was considered the most clumsy and used
to indicate ignorance and foolishness on stage. It was considered positively
rustic.

Shakespeare was using courtly
English, street slang and his own local dialect.

Modern English

Shakespeare’s English

Over 2000 of our words today
are first recorded by him, even plucked out or invented by him.

Some of them are: obscene,
accommodation, barefaced (sfacciato), leap-frog (cavallina), or courtship,
dextrously, indistinguishable, premeditated, reliance.

400 years ago Shakespeare had a
vocabulary of at least  21.000 words.
The King James Bible of 1611 used about 10.000 different words. The average
educated man today has a vocabulary of less than half that of Shakespeare.

The language at that time was
in flux.

Shakespeare shoved into bed
together words that scarcely knew each other before: ill-tuned, baby-eyes,
smooth-faced (sbarbatello); puppy met dog. People began to start their
sentences with oh and  well, while pray,
prithee and marry began to die off.

Modern English

Words are both an expression of
and a report on the human condition. He explores the notion of personal
identity, the study of which has intensified since his day to an extent that
event he might not have been able to predict.
His  soliloquies express dynamic
shifts in stated of mind. Drama can be internal.

Stratford-Upon-Avon defined
Sh’s use of the English language. The roots of Old English would have been in
his ears since his infancy. At the local grammar school he must have studied
the masters of classical Latin literature (Cicero, Ovid, Virgil, Horace). He
must have had teachers who  owned
French words. HE picked up some French and Italian later in his life.

He was well aware of the Inkhorn
Controversy.

He approached new words to
everyday ones.

Reference

Melvyn Bragg,  The Adventure of English. The Biography of a
Language, Arcade Publishing, NY 2004

Geoffrey Hughes, A History of
English Words, Blackwell Publishing, 2000

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