English Words: History and Structure, 2nd edition

Half-title......Page 3
Title......Page 5
Copyright......Page 6
Dedication......Page 7
Contents......Page 9
Preface to the second edition and acknowledgements......Page 15
An introduction to the textbook......Page 17
An introduction to dictionaries......Page 18
1 Lexical heritage......Page 21
2.1 Derivation by affixation......Page 23
2.2 Derivation without affixation......Page 24
2.3 Compounding......Page 25
3 New word creation......Page 27
3.1 Creation de novo......Page 28
3.2 Blending......Page 29
3.3 Clipping......Page 30
3.4 Back-formation......Page 31
3.5.2 Initialisms......Page 32
3.5.3 Imitative acronyms......Page 33
3.5.4 Abbreviations in electronic communication......Page 34
Based on personal names......Page 35
Based on names from literature, folklore, and mythology......Page 36
Based on commercial brand names......Page 37
4 Word-obsolescence and word-death......Page 38
1 The family history of English......Page 40
1.1 Indo-European......Page 43
1.2 The Germanic branch......Page 47
1.3 English......Page 49
2.1 The indigenous vocabulary of Old English......Page 51
2.1.1 Earliest loanwords......Page 52
2.1.2 The Scandinavian element......Page 54
2.2 English becomes a hybrid......Page 56
2.2.1 French loanwords in Middle English......Page 58
1 The Early Modern English cultural scene......Page 62
2 Vocabulary enrichment during the Renaissance......Page 64
3 Transmission, etymology, source identification......Page 70
4 Summary of early British history and loanwords in English......Page 77
1 The smallest meaningful units......Page 79
1.1 What is a morpheme?......Page 80
1.2 The properties of morphemes......Page 81
2.1 Roots......Page 85
2.2 Affixes......Page 87
2.3 Functions of affixes......Page 89
3 Compounds......Page 92
4 Hyphens......Page 93
5 Cognates......Page 94
5.1 Shared structure......Page 96
6 Finding roots in a dictionary......Page 97
1.1 Types of allomorphy......Page 99
1.2 Origins of allomorphy and variability of cognates......Page 101
1.3 Some triggers of phonetic change......Page 102
2.1 Phonetic notation systems......Page 105
2.2 Phonetic symbols in square brackets......Page 106
2.4.1 Vowel variation......Page 110
2.3.2 Manner of articulation......Page 107
2.3.3 Voicing......Page 108
2.4 English vowels......Page 109
2.4.2 Vowel parameters......Page 111
2.5 Reduction of vowels......Page 114
2.6 Long-vowel shifting......Page 115
3 The affixes of English......Page 117
Counting-prefixes: those which in some way quantify the root......Page 118
Locative prefixes: those which say something about place or direction......Page 119
Temporal prefixes: those which say something about time or duration......Page 120
Suffixes which form adjectives from nouns or verbs......Page 121
Suffixes which form agentive nouns......Page 122
Miscellaneous suffixes......Page 123
1 Assimilation and types of assimilation......Page 124
2 Labial assimilation......Page 125
2.1 Blocking of labial assimilation......Page 127
3 Voicing assimilation......Page 128
3.1 Left-to-right voicing assimilation......Page 129
4.1 Total assimilation of prefixes......Page 130
4.2 Double consonant spellings......Page 132
5 Replacement by weakening or strengthening......Page 133
5.1.1 T-Lenition and spelling......Page 134
5.1.2 T-Lenition, palatalization, and affrication......Page 135
5.2 D-Lenition......Page 136
5.2.1 Summary: palatalization and affrication of dental stops......Page 137
6 Vowel replacement......Page 138
6.2 <e>-Weakening......Page 139
6.3 Multiple weakening......Page 140
7 Backness assimilation......Page 141
1 Consonant deletion......Page 142
1.1 S-Drop......Page 143
1.1.1 Spelling exceptions......Page 144
1.1.2 Exceptions to S-Drop......Page 145
1.1.3 Other affixes in -s......Page 146
1.2 X-Drop......Page 147
1.3 N-Drop......Page 148
1.3.1 Pronunciation and boundaries......Page 149
1.3.2 Nasal Drop in other prefixes......Page 151
2.1 V-Drop in hiatus......Page 152
2.2 Syllable syncopation......Page 153
2.2.1 Preservation of <-er> and <-or>......Page 154
3.1 U-Epenthesis......Page 155
3.2 P-Epenthesis......Page 156
2 Consonant correspondences: the First Consonant Shift (Grimm’s Law)......Page 158
3.1 Gradation in Germanic......Page 162
4.1 Rhotacism in Latin......Page 163
4.2 Rhotacism in Germanic......Page 164
6 Obscure cognates: completely unpredictable allomorphy......Page 165
7.1 Boundary misplacement......Page 167
7.2 Homophony in roots and affixes......Page 168
7.2.1 Root homophony......Page 169
7.3 Affix homophony......Page 171
7.3.1 Phonetic rules and homophony......Page 172
7.3.2 Homophony of suffixes......Page 173
7.3.3 Mixed homophony: affixes and roots......Page 174
8 Pseudo-suffixes......Page 175
9 Semantic variation......Page 176
10 Multiple derivatives – multiple meanings......Page 177
11 Multiple affixes – same meaning......Page 178
1.1 Sense variation: homophony, homonymy, polysemy......Page 179
1.3 Similarity and contrast: synonymy, antonomy, hyponymy......Page 181
1.4 Some more -onyms......Page 183
2.1.1 Technology and current relevance......Page 184
2.1.2 Changing cultural relevance......Page 186
2.1.3 Other types of associations......Page 187
2.2 Internal forces: analogy......Page 188
2.3 Internal forces: semantic nativization......Page 189
3.1 Scope change......Page 190
3.1.1 Loss of specificity......Page 191
3.1.2 Narrowing/specialization......Page 193
3.2 Status change: amelioration and pejoration......Page 194
3.3 Mixed examples......Page 195
4 Semantic guesswork......Page 196
1 Unassimilated classical words......Page 198
1.1 The pronunciation of consonants in unassimilated classical words......Page 199
1.2 The pronunciation of vowels in unassimilated classical words......Page 200
2 More on consonant spelling and pronunciation in non-native words......Page 202
3 Finding the main stress......Page 205
3.1 Syllable structure, syllable division, and syllable weight......Page 206
3.2 The role of final syllables......Page 208
3.3 Steps in determination of main stress placement......Page 210
4.1 Affixes which attract the stress to the syllable on their left......Page 214
Appendix......Page 216
Index......Page 232