English Words: History and Structure

Half-title......Page 3
Title......Page 5
Copyright......Page 6
Dedication......Page 7
Contents......Page 9
An introduction to the textbook......Page 15
1 Word origins......Page 17
1 Inheritance......Page 18
2 Neologisms (Creation de novo)......Page 19
3 Blending......Page 20
4 Acronyms......Page 21
4.1 Initialismsx......Page 22
4.2 Reverse acronymsx......Page 23
5 Creation by shortening......Page 24
6.1 Derivation by affixationx......Page 25
7 Compounding......Page 26
8.1 Based on personal names......Page 29
8.3 Based on names from literature, folklore, and mythology......Page 30
8.4 Based on commercial brand names......Page 31
9 Other sources......Page 32
1 The family history of English......Page 33
1.1 Indo-European......Page 37
1.2 The Germanic branch......Page 40
1.3 English......Page 42
2.1 The indigenous vocabulary of Old English......Page 44
2.1.1 Earliest loanwords......Page 45
2.1.2 The Scandinavian element......Page 47
2.2 English becomes a hybrid......Page 48
2.2.1 French loanwords in Middle English......Page 50
1 The Early Modern English cultural scene......Page 53
2 Vocabulary enrichment during the Renaissance......Page 55
3 Transmission, etymology, source identification......Page 60
4 Summary of early British history and loanwords in English......Page 68
Latin......Page 69
1 The smallest meaningful units......Page 70
1.1 Morphemes and syllables......Page 71
1.2 The properties of morphemes......Page 72
2.1 Roots......Page 75
2.2 Affixes......Page 77
2.3 Functions of affixes......Page 78
3 Compounds......Page 80
5 Cognates......Page 82
5.1 Shared derivation......Page 84
6 Finding roots in a dictionary......Page 85
1.1.1 Zero allomorphy......Page 87
1.1.4 Derivation......Page 89
1.2.1 Phonetic change......Page 90
2.2 Phonetic symbols in square brackets......Page 94
2.3 Consonantal parameters......Page 95
2.3.2 Manner of articulation......Page 96
2.3.3 Voicing......Page 97
2.4 English vowels......Page 98
2.4.1 Vowel variation......Page 99
2.4.2 Vowel parameters......Page 100
2.4.3 Reduction of vowels......Page 102
3.1 Prefixes......Page 103
3.2 Suffixes......Page 106
1 Assimilation and types of assimilation......Page 109
2 Labial assimilation......Page 110
2.1 Exceptions to labial assimilation......Page 112
3 Voicing assimilation......Page 113
3.2 Left-to-right voicing assimilation......Page 114
4.1 Total assimilation of prefixes......Page 115
4.2 Double consonant spellings......Page 117
5.1 T-Lenition......Page 118
5.1.2 T-Lenition, palatalization, and affirication......Page 119
5.2 D-Lenition......Page 120
5.2.1 Summary: palatalization and affirication of dental stops......Page 121
6 Vowel replacements......Page 122
6.2 E-Lenition......Page 123
7 Backness assimilation......Page 124
1 Consonant deletion......Page 126
1.1 S-Degemination......Page 127
1.1.2 Exceptions to S-Degemination......Page 128
1.1.3 Other affixes in-s......Page 129
1.2 X-drop......Page 130
1.3 N-drop......Page 132
1.3.1 Pronunciation and boundaries......Page 133
1.3.2 N-drop in other preffixes......Page 134
2.1 V-drop in hiatus......Page 135
2.1.1 Exceptions......Page 136
2.2 Syllable syncopation......Page 137
2.2.1 Preservation of <-er>and <-or>......Page 138
3.1 U-Epenthesis......Page 139
3.2 P-Epenthesis......Page 140
1 Fossilized allomorphy......Page 142
2 Gradation......Page 143
3.1 Rhotacism in Latin......Page 144
4 Metathesis (transposition)......Page 146
5 Obscure cognates: completely unpredictable allomorphy......Page 147
6.1 Boundary misplacement......Page 149
6.2 Homophony in roots and affixes......Page 150
6.2.1 Root homophony......Page 151
6.3 Affix homophony......Page 153
6.3.1 Phonetic rules and homophony......Page 154
6.3.2 Homophony of grammatical suffixes......Page 155
6.3.3 Mixed homophony: affixes and roots......Page 156
7 Pseudo-suffixes......Page 157
8 Semantic variation......Page 158
9 Multiple derivatives – multiple meanings......Page 159
10 Multiple affixes – same meaning......Page 160
1 Terminology......Page 161
1.2 Other -onyms......Page 162
2.1.1 Technology and current relevance......Page 163
2.2 Accidental associations......Page 165
2.3.1 Analogy......Page 166
2.4 Loss of specificity......Page 168
3.2 Status: amelioration and pejoration......Page 170
3.3 Mixed examples......Page 171
3.4 Narrowing/specialization......Page 172
4 Types of status change......Page 173
5 Changing cultural relevance......Page 174
6 Semantic guesswork......Page 175
1 Unassimilated classical words......Page 177
1.2 The pronunciation of vowels in unassimilated classical words......Page 178
2 The pronunciation of fully assimilated classical words......Page 180
3 Finding the main stress......Page 182
3.1 The role of final syllables......Page 183
3.2 Steps in determination of main stress placement......Page 185
4 Stress-changing affixes......Page 189
4.1 Affixes which attract the stress to the syllable on their left......Page 190
2 Types of dictionaries......Page 191
2.1 Unabridged......Page 192
2.2 The Oxford English Dictionary......Page 193
2.2.1 The editors......Page 194
2.2.2 Reduced versions of the OED......Page 195
2.3 Merriam-Webster......Page 196
2.4 Webster’s competitors......Page 197
2.6.1 For British users......Page 198
2.6.2 For American users......Page 199
2.6.3 Important differences between dictionaries......Page 201
2.7 Dictionary shelf-life......Page 205
Appendix II: morpheme list......Page 207
Index......Page 219