Last modified 14 Sept 10
Nature of the English language and English Words
number of words in English closest linguistic relations of English native vs. borrowed words
English as a World Language
dialects of English major national varieties of English richness of English vocabulary synonyms in English lack of national language academies
History of English
Old English (Anglo-Saxon) Harold Godwinson, Harold King of Anglo-Saxons Middle English Norman French Early Modern English William of Normandy (William the Conqueror) Present Day English (PDE) Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales Celts William Caxton, printing press Romans Great English Vowel Shift Anglo-Saxons King James Bible, King James Version Beowulf European conquest and colonialism King Alfred (Alfred the Great) Shakespeare Vikings, Danes standardization (of language, of spelling) Canute (Cnut) 18th century--start of prescriptive movement Danelaw, Watling Street standardization Normans dictionary makers Norman conquest Samuel Johnson Battle of Hastings Noah Webster Edward the Confessor British vs. American spellings periods of the various major waves of loanwords (borrowings) in English
Words in English
native synonyms, synonymy borrowed homonyms, homonymy nativized words, nativization [polysemy: same sound; meanings are different loanword, borrowing but closely related] place names vs. common words descriptive, descriptivism doublets, triplets prescriptive, prescriptivism Classical (or Latinate) standard, nonstandard varieties word elements etymology (word origin) Oxford English Dictionary
Morphology, also known as Word Formation
word structure inflection (plural, tense marking etc.) word element derive, derivation (makes new part of morph, morpheme speech or new meaning) root zero-derivation affix compounds, compounding prefix folk etymology suffix blends, blending filler or linker morpheme clipping, clippings parse, parsing acronym, initialism
© 2010
Suzanne Kemmer
Last modified 14 Sept 10