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Sources of New Words
Y(caps)ou will recall that the greatest radical changes in the history of English have taken place in the vocabulary. The events and developments in Europe and England are usually reflected in the English language by the number of new words that are introduced following the events. Can you remember any Old English words that came with the Anglo-Saxon invasion or words that were introduced as a result of the Danish invasion, or French words that the Normans brought with them as they conquered England in 1066?
In the Modern periods new words that came into the English lexicon did not come with military conquest, rather they came from common sources such as borrowings from other modern European languages; creation of words through self-explaining compounds, prefixes and suffixes; coinages; forming of words from Greek and Latin elements; common words from proper names; slang and old words that assumed new meanings. We shall discuss each of these briefly:
(i) Borrowings from Modern European Languages.
The English language has further extended its vocabulary with new words like aperitif, chauffeur, garage etc (French), ciao, vendetta etc (Italian), bonanza, canyon, cantina etc (Spanish) feschrift, angst, etc (German), troika, vodka, glasnost, perestroika (Russia), robot, (Czech), loot, thug etc (India), pyjamas (Persia), sake, yen, soy etc (Japan). Most of these words have been adopted the way they are, with the same meaning that they designate in their original languages.
(ii) Forming Words through Self-Explaining Compounds.
Compound words such as fire-extinguisher, finger-print etc. (often with hyphens) represent the old method of creating words in English language. In the 20th century, it continued to provide cheap method of forming new words. Words such as know-how, lip-stick, streamline, hitchhike, e-mail, babysitter, life style, greenhouse effect, acid rain etc. are familiar examples. You can see that the words explain themselves without having to consult the dictionary.
(iii) Compounds from Greek and Latin Elements.
Latin and Greek are familiar classical languages whose elements have been in the English language for a long time. In modern times, they remain a favourite source of scientific terms in the language. The word genetics for example is formed from two Greek roots which stands for well and to be born. Genetics is the study of heredity - about natural traits, abilities or illnesses of parents pass on to their children. The suffix scope in telescope, stethoscope, etc. is from the Greek word meaning water, while ‘tele’ in telescope, telephone, television etc., is adopted from Greek element meaning far. The word automobile is from both Greek and Latin. Auto in Greek represents self while mobile is Latin mobilis
(iv) Prefixes and Suffixes.
Another method for forming words has been by adding familiar prefixes and suffixes to existing words. Thus in the Modern period, words such as transatlantic, transcontinental, transformer, transmarine, post classical, postgraduate, prenatal, preschool, preview, counterattack, superman, neoclassical, stardom, gangster, profiteer etc came into the language.
(v) Coinages.
Some new words in the language are as a result of deliberate coinages during this period. Many of such words came from the media and advertising. Words like Xerox, Frigidaire and Kodak were initially used as trademarks, but today you can hear someone saying “I would like to Xerox the whole paper”. Acronym is another method through which new words were invented. We often refer to OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Countries) ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) UNICEF (United Nations Children’s fund) without having to bother about their full meaning. In some coinages it is easy to guess the combination that is made, either an element with an existing word in the language or some familiar element. Examples are travelogue (travel and dialogue), Dictaphone (dictate and telephone), electrocute (electricity and execute) etc. Words like travelogue and electrocute are called blends or portmanteau.
(vi) Words from Proper Names.
Some words in the language are actually adopted from proper names with which the idea expressed by the words is associated. Sandwich for example is attributable to the Earl of Sandwich who on one occasion was said to put slices of meat between pieces of bread. Limousine is a name of a province in France. Names like Mercedes, Ford, or Volkswagen are cars named after their inventors. The word boycott was derived from the experience of captain Boycott -an agent of a house owner who refused to accept rent offered by tenants. His life was threatened, his servants were forced to desert him and his figure was burnt in effigy. This was in 1880 in Ireland. Since then the word boycott evolved meaning to force something to happen, by refusing to do something. We have more of such words in English language.
(vii) Slang.
Slang could be said to be common words or expressions that do not belong to the standard variety but are generally used in some informal contexts, with some special meaning. Earlier in the slang was rejected as vulgar, or ‘vagabond’. But in modern times, many slang words like joke, boom, slum, fad, scram, buzz, put-down, vamoose etc are finding their way into formal writing.
(viii) Old Words with New Meanings.
The process of extending the vocabulary of a language also involves attaching new meanings to old-familiar words. Words like mouse, boot, click, navigate as used today in computing are examples of old words with new meanings. Skyline initially meant the horizon, now it refers to sky-scrapers. A record no longer refers to music, but other things from bookkeeping to documentation. Phrasal verbs like sign-off or stand-by are now mainly used in the media, like take-off (in a plane) kick-off (in football) and call-up (in telephone). Some words are now better interpreted in the content of users and situations, than their dictionary meaning. Skyscrapers
SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 1
1. List at least six (6) sources of lexicon in Modern English.
2. Discuss four (4) contributions of these sources.
3.2 The Oxford English Dictionary
It was around 1850 that the inadequacy of existing dictionaries of the English language began to be felt very seriously. With the increasing amount of new words entering into the language the Johnson’s dictionary for example became far below standard to meet the intellectual needs of the modern reader. The British Philological Society in 1857 appointed a committee to collect words that were not in the dictionaries, with an aim of publishing a supplement to them. It later decided to produce an entirely new English dictionary, in order to record every word that could be found in the language from around the year 1000. The dictionary was also to show the history of each word, its spellings and its usage, past and present. A call for volunteers in the project attracted numerous materials from hundred of readers from all over the world. By 1879 a formal agreement had been reached with the Oxford University Press, to publish and finance the philological society’s dictionary. Work on the dictionary was finished around 1895 and was originally known as A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles, but was later called The Oxford English Dictionary. The completed work was in 10 volumes, with 240,165 main words. A supplementary volume was published in 1933 containing additions and corrections. The 2nd edition of the dictionary contained 290,500 entries, about 38,000 more than the 1993 supplement. Three volumes were published between 1993 and 1997. The dictionary is said to be the biggest of any language in the world. It provided some data that has helped to answer questions relating to the. It has also influenced the attitude of many people favourably towards the English language by exhibiting the history of words and idioms, their forms and their different levels of usage, and a guide to their pronunciation.
SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 2
In what ways do you think the Oxford English Dictionary has aided the growth of the English language?
3.3 Spelling Reform
You will again recall that spelling has been one of the teething problems of the English language right from the beginning. This problem continued to plague the language through the time of Shakespeare, to the early part of the 19th century. Interest was once again renewed in it, and this led to the formation of Spelling Reform Associations in Britain and American. These associations did not achieve much. In 1898 the British National Education Association formally adopted twelve simplified spellings for use in its publications. They are tho, altho, thoro, thorofare, thru, throughout, program, catalog, prolog, decalog, demagog, and pedagog. While some of these have come into general use, many of them did not get public acceptance. In 1906 a Simplified Spelling Board emerged in the United States which aimed at publishing 300 words, for which different spellings were used e.g. (metre, meter, judgment, judgement, encyclopaedia, encyclopedia etc.) and to recommend the simpler form. Again this was not well received. The print media and book publishers continued to use the traditional spelling.
Though these Reform attempts did not achieve much result, they indeed stimulated public interest in the need to achieve a permanent solution to the spelling problem. But most people believed that a radical change of spelling would not favor many people who were already used to the traditional spelling. And to many people, the written word is as important as the spoken word. A radical change in spelling would certainly affect meaning to many people. Popular opinion was that if spelling was ever to be reformed, it must be approached gradually.
SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 3
1. Was the idea for Spelling Reform successful?
2. What was the popular attitude towards the Spelling Reform?
3.4 Functional Varieties of English
In any community where people use a particular language, there are bound to be differences in speech. Speech variations are often due to levels of education, differences in culture, professions, status, and regional backgrounds of people that have come from different places. Also, varieties are due to contexts in which language is used, as in formal or informal, or to varieties influenced by local or class dialects. So it is easy to distinguish between the standard and non-standard varieties. Slang, for example, is a form of non-standard variety used mostly in informal contexts.
Modern English has developed a lot of varieties, which we can associate with different classes of people or social groups. There is the spoken standard, which is the conversational language of educated people. This variety is marked by conformity to the rules of grammar and pronunciation. There is also the written standard, which is the language of books and other forms of academic writing. We can distinguish between spoken and written varieties because the spoken standard is often used in informal situations and often characterized by words like trip, daddy, hols etc as against the formal written forms -journey, father, and holiday. Then we have the popular standard of uneducated people which is characterized by slang, pidgin, and coinages. This variety does not generally conform to the rules of correctness. But with the movement of English across the world much of this variety also known as vernacular English has evolved in many second language countries.
In Britain, the Spoken Standard is known as Received Pronunciation (RP). This standard varies in different parts of English-speaking countries. It is the type associated with educated people with a high degree of conformity to rules. It is more of a class variety than regional dialect. Standard variety is determined by its acceptability and intelligibility (i.e. sense or meaningfulness) among speakers of English across the world. In addition to the educated standard, there are regional dialects of English among the English-speaking world. This is discussed in detail in Units 16 and 17. In Britain regional dialects of English developed right from the old English. Today we have modern dialects like Welsh, Scot, Irish etc. each having its several sub-regional varieties, like British English, English English, BBC English, Norn, Scottish English, Welsh English etc.
SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 4
1. Can you identify the differences between written and spoken English?
2. Why do we say that a variety of English is Standard and another non-standard?
3. What is the difference between social dialect and regional dialect?
4.0 CONCLUSION
We can see that Modern English is characterized by further enlargement of its vocabulary through different sources. And that old dictionaries became inadequate to meet the needs of modern scholarship, hence, the development of the Oxford English dictionary. Attempts at spelling Reforms failed because publishers and academics remain loyal to traditional spelling. Modern English is characterized by functional varieties and regional dialects.
5.0 SUMMARY
Sources of new words include borrowings, self-explaining compounds, Greek and Latin elements, prefixes and suffixes, coinages, proper names, slang and old words that assumed new meaning. The Oxford English dictionary was able to provide a more comprehensive inventory of old and new words, as well as idioms in English and provided a guide to their spellings, pronunciation, meanings and usages. Attempts at a spelling reform failed due to the poor response of people to the proposal. Writers and publishers continued to use the traditional spelling. And as English continued to grow, varieties of usages naturally emerged. We can identify distinct spoken and written varieties, standard and non-standard varieties. As it was the case with old English, regional dialects of English became more complex.
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