English Words

English Words PDF Author: Donka Minkova
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521882583
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 235

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Book Description
A new edition of this textbook discusses the learned vocabulary of English - the words borrowed from the classical languages.

English Words

English Words PDF Author: Donka Minkova
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521882583
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 235

Get Book Here

Book Description
A new edition of this textbook discusses the learned vocabulary of English - the words borrowed from the classical languages.

Sociocultural Dimensions of Lexis and Text in the History of English

Sociocultural Dimensions of Lexis and Text in the History of English PDF Author: Peter Petré
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company
ISBN: 902726399X
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 268

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Book Description
The chapters collected in this volume examine how the sociohistorical and cultural context may influence structural features of lexis and text types. Each paper pays particular attention to social ‘labels’ and attitudes (conservative, religious, ideological, endearing, or other), thereby focusing on their dynamic and historical dimension. Changes in these are analyzed in order to explain morphological, lexical, and textual changes that would otherwise be hard to account for. Together, they provide a varied window on the effect of historical versions of a dynamic society on lexis and text. Examining lexical and textual change in history from a sociocultural perspective teaches us a great deal – not just about the past, but it also makes us think about similar phenomena in the present, enhancing our knowledge about how universally human some of these phenomena are. This volume will be of great interest to (English) historical linguists, sociolinguists, and scholars of sociohistorical and cultural studies.

Alliteration and Sound Change in Early English

Alliteration and Sound Change in Early English PDF Author: Donka Minkova
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139433172
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 422

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Book Description
This 2003 study uses evidence from early English verse to reconstruct the course of some central phonological changes in the history of the language. It builds on the premise that alliteration reflects faithfully the acoustic identity and similarity of stressed syllable onsets. Individual chapters cover the history of the velars, the structure and history of vowel-initial syllable onsets, the behaviour of onset clusters, and the chronology and motivation of cluster reduction (gn-, kn-, hr-, hl-, hn-, hw-, wr-, wl-). Examination of the patterns of group alliteration in Old and Middle English reveals a hierarchy of cluster-internal cohesiveness which leads to new conclusions regarding the causes for the special treatment of sp-, st-, sk- in alliteration. The analysis draws on phonetically based Optimality-Theoretic models. The book presents valuable information about the medieval poetic canon and elucidates the relationship between orality and literacy in the evolution of English verse.

The Oxford Guide to Etymology

The Oxford Guide to Etymology PDF Author: Philip Durkin
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191618780
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 752

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Book Description
This practical introduction to word history investigates every aspect of where words come from and how they change. Philip Durkin, chief etymologist of the Oxford English Dictionary, shows how different types of evidence can shed light on the myriad ways in which words change in form and meaning. He considers how such changes can be part of wider linguistic processes, or be influenced by a complex mixture of social and cultural factors. He illustrates every point with a wide range of fascinating examples. Dr Durkin investigates folk etymology and other changes which words undergo in everyday use. He shows how language families are established, how words in different languages can have a common ancester, and the ways in which the latter can be distinguished from words introduced through language contact. He examines the etymologies of the names of people and places. His focus is on English but he draws many examples from languages such as French, German, and Latin which cast light on the pre-histories of English words. The Oxford Guide to Etymology is reliable, readable, instructive, and enjoyable. Everyone interested in the history of words will value this account of an endlessly fascinating subject.

Historical Phonology of English

Historical Phonology of English PDF Author: Donka Minkova
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
ISBN: 0748677550
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 440

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Book Description
This book covers the historical development of the English phonological system from its earliest reconstructed and recorded forms to its most recent variations.

Expanding the Lexicon

Expanding the Lexicon PDF Author: Sabine Arndt-Lappe
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3110498162
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 282

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Book Description
The creation of new lexical units and patterns has been studied in different research frameworks, focusing on either system-internal or system-external aspects, from which no comprehensive view has emerged. The volume aims to fill this gap by studying dynamic processes in the lexicon – understood in a wide sense as not being necessarily limited to the word level – by bringing together approaches directed to morphological productivity as well as approaches analyzing general types of lexical innovation and the role of discourse-related factors. The papers deal with ongoing changes as well as with historical processes of change in different languages and reflect on patterns and specific subtypes of lexical innovation as well as on their external conditions and the speakers’ motivations for innovating. Moreover, the diffusion and conventionalization of innovations will be addressed. In this way, the volume contributes to understanding the complex interplay of structural, cognitive and functional factors in the lexicon as a highly dynamic domain.

The Grammar of Names in Anglo-Saxon England

The Grammar of Names in Anglo-Saxon England PDF Author: Fran Colman
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191005185
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 323

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Book Description
This book examines personal names, including given and acquired (or nick-) names, and how they were used in Anglo-Saxon England. It discusses their etymologies, semantics, and grammatical behaviour, and considers their evolving place in Anglo-Saxon history and culture. From that culture survive thousands of names on coins, in manuscripts, on stone and other inscriptions. Names are important and their absence a stigma (Grendel's parents have no names); they may have particular functions in ritual and magic; they mark individuals, generally people but also beings with close human contact such as dogs, cats, birds, and horses; and they may provide indications of rank and gender. Dr Colman explores the place of names within the structure of Old English, their derivation, formation, and other linguistic behaviour, and compares them with the products of other Germanic (e.g., Present-day German) and non-Germanic (e.g., Ancient and Present-day Greek) naming systems. Old English personal names typically followed the Germanic system of elements based on common words like leof (adjective 'beloved') and wulf (noun 'wolf'), which give Leofa and Wulf, and often combined as in Wulfraed, (ræd noun, 'advice, counsel') or as in Leofing (with the diminutive suffix -ing). The author looks at the combinatorial and sequencing possibilities of these elements in name formation, and assesses the extent to which, in origin, names may be selected to express qualities manifested by, or expected in, an individual. She examines their different modes of inflection and the variable behaviour of names classified as masculine or feminine. The results of her wide-ranging investigation are provocative and stimulating.

From Latin to Modern French with Especial Consideration of Anglo-Norman

From Latin to Modern French with Especial Consideration of Anglo-Norman PDF Author: Mildred Katharine Pope
Publisher: Manchester University Press
ISBN: 9780719001765
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 614

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Book Description


Kings, Currency, and Alliances

Kings, Currency, and Alliances PDF Author: Mark A. S. Blackburn
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
ISBN: 9780851155982
Category : Antiques & Collectibles
Languages : en
Pages : 298

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Book Description
Historians, numismatists and philologists consider fundamental aspects of 9c political and economic history. The ninth century was a period of upheaval in England, as the kingdoms of Mercia and Wessex vied for supremacy, and East Anglia and Kent sought to regain their independence, with the arrival of the Vikings introducing a further element of unrest. This interdisciplinary collection of papers by historians, numismatists and philologists considers fundamental aspects of the period's political and economic history. Alliances and treaties are a central theme, political and monetary. A radical reassesment of events in London in the later ninth century is presented, prompted by a detailed examination of the numismatic evidence marshalled here along with the written sources; it is argued that the Vikings were not in control of the city prior to Alfred's "reoccupation" in AD 886. The volume includes an illustrated corpus of the coinage of Berhtwulf and another for the middle years of Alfred's reign; moneyers are identified as witnesses to charters, and the forms of their names are analysed according to the Old English dialects they represent. A listing of some 500 single coin-finds forms the basis for a discussion of the nature and extent ofmonetary use in ninth-century England. The late MARK BLACKBURN was Keeper of Coins and Medals at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge; DAVID DUMVILLE is Emeritus Professor at the University of Aberdeen. Contributors: SIMON KEYNES, THOMAS CHARLES-EDWARDS, JAMES BOOTH, MARK BLACKBURN, LORD STEWARTBY, PAUL BIBIRE, D.M. METCALF, MICHAEL BONSER

Language History and Linguistic Modelling

Language History and Linguistic Modelling PDF Author: Raymond Hickey
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
ISBN: 3110820757
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 2184

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Book Description
This work presents a collection of some 130 contributions covering a wide range of topics of interest to historical, theoretical and applied linguistics alike. A major theme is the development of English which is examined on several levels in the light of recent linguistic theory in various papers. The geographical dimension is also treated extensively with papers on controversial aspects of a variety of studies, as are topical linguistic matters from a more general perspective.