第8卷第1期 V01.8 No.1 读与写杂志 2011年1月 Read and Write Periodica1 Janua ̄2011 A Preliminary Study on Social Factors in Lexical Change 顾淑勤 (苏州卫生职业技术学院 江苏 苏州 215002) Abstract:The changes of the society influence the vocabulary tremendously.British English,which could be divided into three ma- jor periods according to the development,is a typical example to support the idea. Key words:lexical change;social factors;historical event;vocabulary,new entiesr 中图分类号:H319 文献标识码:A 文章编号:1672—1578(2011)01—0012—03 example,the”-son”in”Jackson”,”Thompson”,”Stevenson”, ”Johnson”comes form Scandinavian too.As the time goes。 numerous Scandinavian words entered the English vocabulary gradually.It is estimated that there are still about 9OO It is universally recognized that language is a scientiifc system on one hand and a social phenomenon on the other. And the changes of the society influence languages tremendously.The most vigorous and on—going change in the historical development of a language is the change in its vocabulary.Lexical change is inevitable.For one thing,as the society develops and life style changes,the referents of many nouns cease to exist and meanwhile,the changed society and Scandinavian words in modern English. The Scandinavians from northerrl Europe lived with Anglo— Saxon for a long time.Both of their language belonged to Germanic,and shared the same origin in culture,so the Scandinavian language left an inluentfil marak on English life give rise to the boon of new concepts that have to be expressed in new terms.Take British English for example. vocabulary.Not only have numerous word like”awkward”.” get”,and”take’’been borrowed into the core of our everyday usage,but indispensable pronou ̄forms such as”they”,”them”, Briitsh English has undergone dramatic changes throughout three m ajor periods of Old English(roughly from 449 to 1 100), Middle English (roughly from 1 100 to 1 500),and Modern English(roughly from 1500 to the present).Modern English can be further divided into two periods,one is the early period ”their”.”both”.’’same”and conjunction’’though”derive either directly or indirectly from Scandinavian. It is worth to emphasizing that the tI_anslation loan words from the Scandinavian mostly related to daily life,among them there were lots essential words.Because of that,people are nol of Modern English(roughly from 1500 to 170o),another is the present-day English(roughly from 1700 to the present time). Old English dates back to the mid-fith centurywhen f.aware they are borrowed from other language.For example: Anglo-Saxons,the speakem of English,invaded the British Isles form no ̄hern Europe.During the period of Old English, the vocabulary has obvious Germanic characteristics. It identiied iftself that compounding is the chief kind of word— Nouns:”anger”,。’bull”,’’cake”,”calf'’,”egg”,”fellow”,” gate”,’’husband”,”kid”,’’knife”,’’law”,”leg”,”race”,”sister”. ”seat”,”want””trust”,,”window”and”wing”,etc. Adjectives:”awkward”,”lfat”,”happy”,”ill”,”low”,’ loose”,’’odd”,’’rotten”,”same”,”seemly”,”sly”,”tight”,’ formation.Compound words dominated the vocabulary in Old English.It is known that there are 1,069 compound words in the national epic”Beowulf'’.… There are two important historical events which influenced ugly”.”weak”and”wrong”.etc. Verbs:”call”,”cast“,’’die”,”drown”,”grape”,”get”,‘ give”,”guess”,”hit”,”lit”,”raifse”,”rid”,”scare”,”take”,’ thrive”and”thrust”.etc. the vocabulary in the period of Old English most.One is that the Anglo-Saxons were Christianized in the seventh century. he monasterTies were built aU over the country.Latin words From the history.we can see that people seldom had tllf chance to communicate between areas in the early period o English since the conditions were limited.Society change( since the war or invasion and people from the diferent nafiom which related to religion contributed themselves widely,such as ”creed”,”pope”,”priest”,”altar”,”shrine”,”chapter”,”organ”, ”candle”,etc.However,English language in the early period could contact closely and widely.The war and the invasim made all the exchange possible. Middle English began with the arrival of the Normm was not accustomed to accepting the new entries at that time, the national language still took the dominant place.So some elrigious nouns were introduced to English through translation French invader in England under William the Conqueror il 1066.The Norman Conquest is critical in England history,all( it influenced the English language enormously.After th, Norman Conquest,the Nornmns occupied all the importan loan.For example,”gospel”is”Godspell” (god:well,spell= news),and it is translated from Latin word”euangelium” (eu= well,angelium=news). The other meaningful historical event which influenced the vocabulary in the period of Old English is Northern European positions in the church and in the government.And Normm French became the oficifl langauage in British.Alhou tgh th, ordinaries spoke English,there was almost no written Englisl at that time.Middle English can be fu ̄her divided into tw, Conquest.From 790,the Scandinavians(mostly Danish)invaded the British,and settled there.It was inevitable that the northern European culture left its mark on British English. periods,and the British lost Romandy in France in 1204 i the 1ine.After l 204.English took back the dominant plae. gradually. For about a century and a half after what is known a the Norman Conquest.French remained as the language of th Scandinavian words’’thorp”.”torp”have the same meaning as ”village”in English,and there are at least 300 villages named after”一thorp”,such as”Woodthorp”,’’Althorp”,”Linthorp”, etc.The invasion even influenced the English s names.For 一12— 第8卷第1期 Vo1.8 No.1 读与写杂志 2011年1月 Januaw 2011 Read and W打[e Periodical ruling class,as far as literature and administration were concemed.The situation can be typiied ffor example by the use of the English”calf’.”swine”and”sheep”far the animals phenomenon that Latin werds entered the British English through more peaceful way,that is,the communication in areas in medicine,science,1iterature and religion,ete. We can assume that Latin people were more advanced in when tended by the Saxon herdsmen,and of the French” veal”.”pork’’and”mutton”for the flesh served at the noble s table. Meanwhile,the changes in lexicon are outstanding.As the conquerors and their descendants gradually learned English over the subsequent years,they retained French terms to rear such areas at that time and naturally the British people had to learn from。and acquired the new vocabulary at the same time. What separated the period of Middle English from that of Modem English was not European military invasion,but European Renaissance movement,a period of humanistic revival of classica1 art.1iterature and learning whose influenee reached England in the late fiteentfh century.Modem English is to the more formal political,judicial,and cultural motions. These werds were then borrowed by native English speakers who were eager to imitate the more prestigious speech of their social superiors.Naturally,heavy borrowings involved the kind of vocabulary that were related to administrative,judicial and religious areas.Other areas of heavy borrowings include science,culture,and warfare,etc. For example: in politics:”empire”,”royal”,”government”,’’administer”, ”treaty”,’’realm”,”authority”,”tyrant”,”oppress”,”traitor”, 。’liberty”and”chamberlain”.ete; in religion:”less”,”religion”,”sermon”,”confession”, divided into two periods:early period of Modem English(from 1 500 to 1700),and the present—day English (from 1700 till nowadays). At the beginning of the early period of Modem English, the Renaissance spread all over the British.As far as education and culture were concerned,a direct consequence of the Renaissance movement was the revival of Latin as a literary language.The prestigious cultural position that Latin e njeyed was,however,not as overwhelming as that Norman French of the earlier period held.As a basic part of language, vocabulary underwent changes too.New entries from Latin and Greek entered English,and involved areas in arts,philosophy ”prayer”,”clergy”,”baptism”,”clerk”,”cardinal”and”pastor”, etc; in judicature:”justice”,”judgment”,”crime”,”defendant”, ”bar”,”soldier”,”battle”,and ”retreat”,etc; and science,ete,since humanists were eager to study on ancient Roman and Greek culture.Today,we can trace the exact year when the new entries entered the English language from the Oxford English Dictionary.For example,arbiter in 1502,genius in 1513,acumen in 1531,vacuum in 1550, radius in 1597,specimen in 1610,apparatus in 1628,complex in daily life:”fashion”,”dress”,”bacon”,”fry”,”supper”, ”dinner”,”gravy”,”blanket”and’’curtain”,etc; in medical area:”medicine”,”surgeon”,“pain”,”poison”, ”pulse”,”ointment”,”stomach”and”anatomy”,ete. In the mean time,Latin words entered English language massively.Although less than the loan words from French,they could be seen in lots of areas such as medicine,science, literature,religion,ete.Latin words entered English language in 1652,lens in 1693 and momentum in 1699,ete.Beside the massive borrowings from Greek and Latin,English language borrowed words from other languages too.For example,”alloy”, ’’bigot”,”detail”,’’comrade”,”essay’’ and”genteel”rom fvia two ways.Some Latin words entered French language first French,”armada”,”banana”,”Cocoa”,”hurricane”and”potato” rfmn Spain,”balcony”,。’pizza”,”design”,”violin。’andvolcano”from Italy,etc. ” and then were transferred to English language.Some words entered English language directly and got a legal position.For example:”abject”,”allegory“,”distract”,”genius”,”history”,” incredible”.”rational”and”interrupt”.etc. Because of the massive borrowings from French and Latin, synonyms were extremely rich in the period of Middle English. Followed the increasing of the new entries,the synonyms in English language were greatly enriched.For example: Words from English S1Ze iaith blessing kingly Words from French caliber aJtv benison royal Werds from Latin magnitude idelifty benedictiOn regal Word”ifre”from Old English).”lfame”from French1 and ”conflagration” (rfom Latin)have the same meaning,and word ”ask”(from Old English),”inquire”( om French)and ”interrogate”(from Latin1 share the same meaning too. As far as word—formation coneemed,compounding was no longer a chief kind of werd—formation in the period of Middle English,but took the new entries from other languages through translation 1oan largely.There are about 10,000 French werds entered English language and 75%of them are still in use ”share portion Dart weak break womanly frall iemale fa ̄le separate teminine manly male masculine Some of the new enties keep trhe old form,such as climax“, ”appendix”, ”exterior”, ”axis”, etc.The others currently.[3]There are approximately 8,000 words in Geoffery Chaueer's work,and among them more than 4,000 werds are undergo some changes.For example:”consult”from”eonsultare”. ”exoticus”form”exclusioneum”,“conspicuous”from”conspicuus”, etc. borrowed from French.[4]After all,the English vocabulary was greatly enriched by the Norman Conquest. Now we can see the fact the invasion (here is Norman The post——Renaissance period witnessed an ever——increasing Conquest)still took the important place in influencing one nation's culture and language from the more powerful one during the Middle English.However,there is a new role of the imperial Britain in world affairs.After the Bourgeois Revolution and the IndustriaI Revolution,British influence reached other continents,the”British Empire”established 13—— 第8卷第1期 读与写杂志 2011年1月 Vo1.8 No.1 Read and Write Periodical January 201 1 English-speaking colonies in many parts of the world.As a Among them there are above two thirds of tlle vocabulary result,the words from all over the world made their entry into appear in the latest 300 years.【5】China's fisrt manned English language.They could be seen”harem”,”bazaar”,” spaceship.soared into the azure sky at exactly 9 a.m.Beijing shawl”from Persian。”kiosk”.”coffee”from Turkish,”nabob” time.October 15th,2003,and word”taikonaut”was widely from”Hindi”,”soy”from Japan,”orang—outang”,”paddy。’from used by oversea media and eventually entered into Malay.etc.Meanwhile.French words contributed themselves to Encyclopedia Britannica.In Aug 8th,2008,the 27th Olympic English continuously,such as”prot6g6”,”chaise”,etc.It is Games was held in Beijing.and words like”jia you”were worth to emphasizing that word-formation changes too.Clipped cheered everywhere by foreigners and various newspapers words and compound words increase quickly,at same time around the world. ablaut words give their position gradually. Time is changing,science is developing and ideas are From 19th century,English vocabulary has been enlarged progressing,and language should improve itself to meet the tremendously since the science and culture develop quickly.As needs of the highly mobile society.As we all know,lexicon is hte most sensitive part in language,vocabulary has to adjust hte most sensitive part in language.From 20th century then itself to accommodate to the changing society.According to on,especially in the latest 50 years,English has lost many The Bamhart Dictionary Companion.there are about 1500 to words,but gain a lot more. 1600 new words entering its lexicon every year.Besides the After 1500-year's variation,English has become the technical and science terms,about 500 new words join international language.There are political,economical and people's daily life annually. social reasons on one side,but English itself has the English vocabulary expands itself mainly through four ways advantages which other lnaguage are short of. Cosmopolitan in the present century.One is that the old words get new vocabulary is one of the chief reasons.As mentioned before, meaning.Take word”park”for example.It used to be used in English is good at borrowing words from other lnaguages.One military area specifically.As the motor industry develops,its is because English is belonged to Germanic system and share meaning is enriched naturally.Then”parking lot“.”parking same vocabulary Germany has.Another reason is that English meter”.”parker’’and”parking ticket”find their appearance in language is related to French and other Romance langUages English language.,nle second way to enlarge the vocabulary is closely for long time,and absorbs numerous words from Greek by invention,such as”cladistics”,”ekistics11 911be-in”,”Watergate” and Laitn at the same time.We can say that English language and”nyetman”。etc.Some are even individuals names in the centralizes the vocabulary which typiifes the chief culture in ifrst place,but they enter into the vocabulary as common Europe,and it s quite unique. nouns now.Let"s take American s former president Bill Clinton English language has its disadvantages too.The most for example.After Clinton won the election in 1993,his name obvious one is that the discrepancy between spelling and is well—known all over the States.and new word”Clintonian” pronunciation.And the number of synonyms and idioms is appears.As an adjective,it not only can be”something related extremely large,so it's diifcult to study English. to Clinton”,but also can be”of or having to do with the Here is only a preliminary study 0n social factors in policies of Bill Clinton“.For example.’ We in the audience lexical change,and British English is a typical case.As want to believe.We want to be suitably Clintonian and society changes and science develops,new words appear.As nostalgic.But in the end。it's too smug and too hollow.”fThe the exchange between countires becomes more and n1ore Buffalo News,Feb.12,1993)Borrowing is another main rfequent,borrowing words enter into one nation's language. method to enrich English vocabulary.It can be seen in Meanwhile,as time goes,the word gets new meaning to ”autostrade”from Italy.in”mao tai”rfom China and express better.It is a trend for all languages that the lexieal ”samizdat”from Russia.etc.The last one is compounding. change is related to the changing world more and more closely From 1500 then on,it is almost impossible for one nation nowadays. to force another one to learn its language or culture.On the contrary,communication among countires in science and culture Reference: becomes more natura1.If a country leads the world in science 【1]A Survey of English Lexicology,Shanghai Foreign Language in certain area,other countires will acquire the knowledge Education Press P.282. instantly.When the later acknowledge the science,they accept 【2]A Survey of English Lexicology,Shanghai Foreign Language the country's words at same time.Automatically,the new Education Press P.301. vocabulary which related to the speciifc area spreads all over 【3]A Survey of English Lexicology,Shanghai Foreign Languag ̄ the world.That's the reason why war and invasion are giving Education Press p.294. up their position in the history of English lexical expansion. 【41A Brief History of the English Language,Hunan Educafior Like any other language,English lexicon is developing Press P.77. continuously.There were about 140,000 words in Shakespear's f5]A Survey of English Lexicology,Shanghai Foreign Languagt time,and now there are about 500,000 words at present. Education Press P.319. ——14——