A Word And Its Parts Essay

A WORD AND ITS PARTS

(Seminar paper)

A WORD AND ITS PARTS

(Seminar paper)

English vocabulary is not an unchanging list of words, because new words enter the language every day, and words cease to be used. There are two types of new words: borrowing and word-creations. In fields of higher learning, like the life sciences, physical sciences, medicine, law, and the social sciences, English has usually borrowed words from other languages. We may borrow a word as a whole, or just its central parts (the roots). We have borrowed mainly from Latin, Greek, and French. In this chapter, we will focus on the patterns of vocabulary innovation – the creation of new words that occur within English.

      For the most part, the core vocabulary has been part of English for many centuries, passed down with minor changes. Much of it is shared with closely related languages like Dutch, the Scandinavian languages, and the classical languages Latin and Greek.

      In addition to its core vocabulary, English has a rich supply of learned words (learned, in this meaning, is pronounced as two syllables). The learned vocabulary is different from the core vocabulary in that most of it is acquired through literacy and education. It tends to be associated with technical knowledge and professional skills, though there is also a large part of it which is associated with humanistic education and the literary tradition. Vocabulary enrichment in all of those areas has drawn heavily on borrowed words and roots.
1. Taking words apart

      There are many words that need not be listed in dictionaries, because their meanings are completely predictable (such as dioeciously), and many which cannot be listed, simply because they may never have been used (such as un-Clintonish and antirehabilitationist). These are all words which are not lexical items. But what is the basis of their semantic predictability? It must be that these unlisted and unlistable words are composed of...