english dialects and words

HILLINGDON U3ALINGUISTICS

July 2016

E.H. Smith

BREXITA few weeks ago this was an unknown collection of letters, now it’s a word on everyone’s lips and will

probably be in the next edition of the OED.It’s also a pretty good example of what I want to talk about. How the English language has acquired both its variety of dialects and ever increasing vocabulary

English

Anglo Saxons

ANGLO SAXON INVASIONS

Christian Missionaries

VIKING INVASIONS

Common Norse borrowings

• Both• Same• Get• Give

• Pronouns : them, their, they

Norse invasion

SINDON

replaced with

TO BE

PRESENT TENSETHIRD PERSON

SINGULAR ENDING

S

he comes, she believes, it stays

The Normans

The French Invasion

CO-EXSISTING WORDS

OLD ENGLISH FRENCH

Mansion House

Judgement Doom

Cordial Hearty

SUPPLANTED WORDS

OLD ENGLISH FRENCH

Leod People

Wlitig Beautiful

Stow Place

EnglishIn 1362, with national fervour and antagonism towards France, the King’s

speech at the opening of Parliament was in English for the first time. In the same year, the law courts also began to use English.

“There can be no doubt that pure dialect speech is rapidly disappearing even in country districts, owing to the spread of education and to modern facilities of intercommunication”

Joseph Wright circa 1900

MULTIETHNOLECTS

• SECOND GENERATION IMMIGRANTS• Speak English but are very familiar with

their parents’ mother tongue and expressions

• OLDER VERSION OF THIS – WENGLISH• English spoken in the Welsh valleys in

18/19th century, but through the medium of Welsh speech patterns and grammar.

In Wenglish

A Derbyshire dialect

VOCABULARY

BORROWINGS AND OTHER ADDITIONS

Vulgar Latin

Plante - plantWin - wineWeall – wallCeaster – cityCetel – kettleCatte – catCyse - cheese

Old English words given new Christian meanings

Heaven

Hell

God

Gospel

Easter

Celtic

Crag, cumb – deep valley

Dunn – grey

Brock - badger

Old English borrowings

Middle EnglishBorrowings from other languages

• Latin

• Arbitrator• Conspiracy• Homicide• Prosecute• Contradiction• Discuss• History• Mechanical• Immortal• Magnificat• Collision• Expedition• Solitary• substitute

• Other sourcesNetherlands

- bouse – drink deeply- poll – head

Portuguese- marmalade

Russian- sable

Arabic- saffron- mattress- algebra

Persian via French- chess- rook- check

French

Mainly nouns to do with law, administration, medicine, art, fashion

Prefixes - con - trans - pre

Suffixes - ance - tion

BorrowingsFrom which language did English borrow these words?

ArabicAlcoveCottonGiraffeSyrup

YiddishBagel

schmaltzMalay

BambooHindi

BangleCot

JungleLatin

BenefactorConspicuous

ObstructChineseKetchupTyphoon

ItalianMalaria

MinatureUmbrellaSquadonSwedishMoped

OrienteeringTungsten

DutchPoppycock

YachtSnack

SpanishBonanzaMosquitoNahuatl

ChocolateOcelotTomato

JapaneseFutonkarateFrenchGentleImageMusicQualityUrdu

GymkhanaGermanHamsterZig-zagWaltz

SpannerPlunderGreek

HyphenPydon

SkeletonTonic

RussianIntelligentsia

Compound Words

Joining two separate words• Flower + pot = flowerpot• Earth + quake = earthquake• Scare + crow = scarecrow

Old English Compound words• Bagpipe Birthday• Blackberry Grandfather• Craftsmen Highway

Compound word

• Joining a “non-word” to an existing word

• Micro + chip = microchip• Agri + culture = agriculture

• Work + aholic = workaholic• Swim + athon = swimathon

Word class Nouns to verbs

beauty……..to beautifyfarm………..farming

Adjective to verbempty………to empty

Adjective to nounnatural food….a naturalfinal score……a final

Long noun to shorter new verbtelevision…..to televiseeditor……….to editbabysitter…..to babysit

Blended words

• Squishing” two words together to form a new word

• Breath + analyser breathalyser• Motor + hotel motel• Oxford + Cambridge Oxbridge

Nonsense words

SUPERC

ALIFRAG

ILISTICE

XPIALIDO

CIO

US

Y O SY O S Added to make mainly Informal words

TellyAuntyAggro

Preggers

Reduplicates

• Two identical, or very, very similar word, repeated to make a concept

• Ding-dong• Ping-pong• Dilly-dally• Wishy-washy

FIXES

And just because there was a whole chapter in a Linguistics book I used – I thought I would more formally mention the many

additions to the English language using FIXES

suffixes

• ette• kitchen+ette+kitchenette• ess• lion+ess=lioness• ery• Snob(b)+ery=snobbery

• 13th century suffixes• Consecration• Duckling• Forgetful• Manhood• Authoress

prefixes

• Negate non, dis, un• Reverse de• Disparage mal, mis• Size mega, super, vice• Orientation auto, contra• Location extra, fore• Time post, pre• Number bi, semi

infixes

ABSOBLOOMINGLUTELY

Defunct fixes

SUFFIX

SHIP quite often replaced with

NESS (but not always)

Boldship – boldnessKindship – kindnessCleanship - cleanliness

WITH disappeared

Withspeak (contradict)Withset (resist)Withsay (renounce)

HALIDOM noun

ESCULENT noun

PUDENT noun

NOSOCOMIAL adjective

BEEK verb

NULLIBIETY noun

FILIBEG noun

ENCHIRIDION noun

DEGLUTE verb

DASYPYGAL adjecive

A holy or sacred place

Edible substance

Experience or show shame

Relating or belonging to a hospital

To make warm or comfortable

The state of being nowhere, absence

A kilt

A handbook or manual

To swallow

Having hairy buttocks

WORDS LONG GONE

INVENTED WORDS• DEBUNK• DOORMAT• CHINZY• FACTOIDS• FEMINIST• GREMLIN• MICROCOMPUTER• NERD• PEDESTRIAN• WORKAHOLIC• CHORTLE• SCIENTIST

• WILLIAM E WOODWARD 1923

• CHARLES DICKENS• GEORGE ELIOT 1851• NORMAN MAILER 1973• ALEXANDRE DUMAS 1873• ROALD DAHL 1943• ISAAC ASIMOV 1956• DR. SEUSS 1950• WILLIAM WORDSWORTH• DR WAYNE E OATES 1971• LEWIS CARROLL• WILLIAM WEREWELL 1840

Thank you!

• Thanks!• Cheers!• Ta!• Much obliged• Thanks a lot• Thanks a bunch• Much appreciated• Diolch yn fawr!!