[...]... from clique than French does English has been so ready to take words from foreign sources that the greater part of the modern English vocabulary has either been borrowed or formed 2 Otto Jespersen, Growth and Structure of the English Language, 10th ed (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982) 7 ENGLISH VOCABULARY ELEMENTS 8 from borrowed elements Understanding why English vocabulary is as rich and... close to English in a count of general vocabulary German runs a distant second with under 200,000 words According to Robert Claiborne,1 the largest dictionary of French has about 150,000 words, and a Russian dictionary maybe 130,000 1 Our Marvelous Native Tongue: The Life and Times of the English Language (New York: Three Rivers Press, 1987) 3 4 ENGLISH VOCABULARY ELEMENTS The size of the English vocabulary. .. formal, and technical domains of spoken and written English Why English Is So Rich Modern English is the product of a long and complex process of historical development Consequently, we can expect to find clues to its character in the past Indeed, English has a history as rich as its vocabulary The most important historical factor in the growth of the English vocabulary has been the ease with which it has... marks with the appropriate word elements and glosses you have memorized For example, in a below you’d write “pseud” for “?1” and “shape” for “?2.” Then spell out the full word, incorporating any extra letters you are not asked to gloss For a, you would write out “pseudomorph.” a elements glosses b elements glosses c elements glosses d elements glosses e elements glosses f elements glosses ?1 false ?1... over the other? 17 18 ENGLISH VOCABULARY ELEMENTS 4 What are the characteristics, if any, that differentiate a chronometer from a watch? 5 Given what you’ve learned from the word elements for this chapter, what do you think the word philophony might mean? (You won’t find this word in a dictionary.) Explain your answer CHAPTER TWO The History of English and Sources of English Vocabulary This chapter... historical events that have shaped the English language We pay special attention to the development of our native Germanic vocabulary and to the forces that introduced massive numbers of foreign elements, especially from Latin, Greek, and French The richness of this combination makes English vocabulary distinctive among the languages that originated in Europe The phrase English language refers to something... will definitely find that you have some powerful tools that will open up the worlds of technical and specialized vocabulary The History Hidden in Words English words encode interesting and useful historical information For example, compare the words captain chief chef 9 ENGLISH VOCABULARY ELEMENTS 10 All three derive historically from cap, a Latin word element meaning ‘head’, which is also found in... of vocabulary growth that will continue for a lifetime The book should serve other purposes as well As we come across examples in which English pronunciations and words have changed over time, we also run into reactions that may involve resistance to change and have to consider whether change in general or in specific cases amounts to linguistic enrichment, linguistic corrup- ENGLISH VOCABULARY ELEMENTS. .. pyrotechnics, pyrometer, pyrite, antipyretic 13 ENGLISH VOCABULARY ELEMENTS 14 Element Gloss Examples the god top xen place foreign theology, polytheism, theocracy, theogony, atheist topography, topical, topology, toponym xenophobia, xenon, xenogamy, xenoplastic, axenic, pyroxene All of the word elements in this list come from Greek Notice that when Greek elements appear in a word, they are separated... /n/ becomes /m/ before a /p/ xv This page intentionally left blank ENGLISH VOCABULARY ELEMENTS This page intentionally left blank CHAPTER ONE The Wealth of English Word Power and a World Power In the number of speakers who learn it as a first or second language, and in its range of uses and adaptability to general and specific tasks, English is the world’s most important language today It is the mother . y0 w0 h0" alt="" ENGLISH VOCABULARY ELEMENTS This page intentionally left blank ENGLISH VOCABULARY ELEMENTS Keith Denning Brett Kessler William R. Leben Second edition 1 2007 3 Oxford University. of English 3 TWO The History of English and Sources of English Vocabulary 19 THREE Morphology: Analyzing Complex Words 41 FOUR Allomorphy 75 FIVE Phonetics 95 SIX Regular Allomorphy; Numeric Elements. to expand vocabulary skills by teaching the basic units of learned, specialized, and scientific English vocabulary, but its reach extends far beyond this. To make sense of current English word