1st Edition

English Vocabulary Today Into the 21st Century

By Barry Blake Copyright 2019
    192 Pages
    by Routledge

    192 Pages
    by Routledge

    English Vocabulary Today: Into the 21st Century offers an innovative perspective on the ways in which contemporary English language vocabulary continues to adapt and grow in light of emerging technologies and ideas. The book begins with a concise history of the English language, followed by chapters covering key topics including lexical change, semantic change and word-formation. Additional chapters highlight unique topics not often covered in English language studies, including the mental lexicon, inclusive language and the importing and exporting of words between English and other languages. Chapter discussions are enhanced by dynamic examples from a wide range of varieties of English, including American, British, Australian, New Zealand, Canadian, South African and South Asian. Taken together, English Vocabulary Today: Into the 21st Century offers students a clear and comprehensive understanding of the multi-faceted nature of English vocabulary today as well as new insights into its continued development.

    Table of contents

    Introduction

    1 A brief history

    2 The dictionary

    2.1 About the size of it

    2.2 Part-of-speech

    2.3 Set phrases

    2.4 Spelling and pronunciation

    2.5 Etymology

    3 The mental lexicon

    3.1 An entry in the mental lexicon

    3.2 View of the world

    4 Extension

    4.1 Metaphor and metonymy

    4.2 Verbs and prepositions

    5 Change of meaning

    5.1 New meanings for old words

    5.1.1 Updating of the referent

    5.1.2 Application to a new domain

    5.1.3 Reinterpretation

    5.1.4 Frequency considerations

    5.1.5 Point of view

    5.1.6 Weakening

    5.1.7 Phrase abbreviation

    5.2 New words for old meanings

    5.2.1 Fashion

    5.2.2 Euphemism

    5.3 Respelling

    5.4 Relics

    6 Meaningful relations

    6.1 Hyponyms and hypernyms

    6.2 Synonyms

    6.3 Antonyms

    6.4 Homonyms (Homophones and homographs)

    6.5 Contronyms

    6.6 Retronyms

    7 Compounds and blends

    7.1 Compounds

    7.2 Neo-classical compounds

    7.3 Blends

    8 Affixes

    8.1 Prefixes and suffixes

    8.2 Back formation

    9 Zero derivation

    9.1 Noun to verb

    9.2 Noun to adjective

    9.3 Verb to noun

    9.4 Verb to adjective

    9.5 Adjective to noun

    9.6 Adjective to verb

    9.7 Other conversions

    9.8 Proper names to common nouns

    10 Shortening, alphabetisms and acronyms

    10.1 Shortening or clipping

    10.2 Alphabetisms

    10.3 Textese

    10.4 Acronyms

    11 Reduplication

    11.1 Plain reduplication

    11.2 Reduplication with vowel alternation

    11.3 Rhyming reduplication

    12 Imports

    12.1 Loan-words

    12.2 Cultural contact in Europe

    12.3 Contact with colonised areas

    12.4 Immigration into English-speaking areas

    13 Inclusive language

    13.1 A changed world

    13.2 The discourse of inclusion

    13.3 Politically correct English

    13.4 Talking about women

    13.5 Language and race

    13.6 Heterosexism

    13.7 Disability

    14 When sound echoes sense

    14.1 Onomatopoeia

    14.2 Vowels

    14.3 Consonants

    14.4 Sound symbolism

    14.5 Names

    14.6 Overview

    15 A form of words

    15.1 Resemblances

    15.2 Malapropisms

    15.3 Words similar in form and meaning

    15.4 Folk etymology

    15.5 Avoidance

    15.6 Interference

    15.7 Word play

    16 Allusion

    17 Slang

    17.1 Slang in general

    17.2 The inventiveness of slang

    17.3 The attitude of slang

    17.4 Is slang ephemeral?

    17.5 The local nature of slang

    17.6 Slang and jargon

    17.7 Argots and ‘secret languages’

    17.7.1 Back slang

    17.7.2 Rhyming slang

    17.7.3 Pig Latin

    18 English exported

    19 English today

    Further reading

    References

    Biography

    Barry J. Blake is Emeritus Professor of Linguistics at La Trobe University, Australia, and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. He is well known for a range of publications on Australian Aboriginal languages and language in general. His books include Case, Playing with Words, All about Language and Secret Language.