In summary, languages ??in the world can be divided into two major categories. One type is a language that is no longer used, is no longer popular, or has been abandoned, and is called a "dead" language; the other type is a language that is still in use today, which is called a "living" language. ). Hebrew, ancient Latin, etc. belong to the former; while Chinese, English, Japanese, Spanish, French, German, Russian and other languages ??all belong to the latter, and they are the most popular among them.
"Living" languages ??have a very important commonality, that is, they all change with the development of the times. This is true in English, and it is true in other languages. However, because English is more popular and widely used in the world than any other language, its changes are particularly drastic.
The changes in English are mainly reflected in two aspects: grammar and vocabulary, and these two changes promote development and form the basis of modern English. One of the most significant developments in linguistic theory in the past twenty years is the emergence of "Transformational-generative Grammar". The birth of this linguistic theory has further made English more scientific. At the same time, the emergence of a large number of new vocabulary has strengthened the expressive power of English and enriched its forms, thus making English more life-oriented.
The emergence of new vocabulary
How do new vocabulary come into being?
When people discover new things, encounter new problems, summarize new experiences, and develop new ideas, they need new words and new words to express them. This is because the old and inherited The method of expression is no longer suitable or insufficient for use. On the other hand, since English is the mother tongue and second language in countries all over the world, and the customs, living habits and social environment are very different in different places, different expression forms and terms will inevitably appear, and these vocabulary Many of them will gradually be absorbed into classic English dictionaries and become part of the language.
In today's increasingly progressive society, science and technology are the main suppliers of new words. Whenever a certain science develops to a new stage, a large number of new words emerge. Many of these new words are special terms for these sciences and are rarely known to laypeople. They are only found in professional dictionaries and dictionaries. However, many of them are often used and cited, and have become popular among ordinary people. Wen Le Dao's terms.
For example, when the American astronauts successfully landed on the moon, a series of related uses such as moonwalk (moon walk), lunar rove (lunar rover), moonrock (lunar specimen rover) and so on appeared in English. word. Since many artificial satellites have been launched to orbit the moon in recent years, it is necessary to coin the terms apolune (far moon point) and perilune (near moon point). The rendezvous and docking of spaceships and space stations in space adds a new meaning to docking (docking), which is also synonymous with linkup. Launching a spacecraft is regarded as a symbol of human scientific development, so it attracts much attention. Therefore, many words related to spacecraft have been widely used, such as CM (command module: command module, command module), splashdown (splashdown), space sickness (space sickness), space age (space age), etc. When talking about exploring deep space (deep space, far space) and other space phenomena, quasar (quasar radio source), pulsar (pulsar), neutron srar (neutron star) and the mysterious black hole (space black hole) are already the most popular ones. A familiar phrase.
In the past two decades, the rapid development of genetics has created many refreshing vocabulary, such as genetic code (genetic code), codon (codon), DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), transfa RNA ( Transmission ribonucleic acid), messenger RNA (messenger ribonucleic acid), transcription (formation of messenger ribonucleic acid), etc. These new words are becoming increasingly popular and are even used in general books and periodical reports, so they have long been accepted by a wide range of readers.
The computer industry, which has developed rapidly in recent years, has brought a lot of new vocabulary.
Commonly used ones include FORTRAM (formula translation programming language), COBOL (common language for business), ALGOL (algorithm language), BASIC (universal symbolic instruction code for beginners), absolute address (absolute address), data bank (data library, database), floppy dise (flexible plastic disk) pushdown (pushdown memory), etc. Old words such as keyboard, terminal, memory bit, etc. have also been added with new usages.
The rapid development of medicine has also brought about a large number of new words, including technical medical terms and the names of newly made drugs, newly discovered germs, viruses, etc. Among them, hotscanning (light scanning), open heart surgery (open heart surgery), picornabirus (heart transplant), microcirculation (microvascular circulation), etc. have all appeared recently. Some terms such as the pill (oral contraceptive pill), test-tube baby (test-tube baby), transsexual operation (transsexual operation), etc. have become daily terms.
The development of nuclear physics seems to bring people into the microscopic world. Kron (K meson), muon (muon), pion (pi meson), etc. were discovered one after another, the differences between lepton (lepton) and baryon (baryon), and of course the sensational quark (quark). Hypothetically, the antiworld (antimatter world) composed of various antimatter (antimatter) such as antiproton (antiproton), antineutrino (antineutrino), antiquark (antiquark), etc. has also attracted much attention.
Mathematics and other subjects are also constantly evolving. In popular teaching and research and popular science readings, it is not difficult to find the following terms: NOT ("not" logical operator), parametric equation (variable equation), newmath (new number) promoted in primary and secondary schools in recent years, artificial intelligence (artificial intelligence) ), magmetocardiogram (magnetic cardiogram), IC (integrated circuit), piscicide (fish extinction), hot mooner (thermomoonologist), Sealab (undersea laboratory), radiosterilization (radioactive disinfection), etc. New disciplines are also constantly forming, such as bionics, cryosurgery, macrometereology, ocean engineering, phytochemistry, biotelemetry, astrionics (Space electronics) and other dozens of new disciplines are developing and growing.
Arms competition is fierce, weapons are changing with each passing day, and naturally many new vocabulary words have been produced. ABM (antiballistic missile: anti-ballistic missile), MIRV (multiple independently-targeted reentry vehicle: multiple warhead reentry vehicles), the Bomb (nuclear deterrence), helilift (transport using helicopters), Green Berets ("Green Berets" Hats ("special forces"), grunt (infantry), beam weapons (death ray weapons), etc. have almost become household terms.
The improvements in transportation also make people feel jaw-dropping. The sky is filled with SST (supersonic transport), airbus (airbus), air-taxi (air taxi); the British-French Concorde (coordinated aircraft) certainly plays an important role in the history of aviation. The birth of transport (supersonic aircraft) has brought new development to the aircraft industry.
Some wealthy leisure people often take jet planes to travel and gather in various places, forming a special class called jetset. Jet passengers sometimes suffer from a condition known as jetsyndrome. On water and land, new types of transportation have emerged one after another, including ACV (air-cushion vehicle: air cushion vehicle), ATV (all-terrain vehicle: all-terrain vehicle), hovercraft (hovercraft), freight-liner (container train) ), bullet train (bullet car), aerotrain (suspended train), etc.
In addition to science and technology, the turbulent political situation, the increasingly changing social environment, global culture and all aspects of exchanges are also the sources of new English words. For example, the rise, transformation and development of the “-in movement” since the early 1960s has caused this “family” to expand to an astonishing degree. From the first-generation sit-in (sit-in demonstration) to the second-generation teach-in (lecture meeting), and even the third-generation be-in (social gathering of the decadents), dozens of them appeared in one day. The wording of -in has evolved at a speed that is really staggering.
In recent years, the world's political arena has undergone tremendous changes. In order to strengthen unity and develop trade, Western European countries organized the EEC (European Economic Community: European Economic Community). Oil-exporting countries in the Middle East, South America, and Africa have also organized OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries: Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries). After the Watergate scandal broke out in the United States, the word Watergate was widely used to refer to any political scandal. Within the government, those who advocated the use of force to resolve disputes were called hawks, and those who advocated peaceful means were called doves. faction), and dawk is between hawks), those who advocate peaceful means are called doves (doves), and dawk is a passive anti-war between hawks and doves. Other political words such as establishment (government), atomic club (atomic club), advance man (pioneer, election supporter), political animal (political animal), etc. are also commonly used in newspapers and periodicals.
The worldwide economic crisis, inflation and the development of industry and commerce are also important sources of new words. ASP (American Selling Price), slumpflation (depression expansion), added-value tax (value-added tax), Eurodollar (European dollar), petrodollar (petrodollar), revenue sharing (treasury sharing), etc. are all recent products.
Social changes have had a great impact in the past two decades, and many basic ideologies have been impacted. The outbreak of the feminist movement gave rise to new terms such as Women's Lib (women's liberation movement), chairperson (chairman), male chauvinist (male chauvinist), girlcott (boycott), etc., but it also contributed to the emergence of Men's Lib (men's liberation movement). Birth. After the outbreak of the Black Power movement in the United States in the late 1960s, many terms expressing "...movement" emerged, including: Brown Power, Flower Power, Student power (student power), Red Power (red power), etc. Some people even jokingly coined the term green power, which means "money magic" (because the back of the dollar is green).
The change in moral concepts has caused a generation gap, and the use of the word gap has diversified on this basis, resulting in credibility gap, culture gap, communication New words such as gap (communication gap). The Western youth's thoughts are separated from the old custom society, forcing them to find ways to vent.
So Mary Jane (marijuana), LSD (psychedelic drug), upper (stimulant), soft drug (soft drug), hard drug (hard drug), headshop (psychedelic store), commune (hippie commune), psychedelphia (psychedelic drug) Words such as "Fantasy Village" came into being. Generations of decadent groups have also appeared one after another: hippies, flower children, Gentle People, street people, teenyboppers, and so on.
People's attention to environmental pollution has been particularly noticeable in recent years. This can be seen in the initiatives of environmental scientists to establish EarthDay (Earth Cleanup Day) and Earth Week (Earth Cleanup Week). The word "pollution" appears in newspapers and magazines every day. Newer terms include environmental pollution, heat/thermal pollution, internal pollution, and visual pollution. ), antipollutionist (anti-polluter), environmentalist (environmental issue expert), dystrophication (river and lake pollution), etc.
In education and language research, a series of new words have emerged due to the reform of teaching methods and teaching tools, such as schoolbook, pass-fail, CAI (computer-assisted instruction, audiovisuals, coedism, preppie, open classroom, polyversity, megaversity, Generative grammar (generative grammar), kernel sentencd (core sentence) and Chomskian (Chomsky theory), etc.
Entertainment and sports are also large suppliers of new vocabulary to radio and television stations. rating, call-in, sitcom, soap opera, prime time, instant replay, VTR, VCR These are well-known terms. The colorful new sports have also enriched the English vocabulary. Recent emerging things include skateboarding (skateboarding) and skydive (parachute jumping). ). Land/sand yacht (beach boat, land sail), hang glider (flying kite) are more advanced playthings, such as cyclo-cross (bicycle cross-country race), roller hockey (roller hockey), demolition derby (. Crash competition) and other new sports have also appeared one after another due to the rise of new sports. Sportsmen have also invented slimnastics (weight loss gymnastics), isometrics (static exercise) and other methods of bodybuilding and strength enhancement, and of course the Chinese kung that is popular overseas. fu (Kung Fu) and Japanese Aikido (Aikido), etc.
Many new words have actually entered people's daily lives and every home. Now, many families have VCDs. Video cassette recorder); and the TV set originally called the television set is now called the box, gogglebox, idiot box, idiot microwave oven, autotimer. (Automatic switch) and so on are new products of technology.
Videophone/picturephone (videophone) are also in mass production. New words in the field of audio also include quadraphony (four channels), sensurrornd (Dolby system), etc. The Polarvision System, which was produced in the last year of the 1970s, is now popular all over the world. Telex (User Telegraph), which appeared earlier, is a must-have communication system for large companies and commercial banks, and of course IDDD (International Direct Distance Dialling). In the past few years, a pop-top canned drink has been produced. This disposable container that causes waste and creates waste also has a new name: thrwaway or diposable.
In order to strengthen the power of expression, many new daily vocabulary have been created. This type of terminology has become very popular in recent years. If you don't understand it, it will be difficult to communicate with British, American and other people. For example, the new name of the mental hospital is funny farm, while fat farm is a weight loss center; the female police officer who hands out tickets to illegally parked vehicles in the parking lot is called meter maid (slot machine girl), who uses a lot of oil. A "big food truck" is a gas eater. Money that is easy to get, especially through unfair means, is called quick buck, etc.
In fact, the reasons for the emergence of new words and their sources are very wide. It can be said that they are caused by various changes in the world, so it is impossible to list them as much as possible. All in all, the emergence of a large number of new words shows that society is changing and English is changing.
The composition of new vocabulary
According to research and statistics, in the 1960s and 1970s, more than 10,000 new English words appeared in Japan. However, this number only includes words and words that have been established and widely used, and some words that are accepted by most people, are too specialized, or are rarely used are not included. According to the research on these more than 10,000 new words, their composition methods can be divided into four major categories.
<1>Innovation method - that is, creating a brand new English word. According to the research results, the proportion of new characters and words created using this method is relatively small, because so far, English has a very strong and solid "team", and new words can be composed of old characters and original ones. The root of the word changes out. New words formed by innovative methods include.
(a) A small number of social science and natural science words, such as: periapsis (periapsis), cladistics (genetic taxonomy), penetralium (core organization), ekistics (urban and regional planning) , isomorphism (isomorphism), quark (quark);
(b) Trade names of new products that have become common (representing or used to refer to the same type of products) and proprietary names that have been used as common nouns Names, such as: lasercomp (laser computer typesetting machine), dolby system (Dolby system), miniteller (miniteller), Rent-a-Train taxi train). polarvision system (Polarvision system - instant movies system), sealab (undersea laboratory), watergate (political scandal), Frisbee (toy flying saucer);
(c) Common parts of speech derived from proper nouns such as names of people and places, such as: Hitchcockian
(d) Frequently used acronyms (acronym) and common abbreviations (abbtreviation), such as: STLT (Strategic Arms Limitation Talks: Strategic Arms Limitation Talks), COBOL (Coommon business Oriented Language) : a common language for business), BADGE (Base Air Defense Ground Environment: regional semi-automatic air defense security system), ACV (air-cushion vehicle: air cushion vehicle), EEC (European Economic Community: European Economic Community, Europe ***Same market), comsat (communication satellite: communication satellite);
(e) New idioms, including slang and colloquialism that have not been included in official dictionaries before, Such as: posh (very fashionable), bonkers (crazy), easy meat (easy to distinguish), like a lead balloon (useless), can of worms (a mess), merchant of death (death dealer), go for broke (try your best), carry the can (face blame, take responsibility), selllike T-shirts (goods turn around).
The new characters and words created using this method also include a new form that shortens long words while maintaining the original meaning, such as deli (delicatessen: delicatessen), mod (modern) : fashionable, modern), nat (mationalist: nationalist), neut (neutron bomb: neutron bomb), divi (dividend: bonus), disco (discotheque: disco, record nightclub), etc. This new form is as popular as the original character, and even surpasses it.
After some trademark names were accepted as common words, their usage, meaning and part-of-speech attributes also changed. For example, telex was originally a noun (user telegraph, telegraph user direct circuit), and now it can be used as a verb, which means "notifying by user telegraph"; xerox was originally a noun (dry photocopying, static photocopying), and now it can be used as a verb; STP was originally gasoline Additives now refer to hallucinogens; in the word Tom it, it means "to accept the consequences".
<2>Combination method - on the basis of old useful words, add prefixes, suffixes or other word-forming components to form new words, or combine two old useful words or parts of old useful words Become a new word, or combine two word-forming components into a new word.
The proportion of new words formed using this method is larger, and the meaning of the words is easier to understand and derive. For example: microelectronics (micro+electronies: microelectronics), antididnapping (anti +kidnapping: anti-kidnapping), autocue (auto+cue: automatic prompter), electrofishing (electro+fishing: electric fishing), photobotany (photo+ botany: photobotany), educationese (education+ese: education term), Pekingology (Peking+o+logy: Beijing studies, Beijing issue research), Dullesian (Dulles+ian: Dulles-like), robotesque (robot +esque: robotic);
Housrmanship (house+manship: the eloquence of British congressmen), Americandom (American+dom:: American world), cryptosecurity (crypto+security: secret security department ), paint-in (paint+in: paint demonstration), pedestrianization (pedestrian+ization: sidewalk), peacenik (peace+nik: anti-war activist);
diet pill (diet pill) , easy meat (easy to distinguish things; easy to get things), Great Society (big society), hard science (hard science, natural science), landmark (landmark), cardcarrying (typical), carbecue (grill rack) , boatel (motorboat hotel), chunnel (underwater train tunnel);
electrophobia (electro+phobia: electrical phobia), bionics (bio+onics: bionics), quarkonics (quark+onics: quark science ).
Some prefixes, suffixes and word-forming elements are particularly prolific or active, including anti-, auto, bio, electro-, Euro-, extra-, geo-, hyper-, - ian,immuno-,in-,-in,inter-,intra-,-logy,macro-,micro-,mini-,multi-,-nik,non-,prar-,-phobia-,photo-,poly- , psycho-, etc., these word-forming components play a very active role in the process of forming new words.
<3>The method of adding meaning---adding new meanings to old words. In recent years, Many old words that have been used have added new meanings. There are many words in this category with old meanings and new meanings. You should pay attention when encountering and using them. For example:
Happening: Old usage refers to an event. The new usage refers to "Hapning Art" (a stage or other form of performance that aims to surprise, surprise and engage the audience.
The new words in this part also include some words that in the past could only be used as a certain For example, H-bomb used to be a noun (hydrogen bomb), but now it can be used as a verb, meaning "to attack with a hydrogen bomb"; lookingglass used to be a noun, meaning "mirror", but now it can be used as a verb. It is used as an adjective to mean "upside down", "messy", etc. Another example is that the word "soul" has added a new meaning and refers to "black culture". It can also be used as an adjective to refer to "black people" in general, such as soul music ( Black music, spiritual music), soul food (black food), etc.
A noteworthy form of word formation is back-formation, which is the so-called "reverse word formation" or "reverse word formation". It is to remove the real suffix or the part that looks like a suffix from an existing word to form another part of speech of the word.
For example, there was free association (free speech, free association) before free associate; one-up (one-upman, one-upman) and one-upman (one-upman, one-upman) are derived from one The word -upmanship is formed backwards. Laser is originally an acronym, but because it seems to be a noun derived from laser, people in the United Kingdom and the United States coined the verb laser, which means "to emit laser light" or "to be irradiated with laser light."
<4>Loaning method---borrowing or absorbing foreign words. This method has been around for a long time. Many characters and words in English were actually borrowed from foreign countries and eventually became an indispensable part of English. Many of these loanwords retain their original appearance, some are Latinized and spelled into English, and some have been reshaped or translated into English literally. For example:
discothèque
autostrada
autopista
: samizdat (article)
favela
haman
Another example is black humor (black humor), which was originally French humour noir. British and American people borrowed it and changed the meaning into formal English; similarly, found object (found art) comes from French objet trouve. kirin comes from Japanese kylin, which in turn comes from Chinese ch’i lin (the old spelling of unicorn). OK no, lz