Course Description
The nature and composition of the English vocabulary, with particular attention to Greek and Latin elements, and its development among diverse cultures and societies; techniques of morphological analysis, allomorphy, derivational morphology, formal and semantic change, and Indo-European etymology.
Athena Title
ENGLISH VOCABULARY
Semester Course Offered
Offered fall and summer
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
1. STUDENTS WILL BE ABLE TO DESCRIBE THE PRECISE PLACE OF ENGLISH AMONG THE LANGUAGES OF THE WORLD. 2. STUDENTS WILL BE ABLE TO DESCRIBE THE SOURCES OF THE ENGLISH VOCABULARY. 3. STUDENTS WILL ACQUIRE TECHNIQUES FOR ANALYZING WORDS INTO THEIR CONSTITUENT MORPHEMES AND BE ABLE TO DESCRIBE THE CONTRIBUTION OF EACH MORPHEME TO THE OVERALL MEANING OF THE WORDS IN WHICH THEY STAND. 4. STUDENTS WILL BE ABLE TO IDENTIFY AND DESCRIBE THE FACTORS RESULTING IN VARIATION IN THE FORMS OF MORPHEMES. 5. STUDENTS WILL BE ABLE TO IDENTIFY LINGUISTIC PROCESSES OPERATIVE IN THE GERMANIC CORE OF THE ENGLISH VOCABULARY, AS WELL AS IN THE LATIN AND GREEK COMPONENTS. 6. STUDENTS WILL ACQUIRE A LARGE STOCK OF MORPHEMES OF GREEK AND LATIN ORIGIN, GIVING THEM THE ABILITY TO IDENTIFY AND DEFINE LARGE NUMBERS OF NEW VOCABULARY ITEMS THEY ENCOUNTER THROUGHOUT THEIR LIVES. 7. STUDENTS WILL LEARN A SIGNIFICANT NUMBER OF ETYMOLOGIES, THEREBY INCREASING THEIR GENERAL KNOWLEDGE OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND ITS SOURCES.
Topical Outline
I. ENGLISH AS AN INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGE THE NOTION OF LANGUAGE FAMILY AND PROTO-LANGUAGES; INDO-EUROPEAN AND PROTO-INDO-EUROPEAN; THE DIALECTS OF INDO-EUROPEAN II. THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH OVERVIEW OF THE EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE; THE PERIODIZATION OF ENGLISH; EARLY CONTACTS BETWEEN ENGLISH SPEAKERS AND SPEAKERS OF NORTH GERMANIC LANGUAGES; THE NORMAN CONQUEST AND THE INTRODUCTION OF FRENCH WORDS INTO THE ENGLISH LEXICON; THE RENAISSANCE AND LATIN; THE LATER INFLUENCE OF GREEK; HYBRIDIZATION AND STYLISTIC STRATIFICATION WITHIN THE ENGLISH VOCABULARY; LATIN AND GREEK AS AN "INTERNATIONAL MORPHEME BANK"; A GLOBAL TOUR OF THE CONSTITUENCY OF THE ENGLISH VACABULARY. III. THE FUNDAMENTAL NOTION: THE MORPHEME DEFINITION OF THE MORPHEME AND BASIC TECHNIQUES OF MORPHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS; HOMOPHONY AND ALLOMORPHY; LEXICAL VS. GRAMMATICAL MEANING; THE TYPES OF MORPHEMES AND THEIR BASIC FUNCTIONS; LEXICAL VS. GRAMMATICAL MEANING; PRODUCTIVE VS. NONPRODUCTIVE MORPHOLOGY; PRIMARY VS. SECONDARY FORMATIONS; NOUNS OF AGENT VS. NOUNS OF ACTION. IV. FORMAL CHANGE IN LANGUAGE PHONETIC CHANGE; ASSIMILATION, DISSIMILATION, METATHESIS, HAPLOLOGY, ABLAUT, UMLAUT, AND (FORMAL) FOLK ETYMOLOGY. V. SEMANTIC CHANGE IN LANGUAGE METAPHOR, METONYMY, ELLIPSIS, (SEMANTIC) FOLK ETYMOLOGY, NARROWING, BROADENING, AMELIORATION, PEJORATION. VI. THE GERMANIC CORE OF ENGLISH ABLAUT AND UMLAUT IN THE NOUN AND VERB; STRONG VS. WEAK VERBS; NATIVE GERMANIC SUFFIXES; SOME ARCHAIC MATERIAL STILL WITH US: DAY ~ DAWN, CAN ~ COUTH, TEN ~ -TY, UNKNOWN VS. UNTIE, ETC. VII. ENGLISH DERIVATIVES FROM GREEK AND LATIN SURVEY AND ANALYSIS OF WORDS OF GREEK AND LATIN ORIGIN WITH CLOSE ATTENTION TO ETYMOLOGY (BOTH FORMAL AND SEMANTIC) AS WELL AS TO THE COMMON PHONOLOGICAL AND MORPHOLOGICAL PROCESSES REPRESENTED IN THIS LAYER OF THE LEXICON (E.G., VOWEL REDUCTION IN MEDIAL SYLLABLES AND NASAL INFIXATION IN LATIN, ROOT-FINAL PHONOLOGICAL ALTERNATION, ETC.). PARTICULAR ATTENTION WILL BE PAID TO TRIADS OF COGNATE FORMS OF GREEK, LATIN, AND GERMANIC ORIGIN, E.G., GK. THE-SIS, LAT. FACTUM: ENG. DO, AS WELL AS TO THE UNDERLYING RECONSTRUCTED INDO-EUROPEAN ROOTS FROM WHICH THEY DERIVE (IN THIS CASE, *DHE).
General Education Core
CORE IV: World Languages and Global Culture