English Words and their Spelling A History of Phonological Conflicts

by Miles, Elaine

• ISBN13: 9781861564894
• ISBN10: 1861564899
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-06-10
• Publisher: Wiley

Summary

This book is an essential resource for those who wish to fully understand the infinite variety of words in the English Language. Taking the reader on an historical journey to the origin of the language, the book tells how conquests of our island, both military and cultural, have shaped the words that we use today.Teachers will benefit from the colourful examples of the various distinctive characteristics of each language group described. A photocopiable appendix gives a useful list of prefixes and roots used in scientific words, which will be enlightening for students of all abilities.Those working with dyslexic pupils will find this part of the book particularly helpful. The book concludes by discussing the benefits and drawbacks brought about by our rich legacy of vocabulary.

Author Biography

Elaine Miles is the author of English Words and their Spelling: A History of Phonological Conflicts, published by Wiley.

Table of Contents

Foreword	viii
David Crystal
Preface	ix
Chapter 1 The Indo-European family of languages	1	(4)
The Indo-European family	2	(2)
Development of the English language	4	(1)
Chapter 2 The Celts	5	(11)
Celts on the continent	5	(3)
Celtic migration to Britain (Brythonic Celts)	8	(1)
The Celtic legacy	9	(7)
Chapter 3 Roman Britain	16	(14)
The Roman conquest	16	(1)
Roman subjection of Britain	17	(2)
The importance of the Latin language	19	(3)
Borrowing of Latin words	22	(4)
Latin in place names	26	(1)
Roman adoption of Celtic place names	27	(3)
Chapter 4 The arrival of Germanic peoples	30	(14)
Earlier raids	30	(1)
The Saxons come to stay - gradually	31	(4)
A prolonged struggle, and then a lull	35	(1)
The Celts overwhelmed and driven out of most of England	35	(1)
Latin survives in the monasteries	36	(1)
Political divisions in England	37	(1)
The rise of Wessex	38	(2)
Unrest in Danish areas	40	(1)
The Danish invasion	40	(1)
Edward the Confessor	41	(1)
The development of the language and its literature in Wessex	42	(2)
Chapter 5 How the English language came to be written	44	(14)
Written language in England previously	44	(4)
Wessex, the cradle of Old English literature	48	(1)
Early English laws	48	(2)
King Alfred's contribution	50	(2)
Transcribing the English language - the problems	52	(6)
Chapter 6 Our heritage from Old English	58	(11)
Germanic vocabulary	58	(4)
Place names	62	(1)
The vocabulary of reading and writing	63	(1)
Differences in the Danelaw	63	(3)
Words of Scandinavian origin	66	(1)
Northern place names and surnames	67	(2)
Chapter 7 That fateful arrow	69	(17)
One land - two languages	71	(1)
Varieties of dialect in written English	72	(3)
Norman French	75	(1)
The revival of English	75	(1)
The new English	76	(2)
French infiltration into the language	78	(1)
French vocabulary	79	(2)
Phonology of French words	81	(4)
The chaotic effect on English spelling of French infiltration	85	(1)
Chapter 8 A double whammy	86	(10)
The Renaissance	86	(2)
The new rhetorical style in literature, and the new vocabulary	88	(4)
Phonological consequences	92	(2)
The fashion for re-spelling French words	94	(2)
Chapter 9 The scientific revolution	96	(9)
Words of Greek origin	98	(4)
Phonological consequences	102	(1)
Popular use of Greek-derived words	103	(1)
Our multilingual heritage	103	(2)
Chapter 10 Exploration, trade, conquest and globalization	105	(14)
Words from travel on the continent	105	(1)
Words from trade contacts and conquest	106	(1)
Pluralization problems	106	(1)
A dislike of two-letter words?	107	(1)
The dictionary makers	108	(1)
More infiltration of foreign words	108	(1)
Languages with a different script	109	(2)
More recent influences	111	(1)
The possibility of spelling reform	111	(3)
Modern influences from America, and through the development of technology	114	(2)
A conflict between easy communication and the richness of the language	116	(1)
The contribution of many languages	116	(3)
Appendix	119	(8)
References and bibliography	127	(2)
Index	129