What Sets of English Words Can Be Singled Out According to Their Origin?

Seminar 3

Questions

1. What sets of English words can be singled out according to their origin? Suggest the diachronic division of native words (the Indo-European stock, the Common Germanic, the English words proper).

2. What are the ways of borrowing? What do the terms 'direct borrowings' and 'indirect borrowings' denote? Is any difference between the term 'source of borrowing' and the term 'origin of borrowing'? What borrowings are called translation borrowings? What is meant by 'semantic borrowing'?

3. What historical facts and events stipulated the great influx of borrowings from different languages? What languages did the English language borrow words from?

4. What does the term 'assimilation of borrowings' denote? What degrees of assimilation can be singled out? In what cases can borrowed words be considered completely assimilated? What are the peculiarities of completely assimilated borrowed words? What borrowings are regarded as partially assimilated? What is the principle of the classification of partially assimilated borrowed words? What words are called unassimilated words or barbarisms?

5. What is a morpheme? What are the types of morphemes in English?

6. Classify the affixes according to their productivity and their meaning.

7. What is the distribution of morphs?

8. What are the differences between derivational and functional affixes?

Tasks

1. Subdivide the following words of native origin into: 1) words of Indo-European origin; 2) words of Common Germanic origin; 3) English words proper. In case of difficulty consult the Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology.

Woman, blast ('gust of wind or air'), sister, glove, lady, tooth, always, slow, green, know, daisy, sand, long, grass, flood, boy, seven, high, eat, sheriff, widow, answer, life, lip, call, swine, small, bird, corn, silver, ten, day, lord, ship, we, bench, sun, girl.

2. Write down...