The aim of the present seminar will be to examine the vocabulary of English with a view of understanding how it developed, how it is structured and how it relates to other levels of linguistics. The seminar will have a diachronic aspect tracing the origins of words in English and considering the influence of other languages on its composition. The synchronic aspect will deal with how present-day English vocabulary is organised, contrasting it with that of German and looking at various methods used by linguists to describe the structure of a language’s vocabulary. In addition the manner in which English vocabulary has developed around the world is to be considered.
Literature on the Vocabulary of English
Bauer, Laurie 1983. English word-formation. Cambridge: University Press.
Bauer, Laurie 1998. Vocabulary. London: Routledge.
Béjoint, Henri 2000. Modern lexicography. An introduction. Oxford: University Press.
Carter, Ronald 1992. Vocabulary. London: Routledge.
Harley, Heidi 2003. English words. A linguistic introduction. Oxford: Blackwell.
Hughes, Geoffrey 1988. Words in time. A social history of the English vocabulary. Oxford: Blackwell.
Plag, Ingo. 2003. Word-formation in English. Cambridge: CUP.
Skandera, Paul (ed.) 2007. Phraseology and Culture in English. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Stockwell, Robert and Donka Minkova 2001. English words, history and structure. Cambridge: University Press. |
