On The Changing Vocabulary

On The Changing English V ocabularyAbstract: Language are living things with words constantly coming and going .Never before in history has the world seen such an overwhelming onslaught of new terminology to learn .New words and meanings keep the English language in a state of constant flux and continuous change .Key words: new words, change, vocabulary1、W hy Is English Language Constantly Changing?New words have been appearing in our language regularly for over a thousand years. Similarly, each day in the English language at least as many thousand of new words are born.First, it is because of the rapid development of modern science and technology. Take the new branches of study for example. Such as behaviour science(行为科学),cybernetics(控制论)，bionics(仿生学)，sociolinguistics(社会语言学)，etc. These words can’t be found in old times. New inventions, discoveries and theories in science and technology need new words to illustrate. Consequently, on one hand, there are so many new words been invented. On the other hand, parts of existing words add new senses. For instance, space-age(太空时代)，space-man(宇航员)，space-station(太空站), space-time（太空时间）,lunar rover（登月车），satellite（人造卫星），launching pad（发射台），cosmonaut（宇航员），space suit(宇航服),Lander(宇宙飞行着陆舱),linkup(两艘飞船在外层空间的相接),rendezvous(宇宙飞船的会和),readout(宇宙飞船发回地球的资料),space shuttle(航天飞机). After the first time moonfall of our human being in1969, a great number of new words about moonfall have been invented. Such as moonwalk(月面行走),moonquake(月震),moonscape(月景),mooncraft(月球探测机),moonshot(把宇宙飞船发射到月球),lunarnaut(航月员),lunar rover(登月车),lunar module(登月舱),ect. From these words above we can learn that every branch of study can brings many new words. So do the new inventions. Such as lasercomp(电脑激光照排),fax(传真),laser printer(激光打印机),personal stereo(个人小型立体声播放器),camcorder(手提摄像机),flat-screen television(液晶显示超薄电视机),clock-radio(钟控收音机),radiogram(收音电唱两用机),cassette recorder(盒式录音机),cine-camera(电影摄影机),electric blanket(电热毯),washing machine(洗衣机),egg-timer(煮鸡蛋计时器),pressure cooker(高压锅),immersion heater(浸没式加热器),deepfreeze(快速冷冻),hovercraft(气垫船),bullet train(高速火车),container ship (集装箱船),mini-car(微型汽车)，etc.Second, political, economic and social changes are another important source of new words. Many new words have a story behind, for example, Watergate. This word became popular after the unprecedented resign of President Nicksong during American history. After that, Watergate becoming a common word means a political scandal reminiscent of the Watergate incident(水门事件式的政治丑闻).And It transformed to a verb which refers to deal with in a covert or criminal manner. At the same time, the word “gate”developed into a suffix, means “scandal”. Take the following sentence for example: while Britain, with its three hostages, has resolutely refused to “deal with terrorists”, the United States has only slowly emerged from thearms-for-hostages deals known as the Irangate scandal. We can find a number of new words in the Dictionary of Neologisms about “gate”. For instance, God gate, Gospelgate,Guinnessgate,harborgate,Heavengate,Inkathagate,Keelgate,Koreagate,Bri efinggate,cookiegate,Contragate,copygate,Debategate,gibberishgate,Pageantgate,Pearl gate,pseudo-gate,Reagongate,salvationgate,Sewegate,Sharongate,Stargate,sugargate,ta rgate,Totegate,Walk-on-gate,ect. “-gate”can be personal scandal, too. Such as the Camillagate refers to the scandal of the Prince Charles and Camilla Paker-Bowles: Another (tape recording), the Squidgy tape, showed that the Princess of Wales had a lover, James Gibe, while the third, the Camillagate tape, recorded a torrid amorous conversation between the Prince of Wales and Camilla Paker-Bowles, a married woman with three children to one of whom the prince is god father. The most interesting word is Nannygate. Its original meaning is the use of public funds to hire someone to care for a child or children while one is at work. Now it means the hiring of illegal aliens to care for one’s child or children while one is at work. And in this situation it doesn’t mean scandal. For example: it hangs low over the city like heavy weather, blighting the bureaucracy, fraying the nerves of Democrats and, in tornado-like fits of arbitrary destruction, wrecking careers. It’s the first collective angst of Clinton years, the unintended consequence of an unexpected job standard. It’s a mess. It’s Nannygate. For scores of prospective appointees to the Clinton Administration, suddenly, the ambitions of a lifetime rest on the question, not of education, or experience, or connection, but of practices in hiring household help.(The New Y ork Times,Feb.12,1993).Other new words are also very similar to us. For example, euthanasia(安乐死),sudden infant death syndrome(婴儿猝死),busulphan(抗瘤剂),test-tube baby(试管婴儿),non-aligned(不结盟的),shuttle diplomacy(穿梭外交)，mini-summit(小型高级会议),détente(缓和),hotline(热线),high profile(高姿态),total war(总体战),proxy war(代理人战争),psywar(心理战),overkill(过度杀伤),beam weapon(光学武器),antiballistic missile(反导弹式导弹),think tank(智囊团).2、A bundant Lexical ChangeEnglish has never ceased to change since the day it came into being. This is an irrefutable truth. However, since half way mark of the 20th century, changes in English have been unprecedented. In order to touch upon those changes, we have got to approach them from four different aspects: pronunciation, spelling, lexis and grammar. And I think that of all changes the lexical ones are the most abundant. New words and innovative expressions enter English with new things and new concepts which are being either discovered or invented with each passing day. This seems easy for people to understand, but it is hard for people to accept that a meaning may change and a sense may shift. Most humans communicate best through words .New words go along with our changing society and actually provide us with more ways and options to express ourselves. Our personal vocabulary become richer and more valuable with each new word we learn.An important thing is you should know not only the meaning of a word but also the changing context it can be used and. When we Chinese speakers of English stillkeep on using words like “excellent”, ”wonderful” (of course this is absolutely right), native speakers have chosen some other words in preference to them. In the 60s of the 20th century, it seemed quite the go for some Americans to use the word “fabulous”.Dialogue 1 (fabulous=excellent)——I’m very happy to learn that your daughter has won a gold medal for her fabulous performance in the contest. Congratulations!——Thank you very much. But I think there is still much to be desired.A litter earlier, in the 50s of the 20th century American teenagers took to “fab”in place of “excellent”.Dialogue 2 (fab=excellent)——Look, John. Dad bought me a fab bike.——Y our bike is not what I’d call fab. Just okay.Roughly about the same time, some Americans started to use the word “cool” to mean “excellent”. For a certain period of time it seemed to have disappeared from the scene and then came back again with special vigor which is so tremendous that we Chinese have borrowed it and some youngsters use it in Chinese as a symbol of trying to be in the swim.Dialogue 3（cool=excellent）——This jacket is just your fit. Y ou look really cool in it. Where did you buy it?——I had it custom made.——That’s no wonder.Dialogue 4 (cool=smart: handsome)——How come Helen is having a fit of the sulks?——Because that cool young man didn’t come over to invite her to dance with him.3、The New W ordsNew words and meanings keep the English language in a state of constant flux and continuous change. So don’t let your vocabulary become obsolete. Because of the rapid spread of The New Word Revolution in the 1990s, America is speaking a whole new language. Here The New Word Revolution is the radical explosion of new words and terminology created by the Digital Revolution which includes：new technology, the Internet, popular culture, young slang, and new terms from hundreds of other fields. Obsessed by the careers, wired to the Web and bombarded by news, Americans are imbuing the English language with new words and slang inspired by the work places and high technology. For example, a “cube farm”is an office where rows of cubicles take the place of private offices. The most interesting trend in this powerful movement is the replacing of old slang terms with new ones. For example, a decade ago, a slightly distracted person may have been called a “404”. (“404”is from the Web message that means a document couldn’t be found: there’s nothing there.) Likewise, in the 1970s, a person who was a fanatical runner may have been called a “health nut”(健康狂). Today such a person would be called a “body nazi”(身体纳粹).There was a time when the jargon of any specialized group took forever to reach the mainstream, but that was before technology wired the world together. Today, anew piece of office slang can spread through e-mail and over the Internet and around the world in a matter of minutes. Here’s a look at some of the most interesting word shift comparisons within the New Word Revolution:Like ’em or not, acronyms are a necessary part of our digital society. Here’s some of the new, important to know acronyms of the 1990s:AI (artificial intelligence) A term used to describe the reasoning power of computers. BBS(bulletin broad system) The first BBS was designed in 1978 by Ward Christensen and Randy Suess. The age of BBS culture may well be over, eclipsed by high-speed, multimedia online options.DOS (disk operating system) This term is most often used in reference to MS-DOS, the operating system that launched the Microsoft empire and became the most widely installed PC operating system in the world.LAN(local-area network) The network of computers that are centered in a physical location.The blending or combining of two different words, called “portmanteau” words) has created a new surge of interesting vocabulary. Here’s sampling of some common blended words:Smog=smoke+ frogRockumentary=rock+ documentaryInfomercial=information+ commercialEdutainment=education+ entertainmentBrunch=breakfast+ lunch3、C onclusionIt is a truth no one can deny that all things of creation develop in a process of perpetual change. Language is no exception. As a tool of communication it has changing rapidly during the development of our society. In my opinion, to avoid using antiquated words and sentences is a great challenge we should face with all along the process of learning English.References:[1]俞杰，English Changes In Process,外语教学与研究出版社,2005.5[2]Shawn Holley, The New Word Revolution, 清华大学出版社，2000[3]汪榕培，《英语词汇学研究》，上海外语教学出版社，2000。