What is the difference between a sign and a symbol?

Signs and symbols are pictures that represent something and have a meaning.

Signs Symbols

Signs always have a clear meaning often Symbols also represent something but
giving information or an instruction. you need some knowledge to understand
what the symbol represents.

Here are three Christian symbols which Foods can be used as symbols.
can be understood by reading the story of Here is a picture of a Seder Plate which is
Noah in the book of Genesis in the Bible. used during the Jewish holiday of
Passover. It holds six different foods,
The rainbow each with a special religious significance
represents a to the retelling of the Passover story (the
reminder of exodus from Egypt)
God’s promise.

The olive branch

represents
peace.

The dove
represents
peace.

Lamb shank bone is a reminder of the

Idioms and religious metaphors
sacrifices the Jews had to make.
These are phrases that have a non-literal
Apple and nut mix charoset represents
or figurative meaning. They are often used
the mortar used to hold the buildings
in religious scripture to suggest a greater
together.
meaning about that religion’s teachings.
Lettuce represents new life.
Metaphors are used in the bible:
Parsley dipped in salt water to remember
God is my rock (Psalm 18),
the tears of the slaves.
Jesus is the light of the world (John 8),
Hard boiled egg is a sign of Spring
the Lord is my shepherd (Psalm 23). Horseradish is a reminder of the
bitterness of slavery.
TEXT AND IMAGE
1. Thoughtful content and beautiful visuals can help make your story, message, or
content into an engaging piece that gets the attention of your audience.
2. While thoughtful, text-only content has its pros in communicating with impact,
there’s been a significant shift in recent years favoring a combination of text and
visuals — eye-catching infographics, beautifully crafted animations, clever gifs,
and stunning PowerPoint presentations.
3. People following directions with text along with illustrations do much better than
those following directions without illustrations.
4. When people hear information, they’re likely to remember only 10% of that
information three days later. On the other hand, if a relevant image is paired with
that same information, people retained 65% of the information three days later.
5. An experiment by the Department of Computer Science at the University of
Saskatchewan revealed that participants preferred embellished charts over plain
(minimalist) charts in terms of aesthetics. Furthermore, there was no difference in
the participants’ accuracy in interpreting the embellished charts and the plain
charts during the experiment.
 Word formation
1 Compounds
A Compound nouns
A compound noun can be formed by joining two nouns together,
e.g. hand + bag = handbag.
a handbag the weekend football a guidebook my bedroom
We stress the first part of the word: a ‘handbag.
There is little difference between a compound noun and two separate nouns
used one after the other, e.g. a phone bill. Some combinations can be written
either as a compound or as two separate nouns, e.g. guidebook or guide book.
Some compound nouns are formed from an adjective + noun or from a
verb + noun.
a greenhouse a blackboard some workmen a searchlight
NOTE
Compare these phrases.
Compound noun: a ‘hotplate (= a place on a cooker where you heat food)
Adjective + noun: a hot ‘plate (= a plate which is hot)

B Gerund + noun
We can use a gerund to classify a noun, to say what type it is or what its
purpose is.
the dining-room (= the room for dining in)
a washing-machine (= a machine that washes clothes)
a sailing-ship some writing-paper a swimming-pool
the booking office
We often use a hyphen after the gerund. We stress the gerund, e.g. the
‘dining-room.
NOTE
Compare a gerund and a participle.
Gerund: a ‘sleeping-pill (= a pill that helps you to sleep)
Participle: a sleeping ‘child (= a child who is sleeping)

C Noun + gerund
We can form a compound with a noun + gerund.
Taxi-driving was what I ended up doing.
We had three days of sightseeing.
Coin-collecting is an interesting hobby.
We stress the noun, e.g. ‘coin collecting.
The noun in this pattern is singular, e.g coin-collecting. But after a gerund the noun
can be either singular or plural depending on the meaning.

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 Driving a taxi was what I ended up doing.
Collecting coins is an interesting hobby.

D Compound modifiers
We can use a number + noun to modify another noun.
a three-day visit a sixty-mile journey a car with four-wheel drive
The noun in this pattern is usually singular, e.g. a three-day visit.
The modifier can also be a number + noun + adjective.
a three-day-old baby a hundred-metre-long queue
We can also form compounds with participles.
a road-widening scheme a hard-boiled egg

2 Prefixes
A A prefix is something that we can put at the beginning of a word to change the
meaning. Compare these two sentences.
I calculated the amount I would need.
I miscalculated the amount I would need.
(= I wrongly calculated the amount I would need.)
Here the prefix mis- (= wrongly) changes the meaning.

B Here are some prefixes and some examples of words we can form with them.
anti- (= against)
auto- (= self )
co- (= together)
ex- (= previously)
inter- (= between)
mini- (= small)
mis- (= badly/wrongly)
mono- (= one)
multi- (= many)
out- (= more/better)
over- (= too much)
post- (= after)
pre- (= before)
pro- (= in favour of )
re- (= again)
semi- (= half )
sub- (= under/less)
super- (= big/more)
anti-nuclear protestors, anti-social behaviour
an autobiography, auto-suggestion
co-exist, a co-production, my co-driver
his ex-wife, an ex-footballer
an inter-city train, an international phone call
a minibus, a minicab
misuse, misbehave, miscount, a misprint
a monorail, monolingual, speak in a monotone
a multinational company, a multi-storey car park
outnumber the opposition, outplayed their
opponents
overweight, an overgrown garden, ill from overwork
the post-war years, a post-dated cheque
the pre-war years, preheat an oven
pro-government forces, pro-European policies
re-write a letter, remarry, the resale value of the car
semi-precious stones, reach the semi-final
the subway, subnormal intelligence, sub-zero
temperatures
a superstar, a superhuman effort, a supersonic
aircraft

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 trans- (= across) a transatlantic flight, a heart transplant operation
under- (= too little) undercooked food, an underused resource,
underpopulation

NOTE
Out- and under- can have a literal meaning: underwear, the Underground, underline a word; an
outbuilding, an outdoor pool, the outskirts of the town.

C There are some negative prefixes meaning ‘not’.

un- feeling unhappy, an unfair decision, unhealthy conditions,

high unemployment, unplug a machine, unpack a suitcase
in- an independent state, an inoffensive remark, the invisible
man, an incurable disease, a terrible injustice
il- (+ l) an illegal act, an illogical argument
im- (+ b/m/p) an imbalance, an immoral act, immature behaviour,
an impossible situation, an impractical dreamer, wait
impatiently
ir- (+ r) an irrational fear, an irresponsible attitude
dis- a dishonest statement, a violent disagreement, disappearing
out of the door, a dislike of flying
non- non-alcoholic drinks, non-stop entertainment,
a non-smoking area
de- defrost a fridge, the depopulation of the countryside,
the decentralization of government

We do not use in- before b, l, m, p, or r. We use il-, im-, and ir- instead.

3 Suffixes
A Introduction
A suffix comes at the end of a word. For example, we can add the suffix –ness
to the adjective kind to form the noun kindness. Compare these two
sentences.
We won’t forget how kind you’ve been.
We won’t forget your kindness.
Here the use of the suffix to form a noun makes the sentence shorter
and neater.
Sometimes the addition of a suffix involves other changes in the form or
pronunciation of the word.
apply ➔ application
possible ➔ possibility
courage /ˈkʌrɪdʒ/ ➔ courageous /kəˈreɪdʒəs/

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 Changes in pronunciation can involve both sounds and stress. For example,
when we add –ous to courage, the stress changes from the first to the second
syllable.

TIP
Not all combinations of words and suffixes are possible. For example, we
can add –ment to some verbs to form statement, amusement, punishment,
and so on. But we cannot add –ment to every verb. The possible
combinations have to be learned as individual words.

B Abstract nouns
Here are some ways that we can add a suffix to a verb or adjective to form a
noun – usually an abstract noun.
Verb ➔ noun ending in -ion
Verb + -ment
Verb + -ance/-ence
Verb + -ing
Adjective + -ness
Adjective in –ant/–ent
➔ noun in –ance/-ence
Adjective + -ty/-ity
correct ➔ correction,
discuss ➔ discussion
produce ➔ production,
describe ➔ description
inform ➔ information,
invite ➔ invitation
add ➔ addition,
repeat ➔ repetition
decide ➔ decision,
permit ➔ permission
development, government,
movement, payment
acceptance, performance;
existence, preference
a building, my feelings
blindness, forgetfulness, illness,
sadness
distant ➔ distance,
important ➔ importance
absent ➔ absence,
silent ➔ silence,
violent ➔ violence
certainty, royalty; nationality,
stupidity

C Driver, student, tourist, etc.

There are a number of endings that we use to express a person’s role.

Noun/Verb + -er/-or 
builder, driver, footballer, interviewer, lawyer, owner,
smoker, walker, writer > Note a
editor, navigator
Noun/Verb/Adjective + -ist journalist, motorist, nationalist, tourist

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 Verb + -ant/-ent assistant, informant, inhabitant, servant
correspondent, student
Verb + -ee addressee, employee, interviewee, payee
> Note b
Noun + -an/-ian republican; historian, musician > Note c

NOTE
a We also use –er in many nouns referring to a device such as a tool or machine,
e.g. a computer, a food mixer, a heater, a screwdriver.
b The suffix –ee usually has a passive meaning. Compare –er and –ee.
The company is the biggest employer in the town. It has two thousand employees.
c Some adjectives of nationality end in –an/-ian, e.g. American, Brazilian. > 6B

D Friend, waitress, policeman/policewoman, etc

Most nouns for people can mean either a male or a female, so a friend, a student, a
doctor, a motorist, etc. can be either a man or a woman.
My friend has sold his car. (a male friend)
My friend has sold her car. (a female friend)

If we need to specify what sex, we add another word, e.g. her boyfriend, female
students, women doctors.
Some words for family members are different for males and females, e.g. husband/
wife, father/mother, son/daughter, brother/sister, uncle/aunt. But a cousin can be
male or female.
We can add the female suffix –ess to some nouns. A prince is male, and a princess is
female. Other examples are hostess and empress. But be careful not to over-use –ess.
Where there is a word that can refer to either sex, e.g. manager or poet, it is old-
fashioned and may be seen as sexist to use manageress or poetess. The only jobs
where –ess is still regularly used are actress and waitress, although actor can refer to
either a man or a woman.
There is also a male suffix -man /mən/ and a female suffix –woman, e.g.
businessman/businesswoman, chairman/chairwoman, policeman/policewoman,
salesman/saleswoman, spokesman/spokeswoman. But these are now often
regarded as sexist, and words that can refer to both males and females are
preferred. Sometimes we use the suffix –person, e.g. the chairperson, a salesperson.
Or we use a different word, e.g. a business executive, a police officer, a sales
representative.
NOTE
Some adjectives of nationality end in –man/-woman, e.g. Frenchman, Irishwoman. > 6B

E Verbs
There are many verbs in –ize formed from adjectives with an abstract meaning.
We can also add –en to some adjectives with a concrete meaning.

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 Adjective + -ize centralize, legalize, modernize, popularize, privatize
Adjective + -en brighten, harden, loosen, sharpen, shorten, widen

NOTE
a The ending –ize can also be spelled –ise in British English: centralize/centralise.
b Some adjectives can be used as verbs, e.g. clear, empty.

F Adjectives
Noun + -al industrial, national, natural, original, traditional
Noun + -ic artistic, energetic, heroic, photographic
Noun + -ful careful, hopeful, peaceful, powerful, wonderful > Note a-b
Noun + -less careless, hopeless, powerless, useless, worthless > Note b
Noun + -ous courageous, dangerous, famous, luxurious
Noun + -y greedy, healthy, salty, thirsty, wealthy
Noun + -ly costly, cowardly, friendly, neighbourly > Note c
Verb + -ive active, effective, exclusive, informative
Verb + -ing amusing, exciting, surprising
Verb + -ed amused, excited, surprised
Verb + -able/-ible 
acceptable, eatable, excusable, manageable > Note d
comprehensible, defensible

NOTE
a Nouns with the suffix –ful end in a single l, but the adverb has two. Compare careful
and carefully.
b -less is a negative suffix. Hopeless means ‘without hope’. Painful and painless
are opposites.
c Hourly, daily, weekly, and monthly can be adjectives or adverbs.
d The suffix –able/-ible often means that something can be done.
This sweater is washable. (= This sweater can be washed.)
But not all adjectives in –able/-ible have this meaning, e.g. pleasurable (= giving pleasure),
valuable (= worth a lot), formed from the nouns pleasure and value.

G Adverbs
Many adverbs are formed from an adjective + -ly, e.g. quick ➔ quickly.

4 Vowel and consonant changes

A Sometimes two related words have a different vowel sound.
We could feel the hot sun on our backs.
We could feel the heat of the sun on our backs.
Here hot is an adjective, and heat is a noun.

Other examples are blood ➔ bleed, food ➔ feed, full ➔ fill, lose ➔ loss,
proud ➔ pride, sell ➔ sale, shoot ➔ shot, sing ➔ song, sit ➔ seat.

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B Two related words can have a different consonant sound.
The explanation was hard to believe.
The explanation was beyond belief.
Here believe is a verb, and belief is a noun.
Other examples are advise ➔ advice, descend ➔ descent, prove ➔ proof,
speak ➔ speech.

C Sometimes there is more than one sound change, e.g. choose ➔ choice,
lend ➔ loan, live /lɪv/ ➔ life /laɪf/, succeed ➔ success, think ➔ thought.

5 Words used in more than one way

A Many words can be both verbs and nouns.
Verb: Noun:
We had to wait a long time. We had a long wait.
How much will it cost? What about the cost?
Things are going to change around I’m going to make some changes.
here.

Here are some common words of this kind.

aid claim drive hit plan support
answer control experience hope report talk
attack cost fall look run test
attempt cut fear love sound vote
call deal fight market start wait
cause demand form need stay walk
change design help offer stop

B Sometimes a noun differs from a verb in where the stress goes. Usually the verb is
stressed on the second syllable and the noun on the first.

Verb Noun
The goods are expensive to transport. What transport do you use?
/trænˈspɔ:t/ /ˈtrænspɔ:t/
How is your research progressing? Are you making progress?
/prɘˈgresɪɲ/ /ˈprɘʊgres/

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 The change of stress can make a difference to a vowel sound such as in the
first syllable of progress, which is /prə/ when unstressed and /prəʊ/ when
stressed.
Here are some words that are stressed differently as a verb and as a noun.

conduct export produce rebel suspect

conflict import progress record transfer
discount increase protest reject transport

C Some concrete nouns can also be verbs.

If you could butter the bread, it would be a help. (= put butter on)
The waste was illegally shipped across the Channel. (= taken by ship)
We aim to break into the UK bottled water market. (= put into bottles)

Here are some other verbs formed in this way.

brake (= apply the brake, slow down) hand someone their key
finger (= touch or feel with your mail (= to send by post or by
fingers) e-mail)
fish (= to try to catch fish) parcel up a present
glue (= to stick with glue) ski down a slope
gun down (= shoot and kill or (tele)phone a friend
injure) wallpaper a room
hammer a nail in water the plants

NOTE
Some of these verbs can also have less literal meanings.
The team got absolutely hammered. (= badly beaten in a game)

D Some adjectives can also be verbs.

The paint will soon dry. (= become dry)
They’re going to free the prisoners. (= set free)
Some words of this kind are blind, calm, clear, cool, dry, empty, free, narrow, slow,
smooth, warm, wet.
NOTE
Some adjectives with similar meanings are equivalent to verbs with –en, e.g. widen.

6 Nationality words
A We form nationality words from the name of a country, e.g. Italy ➔ Italian,
France ➔ French, Japan ➔ Japanese. We can do the same with continents
and regions, e.g. Africa ➔ African, Texas ➔ Texan.

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 We can use nationality words in the following ways.

As an adjective the Italian embassy Japanese tourists

As the name of a language
For one person or a group
For a whole people
a Texan oilman
The President gave his speech in Italian.
When did you learn Japanese?
My sister is married to an Italian.
Lots of Japanese come here on holiday.
(The) Italians love their football, don’t they?
The French don’t call it ‘the English Channel’.

NOTE
We can also refer to a whole people using the adjective + people.
(The) Italian people love their football, don’t they?
The Statue of Liberty was a gift from the French to the American people.

B Many nationality words end in –an, e.g. American, Asian, Australian,

Brazilian, Indian, Italian, Mexican. We can use them as adjectives or nouns,
and we can add –s to the noun.
the Russian Revolution a Russian (person) the Russians
Some nationality words end in –ese, e.g. Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese. We
can use them as adjectives or nouns, but we cannot add –s to the noun.
a Chinese official a Chinese (person) the Chinese (NOT the Chineses)
We cannot use a word ending in –ese on its own as a noun.
The Chinese have become more open to the West.
(NOT Chinese have become …)
With some nationalities, the adjective is different from the noun.
a Polish student a Pole the Poles
Others are Denmarkva Dane, Finnish/a Finn, Swedish/a Swede, and Turkish/
a Turk.
Some nouns have a suffix –man /mɘn/ or –woman.
a French magazine a Frenchman/a Frenchwoman
the French (NOT the Frenches)
Others are a Dutchman, an Englishman, an Irishwoman, a Scotswoman, and a
Welshman.
NOTE
A nationality word + man is usually written as one word: an Irishman. When we use woman, it can
usually be written as one word or two: an Irishwoman/an Irish woman.

C From Britain we form the adjective British, e.g. the British Isles. To refer to a
person or a group, we can say a British person or some British people. You
may also see a Brit or a Briton.
Local people are puzzled by the influx of Britons into the area.
But Brit and Briton are rather journalistic. Brit is informal.

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 For the whole people we say the British.
At one time India was ruled by the British.

C Here are some examples of nationality words.

Place name Adjective Person Whole People

Africa African an African Africans
America American an American (the) Americans
Asia Asian an Asian Asians
Australia Australian an Australian (the) Australians
Britain British >C the British
England English an Englishman/woman the English
Europe European a European Europeans
France French a Frenchman/woman the French
Germany German a German (the) Germans
Greece Greek a Greek (the) Greeks
India Indian an Indian (the) Indians
Ireland Irish an Irishman/woman the Irish
Japan Japanese a Japanese the Japanese
Pakistan Pakistani a Pakistani (the) Pakistanis
Poland Polish a Pole (the) Poles
Scotland Scottish a Scot (the) Scots
a Scotsman/woman
Switzerland Swiss a Swiss the Swiss
Turkey Turkish a Turk (the) Turks
Wales Welsh a Welshman/a Welsh woman the Welsh

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Loanwords
Major Periods of Borrowing in the History of English
Loanwords are words adopted by the speakers of one language from a different
language (the source language). A loanword can also be called a borrowing. The
abstract noun borrowing refers to the process of speakers adopting words from
a source language into their native language. "Loan" and "borrowing" are of
course metaphors, because there is no literal lending process. There is no
transfer from one language to another, and no "returning" words to the source
language. They simply come to be used by a speech community that speaks a
different language from the one they originated in.

Borrowing is a consequence of cultural contact between two language

communities. Borrowing of words can go in both directions between the two
languages in contact, but often there is an asymmetry, such that more words go
from one side to the other. In this case the source language community has
some advantage of power, prestige and/or wealth that makes the objects and
ideas it brings desirable and useful to the borrowing language community. For
example, the Germanic tribes in the first few centuries A.D. adopted numerous
loanwords from Latin as they adopted new products via trade with the Romans.
Few Germanic words, on the other hand, passed into Latin.

The actual process of borrowing is complex and involves many usage events (i.e.,
instances of use of the new word). Generally, some speakers of the borrowing
language know the source language too, or at least enough of it to utilize the
relevant words. They adopt them when speaking the borrowing language. If they
are bilingual in the source language, which is often the case, they might
pronounce the words the same or similar to the way they are pronounced in the
source language. For example, English speakers adopted the word garage from
French, at first with a pronunciation nearer to the French pronunciation than is
now usually found. Presumably the very first speakers who used the word in
English knew at least some French and heard the word used by French speakers.

Those who first use the new word might use it at first only with speakers of the
source language who know the word, but at some point, they come to use the
word with those to whom the word was not previously known. To these
speakers the word may sound 'foreign'. At this stage, when most speakers do
not know the word and if they hear it think it is from another language, the word
can be called a foreign word. There are many foreign words and phrases used in
English such as bon vivant (French), mutatis mutandis (Latin), and
Schadenfreude (German).

However, in time more speakers can become familiar with a new foreign word.
The community of users can grow to the point where even people who know
little or nothing of the source language understand, and even use the novel word
themselves. The new word becomes conventionalized. At this point we call it a
borrowing or loanword. (Not all foreign words do become loanwords; if they fall
out of use before they become widespread, they do not reach the loanword
stage.)

Conventionalization is a gradual process in which a word progressively

permeates a larger and larger speech community. As part of its becoming more
familiar to more people, with conventionalization a newly borrowed word
gradually adopts sound and other characteristics of the borrowing language. In
time, people in the borrowing community do not perceive the word as a
loanword at all. Generally, the longer a borrowed word has been in the
language, and the more frequently it is used, the more it resembles the native
words of the language.

English has gone through many periods in which large numbers of words from a
particular language were borrowed. These periods coincide with times of major
cultural contact between English speakers and those speaking other languages.
The waves of borrowing during periods of especially strong cultural contacts are
not sharply delimited, and can overlap. For example, the Norse influence on
English began already in the 8th century A.D. and continued strongly well after
the Norman Conquest brought a large influx of Norman French to the language.

It is part of the cultural history of English speakers that they have always
adopted loanwords from the languages of whatever cultures they have come in
contact with. There have been few periods when borrowing became
unfashionable, and there has never been a national academy in Britain, the U.S.,
or other English-speaking countries to attempt to restrict new loanwords, as
there has been in many continental European countries.

The following list is a small sampling of the loanwords that came into English in
different periods and from different languages.

I. Germanic period or Pre-Old English

Latin
The forms given in this section are the Old English ones. The original Latin source
word is given in parentheses where significantly different. Some Latin words
were themselves originally borrowed from Greek.
It can be deduced that these borrowings date from the time before the Angles
and Saxons left the continent for England, because of very similar forms found
in the other old Germanic languages (Old High German, Old Saxon, etc.). The
source words are generally attested in Latin texts, in the large body of Latin
writings that were preserved through the ages.
ancor 'anchor'
butere 'butter' (L < Gr. butyros)
cealc 'chalk'
ceas 'cheese' (caseum)
cetel 'kettle'
cycene 'kitchen'
cirice 'church' (ecclesia < Gr. ecclesia)
disc 'dish' (discus)
mil 'mile' (milia [passuum] 'a thousand paces')
piper 'pepper'
pund 'pound' (pondo 'a weight')
sacc 'sack' (saccus)
sicol 'sickle'
straet 'street' ([via] strata 'straight way' or stone-paved road)
weall 'wall' (vallum)
win 'wine' (vinum < Gr. oinos)

II. Old English Period (600-1100)

Latin
apostol 'apostle' (apostolus < Gr. apostolos)
casere 'caesar, emperor'
ceaster 'city' (castra 'camp')
cest 'chest' (cista 'box')
circul 'circle'
cometa 'comet' (cometa < Greek)
maegester 'master' (magister)
martir 'martyr'
paper 'paper' (papyrus, from Gr.)
tigle 'tile' (tegula)

Celtic
brocc 'badger'
cumb 'combe, valley'

(Few ordinary words, but thousands of place and river names: London, Carlisle,
Devon, Dover, Cornwall, Thames, Avon...)
III. Middle English Period (1100-1500)
Scandinavian
Most of these first appeared in the written language in Middle English; but many
were no doubt borrowed earlier, during the period of the Danelaw (9th-10th
centuries).
anger, blight, by-law, cake, call, clumsy, doze, egg, fellow, gear,
get, give, hale, hit, husband, kick, kill, kilt, kindle, law, low,
lump, rag, raise, root, scathe, scorch, score, scowl, scrape, scrub,
seat, skill, skin, skirt, sky, sly, take, they, them, their, thrall,
thrust, ugly, want, window, wing

Place name suffixes:

-by, -Thorpe, -gate

French
Law and government
attorney, bailiff, chancellor, chattel, country, court, crime,
defendant, evidence, government, jail, judge, jury, larceny, noble,
parliament, plaintiff, plea, prison, revenue, state, tax, verdict
Church
abbot, chaplain, chapter, clergy, friar, prayer, preach, priest,
religion, sacrament, saint, sermon
Nobility:
baron, baroness; count, countess; duke, duchess; marquis, marquess;
prince, princess; viscount, viscountess; noble, royal
(Contrast native words: king, queen, earl, lord, lady, knight, kingly,
queenly)
Military
army, artillery, battle, captain, company, corporal,
defense,enemy,marine, navy, sergeant, soldier, volunteer
Cooking
beef, boil, broil, butcher, dine, fry, mutton, pork, poultry, roast,
salmon, stew, veal

Culture and luxury goods

art, bracelet, claret, clarinet, dance, diamond, fashion, fur, jewel,
oboe, painting, pendant, satin, ruby, sculpture

Other
adventure, change, charge, chart, courage, devout, dignity, enamor,
feign, fruit, letter, literature, magic, male, female, mirror,
pilgrimage, proud, question, regard, special
Also Middle English French loans: a huge number of words in age, -ance/-ence,
-ant/-ent, -ity, -ment, -tion, con-, de-, and pre-.

Sometimes it's hard to tell whether a given word came from French or whether
it was taken straight from Latin. Words for which this difficulty occurs are those
in which there were no special sound and/or spelling changes of the sort that
distinguished French from Latin.

IV. Early Modern English Period (1500-1650)

The effects of the Renaissance begin to be seriously felt in England. We see the
beginnings of a huge influx of Latin and Greek words, many of them learned
words imported by scholars well versed in those languages. But many are
borrowings from other languages, as words from European high culture begin
to make their presence felt and the first words come in from the earliest period
of colonial expansion.
Latin
agile, abdomen, anatomy, area, capsule, compensate, dexterity,
discus, disc/disk, excavate, expensive, fictitious, gradual, habitual,
insane, janitor, meditate, notorious, orbit, peninsula, physician,
superintendent, ultimate, vindicate

Greek
(Many of these via Latin)
anonymous, atmosphere, autograph, catastrophe, climax, comedy, critic,
data, ecstasy, history, ostracize, parasite, pneumonia, skeleton,
tonic, tragedy
Greek bound morphemes: -ism, -ize
Arabic via Spanish
alcove, algebra, zenith, algorithm, almanac, azimuth, alchemy, admiral
Arabic via other Romance languages:
amber, cipher, orange, saffron, sugar, zero, coffee

V. Present-Day English (1650-present)

About 1650 was the start of major colonial expansion, industrial/technological
revolution, and significant American immigration. Words from all over the world
begin to pour in during this period. Also, the tendency for specialists to borrow
words from Latin and Greek, including creating new words out of Latin and
Greek word elements, continues from the last period and also increases with the
development of science, technology, and other fields.

Words from European languages

French
French continues to be the largest single source of new words outside of very
specialized vocabulary domains (scientific/technical vocabulary, still dominated
by classical borrowings).
High culture
ballet, bouillabaisse, cabernet, cachet, chaise longue, champagne,
chic, cognac, corsage, faux pas, nom de plume, quiche, rouge, roulet,
sachet, salon, saloon, sang froid, savoir faire
War and Military
bastion, brigade, battalion, cavalry, grenade, infantry, pallisade, rebuff,
bayonet
Other
bigot, chassis, clique, denim, garage, grotesque, jean(s), niche, shock
French Canadian
chowder
Louisiana French (Cajun)
jambalaya

Spanish
armada, adobe, alligator, alpaca, armadillo, barricade, bravado,
cannibal, canyon, coyote, desperado, embargo, enchilada, guitar,
marijuana, mesa, mosquito, mustang, ranch, taco, tornado, tortilla,
vigilante
Italian
alto, arsenal, balcony, broccoli, cameo, casino, cupola, duo, fresco,
fugue, gazette (via French), ghetto, gondola, grotto, macaroni,
madrigal, motto, piano, opera, pantaloons, prima donna, regatta,
sequin, soprano, opera, stanza, stucco, studio, tempo, torso,
umbrella, viola, violin
More recent words from Italian American immigrants:
cappuccino, espresso, linguini, mafioso, pasta,
pizza, ravioli, spaghetti, spumante, zabaglione, zucchini

Dutch, Flemish
Shipping, naval terms
avast, boom, bow, bowsprit, buoy, commodore, cruise, dock, freight,
keel, keelhaul, leak, pump, reef, scoop, scour, skipper, sloop,
smuggle, splice, tackle, yawl, yacht

Cloth industry
bale, cambric, duck (fabric), fuller's earth, mart, nap (of cloth),
selvage, spool, stripe
Art
easel, etching, landscape, sketch

War
beleaguer, holster, freebooter, furlough, onslaught
Food and drink
booze, brandy(wine), coleslaw, cookie, cranberry, crullers, gin, hops,
stockfish, waffle
Other
bugger (orig. French), crap, curl, dollar, scum, split (orig. nautical
term), uproar
German
bum, dunk, feldspar, quartz, hex, lager, knackwurst, liverwurst,
loafer, noodle, poodle, dachshund, pretzel, pinochle, pumpernickel,
sauerkraut, schnitzel, zwieback, (beer)stein, lederhosen, dirndl
20th century German loanwords:
blitzkrieg, zeppelin, strafe, U-boat, delicatessen, hamburger,
frankfurter, wiener, hausfrau, kindergarten, Oktoberfest, schuss,
wunderkind, bundt (cake), spritz (cookies), (apple) strudel

Yiddish
(Most are 20th century borrowings)
bagel, Chanukkah (Hanukkah), chutzpah, dreidel, kibbitzer, kosher, lox,
pastrami (orig. from Romanian), schlep, spiel, schlepp, schlemiel,
schlimazel, gefilte fish, goy, klutz, knish, matzoh, oy vey, schmuck,
schnook,
Scandinavian
fjord, maelstrom, ombudsman, ski, slalom, smorgasbord
Russian
apparatchik, borscht, czar/tsar, glasnost, icon, perestroika, vodka

Words from other parts of the world

Sanskrit
avatar, karma, mahatma, swastika, yoga
Hindi
bandanna, bangle, bungalow, chintz, cot, cummerbund, dungaree,
juggernaut, jungle, loot, maharaja, nabob, pajamas, punch (the drink),
shampoo, thug, kedgeree, jamboree
Dravidian
curry, mango, teak, pariah
Persian (Farsi)
check, checkmate, chess
Arabic
bedouin, emir, jakir, gazelle, giraffe, harem, hashish, lute, minaret,
mosque, myrrh, salaam, sirocco, sultan, vizier, bazaar, caravan
African languages
banana (via Portuguese), banjo, boogie-woogie, chigger, goober,
gorilla, gumbo, jazz, jitterbug, jitters, juke(box), voodoo, yam,
zebra, zombie
American Indian languages
avocado, cacao, cannibal, canoe, chipmunk, chocolate, chili, hammock,
hominy, hurricane, maize, moccasin, moose, papoose, pecan, possum,
potato, skunk, squaw, succotash, squash, tamale (via Spanish), teepee,
terrapin, tobacco, toboggan, tomahawk, tomato, wigwam, woodchuck
(Plus, thousands of place names, including
Ottawa, Toronto, Saskatchewan and the names of more than half the
states of the U.S., including Michigan, Texas, Nebraska, Illinois)
Chinese
chop suey, chow mein, dim sum, tea, ginseng, kowtow, litchee

Malay
ketchup, amok
Japanese
geisha, hara kiri, judo, jujitsu, kamikaze, karaoke, kimono, samurai,
soy, sumo, sushi, tsunami
Pacific Islands
bamboo, gingham, rattan, taboo, tattoo, ukulele, boondocks
Australia
boomerang, budgerigar, didgeridoo, kangaroo (and many more in
Australian English)
 Varieties of English.
1. With the development of the English language, it has many varieties in different parts
of the world. Different varieties differ in accent, vocabulary, grammar, discourse, and
sociolinguistics, and have their respective characteristics in pronunciation, tone,
intonation, spelling, and so on. Therefore, it is important for English language learners
to observe the differences in language use.
2. Because of the spreading of English to the world, there are changes that have occurred
as a result of individuals who have come from different areas in England, who have
moved around the world and taken with them their regional characteristics. Noticeably,
there are South African English, New Zealand English, Australian English, Canadian
English, and the most commonly used British English and American English. For
instance, in the case of America English has developed a character of its own, reflecting
the life and the physical and social movement of the American people.
3. Both British English and American English are just two varieties of the English
language with their separate development according to historical, political, and social
changes, therefore, it is evident that there is no superiority or inferiority as regards
British English and American English.
4. The three major levels of distinction are phonetics, grammar, and vocabulary.
5. With respect to spelling in vocabulary:
a. Words ending with–er in American English have the ending as–re in British
English. For example, in British English, theatre, centre, metre, fibre, litre are
spelled as theater, center, meter, fiber, liter in American English.
b. Words ending with–or in American English as–our in British English. For
example, in British English, colour, labour, honour, humour, favour are spelled
as color, labor, honor, humor, favor in American English.
c. Words having one consonant in American English whereas have two in British
English. For example, in British English, traveller, waggon, jeweller, dialled are
spelled as traveler, wagon, jeweler, dialed in American English.
d. Words end with–se in American English have ending as–ce in British English.
For example, in British English, defence, offence, licence are spelled as defense,
offense, license in American English.
e. Words ending with–ize or–yze in American English normally spell as–ise or–
yse in British English. For example, in British English, analyse, memorise,
organise, recognise are spelled as analyze, memorize, organize, recognize in
American English. However, more and more British people tend to use the
American way of spelling.
f. Besides what is discussed above, there are other differences in spelling. For
example, in British English, axe, cheque, draught, grey, plough, tyre are spelled
as ax, check, draft, gray, plow, tire in American English.
6. Due to the differences in the population structure, physical environment, social and
economic conditions, some of the vocabulary in American English rightly remain its
meaning just as what the first settlers brought into the land. So these words still have
the meaning as in the history of British English period.
 7. The followings are some common words indicating the same meaning.

British English American English

Lift Elevator
Tap Faucet
Flat Apartment
Sweets Candy
Biscuit Cracker
Film Movie
Introduction: the English Language Complex 3

the linguistic forms characteristic of new varieties of English and on

ways of describing and understanding them.

1.2 T H E F I E L D O F ‘ WO R L D E N G L I S H E S ’

The terms most often used to describe the varieties we are interested
in are ‘New Englishes’ or ‘World Englishes’. It has become customary
to use the plural form ‘Englishes’ to stress the diversity to be found in
the language today, and to stress that English no longer has one sin-
gle base of authority, prestige and normativity. There are at least four
books bearing the main title New Englishes: Pride (1982); Platt, Weber
and Ho (1984); Foley (1988) on Singaporean English and Bamgbose,
Banjo and Thomas (1997) on West African English. The pluricentrism
is also captured in the eye-catching book title The English Languages
(MacArthur 1998). Yet, as we shall see, neither ‘New Englishes’ nor
‘World Englishes’ is an entirely satisfactory term. Kachru (1983a)
pointed out that the ‘New English’ of India was actually older than
English in Australia, which is not generally considered ‘New’ -- since it
is to a large extent a continuation of the norms of nineteenth-century
first-language (henceforth L1) working-class British English. The second
term ‘World English’ runs the risk of being over-general, since British
English is not generally studied within this paradigm. Yet one might
quibble that it is a ‘World English’ too (from a commonsense notion
of the word ‘world’, anyway). The term is often cited as parallel to the
term ‘World Music’, which covers ‘non-Western’ musical forms. In all
of these terms there is a problem of perspective that is difficult to
overcome. It is therefore necessary to find a cover term for all varieties
of English: the one we will settle for is ‘English Language Complex’
(henceforth ELC), suggested by McArthur (2003a:56). The ELC may be
said to comprise all subtypes distinguishable according to some com-
bination of their history, status, form and functions. The following list
of subtypes, which takes a largely historical point of departure, will
be fleshed out in the rest of this chapter:

(a) Metropolitan standards: The term metropolitan (literally ‘mother

city/city-state’) is an old one, going back to ancient Greece, denot-
ing the relation between a state and its colonies. For the ELC the
term would have once been applicable only to standard English
of England. However, it is uncontroversial today, long after US
independence and its subsequent espousal of distinctly Ameri-
can English norms, to acknowledge the existence of at least two
4 world englishes

metropolitan standard varieties, whose formal models are those

provided by the radio and television networks based largely in
London and US cities like Washington, Los Angeles and (for CNN)
Atlanta.
(b) Colonial standards: The colonial history of English has made it an
important language in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South
Africa and Northern and Southern Rhodesia (now Zambia and
Zimbabwe). A fairly large number of English speakers formed
an influential group of speakers in the early history of these
‘Dominion’ territories. The varieties spoken there are referred
to in historical dialectology as ‘extraterritorial’ Englishes. It is
possible to speak of ‘colonial standards’ since informal and
(to a lesser extent) formal varieties have arisen in these ter-
ritories that may be considered ‘standard’. These standards
were, until recently, not fully accepted within the territories,
since the metropolitan standards exerted a counter-influence.
Today the colonial standards are much more prominent as
British influence recedes.
(c) Regional dialects: These are the varieties that may be distinguished
on the basis of regional variation within metropolis and colony.
A rule of thumb is that the older the settlement of English speak-
ers, the firmer the regional differentiation within the language.
Thus English dialects of the UK and USA are clearly definable
in regional terms; this is less true of Australia, New Zealand,
Canada, South Africa and Zimbabwe.
(d) Social dialects: Identifiable varieties within a region along the lines
of class and ethnicity may occur. In London there is the dif-
ference between Cockney of the working classes, Received pro-
nunciation (RP) of the upper-middle class and the intermediate
‘Estuary English’ (Rosewarne 1994). In Australia linguists identify
Broad, General and Cultivated varieties (Mitchell and Delbridge
1965); the first is the most localized, while showing numerous
traces of its origins in British working-class dialects; the third
is historically oriented towards RP, while the second mediates
between these two poles. Amongst ethnolects (or ethnic dialects)
Black English (also known as African American English) is iden-
tifiable as a distinct linguistic variety in the USA (though it has
some regional variation too).

Groups (a) to (d) are frequently labelled off as a special group, ‘mother
tongue’ or L1 English or English as a Native Language (ENL), or in
B. B. Kachru’s (1988) terminology, which we discuss later on, Inner Circle
Introduction: the English Language Complex 5

varieties. Of equal interest in modern sociolinguistics are the other

members of the ELC outlined below:

(e) Pidgin Englishes: Pidgins are defined prototypically as rudimen-

tary languages that have no native speakers, though they may
subsequently gain in complexity. They arise from trade and
other -- largely colonial -- forms of contact. English-based pidgins
like West African pidgin English may be considered to belong
to the English family, since they are ‘lexified’ by English -- i.e.
English is the source of much of their vocabulary.
(f) Creole Englishes: Creoles are fully developed speech forms, which
show so much restructuring as to bear little resemblance gram-
matically to their lexifiers. These languages are ‘mixed’ in the
sense that typically their grammars and lexicons come from dif-
ferent sources -- see Singler and Kouwenberg (in press) for recent
debates over terminology in this field. Although a variety like
Jamaican Creole is structurally an independent language, it has
overlapping membership with the ELC in terms of its vocabulary
and the possibilities of being influenced by English, which is the
‘authorised’ language of the education system.
(g) English as a Second Language (ESL): Typically these are varieties that
arose in countries where English was introduced in the colonial
era in either face-to-face communication or (more usually) via
the education system of a country in which there is, or had once
been, a sizeable number of speakers of English. In ESL countries
like Kenya, Sri Lanka and Nigeria, English plays a key role in
education, government and education.
(h) English as a Foreign Language (EFL): This category typically refers
to the English used in countries in which its influence has been
external, rather than via a body of ‘settlers’. For EFL speakers
English plays a role for mainly inter-national rather than intra-
national purposes. Whereas ESL countries produce literature in
English (and other languages), EFL countries typically do not use
English in creative writing. The trend towards globalisation in
economics, communication and culture has made EFL prominent
in places like China, Europe, Brazil, etc.
(i) Immigrant Englishes: In the context of migration to an English-
dominant country, varieties of English which originate as EFLs
may retain some distinctiveness or may merge with the regional
English of their territory, depending on a host of social and
economic factors. Thus whilst English in Mexico is of the EFL
variety, Chicano English of the USA shows greater affinity with
6 world englishes

general US English. However, Chicano English is still a distinct

variety amongst many speakers which we classify as an ‘immi-
grant English’. Our main reason for differentiating ‘immigrant
English’ from ESL is in the degree of influence of metropolitan
English over the former, since it is readily available in the local
environment (we discuss this issue further below).
(j) Language-shift Englishes: These are varieties that develop when
English replaces the erstwhile primary language(s) of a commu-
nity. There is, nevertheless, frequently a sense of continuity with
the ancestral language(s) and culture(s) in the shifting commu-
nity. The difference between ‘language-shift English’ and ‘social
dialect’ is one of degree; the former can, in time, shade into a
social dialect. Essentially, a language-shift English has at some
crucial stage of its development involved adult and child L1 and
second-language (L2) speakers who formed one speech commu-
nity. A social dialect in contrast is typically conceived of as having
only L1 speakers. Thus Hiberno English is probably best classified
as a social dialect in most areas of Ireland today; not so long ago
it would have counted as a language-shift variety, with L1 and L2
speakers of the dialect closely interacting with each other.
(k) Jargon Englishes: Whereas a pidgin is a well-defined (if rudimen-
tary) variety, with norms that are tacitly agreed upon by its speak-
ers, a jargon is characterised by great individual variation and
instability (hence also described as a pre-pidgin).1 E.g. contact
between South Sea Islanders and Europeans in the nineteenth
century led to the formation of unstable jargons in many parts
of the Pacific. One of these developed into a stable, expanded
pidgin, Tok Pisin, which is now one of the official languages of
Papua New Guinea.
(l) Hybrid Englishes: Also called ‘bilingual mixed languages’, these are
versions of English which occur in code-mixing in many urban
centres where a local language comes into contact with English.
Although sometimes given derogatory names, like Hinglish for
the hybrid Hindi-English of north Indian cities, these hybrids
may have prestige amongst urban youth and the young at heart
in informal styles.
A sketch typology like the one we propose brings as much contro-
versy as clarity. Many issues raised in the characterisation of the ELC
are worthy of closer scrutiny and debate. For example:
1 The alternative sense of ‘jargon’ as the excessive use of technical terms does not
apply here.
 Vol. 2, No. 3 English Language Teaching

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Figure 1. Concentric circle model (Adapted from Kachru (1997)

38