制作人：上海建桥学院大学英语

Jan, 2008 Jan, 2008

Unit 7 Learning about English

The Glorious Messiness of English

Text A

Contents Warm-up Activities Background Information Words and Phrases Text Learning

Text Organization Sentences Study

Rhetorical Devices in Text A

After Reading Summary of Text A

Warm-up Activities

• What’s your impression of the English language?

Class Discussion

Class Discussion

• Why there are so many people learning English in present China?

• Do you think the globalization of English means the Anglicization of the global?

Class Discussion

Background Information

The History of English Old English (450—1100)

The Germanic Conquest -- the historical mark of the beginning of

the Old English The Main Characteristics of Old English Foreign Influences on Old English

Middle English (1100—1500) The Norman Conquest Foreign Influences on Middle English

Modern English (1500—1900) The Conditions for the Changes The Features of English during this Period

Old English (450—1100)

• Around the year 449 Britain was conquered by the three Germanic tribes : the Jutes, Saxons and Angles. They settled in the areas they occupied and established separate kingdoms. They became the founders of the English nation.

• The history of a language is always closely related

with the history of its speakers!

The Germanic Conquest -- the historical mark of the beginning of the Old English

The Germanic Conquest

The Main Characteristics of Old English The Germanic tribes were exposed to

Latin before they invaded England, so the languages they spoke did have some Latin influence. After converting to Christianity, Latin had more influence, as evidenced in words pertaining to the church.

Celtic did not have a large impact on English, as only a few place names are of Celtic origin, but Danish (Old Scandinavian) did contribute many vocabulary words.

Foreign Influences on Old English

• The Celtic Influence The defeated native Celts left a small

number of words, mainly place names for the Germanic invaders, such as Lunden (London), Temese (Thames).

• The Great Effects of Christianity The introduction of Christianity from

Rome to Britain in 597 exert the greatest influence of Latin on not

only the old English language but on the whole English civilization. It is estimated that 450 Latin words, mainly religious words entered the Old English

vocabulary, more than 350 of which were used as the core words.

• The Scandinavian Influence Near the end of the Old English period,

the language underwent a third foreign influence. With the Scandinavian attacks on England, the Old Norse was brought to Old English by the Danes.

Not like the introduction of Christianity as a different civilization, the Scandinavian civilization is very much like the English. Consequently, the Scandinavian elements entered the English language are

such through the give-and-take of everyday life. Therefore the Scandinavian influences dominates the fields as wide as laws and administrative, names of places and people, daily words, etc.

Middle English (1100—1500)

The Norman Conquest The Norman Conquest in 1066 is

regarded as one big event that changed the whole course of the English language as a Germanic language.

The Norman ruling of the English people brought about the use of French by the upper class and

French literature at the court; while the English language was sustained among the lower class.

Foreign Influences on Middle English

• French Influence on the Vocabulary and

its Assimilation After the Norman Conquest, the French

rulers came with their language. Inevitably English received huge impacts in every aspect, the most direct of which is the vocabulary. However, most of the new French

words are assimilated by adding the English endings so that they became the basis of the derivatives. (e.g., faith, gentle)

During the ruling of the Norman Conquerors, three languages: French, English and Latin were adopted respectively by the three classes: the upper rulers, the lower workers and the middle ecclesiastics and men of learning. So a large number of literary works

were written in Latin, which contribute to the direct Latin borrowings of the Middle English. (e.g., history, genius)

• The Borrowings from Latin

Modern English (1500—1900)

• The introduction of the process of printing from movable type exerted an eventual influence on the language development.

• The education was widely received by the common people.

• The communication among people in different areas intensified by commerce, transportation promoted the exchange of languages.

The Conditions for the Changes of English from Middle to Modern

• The colonial expansion of Great Britain

The English language was widely spread within the colonies of the British Empire

• The growth of science The Late Modern English witnessed

the greatest and rapidest development of science in human history. The modern growth of science brought the modern civilization and language.

Language is a mirror of progress.

• The frequent international communication

The English language has been internationalized and interrelated with other languages in the world.

The Factors Affecting the Language

• The increasing vocabulary of the Modern English

By a variety of ways such as borrowing, affixation,

compounding, meaning shifting, coinage, etc.

• The three types of Standards exist side by side

The literary standard (the written language) The spoken standard ( the received

pronunciation) The popular speech (the daily English)

• English overseas English has become the language spoken in the most countries of the world.

The Features of English during this Period

Words and Phrases

corrupt: vt. 1) cause errors to appear in

- The Academy ruled that such foreign expressions were not permitted, as they corrupted the language.

2) cause to act dishonestly in return for personal gains

- To our great surprise, the former mayor turned out to have been corrupted by the desire for money and power.

- To gain more profits, the businessman tried every means to corrupt the officials in the local government.

ban:

1. vt. forbid (sth.) officially

- The local government will ban smoking in all public places in 2010.

- Tom was banned from driving for one month after

being caught speeding again.

Pattern: ban sth.

ban sb. from (doing) sth.

2. n. ban (followed by on)

- The ban on underground nuclear tests

is a vital step toward disarmament.

necessity: n.

1) sth. You must have in order to live properly or do sth.

- Water and air ate the basic necessity of life.

- Nowadays many people would consider a car as a necessity.

2) the state of being necessary; the need for sth.

- There is absolutely no necessity for you to be involved in the project. /- They reached an agreement on the necessity of educational reforms.

arouse: vt. to provoke (a particular feeling or attitude)

– The man’s strange behavior aroused the policeman’s suspicions.

– The teacher tried his best to arouse his students’ interest in English learning.

surrender: vi. give in

– We will never surrender to terrorism

despite the terrorist attacks.

Pattern: surrender to sb./sth.

resemble: vt. be like or similar to

– He resembles his mother more than his father. n– The kid would pound spoons on any surface that

resembled a drum.

descend: vi. come down (from a source)

– The Japanese are thought to be descended from tribes from the north

of China.

Pattern: descend from...

establish: vt.

1) cause to be, set up

- The PRC was established in Oct. 1st, 1949.

- The bank helps people wanting to establish their business.

2) place or settle ab./oneself in a position, an office,etc.

- They are establishing themselves as the market leaders. /- She established her fame as an actress.

Pattern: establish ab./oneself as.

pass (sth.) on to (sb.): hand or give (sth.) to (sb.)

– The rich man passed on much of his fortune to his daughter.

– When you have finished reading the novel, please pass it on to Mary.

put (sth.) into practice:– We should put what we have learned

into practice.– Having delayed several times, we must

put this plan into practice now.

enrich: vt.

1) make rich or richer

- The development of oil fields enriched many Arabian countries.

- That once poor village has been enriched by the profits from tourism.

2) improve

- Travel enriches people’s lives. /- It is important to enrich the soil prior to planting.

modify: vt. change slightly

– The school authority plans to modify the school regulation.

– The computer programmers tired to modify the design of the software to make it suitable for commercial products.

source: n. a place from which sth. comes or is

obtained.– Tourism, which is the major source of income for the city, has been seriously

affected by economic crisis.

out of control: no longer able to be controlled

– The fire was out of control by the time the fire fighters arrived.

– There was nothing they could do about it. The situation was out of control.

strike out: start being independent;

start doing what one wants to do in life– After working for his father for about ten

years, he decided to strike out his own.

Text Learning

Part Division of the Text

Parts

Lines Main Ideas

1 1-17

2 18-89

3 90-102

Massive borrowing from other languages is a major feature of the English language. Tells about the history of the English language from the Indo-European parent language to modern English. Tolerance, love of freedom, and respect for the rights of others -- these qualities in the English-speaking people explain the richness of their language.

Sentences Study

1. …so they invent a word, balladeur, which French kids are supposed to say instead -- but they don't.

Paraphrase this part of the sentence.

- French children are expected to say the word

“balladeur” instead of “Walkman” but they don’t say it.

Pattern: sb. be supposed to do sth. - 某人被期望 / 要求（按规则，惯例等）做某事 Exercises: P.222, Structure, part 2

2. The history of English is present in the first words a child learns about identity (I, me, you); possession (mine, yours); the body (eye, nose, mouth); size (tall, short); and necessities (food, water).

1) Paraphrase this part.

2) Translate this part into Chinese.

- The history of English is revealed in the first words a child learns about …

- 英语的历史体现在孩子最先学会用来表示……的词汇当中。

3. Fortunately their idea has never been put into practice. That tolerance for change also represents deeply rooted ideas of freedom.

What can we infer from this sentence about the author’s attitude towards English?

- The author prefers what English is today to what some British scholars wanted it to do.

Rhetorical Devices

1. THE GLORIOUS MESSINESS OF ENGLISH1) Translate the title

into Chinese.

2) What kind of rhetorical device is used in the title?

- 英语中绚丽多彩的杂乱无章现象 .

- The rhetorical device used here is called oxymoron (矛盾修饰法 ). An oxymoron puts two contradictory terms together to puzzle the reader, luring him/her to pause and explore why. Here “Glorious” is a commendatory( 褒义的 ) term, while “Messiness” is derogatory( 贬义的 ). As the reader reads on, he/she will know that English is messy, but the messiness reflects some commendable qualities of English, such as tolerance, the love of freedom, and the respect for others’ rights. At this point the reader cannot but admire the author’s ingenuity.

2. “ We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender.”

What kind of rhetorical device is used here? And what’s the function of it?

- The rhetorical device used here is called parallelism( 排比法 ). With this device the sentences become more powerful and will leave a deeper impression on listeners or readers.

3. The country now had three languages: French for the nobles, Latin for the churches and English for the common people.

What kind of rhetorical device is used here? - The rhetorical device used here is called metonymy( 转 喻 ). Here the word “churches” stands for religious institutions and those who are involved in religious practices. For another example, in the sentence “The kettle boils.”, the word “kettle” stands for “the water in the kettle”.

4. Translations of Greek and Roman classics were poured onto the printed page, and with them thousands of Latin words like capsule and…

What is the Chinese version of this part? - 希腊罗马经典著作的译文纷纷印成书册 .

What kind of rhetorical device is used here?

- The author uses personification(拟人法 ) in this part.

5. Consider that the same cultural soil producing the English language also nourished the great principles of freedom and rights of man in the modern world. The first shoots sprang up in England, and they grew stronger in America. The English-speaking peoples have defeated all efforts to build fences around their language.

What kind of rhetorical device is used in these sentences?

- The rhetorical device used in these sentences is called metaphor. Here the author uses a sustained metaphor: the cultural soil, the first shoots sprang up, … grew stronger, build fences around their language. In this case the English language is compared to plants, and the various cultures influencing it are compared to the soil, while users of English are compared to gardeners. Besides this, the author employs many other metaphors in this text, such as core of English (Para. 4), another flood of new vocabulary (Para. 14), and the special preserve of grammarians (Para. 19).

After Reading

Summary of Text A A fascinating feature of the English

language is its tolerance of new words and phrases, either borrowed or invented. There exists no authority to examine each new addition to the language, to determine what is acceptable and to ban what is not. True, some people do think that borrowed words corrupt the language. They think the language is running out of control. There was even some talk at one time of establishing an academy to maintain the purity of the language. Fortunately the idea never took hold. Massive borrowing from a rich variety of sources was, as a result, left free to greatly enrich the language.