1. Introduction
1.1 Linguistic background
1.1.1. Language history
English is a West Germanic language that originated from the Anglo-Frisian dialects and was brought to Britain by Germanic invaders (or settlers) from what is now called north west Germany and the Netherlands. It uses a vocabulary unlike that of other European languages from the same era. A large portion of the modern English vocabulary comes from the Anglo-Norman languages. English frequently makes use of loanwords originating from other languages.
Middle English differed from Old English because of two invasions, which occurred during the Middle Ages. The first invasion was by people who spoke North Germanic languages. They conquered and colonised parts of Britain during the 8th and 9th centuries AD. The second invasion was by the Normans of the 11th century, who spoke Old Norman and eventually developed an English form of this, called Anglo-Norman. A new vocabulary introduced at this time heavily influenced many organizations, including the church, the court system and the government. European languages, including German, Dutch, Latin and Ancient Greek influenced the English vocabulary during the Renaissance.
Old English initially was a diverse group of dialects, reflecting the varied origins of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of Britain. The Late West Saxon dialect eventually became dominant. Written Old English of 1000 AD was similar to Old Frisian and, to a lesser extent, other Germanic languages such as Old Saxon, Old High German and Old Norse in terms of vocabulary and grammar. Written Old English is relatively unintelligible today, in contrast to written Modern English and written Middle English. Close contact with the Scandinavians resulted in much grammatical simplification and lexical enrichment of the English language, which had been based on Anglo-Frisian. These changes did not reach South West England until the Norman invasion in 1066. Old English developed into a full-fledged literary language, based on the most common manner of speaking in London during the 13th century.
English is divided into several historical forms. Each historical form of English had certain characteristics that distinguish it from the forms of English that came before and after it. The Old English period was from the mid-5th century to the mid-11th century, the Middle English period from the late 11th century to the late 15th century, the Early Modern English period from the late 15th century to the late 17th century, and the Modern English period from the late 17th century to the present.
In a nutshell, the historical factors explain why English vocabulary is so diverse and difficult.
1.1.2. Latin abbreviations in academic writing
Abbreviation | Latin | Translation | Usage and example |
A.D. |
anno Domini |
in the year of the lord |
The United States Civil War began in AD 1861 |
a.i. |
ad interim |
temporarily |
Director of Operations, a.i. |
c., ca., ca or cca. |
circa |
"around", "about", "approximately" |
The antique clock is from c.1900. |
Cap. |
capitulus |
"chapter" |
Electronic transactions Ordinance (Cap. 553) |
cf. |
confer |
"bring together" and hence "compare" |
These results were similar to those obtained using different techniques (cf. Wilson, 1999 and Ansmann, 1992). |
| et al. | et alii | "and others", "and co-workers". | These results agree with the ones published by Pelon et al. (2002). Etc. should not be used for people. |
| etc. | et cetera | "and the others", "and other things", "and the rest". | need to go to the store and buy some pie, milk, cheese, etc. |
| e.g. | exempliae gratia | "for example", "for instance" | The shipping company instituted a surcharge on any items weighing over a ton; e.g., a car or truck. |
op. cit. | opera citato | "the work cited" | Means in the same article, book or other reference work as was mentioned before. It is most often used in citations in a similar way to "ibid", though "ibid" would usually be followed by a page number. Example: (9) R. Millan, Art of Latin Grammar (Academic: New York, 1997), p. 23. (13) Millan, op. cit., p. 5. |
| viz. | videlicet | "namely", "to wit", "precisely", "that is to say" | In contradistinction to "i.e." and "e.g.", "viz." is used to indicate a detailed description of something stated before, and when it precedes a list of group members, it implies (near) completeness. Example: The noble gases, viz. helium, neon, argon, xenon, krypton and radon, show a non-expected behaviour when exposed to this new element. |
| vs. or v. | versus | "against" | Sometimes is not abbreviated. In English law the v has no full stop (period) and is never vs and is never pronounced versus but rather as and. R(egina) v Gadd (a criminal case) which is pronounced as The Crown and Gadd. Similarly the film Kramer vs. Kramer is in England (at least to a lawyer): Kramer and Kramer although it would be written Kramer v Kramer. |
1.2. Linguistics terms
It may be good for you to know the following terms.
1) Syntax: Studies of the rules for forming admissible sentences and arrangement of words.
2) Semantics: Semantics is the study of meaning in language. It can be applied to entire texts or to single words. For example, "destination" and "last stop" technically mean the same thing, but students of semantics analyze their subtle shades of meaning.
3) Pragmatics: To describe a person or a solution that takes a realistic approach, consider the adjective pragmatic. When it comes to linguistics, it is the study the use of linguistic signs, (words and sentences), in actual situations.
4) Psycho linguistics: How language is stored and processed in the mind, for first and second language learning.
5) Applied linguistics: A very broad area of application of theoretical principles. This includes language learning and teaching.
6) Lexicon: A lexicon is the vocabulary of a language or subject. "No-hitter," "go-ahead run," and "Baltimore chop" are part of the baseball lexicon.
