On The Changes Of English Vocabulary

Generally speaking, there are two types of languages, i. e. dead language and living language. The former ones refer to those that are out of general use or rather deserted languages like Classical Latin, while the latter are those which are in general use, including Chinese, Japanese, French, German, English and many others. One important feature of living languages is that they change with the development of the times. This is especially true in the case of English. As an international language, English is used so extensively that there emerges a huge difference among people from different occupations as well as from different places. Consequently, English has undergone tremendous changes and its vocabulary is exceptionally large. Learning vocabulary forms an important part of learning English, for without words we can hardly convey our meaning and intentions clearly and definitely. Still the vocabulary that a language learner needs to master is limited in number.This paper seeks to focus on the changes of English vocabulary, analyzing the phenomena occurred in modern English vocabulary and shedding some light on the rules of vocabulary changes. It first gives a brief introduction of the history of English, and then looks at its current situation. The main body of this paper is comprised of the following three parts: Part III: Focus on Words and Vocabulary; Part IV: Forms of Vocabulary Change and Part V: Vocabulary Development in Our Times.The following part, namely, Part VI: the event of 9-11 and its impact on vocabulary symbolizes the latest development of modern English vocabulary. It shows that as a language full of energy and vigor, English has always been changing in line with the times. On the other hand, such changes inevitably bear the hallmarks of their era.Therefore, facing such a rich and complex vocabulary, a language learner can do nothing but to master the rules guiding the changes of English vocabulary, and apply this knowledge into the practice before he can achieve any remarkable progress.