Premium Essay

The Characteristic of English Language

In:

Submitted By Sh0NaBeB0
Words 519
Pages 3
The Characteristics of English Language Among the different languages of the world, English is the most widely spoken and written languages of the world. Today, English occupies the prestigious place of an International language. It is utilized by the largest number of the people of many nations in all the five continents in the world. The reason, which comes to our notice is that, it is not due to the qualities of its own but there are important historical, political and economical reasons for its worldwide popularity. The other obvious reason is that English speaking nations, like England and America have made it prominent. However, no language can become so important, unless it has some outstanding and special characteristics for its phenomenal growth and popularity. The main characteristics for this stride of English language are as under:

* Receptiveness * Heterogeneousness * Simplicity of Inflexion * Fixed Word Order * Use of Periphrasis * Growth of Intonation. * Receptiveness The first outstanding characteristic of English language is receptiveness. This is regarded as extra-ordinary feature of the language. It has accepted and adopted words from Asian, European, African, Indian, Japanese, Chinese and other languages. English has kept open-door policy of accepting words from classical languages like Latin, Greek and Sanskrit. * Heterogeneousness Heterogeneousness means mixed form or the lack of purity. English language contains words from so many other languages that it has become the most mixed language. Original words from other languages have crept into English. Some words have retained their original meanings and some words have changed their meanings. The spellings and pronunciations have also changed. E.g. the word ‘Tur’ from French has become ‘Tower’ in modern English. *

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Effective Teaching Effectiveness

...they may never recover”. However, Language practitioners and researchers have already recognized that teachers do not have a complete control over what learners learn from English language courses (Allwright, 1984 as cited in Breen, 2001a; Salimani, 2001). According to Williams and Burden (1997) learners perceptions of teaching have a great influence...

Words: 1238 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Dialect

...California English: * Almost 50% of the population is made up of Latino/African Americans with separate accents. * Caucasian people pronounce the vowels in hawk and hock the same as well as cot and caught. * Moving vowels forward in the mouth is resulting in changes of vowel sound Cajun: * This dialect is a mixture of French, Canary Island Spanish, German, and English. * Some characteristics include fast talking, clipped vowels and an abundance of French terms. * The /th/ sound is usually replaced with /t/ or /d/. New York: * “on line” instead of “in line” * “dungarees” instead of “jeans” * The /o/ can make an /aw/ and /th/ can make a /t/ sound. California English: * Almost 50% of the population is made up of Latino/African Americans with separate accents. * Caucasian people pronounce the vowels in hawk and hock the same as well as cot and caught. * Moving vowels forward in the mouth is resulting in changes of vowel sound Cajun: * This dialect is a mixture of French, Canary Island Spanish, German, and English. * Some characteristics include fast talking, clipped vowels and an abundance of French terms. * The /th/ sound is usually replaced with /t/ or /d/. New York: * “on line” instead of “in line” * “dungarees” instead of “jeans” * The /o/ can make an /aw/ and /th/ can make a /t/ sound. American Varieties of English American Varieties of English Linguistic Terms Linguistic Terms - Standard...

Words: 1090 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

The Washback Effect of Oral English Testing on English Teaching

...The Washback Effect of Oral English Testing on English Teaching Abstract: Language Testing, as the partner of language teaching, can not only serve to check the achievements of language teaching, but also can produce the washback effect. This thesis introduces the interrelationship between the two important aspects concerning language learning and the characteristics of oral English test in recent years, trying to analyze the washback effect of oral English test on English teaching and to provide for some constructive suggestions in order to promote the oral English teaching. Keywords: Oral English testing, English teaching, washback effect 0. Introduction Language testing and teaching can be regarded as twins-they are so closely interrelated that it’s impossible to work in either field without the other one. Language testing can serve to check the achievements of language teaching and at the same time it can exert some washback effects on teaching, which may be conducive to language teaching or do harm to it. The relationship between oral English testing and teaching is also the same case. The aim of oral English teaching is to enable the students to obtain the flexible communicative abilities and to deal with all kinds of circumstances involved in using oral English. Oral English testing is a scientific measuring tool. On one hand, it can give the students an objective, accurate and justice judgment of their oral English abilities and on the other hand it can check...

Words: 2273 - Pages: 10

Premium Essay

Power Of Language

...over 6,000 forms of languages that are spoken in the world. We are living in such a culturally diverse world and encourage others to embrace everyone’s race, gender, ethnicity, age, religion, and even personal beliefs. However, a common issue today is sometimes people do not embrace each other’s characteristics. Characteristics of a person describe their features and qualities. In today's society multiple people experience oppression, the cause of that is those individuals interpret and express their power of language differently. This is a problem because certain groups or cultures experience oppression due to the power of language. Language evolves our ideas and beliefs into reality...

Words: 719 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Comparing Sandra Cisneros 'Woman Hollering Creek And' Girl

...The stories that were mentioned before, “Woman Hollering Creek” and “Girl” belong to two different authors that use their own variety of the English language: in the case of Sandra Cisneros, she speaks Chicano English; as for Jamaica Kincaid, Caribbean English. Even though these authors write in Standard English, their varieties have a big influence on their texts with regard to the use of elements that just belong to their cultures and make them unique and recognizable for the reader. For example, the legend of La Llorona (51) and telenovela (44) for Cisneros, and benna music and doukona for Kincaid. Thus, both writers express their identity through their texts On the one hand, and despite it is written in Standard English, in “Woman Hollering...

Words: 431 - Pages: 2

Free Essay

Dont Judge a Book by Its Cover

...talks. “Mother’s Tongue” by Amy Tan was about an English scholar whose mother was judged due to her broken English. This reading is just one mean of how someone is judged for her communication barrier. Everyone comes from a variety of backgrounds, cultural differences, and influenced lifestyles that create differences in which a person appears and identifies to someone else. There are many different characteristics that create the makeup of each person. Cultural language varieties are one type of characteristic of how someone can by perceived by another person from a different culture. Different forms of the language can be introduced daily through music, television, forms of media, and people that surround you. Cultures are another means that create the makeup of how people from different societies appear to each other. This can be seen through clothing styles and personality makeup. Language is the main form of communication which creates a universal difference among people. It is easy to create a personal bias opinion towards a different language. An example of this bias would be if you are an English Native American and walk past two Hispanic decent people carrying on a conversation in a foreign language not known to you. In this instance you may create a personal judgment against these individuals because you may think they are making fun of you, or say something about you. These same two individuals may also speak English, however in their form of understanding that is...

Words: 660 - Pages: 3

Free Essay

On Translation of English Names from Cultural Perspective

...On Translation of English Names from Cultural Perspective Abstract Chinese transliteration of people's English names not only concerns the accuracy of sound between the source and target languages,but also has much to do with the cultural specificity and the characteristics of the respective languages .Name is the most common language Phenomenon which exists in our society. As the communication between the countries all around the word become more and more closely, this paper have being paid more and more attentions to the translation of the names. In this paper, there is a study on the Cultural connotation and characteristics of English names and Chinese name, and then there is also a brief introduction of the way to translate the names. In this paper, there are five translation methods to translate names which we use usually, they are: Transliteration, Annotated Transliteration, Paraphrase, Law of Convention and Their own Chinese name translation. It is hoped that the study in this paper will be helpful for the future study and the translation of names. Key word: English name; Translation methods; culture perspective On Translation of English Names from Cultural Perspective Outline Thesis Statement: This paper through introducing the culture connotation and characteristics of English name, explore the strategies of English name translation, aiming at giving some suggestions in translating English names. 1. Introduction Ⅱ. Cultural connotation and...

Words: 5210 - Pages: 21

Free Essay

On Translation of English Names from Cultural Perspective

...On Translation of English Names from Cultural Perspective Abstract Chinese transliteration of people's English names not only concerns the accuracy of sound between the source and target languages,but also has much to do with the cultural specificity and the characteristics of the respective languages .Name is the most common language Phenomenon which exists in our society. As the communication between the countries all around the word become more and more closely, this paper have being paid more and more attentions to the translation of the names. In this paper, there is a study on the Cultural connotation and characteristics of English names and Chinese name, and then there is also a brief introduction of the way to translate the names. In this paper, there are five translation methods to translate names which we use usually, they are: Transliteration, Annotated Transliteration, Paraphrase, Law of Convention and Their own Chinese name translation. It is hoped that the study in this paper will be helpful for the future study and the translation of names. Key word: English name; Translation methods; culture perspective On Translation of English Names from Cultural Perspective Outline Thesis Statement: This paper through introducing the culture connotation and characteristics of English name, explore the strategies of English name translation, aiming at giving some suggestions in translating English names. 1. Introduction Ⅱ. Cultural connotation and characteristics...

Words: 5134 - Pages: 21

Premium Essay

Planning

...development of our students’ capacities. Contents make reference to three different but complementary spheres: concepts, procedures and attitudes. Special attention is paid to activities, resources and the organization of the FL setting (space, time, groupings). Each and every of its components (objectives, contents, basic competences, activities, resources, evaluation…) are intimately interwoven. Offers a flexible model open to continuous suggestions and corrections. 2 Contextualization Our present-day curricular model, featured by two essential hallmarks, its flexibility and openness, makes it feasible for any Annual Teaching Programme to be applied to different educational contexts considering, though, the particular characteristics of our environment and students. Despite that fact, it seems reasonable to adapt our ATP to a given location and setting. This implies offering data in relation to the:...

Words: 1579 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Information Technology

...evolved over the years. They are classified according to the following generations: First Generation (1GL) Low-level The 1GL called machine languages is written using 1s and 0s (binary) Characteristics 1. Fastest to execute because it is already in the language the computer can understand. 2. Difficult to decipher. 3. Easy to make mistakes in the sequence of 1s and Os. 4. Time consuming/Tedious to write Second Generation (2GL) Low-Level 2GL is also called Assembly Language. Assembly Language is written using mnemonic codes, short codes that suggest their meaning and are therefore easier to remember. Characteristics 1. Easier to write than machine language. 2. As with machine language, assembly language is machine. 3. Can be easily converted to machine code by a program called an assembler. 4. Still difficult to understand. Third Generation (3GL) High-Level This generation of languages was designed so that it is even easier for humans to understand. Characteristics 1. It uses English type words and symbols to write program code, making it easier to create. 2. Programs also have to be converted to machine language. 3. Machine independent Fourth Generation (4GLs) High-language Characteristics 1. Designed for the development of commercial business software. 2. Uses English-like statements that are very user friendly, hence programs are easier to write this reduces the time taken to write programs. 3. It also...

Words: 308 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Multi-Twisted Social Identity In The US

...Communication is social, it constructs our life in the public sphere. Multi-faceted social identity refers to an identity that is not limited to one particular aspect and is comprised of many different levels of characteristics. Characteristics can be both personal, what makes us who we are, and social, the part of ourselves that is connected to our group memberships. I socially identify as as Asian, specifically as Korean-American. Communication continuously shapes my identity. I was born in the United States and grew up speaking both Korean and English. It wasn’t until recently I realized how important language is to an identity. While, I use Korean and English frequently seperately, I also use it interchangeably, a speaking type known as Konglish....

Words: 498 - Pages: 2

Free Essay

International Business Communication with Different Background

...Chapter I: Background The world population has grown rapidly over the past two thousand years. For the example in 1999, world population passed the six billion mark. By the year 2080, the world population estimated around 10,000,000,000 people around the world. Latest official estimates of the current global population by mid-2011, estimated at 6,928,198,253 people around the world (Rosenberg, World Population - The Current World Population, 2011). From the 7 billion populations in the world, they certainly have a different background, such as country, language, race, culture, religion, customs etc. People as a human being cannot live alone without others people. They must communicate with each other. Language is the way of communication. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to show to the people how to communicate with each other in different background especially in Global Business Communication. The expectation is the readers will learn how to using and understand the way people communicate, base on every aspect of their background. Business definition itself is a commercial activity engaged in as a means of livelihood or profit, or an entity which engages in such activities (WebFinance, 2012). In this paper, there will be the research and analyzing personal behavior and attitudes in a country and the relationship with others country. The countries that will be research and analyze are: Indonesia-Malaysia, Indonesia-China, Indonesia Singapore. Chapter II: Research ...

Words: 2537 - Pages: 11

Premium Essay

Lexicology. Different Dialects and Accents of English.Doc

...Preface Every language allows different kinds of variations: geographical or territorial, perhaps the most obvious, stylistic, the difference between the written and the spoken form of the standard national language and others. It is the national language of England proper, the USA, Australia, New Zealand and some provinces of Canada. It is the official language of Wales, Scotland, in Gibraltar and on the island of Malta. Modern linguistics distinguishes territorial variants of a national language and local dialects. Variants of a language are regional varieties of a standard literary language characterized by some minor peculiarities in the sound system, vocabulary and grammar and by their own literary norms. Standard English – the official language of Great Britain taught at schools and universities, used by the press, the radio and the television and spoken by educated people may be defined as that form of English which is current and literary, substantially uniform and recognized as acceptable wherever English is spoken or understood. Its vocabulary is contrasted to dialect words or dialectisms belonging to various local dialects. Local dialects are varieties of the English language peculiar to some districts and having no normalized literary form. Regional varieties possessing a literary form are called variants. Dialects are said to undergo rapid changes under the pressure of Standard English taught at schools and the speech habits cultivated by radio, television...

Words: 3803 - Pages: 16

Premium Essay

The Importance Of Teaching English

...in general started to have an Interest in learning languages especially English.The reason for this is due Saudi government noteworthy interest in teaching foreign languages. 40 years ago Saudi Introduced teaching English to the curriculum because of the importance of learning languages in the development of the country and spreading Islam,as result of this interest in teaching English,Applied linguistic (AL)was one of the majors Saudi students began to learn later on. There were Various reasons behind Saudis studying AL, to my knowledge,one is the purpose for teaching in higher education.In the present time Saudis studying AL or English related majors in local universities and international universities...

Words: 932 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Lexycology

...1. The object of Lexicology. The main lexicological problems.  Lexicology is a branch of linguistics, the science of language. The term Lexicology is composed of two Greek morphemes: lexis meaning ‘word, phrase’ (hence lexicos ‘having to do with words’) and logos which denotes ‘learning, a department of knowledge’. Thus, the literal meaning of the term Lexiсolоgу is ‘the science of the word’. The literal meaning, however, gives only a general notion of the aims and the subject-matter of this branch of linguistic science. Lexicology as a branch of linguistics has its own aims and methods of scientific research, its basic task being a study and systematic description of vocabulary in respect to its origin, development and current use. Lexicology is concerned with words, variable word-groups, phraseological units, and with morphemes which make up words. Distinction is naturally made between General Lexicology and Special Lexicology. General Lexicology is part of General Linguistics; it is concerned with the study of vocabulary irrespective of the specific features of any particular language. Special Lexicology is the Lexicology of a particular language (e.g. English, Russian, etc.), i.e. the study and description of its vocabulary and vocabulary units, primarily words as the main units of language. Needless to say that every Special Lexicology is based on the principles worked out and laid down by General Lexicology, a general theory of vocabulary. There is also a close relationship...

Words: 1822 - Pages: 8