LIN203H1 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Old English Grammar, Early Modern English, Proto-Germanic Language
Document Summary
English places second or third in terms of number of native speakers mandarin is first. English has a huge vocabulary about 500 000 words, compared with second-largest. About 70% made up of loanwords (borrowed from other languages) but in any given sentence, percentage is smaller due to grammatical structure. According to some estimates, as much as seventy percent of the vocabulary of. English (but a smaller percentage of the most frequently used words) consists of loanwords. 27 words long, highlighted (8) are loanwords. Most common/frequently used words are native to english (i. e. to , the , as ) Words that carry meaning are more likely to be loanwords. Pronunciation of loanwords may change when adapted to english. History of english also accounts for the ease of incorporating loanwords into english (language put into close contact with other languages close cultural and geographical contexts makes borrowing more likely) i. e. norse and french.
