4. Stratification of the English vocabulary

Common words — literary and colloquial.

Scientific and slang’ words ascend through colloquial use; the ‘technical’ terms of crafts and processes, and the ‘dialect’ words, blend with the common language both in speech and literature.

Dialects __________⁶(SIMILAR) pass into foreign languages. Scientific terminology passes on one side into purely foreign words, on another it blends with the technical vocabulary of art and manufactures. It is not possible to fix the point at which the ‘English Language’ stops, along any of these __________⁷(DIVERGE) lines.

They suggest that it is not clear where a word ceases to be part of the English language as there are different levels of __________⁸(TECHNICAL), __________⁹(FOREIGN), and so on. An item like heart is core and should be located in the centre of the diagram, whereas an item like cordial is probably more literary (more likely to be written than spoken), whereas an item like cardiac is more __________¹⁰(SCIENCE) (and perhaps more technical as well). If you refer to your heart as your ticker, you have chosen a more colloquial or __________¹¹(SLANG) term.

Core vocabulary is a small set of simple words, in any language, that are used frequently and across contexts (Cross, Baker, Klotz &Badman, 1997). Core vocabulary contains all parts of speech – nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections and serves as a great medium for teaching language

The notion of ‘core vocabulary’ seems to combine a number of the categories that we mentioned earlier in that:

1. core items are more frequently used;

2. core items are likely to be acquired earlier by learners, particularly first-language learners;

3. core items associate easily with other items because they are not specialised (scientific, technical, etc.);

4. because core items are not specialised and not used only in particular contexts, they can take on many different levels of meaning;

5. How do words change their meanings?

amelioration	a process due to which a word with a general meaning is by degrees applied to something much more specific.
broadening	a process due to which a word with a specific or limited meaning is widened. This process is technically called generalization.
ellipsis	an indirect comparison between two or more seemingly unrelated subjects
metaphor	semantic change whereby a word acquires unfavourable connotations
metonymy	omission or suppression of parts of words or sentences
narrowing	substituting the name of an attribute or feature for the name of the thing itself
pejoration	the upgrading or elevation of a word's meaning, as when a word with a negative sense develops a positive one.

Semantic change.

In historical linguistics, semantic change is a change in one of the meanings of a word. Every word has a 2. ___________ of connotations which can be added to, removed or 3. ___________ over time. Sometimes this occurs to the extent that words from one point in time have very 4. ___________ meanings in relation to another time. An good example of a recent semantic change is of the word 5. ___________; with the advent of computer technology, the word for the animal has been used to refer to the device.

Another way words change meaning is through their 6. ___________ from one language to another and the influence of other languages and cultures. Throughout history many nations, through conquering or intermixing with one another, introduced their own 7. ___________ into the existing one. Sometimes a word just doesn't translate well. Just one of the pitfalls of any word in its path through the wonderful world of language.

Other ways they change meaning include 8. ___________, the process by which a word's meaning worsens or degenerates and 9. ___________, in which a word's meaning improves or becomes elevated. Then there are 10. ___________ (a word's meaning widens to include new concepts), and 11. ___________ (a word's meaning contracts to focus on fewer concepts).

Euphemism refers to a kind of linguistic elevation or amelioration specifically directed toward finding socially acceptable words for concepts that many people cannot easily speak of. In other words concepts with rather negative connotations are expressed through / paraphrased by words with more positive connotation.