№14. Theme: Borrowing. Text: Theory of Electrification
Theme: Borrowings
Text: Theory of Electrification
Purpose of lesson:
1. to learn to take the necessary information from the read text and to use it in informal
conversation
2. to transfer the own thought in foreign language.
3. to communicate in English with partner on this subject
Borrowings
More than two thirds of the English vocabularies are borrowings. Mostly they are words of
Romanic origin ( Latin, French, Italian, Spanish) Borrowed words are different from native ones
by their phonetic structure, by their morphological structure and their grammatical forms. It is
characteristic of borrowings to be non-motivated semantically.
English history is very rich in different types of contacts with other countries, that’s why it is
very rich in borrowings. The Roman invasion, the adaptation of Christianity, Scandinavion and
Norman conquests of the British Isles, the development of British colonialism, trade and
cultural relations served to increase the English vocabulary. The majority of these borrowings is
fully assimilated in English in their pronunciation, grammar, and spelling and can be hardly
distinguished from native words.
Borrowings can be classified according to different criteria:
 according to the borrowed aspect;
 according to the degree of assimilation;
 according to the language from which the word was borrowed;
a)There are phonetic borrowings translation loans, semantic borrowings, morphemic
borrowings.
Phonetic borrowings are loan words borrowed with their spelling, pronunciation and meaning.
Such words are “labour, travel, table, chair, people-French borrowings. “appritchnik,
nomenklatura, sputnik ( Russian); “bank, soprano, duet’-Italian etc.
Translation loans are word-for-word translation of some foreighn words or expressions. In
such cases the notion is borrowed from a foreighn language but it is expressed by native lexical
units: “ to take the bull by the horns” ( Latin) , “fair sex”( French), “living space’ ( German)
Semantic borrowings are such units when a new meaning of the unit existing in the language
is borrowed, It can happen when we have two relative languages which have common words
with different meanings. There are semantic borrowings between Scandinavian and English,
e.g. “to live“for the word “to dwell’ which in OE had the meaning “to wander’ the meaning “
“gap’, подарок for the word ‘gift’ which in OE had the meaning ‘ выкуп за жену’
Morphemic borrowings are borrowings of affixes which occur in the language when many
words with identical affixes are borrowed from one language into another
b) Borrowings are subdivided into:
 completely assimilated;
 partly assimilated
 non-assimilated ( barbarisms)
Completely assimilated borrowings. are not felt as foreign words. Completely assimilated
borrowings belong words to regular verbs ( correct- corrected), form their plural by means of –
s-inflexion( gate-gates).
Partly assimilated borrowings are subdivided into the following groups:

borrowings non- assimilated semantically, because they denote objects and notions
peculiar to the country from the language of which they were borrowed, e.g. sari,
sombrero, taiga, kvass;
 borrowings non- assimilated grammatically, e.g. bacillus-bacilli, phenomenonphenomena, datum- data, genius-genii,etc.
 borrowings non- assimilated phonetically, e.g. girl, get, give, kid, kill, kettle, German,
child, life-live, police, cartoon, camouflage, bourgeois;
 borrowings can be partly assimilated graphically, e.g. Greek borrowings ‘y’ can be
spelled in the middle of the word ( symbol, synonym), ‘ph’ denotes the sound [f] (
phoneme, morpheme), ’ch’ denotes the sound [k] ( chemistry, chaos), ‘ps’ denotes the
sound [ s] psychology.
Non-assimilated assimilated borrowings ( barbarisms) are borrowings which are used by
Englishmen rather seldom and are non-assimilated, e.g. addio ( It), tete-a –tete ( French), dolce
vita ( Ital), duende (span).
Text: Theory of Electrification
1. Historically there have been two outstanding theories of electrification: the one-fluid
theory of Benjamin Franklin and the two-fluid theory of Charles Du Fay,. According to the
two-fluid theory, all objects contain equal amounts of two fluids. When two different
substances are rubbed together, one kind of fluids (positive0 is spread over one object and
the other kind of fluid (negative0 over the other.
2. According to the one-fluid theory of Franklin, all bodies contain a certain specified
amount of an “electric fire” or fluid to keep them in an uncharged or neutral state. When
two objects are rubbed together; one accumulates an excess of fluid and becomes
positively charged while the other loses fluid and becomes negatively charged. To Franklin
we owe the terms “plus” and “minus”, “positive” and “negative” electricity.
3. We consider both of these theories to be in part correct, for now we know the
mechanism by which bodies become electrified by friction. The modern theory is based
upon the principle already put forward – that all substances are made of atoms and
molecules. Each atom contains a nucleus having a known amount of positive charge. This
positive charge is due to the presence in the nucleus of a certain number of protons. All
protons are alike and have the same mass and positive charge. Around every atomic
nucleus there are a number of negatively charged particles, called electrons.
4 .While protons are much smaller than electrons in size, they contain the bulk of the mass
of every atom. One proton, for example, weighs nearly two thousand times as much as an
electron. The electrons therefore are light particles or objects around a small but relatively
heavy nucleus.
5. Individually atoms or large groups of atoms and molecules have an affinity, an attraction for
additional electrons over and the exact number which will just neutralize the positive charges
of the nuclei. This attraction of the atoms for more than a sufficient number of electrons varies
considerably from atom to atom and substance to substance. When, therefore, two different
substances are brought onto contact, the substance with greater electron affinity seizes nearby
electrons from the other, and thus acquires a net negative charge. Such is the case, for
example, with rubber and amber when they are rubbed with fur. Having astrong affinity for
electrons, both of these solids become strongly negative, whereas the fur becomes deficient of
electrons and thereby positively charged.
Tasks and questions:
I. Translate borrowings paying attention to plural form of them:
Datum-data, erratum-errata, memorandum-memoranda, nucleus-nuclei, formula-formulae,
series-series, basis- bases, crisis- crises, analysis-analyses, phenomenon-phenomena
II. Translate the following words bearing in mind the meaning of the affixes and
memorize them:nature (n), naturalist (n), natural (adj), unnatural (adj)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
to observe (v), observer (n), observation (n)
to transfer (v), transference (n)
to apply (v),.application (n), applicant (n)
to identify (v), identification (n), identity (n)
to encourage (v), encouragement (n), courage (n)
to agree (v), agreement (n), agreeable (adj), agreeably (adv)
to lead (v), leader (n), leadership (n)
to announce (v), announcer (n), announcement (n)
III State to what part of the speech the words belong and translate them into Russian; form
the corresponding verbs:
Difference, assimilation, respiration,
magnification, resemblance, relation.
reproduction,
organization,
movement,
IV Form the nouns corresponding to the following verbs:
To discover, to construct, to affect, to know, to develop, to vary, to divide, 'to differ, to
resemble, to observe, to suggest, to apply, to encourage, to agree, to magnify, to appear.
V. Translate these sentences into native language and pay attention to using of Complex
Object.
1. We want the theory to give a satisfactory explanation of experimental facts. 2. The
alchemists wanted to change all sorts of common metals into gold. 3. We think the atom to be
held together by the forces of attraction and repulsion. 4. We consider electricity to have
always been associated with the forces acting between objects.5. The scientists wanted the
properties of electricity on the move to be studied.
VI. Get ready to answer the following questions:
1. What theories of electrification have been known historically?
2. What does the two-fluid theory say?
3. In what way are positive and negative fluids spread over the objects?
4. What does one-fluid theory say?
5. What is the difference between these two theories?
6. What terms did Franklin introduce?
7. What can we say that both of these theories are in part correct?
8. What is the basic principle of the modern theory?
9. What is the positive charge of the nucleus due to?
10. What can be said about protons?
11. What participles are known to be electrons?
12. What is affinity?
13. Under what conditions can a substance acquire a net negative charge?
14. What example of a substance having a strong affinity for electrons can be given?
Methodical recommendations:
1. Read the text and try to understand it.
Look up the words you do not know in a dictionary.
2. Lead and support the conversation with partner.
3. Write a short composition about your future profession using questions.
Literature:
1. Е.И.Курашвили. Английский язык для студентов – физиков.
Москва Астрель. АСТ 2005
2. Е.В. Хомутова. Интенсивный курс английского языка для физиков.
Московского университета 1983
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