The inspiration for my research comes from R.E. Jennings' research on the evolution of functional vocabulary. His interest stems from the fact that semantic theory does not offer a satisfying explanation for the occurrence of this kind of language. Jennings has come to this conclusion from studying the dynamics of functional vocabulary in the English language. One important discovery, in his research, is that functional vocabulary is particularly vulnerable to misunderstanding that leads to misuse which, in turn, gives rise to repurposed uses.
Jennings' research describes patterns in the dynamics of the evolution of functional vocabulary that, we find, are existent in the evolution of all vocabulary.
We describe with some detail Jennings' motivation for his research and the diachronic history of functional vocabulary [47].2.1