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Introduction

2 Hours

The subject of history of English. The aims of the course (theoretical and practical).

Sources of language history. Inner and outer history of the language.

Methods of comparative linguistic research, its advantages and drawbacks.

Statics and dynamics in language history. Causes of language evolution.

Germanic languages

2 Hours

The earliest period of Germanic history. The first mentions of Germanic tribes. Caesar, Pliny the Elder, Tacitus. F. Engels’ work “On the History of Ancient Germans”.

Ancient Germanic tribes and their classification. The traditional tri-partite classification.

Proto-Germanic (PG) – as the linguistic ancestor of the Germanic group.

Modern Germanic languages, their classification.

Linguistic features of Germanic languages.

Phonetics. The peculiar Germanic system of word accentuation and its role in phonetic and morphological changes.

The first consonant shift, or Grimm’s law. Cases which contradict the Grimm’s law. Voicing of fricatives in PG, or K. Verner’s law. Rhotacism.

Vowels. Qualitative, quantitative, positional and spontaneous changes. Differentiation of long and short vowels. Germanic mutation, or breaking of vowels in late PG.

Form-building means, synthetic and analytical languages. Synthetic means of form-building: inflective, suppletive, reduplication, vowel gradation, or ablaut.

Qualitative and quantitative ablaut. Gradation series in Gothic strong verbs. Strong and weak verbs.

Simplification of word structure in late PG. Role of stem-suffixes in the formation of declensions.

OLD ENGLISH PERIOD.

Historical Background

2 hours

Chronological Divisions in the History of English.

Origins of the English language.

Commonly accepted traditional periodisation. Early Old English and Anglo-Saxon. Early Middle English and Middle English. Early New English, Normalisation Period and Modern English. Henry Sweet’s phono-morphological periodisation.

Pre-Germanic Britain. The Celts on the British Isles. Celtic languages: the Gaelic and Britonnic branches. The Roman occupation in Britain.

Germanic settlement of Britain. Formation of Germanic states. The beginning of English. Economic, historic and cultural situation from the 5th till the 11th century. A transitional period from the tribal and slave-owning society to feudalism. Rise of Wessex. The role of the West Saxon dialect in IX - XI centuries. Scandinavian invadors. The introduction of Christianity.

Old English dialects. Kentish, West Saxon, Mercian, Northumbrian.

Writings in Old English. Runic inscriptions. Old English manuscripts.”Anglo-Saxon Chronicles”, King Alfrred’s translations, “Pastoral Care”, Aelfric’s works, Wulfstan’s homilies.. Old English poetry. “Beowulf”.

Old English alphabet and pronunciation.

Old English Phonetics

4 Hours

Word stress: dynamic and fixed. Accentuation in polysyllabic words and compounds. The position of stress in the words with prefixes.

Old English vowels. Changes of stressed vowels. Independent changes. Fronting or palatalisation of [] and [:]. Positional deviations or restrictions to this rule. Old English reflections of PG diphthongs. Assimilative vowel changes. Breaking and diphthongisation. Palatal mutation. Appearance of new vowels, growth of new vowel interchanges and increased variability of the root-morphemes. Changes of the unstressed vowels. Old English vowel system.

Old English consonants. Treatment of fricatives. Hardening. Rhotacism. Voicing and devoicing of fricatives. West Germanic gemination of consonants. Palatalisation of velar consonants in Old English. Loss of consonants in some positions. Metathesis. Old English consonant system.