9. The Germanic languages in the modern world, their classification. Their common ancestor.

Germanic languages

1. English:

   1. GB – Лондон;

   2. Ireland – Дублин;

   3. The USA – Вашингтон;

   4. Canada – Отава;

   5. Australia – Канберра;

   6. New Zealand – Веллингтон.

2. German:

   1. Germany – Берлин;

   2. Austria – Вена;

   3. Luxemburg – Люксембург.

3. Netherlandish: The Netherlands - Амстердам.

4. Danish: Denmark –Копенгаген.

5. Swedish:

   1. Sweden – Стокгольм.

   2. Finland – Хельсинки.

6. Norwegian: Norway – Осло.

7. Ice Landic: Iceland – Рейкъявик.

8. Frisian:

   1. The Netherlands;

   2. Germany

9. Faroese: The Faroe Islands

10. Yiddish: different countries.

11. Afrikaans: The SAR – Еханасбург.

PG is the ancestor: it’s supposed to have split from related IE tongues sometime between 15-10^th cent BC.

Later it broke:

1. East Germanic;

2. North Germanic;

3. West Germanic.

EG was formed by the tribes who returned from Scandinavia → Gothic that’s dead now and this subgroup has no living languages.

NG: The Tautens gave rise to this subgroup:

1. Norwegian;

2. Icelandic;

3. Danish;

4. Faroese;

5. Swedish.

WG:

1. English;

2. German;

3. Netherlandish;

4. Afrikaans;

5. Yiddish;

6. Frisian.

42. Major changes in the word formation in the me.

Word formation into 2 groups:

1. word derivation: - the suffixation – the most productive way. Most suf. have survived. Eg: -er-, -ist-, -ness-, -ship-, -ment-, -tion-. In ME many OE prefixes fell into disuse. The the use of them grew again. NE prefixes came from foreign sources: Eg: out-, min-, un-.

2. word comparison:

   1. 2 noun stems. Eg: godson, football.

   2. a verbal noun. Eg: working day;

   3. verbal stems. Eg: breakfast.

   4. verb stem + adverb. Eg: breakdown.

12. Historical foundations of Modern English spelling.

OE spelling: only few letters indicated more than one sound.

ME had become more ambiguous.

The dictionaries and grammar fixed the written forms of the words as obligatory.

Early NE: borrowed words brought digraphs – ph, ps, ch.

NE sound changes:

1. Short vowels:

[æ] – cat, man – a>æ;

[э] – after w – was, want – wa>wэ

[e] – ea – before d, th – head, death – ε:

> е: > e;

[u] – oo – before t, k – foot, book – o:

>u:>u.

[л] – o, u – come, nut u>л

oo – before d – flōōd – o:>u:>u >л.

[ə] – er-, -re-, -or – reader - ər > ə;

2. Long vowels:

[i:] – ee, ie, e, ea – meet, he –е :>

i: >ε:> i:;

[a:] – ar – arm – ar > a:;

a before st, nt, ft – plant – a > a :.

10. The old alphabets. Major written records.

The OE alphabet’s letters:

1. the runes (‘secret’):

   1. germanic tribes;

   2. each symbol – a separate word.

2. the letters of the Latin alphabet:

• i and j, w and v were not distinguished;

• k, q, x and w were not used.

• Each letter – a separate sound;

• Letters – short/long – line above the letter.

Records: description on a box – “Franks lasket; on a stone “Ruthwell Cross”.

Rules of letters in Latin alphabet:

1. f, s, Þ/đ – voiced fricatives between vowels + between a vowel and a voiced consonant:

Eg: ofer [‘over]

Rīsan [‘rizan]

Ōđer [‘ođer].

Otherwise they’re voiceless.

2. 3 – [g] – initially before back vowels;

[j] – before/after front vowels;

[г] – between back vowels;

[g’] – when preceded by ‘c’.

Eg: 3ān, dœ [j].

3. h – [x] – between a back vowel and a

consonant; initially before

consonants.

[x’] – next to front vowels.

Eg: mi[x’]t, mi[x]te.

4. n – [n] – all positions except, when

followed by [k], [g].

[ŋ] – followed by [k], [g].

Eg: [n]iht, se[gg]an.