2. How would you explain the existence of oe dialects from the point of view of the history of England? Which dialect of Old English became the most important, and why?
The dialect areas of England can be traced back quite clearly to the Germanic tribes which came and settled in Britain from the middle of the 5th century onwards. There were basically three tribal groups among the earlier settlers in England: the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes. Germanic tribes and regions in England where they mainly settled : Saxons — South of the Thames (West Saxon area) Angles — Middle and Northern England (Mercia and Northumbria), including lowland Scotland Jutes — South-East of England (Kent). In the 5th century AD, when first Germanic colonists made landfall in England, there was no Old English. All tribes arriving in the British Isles, spoke their own dialects, similar to each other but still variable. By the end of the century, however, when tribes turned into kingdoms, tribal speech became dialects. Three main ethnic groups which arrived in England spoke three dialects which got names of the kingdoms which were established by them.
Old English developed into four major dialects: Northumbrian, spoken north of the river Humber; Mercian, spoken in the midlands; Kentish, spoken in Kent (the southeastern part); and West Saxon, spoken in the southwest.
The most important are the Saxons as they established themselves as the politically dominant force in the Old English period. All these dialects have direct descendants in modern England, and American regional dialects also have their roots in the dialects of Old English. Modern English spelling owes most to the Mercian dialect, since that was the dialect of London. Most OE literature is not in the Mercian dialect, however, but in the West Saxon, for from the time of King Alfred until the Conquest, Wessex dominated the rest of Anglo-Saxon England politically and culturally. Nearly all Old English poetry is in West Saxon, though it often contains spellings and vocabulary more typical of Mercian and Northumbrian – a fact that has led some scholars to speculate that much of the poetry was first composed in Mercian or Northumbrian and only later “translated” into West Saxon. Whatever the truth of the matter, West Saxon was the dominant language during the period in which most of our surviving literature was recorded.
3
.
How
important is Latin influence on English throughout the Old English
period and beyond? What did the Latin words denote? Latin
was the language of a highly advanced civilization, and the
Anglo-Saxon people wanted to learn from them. As a result about 450
Latin words appeared in English during the OE period. This number
does not include derivatives or proper names. Of them only 350 made
their way into general use and can be considered part of the English
vocabulary. The word is completely assimilated when it can enter into
compounds and be made into other parts of speech just like native
words. Influence
of the 0 Period:
occurred on the continent before Germanic tribes penetrated into
England. Borrowing reflect early contact between Germanic tribes and
Roman Empire. Influence
of the First Period: acquired
via the Celts after invading England. Influence
of the Second Period:
when Roman missionaries introduced Christianity. Can be broken into
two periods: early and late.EARLY: 597, St.
Augustine
sent to Christianize the Anglo-Saxons. The conversion was gradual and
lots of churches and monasteries were built. LATE: Benedictine
Reform
because of Danish invasions at the end of the 8th century.How do
linguists determine when a Latin word entered the language? 1.
Frequency in Old English texts. 2. the character of the word.3.
phonetic form of the word:A. i-umlaut;
B.
palatal
diphthongization; C.
sound changes of vulgar Latin; D. breaking. L also influenced the OE
lexicon by occasioning the formation of semantic loans, loan
translations (or calques) and loan creations. Consider, for example,
the semantic loan OE cniht
for L discipulus,
in which native OE cniht,
"boy"
or "servant," assumes the additional sense of L discipulus,
"disciple." Such translations are abundant in the OE
lexicon. Equally prevalent are loan translations, in which a L
compound word is translated using morphologically equivalent native
elements: e.g. OE foreberan
<
L praeferre.
Loan creations are also numerous. Like loan translations, loan
creations translate the L word using native elements but with greater
morphological freedom: e.g. OE restedæg
for L sabbatum.
Task: Give some examples from Latin loan-words and analyze them both semantically and grammatically. Give ways to identify them.
Education: school, master, Latin, grammatic(al), verse, meter, gloss, notary (a scribe).Food: beet, caul (cabbage), pear, radish, oyster (OE ostre), lobster, cook, plant Verbs and adjectives: āspendan (to spend, L. expendere), bemūtian (to exchange, L. mūtāre), sealtian (to dance, L. saltāre), crisp (L. crispus, ‘curly’).E.g. the Latin noun planta comes into English as the noun plant and later is made into a verb by the addition of the infinitive ending –ian (plantian) and other inflectional elements.In the place names such elements as –caster, -chester (Lancaster, Manchester), - wich (Greenwich), -port (Portsmouth, Devonport) have Latin origin.
4. Why do place-names constitute a substantial part of Celtic element? English place names contain elements that can be traced back to the languages spoken by at least five quite distinct groups of people. A brief excursion into English history will reveal that the country has been invaded by the Celts, the Romans, the Anglo-Saxons, the Scandinavians, and the French. All of these groups contributed words which make up the place names we have today. The Celts were one of the many tribes living in Europe in the years before Christ. About 400 BC they began to leave Central Europe, possibly because of harassment from other tribes. The Celts from Northern France and the Netherlands crossed the Channel and settled in England. They were known as the Brythons (Britons). Later, about 350 BC, Celts from Southern France settled in Ireland. They spoke Goidelic(Gaelic).The Celts left behind names that are found most abundantly in the North and West (especially Wales and Cornwall). They also gave names to many rivers. Celtic names are often found in isolated spots which suggest that more remote groups remained Celtic-speaking long after other groups had accepted that language of the Anglo-Saxons. Celtic elements include: aber - mouth of a river
coombe - a deep valley, glen - a narrow valley,pen - a hill tor a hill. CELTIC place-names may be divided into two classes: simple and compound, the latter being much more numerous. The simple names usually consist of substantives in the nominative, which constitute generic terms denoting the general class of the topographical features, while the compound names have also a second element, almost invariably an affix, which particularizes the place, or distinguishes it from others. These affixes may be either adjectives expressing colour, shape, size, situation, and other qualities, or substantives commemorating the names of persons, animals, vegetables, etc., or they may be the genitive cases of generic topographical terms. Cronk, which occurs as a prefix seventy-six times, Glione fifty times, Gob thirty-nine times, Greg thirty-six times, Keeill thirty-four times, Close twenty-three times, Chibber, Knock, and Purt twenty-one times, andSlieau twenty times. Of the non-topographical prefixes Balla, occurring four hundred times, is far in excess of any other.
Task: Give examples of Celtic words and comment on their origin. In fact, very few Celtic words have lived on in the English language. But many of our place names have Celtic origins, such as London, Dover and Kent, & the rivers Thames & Wye. Anglo-Saxon period, including these mostly archaic terms: bannuc ("a bit")binn ("basket, crib")bratt ("cloak")brocc ("badger")cine ("gathering of parchment leaves")clugge ("bell")dry ("magician")gabolrind ("geometric compass")luh ("lake")mind ("diadem")
5. What were the major external factors which favoured the rise of the national language?The formation of the national literary English language covers the the early NE period (1475-1660). Henceforth we can speak of the evolution of a single literary language instead of the similar or different development of the dialects.There were at least two major external factors which favoured the rise of the national language and the literary standards: the unification of the country and the progress of culture. Other historical events, such as increased foreign contacts, affected the language in a less general way: they influenced of the vocabulary. The unification of the country. The 15th and 16th c saw other striking changes in the life of the country: while feudal relations were decaying, bourgeois relations and the capitalist mode of production were developing rapidly. Trade had extended the local boundaries and in addition to farming and cattle-breeding, and important wool industry was carried on in the countryside. Economic and social changes were accompanied by political unification.Progress of culture. The 15th and 16th c in western Europe are marked by a renewed interest in classical art and literature and by a general efflorescence of culture. The rise of a learning, science, literature and art. Since the end of the 15th century the English language began its development as the language of the English nation, whereas up to that time, beginning with the Germanic conquest of Britain in the 5th century and up to the 15th century, what we call the English language was no more than a conglomerate of dialects, first tribal and then local. Indeed, a notable feature of the Middle English period is the dialectical variety that finds expression in the written documents. It was only late in the 14th century that the London dialect, itself a mixture of the southern and south-eastern dialects, began to emerge as the dominant type.Thus, the English national language was formed on the basis of the London dialect which was uppermost among Middle English dialects due to the political, geographical, economic and «linguistic» position of London which became the capital of England already in the 11th century — before the Norman conquest and which was in the 15th century a thriving economic centre and port of England due to its geographical position near the estuary of the largest river in England.
Task: Compare the position of the Old Scandinavian and Anglo-Norman (French) in Early ME (Comment on the geographical, social and linguistic differences).The French language dominated in England until the reign of Edward I (1272-1307), the first king for generations to have a good command of English. For 200 years after the Norman Conquest, French was mainly used among the upper classes in England. French was the language of administration: of the king’s court, law courts, the church, the army and the castle. French alongside with Latin was the language of writing, teaching was also conducted in French. At first those who spoke French were Normans, but soon through intermarriage numerous English people started to learn the new language. English remained the language of the masses: the lower classes in the towns, in the country-side continued to speak English. At first the two languages existed side by side, but then they started mixing slowly. The Norman barons picked up English words to make themselves understood, and for the English good knowledge of French was a mark of a higher social position. So probably many people became bilingual.As the Scandinavians and the English lived side by side, their languages gradually influenced each other and finally intermixed. The similarity of the two tongues made it possible. The Scandinavian influence is apparent in the place-names of Scandinavian origin. They are the names containing the following elements:Crimsby, Whitby, Derby, Rugby, and Thoresby contain element -by (Danish) - ‘farm’ or ‘town’Allthorp, Bishopsthorpe, Gawthorpe, and Linthorpe contain the Scandinavian word thorp (village).
The words brought by Scandinavians were of everyday character and often existed side by side with similar English words. Not only nouns, adjectives and verbs were borrowed, but also pronouns, prepositions, adverbs, and even a part of the verb to be, which shows very close relation between the two languages: they, their, them, both, same, till, to and fro are Scandinavian. The present plural are of the verb to be is a most significant position. Some inflections were also borrowed from Scandinavian. E.g. the –s of the third person singular present indicative of verbs and the participial ending –and (bindand) now replaced by –ing. There are also some influences on syntax, though it is not so easy to prove them. E.g. the omission of the relative pronoun in relative clauses (rare in OE) and the retention or omission of the conjunction that are in conformity with Danish usage. It is difficult to count the number of borrowed words in Standard English. The list of words with undoubtedly Scandinavian origin is about 900. And an equal number must be added in which a Scandinavian origin is probable or in which the influence of Scandinavian forms has entered.
6. What is generally referred to as the ‘great vowel shift’ and when did it take place? What major consequence did it have for English? What do the two main theories say about where it all started (pull change, push change)?
The main difference between Chaucer's language and our own is in the pronunciation of the "long" vowels. The consonants remain generally the same, though Chaucer rolled his r's, sometimes dropped his aitches, and pronounced both elements of consonant combinations, such as "kn," that were later simplified. And the short vowels are very similar in Middle and Modern English. But the "long" vowels are regularly and strikingly different. This is due to what is called The Great Vowel Shift.
Beginning in the twelfth century and continuing until the eighteenth century (but with its main effects in the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries) the sounds of the long stressed vowels in English changed their places of articulation (i.e., how the sounds are made).
Old and Middle English were written in the Latin alphabet and the vowels were represented by the letters assigned to the sounds in Latin. For example, Middle English "long e" in Chaucer's "sheep" had the value of Latin "e" (and sounded like Modern English "shape" [/e/] in the International Phonetic Alphabet [IPA]). It had much the same value as written long e has in most modern European languages. Consequently, one can read Chaucer's long vowels with the same values as in Latin or any continental European language and come pretty close to the Middle English values.
The Great Vowels Shift changed all that; by the end of the sixteenth century the "e" in "sheep" sounded like that in Modern English "sheep" or "meet" [IPA /i/]. To many it seemed that the pronunciation of English had moved so far from its visual representation that a new alphabet was needed, and in the sixteenth century we have the first attempts to "reform" English spellings, a movement still active today. In 1569 John Hart (in his Orthographie) went so far as to devise a new phonetic alphabet to remedy what he considered a fatal flaw in our system of language. (His alphabet and the work of other language reformers provides us with our best evidence for the pronunciation of English in his time).
To understand how English changed (not why; no one knows) one must first note that vowels are articulated in particular parts of the mouth; we make the sound in Modern English "deep" [/dip/] with our tongue forward and high in the mouthr, and the sound in Modern English "boat" [/bot/] with our tongue lowered and drawn toward the back of the mouth and the jaw relatively low (open). Say "ee" (or "beet") and "o" (or "boat") in succession and you may be able to feel the movement of your tongue from front to back
Task: Analyze the historical development of the vowel sounds in the following words: time, make, keep, open, goose/ Changes to the long front vowels
Middle English [aː] fronted to [æː] and then raised to [ɛː], [eː] and in many dialects diphthongized in Modern English to [eɪ] (as in make). The [aː] in the Middle English words in question had arisen earlier from lengthening of short a in open syllables and from French loan words.
Middle English [eː] raised to Modern English [iː] (as in keep).
Middle English [iː] diphthongized to [ɪi], which was most likely followed by [əɪ] and finally Modern English [aɪ] (as in time).
Old English [ɑː] was rounded and raised to early Middle English [ɔː] . This Middle English [ɔː] then raised to [oː] , and in the 18th century this became Modern English [oʊ] or [əʊ] (as in open).
Middle English [oː] raised to Modern English [uː] (as in goose).