3. Sources of studying the hel

The studying of the HEL is based on different English historical documents and English texts which formed the English language: for example, “The Song of Beowulf”; King’s Alfred translation of Orosius’s “Universal History”; Chaucer’s “The Canterbury Tales”; W. Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”.

4. The connection between the hel and the history of its people

All linguistic alterations are interconnected or closely connected with the events which take place in the political, economical, cultural life of people, i.e. with the history of the country. As a result, new words and word combinations appear in a language in order to name the things that exist in different periods of the development of the country. Example: During the reign of the Normans, many words related to the ruling classes and the business of government entered English from French. Among these words are: attorney, bailiff, baron, city, conservative, countess, county, damage, duchess, duke, empire, executive, felony, govern, judicial, jury, justice, legislative, liberal, marriage, nobility, parliament, perjury, petty, prince, prison, regal, representative, republic, royal, senator, sovereign, state, traitor, viscount.

5. The periodization of the hel

The history of English is divided into three periods usually called Old English (or AngloSaxon), Middle English, and Modern English.

The periods of English:

1) 450–1100 – Old English (OE) – the language of Beowulf. Beowulf is an anonymous Old English epic poem in alliterative verse, believed to have been composed in the 8th century A.D.

2) 1100–1500 – Middle English (ME) – The language of Geoffrey Chaucer (?1340- 1400), the English poet who wrote “The Canterbury Tales”.

3) 1500–till today – Modern English (ModE, or NE):

3.1. 1500–1650 – Early Modern English (or Renaissance English) – the language of William Shakespeare.

3.2. 1650 – Present Modern English (or Present-Day English) – the language as spoken today. This periodization is conventional and based on the historical events of the country.

The main periods in the history of the English language.

The first inhabitants of the British Isles were Celts – Britons and Gaels (family). In 55 BC the Romans under Julius Caesar landed in Britain. Permanent Roman conquest began only in 43 AD by the emperor Claudius. The Romans subdued and colonized the country, established a lot of military camps, paved roads – completely transformed the aspect of the country.It became a Roman province in the 4^th century the Christianity spread in Britain. In 410 the Roman legions were recalled from Britain to defend Italy from the advancing Goths under Alaric.

The English language is to a certain extent rare in the sense that we actually can find a starting point of its development. Its beginning can be traced back to the year 449, when coming to help their Celtic ally, Vortigern, two Germanic chieftains, Hengist and Horsa, (Jutes) brought their belligerent tribesmen to the Isles. The British resistance was stiff and the advance was brought to a standstill for nearly 50 years by a great battle won at Mount Badon. The inhabitants asked the Romans for help, but the Romans were too busy with their own battles with Germanic Barbarians. Historians attribute the resistance to King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. 12 battles are mentioned in Latin chronicles. So that period was the starting point of the English language.

The conquerors settled in Britain in the following way. The Angles occupied most of the territory north of the Thames; the Saxons – the territory south of the Thames; the jutes settled in Kent and in the isle of Wight.

The invading Germanic tribes spoke similar languages, which in Britain developed into what we now call Old English. Old English did not sound or look like English today. Native English speakers now would have great difficulty understanding Old English. Nevertheless, about half of the most commonly used words in Modern English have Old English roots. The words be, strong and water, for example, derive from Old English. Old English was spoken until around 1100. In the 9^th and 10^th Century invaders from Scandinavia (the Vikings) occupied a largу part of northern and easter*n England. They introduced many everyday words in modern English. Many place names end in -"by",from their word for village (Whitby, Grimsby, Formby etc). Some words we use today fromthe Vikings are sky, leg, call, take, dirt, law, are, take, cut, both, ill, ugly, egg, sister,window and get

The Western regions were held by the Britons: Cornwall was conquered in the 9^th, Strathclyde in the 11^th and Wales in the 13^th century.

The Scottish Highlands where neither Romans nor Teutons had penetrated were inhabited by Picts and Scots. Ireland also remained Celtic until the 12 th century.

The Old English period (written testimonies since 700) lasted till 1066 when the Norman leader William the Conqueror made a turn in the history of the country.

In 1066 William the Conqueror, the Duke of Normandy (part of modern France), invaded and conquered England. The new conquerors (called the Normans) brought with them a kind of French, which became the language of the Royal Court, and the ruling and business classes. For a period there was a kind of linguistic class division, where the lower classes spoke English and the upper classes spoke French. In the 14th century English became dominant in Britain again, but with many French words added. This language is called Middle English. It was the language of the great poet Chaucer (1340-1400), but it would still be difficult for native English speakers to understand today.

That was the beginning of the Middle English period. It lasted until 1475 (the introduction of print) or 1485 - the end of the war of Roses which marked the decay of feudalism and the rise of capitalism. Modern English period is subdivided into Early (1660) and Late.

Towards the end of Middle English, a sudden anddistinct change in pronunciation (the Great Vowel Shift) started, with vowels being pronounced shorter and shorter. From the 16 th century the British had contact with many peoples from around the world. This, and the Renaissance of Classical learning, meant that many new words and phrases entered the language. The invention of printing also meant that there was now a common language in print. Books became cheaper and more people learned to read. Printing also brought standardization to English. Spelling and grammar became fixed, and the dialect of London, where most publishing houses were, became the standard. In 1604 the first English dictionary was published.

Period	Years	Historical Event	Linguistic difference	Literature
Old	449 – 1066	Anglo-Saxon Conquest; - Norman Conquest	Henry Sweet – the Period of Full Endings	Beowulf
Middle	1066 – 1475 (85)	war of Roses	Levelled Endings	Canterbury Tales
Modern Early Late	1475 1660 1876	Telephone, phonograph	Lost endings	Shakespeare