101. London dialect. Formation of National language.

There were several causes contributing to the use of the dialect of East Midland and particularly the dialect of London as Standard English. In the first place, as а Midland dialect the English of this region occupied в middle position between the extreme divergences of the north and south. In sounds and inflections it represents а kind of compromise, sharing some of the characteristics of both its neighbors. In the second р1асе, the East Midland district was the largest and most populous of the major dialect districts. А third factor was the presence of the universities, Oxford and Cambridge, in this region. These two universities had developed into important intellectual cent- res. By far the most influential factor in the rise of Standard English was the importance of London as the capital of England. It was the seat of the court, the center of social and cultural activities of the country. We should say that the history of Standard English is almost a history of London English.

In the latter part of the 15th с. the London standard had been accepted, at least in writing, in most parts of the country. Caxton, the first English printer, in his numerous translations used the current speech of London, and the books gave а currency to London English that assured its rapid adoption as well. In confirming the establishment of London English as а specific literary standard for the rest of the country, Chaucer’s writings exercised а certain influence.

Early Middle English: The earliest samples of Early ME prose are the new entries made in the Anglo-Saxon chronicles (1122) known as Peterborough chronicle, Poem morale (Moral ode) – Kentish dialect, Ormulum – North-East Midland dialect, AncreneRiwle – South-Western dialect.

The dialect division which evolved in Early ME was on the whole preserved in later periods. In the 14^th, 15^th cent there were the same grouping of local dialects.

1. Southern group → Kentish

→ South-West dialect

2. Midland group → East Midland

→ West Midland

3. Northern group

French was ousted from official spheres and from the sphere of writing.

101. Phonetic changes in Germanic languages.

All the Germanic languages of the past and present have common linguistic features; some of these features are shared by other groups in the IE family, others are specifically Germanic.

Word Stress

It is known that in ancient IE, prior to the separation of Germanic, there existed two ways of word accentuation: musical pitch and force stress. The position of the stress was free and movable, which means that it could fall on any syllable of the word – a root-morpheme, an affix or an ending – and could be shifted both in form-building and word-building. Both these properties of the word accent were changed in PG. Force and expiratory stress became the only type of stress used. In Early PG word stress was still as movable as in ancient IE but in Late PG its position in the word was stabilized. The stress was now fixed on the first syllable, which was usually the root of the word and sometimes the prefix; the other syllables – suffixes and endings – were unstressed. The stress could no longer move either in form-building or word-building.