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OLD GERMANIC:
Gothic is extremely important as The Gothic Gostel is considered to be the first written text connected with Germanic languages and other European languages.
The first group is dead, but vandalic had similar features with Spanish and burgudean with French.
The second group (north-germanic) – was not until the 10th cent, it was called “old Norse” (древне северный). After the 10th cent. North split into O. Norwegian, O. Danish, O. Swedish, O. Icelandic. Historically the most important is O. Icelandic:
The third group (west-germanic) consists of 5 members:
Principal features:
Old German languages show differences in comparison with other European Lang on 3 main linguistic levels: grammatical, phonetic and lexical.
Grammatical level – the most important innovation in G. was the emergence of the new types of verbs – “weak”, past tense with the dental suffix –d-: open – opened, work – worked.
Phonetic peculiarities – 1) accent (word stress) in IE was free and musical; in protogerm. Accent become fixed on the root syllable and dynamic, 2) Grimm’s law.
The Germanic langs in the modern world, their classification. Their common ancestor.
Germanic languages
GB – Лондон; Ireland – Дублин; The USA – Вашингтон; Canada – Отава; Australia – Канберра; New Zealand – Веллингтон.
Germany – Берлин; Austria – Вена; Luxemburg, Liechtenstein, part of Switzerland.
Sweden – Стокгольм. Finland – Хельсинки.
The Netherlands; Germany
Proto-Germanic is the ancestor: it’s supposed to have split from related IE tongues sometime between 15-10th cent BC.
Later it broke:1 East Germanic;2 North Germanic; 3West Germanic.
EG was formed by the tribes who returned from Scandinavia → Gothic that’s dead now and this subgroup has no living languages. NG WG
2. The common features of Germanic langs
All the Germanic Languages of the past and present have common linguistic features that are not shared by other groups of languages in the Indo-European family (Slavonic group, Romance group, etc.). These features are characteristic of the Germanic group only. They appeared during the period of the Proto-Germanм ic Language, before it split into a certain number of the Germanic languages. First of all we are going to discuss the common Germanic phonetic features: Word Stress/Accent: Indo-European(Non-Germanic) 1. free stress (movable, i.e. can appear in any part of a word (root, prefix, suffix)); 2. pitch stress (musical)E.g.:русский б`елый
Proto-Germanic 1. fixed stress (can’t move either in form- or word-building and is usually placed on root or prefix); 2. dynamic stress (force, breath stress) E.g.: English `white
The Proto-Germanic type of stress led to the formation of the following peculiarities of the Germanic languages as compared to non-Germanic Indo-European languages: phonetic – as a result of the fixed position of the stress the unstressed syllables were becoming weaker and weaker, they got less distinct and neutral sounds (such as “schwa”) appeared; morphological – as a result of the fact that the stress was fixed on the root and the syllables following the root were always unstressed and weak, many Germanic languages began to lose suffixes and grammatical endings and became ANALYTICAL LANGS.Vowels:Vowelsundergo(подверглись) different types of changes:Qualitative change – affects the quality of a sound (e.g. [o Λ]). Quantitative change – affects the length of a sound (e.g. [i i:]).Dependent/positional change – a change that occurs in certain position or in certain phonetic conditions. Independent/spontaneous change – affects a certain sound in all positions irrespective (независимо) of phonetic conditions and serves to distinguish a grammatical phenomenon (ablaut) . Main tendencies in Vowel Changes in the Germanic Languages: Short vowels become neutralized. Long vowels become short and more open. become diphthongized and more closed.
Grimm’s law: The first Germanic consonant shifts took place in the V-II cent. BC. Jacobs Grimm’s Law. According to Grimm, he classified consonant correspondences between indoeuropean and germanic languages. There are 3 acts of this law:
The second consonant shift was Carl Verner’s law. According to C.Verner all the common Germanic consonants became voiced in intervocalic position if the preceding vowel was unstressed. p-f > v t-Ө > đ, d k-x > j, g
s-s > z/r Devoicing took place in early common germanic when the stress was not yet fixed on the root. A variety of Verner’s law is rhotacism (greek letter rho). [s] →[z]→[r] we find traces of this phenomenon in form of the verb to be →was – were, is – are;. II consonant shift occurred in dialects of southern germanic. Eg: еда – eat – essen.
i-mutation (unmlaut) is a change of vowel caused by partial assimilation to the following vowel. Includes fronting & narrowing. Brought a complete change in vowel quality: one phoneme is replaced by another. The process began in the 5th or 6th c. As a result of it a new phoneme arose which was different from the original one. Interchanges in the root vowels are connected with this phenomenon. Traces of palatal mutation are preserved in many modern words & forms: mouse-mice.
3. The chronological division of the history of English. General characteristics of each period.
The division of the History of English into periods is based on 2 principles.
Roughly covers 12 centuries. It’s divided into 3 periods. The traditional division is based on the phonetics and grammatical principles (Henry Sweet)
A. Early OE (prewritten OE) from 450 – 700.
B. OE (written OE) 700 – 1066.
A. Early New English 1476 – 1660
B. Normalization Period 1660 – 1800 (age of correctness, Neo-Classical period)
C. Late NE/Mod E (including 1800 – present day English)
OE was spoken on a small territory and number of speakers was ≈ 1 mln. There were 4 dialects of OE language. The tribal dialects gradually changed into local or regional dialects(Written OE).
OE was a typical OG l-ge, with a purely G vocab. and few foreign borrowings it displays specific phonetics pecularities; well-developed system of morphological categories.
In ME the nominal system was much simpler (2 tense forms), word order was not fixed. Early ME was a time of great changes at all the levels of the l-ge especially in grammar and lexis. Most of the inflections in the nominal s-m were fallen together. H.Sweet called ME the period of “levelled endings”.
By the end of the 8-th cent Britain was often invaded by Vikings (Danes from Denmark and Northmen from Scandinavia). England was invaded by Danes, Scotland and Ireland by Northmen. At first they came in small groups, than in large bands conquering territories one after another. Wessex kingdom under Alfred the Great began to struggle. But still Scandinavian invasion had made some effect on English:
[sk’] → [s] NE Etymological doublets in
ME
→ [sk] Sc skjorte (Sc) – skirt (NE)
scierte (OE) – shirt (NE)
The influence was felt in 2 spheres
The last of the invaders to come to Britain were the Normans from France. In 14 October 1066 Duke William of Normandy defeated the English at the battle of Hastings and established his rule in the country as King of England. He is known as William the Conqueror. They started a new period in England, which is known as Norman period. The Normans settled in the country and the French language became the official language of the ruling class. This explains the great number of French words in English (80%) – boots, pearl, beef, biscuit, home, sir, council, tax. Originally they were also Germanic tribes, but having won the territory of France, they practicaly assimilated with the people of France and took its high culture and language. 1. French is the lang. of upper classes.
2. Many synonyms appeared: Eg: language (Fr) – tongue (Engl); 3. lange, huge (Fr) – great (Engl)
4. French effected all aspects of life:
= Government and administration: nation, people.
= Legislation: eg.: judge, court.
= Military term: navy, war.
= Literature and arts: music/
= Education: ink, college.
= Fashion: dress.
= Trade, profession: tailor, grocer.
= Religion: pray.
= Cooking: roast, fry, boil.
Engl → ox – beef ← French
pig - pork
↓ ↓
anim. food
75% of words have survived in NE.
The ancient Germanic tribes occupied a comparatively small territories in the North-West of Europe, they spoke similar dialects. These dialects → common germanic, it lasted till the beginning of our era. In the V cent germanic tribes migrated to the British Isles. They were Saxons, Jutes, Angles. The language of this tribes serves as a basis for the formation of OE. They spoke 4 dialects: Kentish (Jutes); West-Saxon /Wessex (Saxon); Mercian (Angles); Northumbrian (Angles) – north to r. Humber.
In the IX cent – during the reign of King Alfred (871-899) the Great, when Wessex became the most powerful kingdom and led the successful war against the Scandinavians. Since him the dialect of Wessex became more popular and got the status of written standard. Most OE written records that came to us are in the Wessex dialect (“Beowulf”, Anglo-Saxon chronicles). The first historian who started to record the history of the Germanic tribes on the British Isles and is considered to be the first English historian is Bede the Venerable, an English monk, who wrote “The Ecclesiastical History of the English People”. The most important dialect in the Old English period was the WEST SAXON DIALECT.
Middle English: Linguistic Situation
After the Norman Conquest: French became the official language of administration (it was used in the king’s court, in the law courts, in the church (as well as Latin), in the army, by the nobles in the south of England). It was also used as a language of writing and teaching as well as Latin. English was the language of common people in the Midlands and in the north of England. It still remained the language of the majority who were the representatives of the lower classes of society and never learned French, so the Norman barons had to learn English to be able to communicate with locals. Celtic Dialects were still used by the Celtic population in the remote areas of the country. Actually, during the presence of the Normans the country experienced the period of bilingualism (French and English were both used in the country and started to intermix, i.e. a lot of the French words crept into the Middle English Dialects and it came to resemble present-day English a lot). The Norman and the English drew together in the course of time and intermixed. French lost its popularity due to the fact that it was not the language of the majority and could not be used to communicate with local people. English regained its leading position with time and became accepted as the official language. The proofs are:
The Parliamentary Proclamation of 1258 – Henry the 3rd addressed the councilors in Parliament in French, Latin and English. 1)In the 14th – 15th c. legal documents (wills, municipal acts, petitions, etc.) started to be issued in English. 2)1364 – Parliament was opened with an address in English.
1399 – Henry the 4th accepted the throne and made a speech in English. 3)Translations of the documents written in French into English.
Thus in the 14th c. English becomes the language of literature and administration.
Dialects: Kentish→Kentish Dialect, West Saxon →South-Western Dialect (East Saxon Dialect, London Dialect, Gloucester Dialect), Mercian →Midland Dialects (West Midland Dialect, East Midland Dialect), Northumbrian→ Northern Dialects (Yorkshire Dialect, Lancashire Dialect)
The most important dialect in the Middle English period was the LONDON DIALECT.
London Dialect In the 12th -13th c. the London Dialect became the literary language and the standard, both in written and spoken form. The reasons why this happened: 1)The capital of the country was transferred from Winchester, Wesses, to London a few years before the Norman Conquests. 2)The East Saxon Dialect, that was the basis of the London Dialect got, became the most prominent in the Middle English period. 3)Most writers and authors of the Middle English period used the London Dialect in their works.
Features of the London Dialect: 1)The basis of the London Dialect was the East Saxon Dialect 2) The East Saxon Dialect mixed with the East Midland Dialect and formed the London Dialect. 3) Thus the London Dialect became more Anglican than Saxon in character The London Dialect is an Anglican dialect.
Alphabets The first Old English written records are considered to be the runic inscriptions. To make these inscriptions people used the Runes/the Runic Alphabet – the first original Germanic Alphabet. Runes/Runic Alphabet: 1) appeared in the 3rd – 4th c. A.D.; 2) it was also called Futhark (after the first 6 letters of this alphabet); 3) the word “rune” meant “secret, mystery” and was used to denote magic inscriptions on objects made of wood, stone, metal; 4) each symbol indicated a separate sound (one symbol = one sound); 5) the symbols were angular due to the fact that they had to be carved on hard materials; 6) the number of symbols: GB – 28-33; on the continent – 16-24).
Best known Runic Inscriptions: Franks Casket – a box with 4 sides made of whale bone, each side contained a picture in the centre and runic inscriptions around the picture that told the story of the whale bone in alliterative verse. Ruthwell Cross – was found near the village of Ruthwell, Dumfriesshire, it is a 15 feet tall stone cross ornamented in all sides with runic inscriptions that are actually a passage from a religious poem “The Dream of the Rood”. Old English Alphabet The Old English Alphabet was borrowed from Latin, but there were also some letters that were borrowed from the Runic Alphabet: ? (“thorn”) = [] and [ð], ? (“wynn”) = [w], ? (“mann”) = stood for OE word “man” ? (“dæζ”) = stood for OE word “day”,
Some new letters were introduced:
ζ = [g] and [j]; ð/þ/Đ/đ = [] and [ð]; æ = a ligature of [a] and [e]; œ = a ligature of [o] and [e].
Rules of Reading: They resemble the modern rules, with several exceptions though:
f = [v] -1. between vowels; s = [z] 2. between a vowel and a voiced consonant ( [r, m, n, l, d,] ).
ð/þ = [ð]
ζ – [j] – between and after front vowels ( [e, i, æ] );
– [g] – initially and between back vowels ( [a, o, u] ).
1)cζ = [gg]. 2)c = [k].3)n = [ŋ] when fallowed by [k] or [g].
Old English Manuscripts Most of the Old English manuscripts were written in Latin characters. The Latin Alphabet was modified by the scribes to suit the English language. The Old English manuscripts that give us the examples of the language of that period are:1)personal documents containing names and place names; 2)legal documents (charters); 3)glosses to the Gospels and other religious texts (Latin-English vocabularies for those who did not know Latin good enough to understand the texts); 4)textual insertions (pieces of poetry). Old English Poetry 1. Among the earliest textual insertions in Old English are the peaces of Old English poetry. They are to be found in “The Ecclesiastical History of the English People” written in Latin in the 8th c. by Bede the Venerable, an English monk. These two pieces are: 1)5 lines know as “Bede’s Death Song”; 2)9 lines of a religious poem “Cædmon’s Hymn”. 2. All in all we have about 30 000 lines of OE verse from many poets, but most of them are unknown or anonimuos. The two best known Old English poets are Cædmon and Cynewulf (Northumbrian authors).3. The topics of Old English poetry: 1)heroic epic (“Beowulf”, the oldest in the Germanic literature, 7th c., was written in Mercian or Northumbrian but has come down to us only in a 10th c. West Saxon copy. It is based on old legends about the tribal life of the ancient Teutons and features the adventures and fights of the legendary heroes); 2)lyrical poems (“The Wanderer”, “The Seafarer”, etc. Most of the poems are ascribed to Cynewulf); 3)religious poems (“Fate of the Apostles” (probably Cædmon), “Dream of the Rood”, etc.). 4. The peculiarities of Old English poetry: 1)written in Old Germanic alliterative verse: a) the lines are not rhymed; b)the number of the syllables in a line is free; c)the number of stressed syllables in a line is fixes; d)the line is usually divided into 2 halves, each half starts with one and the same sound; this sound may be repeated also in the middle of each half; e)a great number of synonyms and metaphorical phrases or compounds describing the qualities or functions of a thing.
The most conspicuous features of Late ME texts in comparison with OE texts is the difference in spelling. The written forms of the words in Late ME texts resemble their modern forms, tough the pronunciation of the words was different.
Major spelling changes in ME.
front vowel; [g], [k] – before back vowel.
[u] + n, m, v. Eg: OE munuc – ME monk.
[j] – at the beginning: eg: yet.
how [hu].
worthy [wurđi];
are voiceless – initially, finally: less.
Rules of Reading: They resemble the modern rules, with several exceptions though:
g = [g]c = [k] before back vowels ( [a, o, u] ). 2. y = [j] – at the beginning of the word;
= [i] – in the cases when i stood close together with r, n, m and could be confused with one of these letters or could be lost among them, it was replaced with y, sometimes also for decorative purpose.(e.g. nyne [‘ni:nə], very [‘veri]). 3. th = [ð],s = [z] between vowels.
4. o = [o] – in most cases;
= [u] – in the words that have [Λ] sound in Modern English (e.g. some, love) 5. j = [dζ]
The OE vowel system. Major changes during the OE period.
1)Short: [ĭ, ĕ, æﬞ , ŭ, ŏ, ă] - ĭ, ŭ – high, ĕ, ŏ – mid,
æﬞ, ă – low.
2)Long: [ī, ē, æ‾, ū, ō, ā]
This system existed before breaking took place in the 5th cent. BREAKING is a process which led to the split of the short front vowels into diphthongs.
Early OE OE eg.
Before ll æﬞ → ea all → eall
h + other cons. æﬞ : → ea: nah → neah
r + other cons ĕ → eo herza - heorte
æ - ea arm - earm
Diphthongization: after the palatal consonant (k’), (sk’) and (j) short and long [e] and [æ] turned into diphthongs ie or ea (scal – sceal, jār - jēar);
I-MUTATION (i-umlaut) it took place in all Germanic languages in VI – VIII cent, except Gothic. It is a case of regressive assimilation with –i- or semivowel ‘j’. Eg: kuning – cyning (король), fulljan – fūllan (fill – full). fōti – fōel (foot). We find traces of i-mutation in: foot – feet, goose – geese, blood – bleed. 4 new phonems appear y‾˘, œ‾˘ Palatal mutation led to the grouth of new vowel interchanges and to increase variability of the root morphemes. Back mutation (o, u, a –umlaud) took place in the 8th cent. It influenced front short vowels → appearance of short diphthongs. Phonetically it’s regressive assimilation. I → io Eg: hefon → heofon (heaven). e → eo æ → æα
OE consonants underwent the following changes:
1)Hardening (the process when the soft cons becomes harder) – usual initially and after nasals [m,n] (ð-d, v-b, j-g) 2)Voicing (the proc. When a voiceless cons becomes voiced in certain position):- intervocally, - between a vowel and a voiced cons. and sonorant. [f,θ,h,s – v,ð,g,z]
3) Rhotacism (a pr. When [z] turns into [r] maize Goth – mara OE (more))
4) Gemination (a pr. Of doubling a consonant after a short vowel (as a result of palatal mutation)) settan OE – set, fullan – fill
5) Palatalization of consonants (a pr. when hard vowels become soft) – before a front vowel and sometimes after a front vowels [d,j,k,h – g’,j’,k’,h’]
6) Loss of consonants: The loss of nasals before fricatives:
Eg: fimf (OE)> fif (five); loss of [j] as a result of palatal mutation; fricatives between vowels and some plosives;
The Development of Vowel System in Middle English and New English
Word Stress/Accent: In ME and NE word stress acquired greater positions freedom and greater role in word derivation. Recessive tendency – stress in loan-words moved closer to the beginning of the word (e.g. in French words the stress is usually placed on the ultimate or pen-ultimate syllable, but the stress in the words of the French origin that penetrated into English has moved to the beginning of the word).E.g. ME vertu [ver’tju:] – NE virtue [‘vз:t∫ə] Rhythmic tendency – regular alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables (3 or more) that creates rhythm and has led to the appearance of the secondary stress. E.g. ME diso’beien – NE ,diso’bei Vowels English vowels proved to be more changeable than consonants. Long vowels proved to be more changeable than short ones.
Middle English The changes that occurred to vowels in ME were as follows:
1)Quantitative: Reduction – weakening and disappearance of unstressed vowels. As far as the stress was mainly on the root the vowels in prefixes and suffixes got weak and underwent reduction. In unstressed position only two vowels were left – [ə] and [i]. They had never been contrasted. In NE sound [ə] (schwa) was dropped at the end of the words but the letter e was left in spelling to show the length of the preceding vowel. Shortening – all long vowels became short before consonant clusters (NB!! except [ld, nd, mb] – before these clusters vowels remained long or if a vowel was short it became long). Lengthening (12th – 13th c.) – short vowels became long: 1)before clusters [ld, nd, mb]; 2)in 2-syllable words, only to [e, o, a] in open stressed syllable.
2)Qualitative: The system of vowels in ME were no longer symmetrical as it was in OE. Short Vowels: 1)[y] changed to [i] e.g. OE hyll – ME hill (hill); 2)[æ] changed to [a] e.g. OE wæs – ME was (was). Long Vowels: 1)[ỹ] changed to [ī]; 2)[ǽ] fell together with [έ]; 3)[ā] changed to [ō] e.g. OE stān – ME sto[o:]ne (stone). OE diphthongs turned into monophthongs: ĭě/īē i, ĕŏ/ēō e, ĕă/ēā æ.
New diphthongs appeared due to vocalisation of [j], [γ] and [w]. These consonants turned into vowels ([i], [u] and [u] respectively) and became the glides of the new diphthongs.
New English: Great Vowel Shift – the change that happened in the 14th – 16th c. and affected all long monophthongs + diphthong [au]. As a result these vowels were: 1)diphthongized; 2)narrowed (became more closed); 3)both diphthongized and narrowed. This shift was not followed by spelling changes, i.e. it was not reflected in written form. Thus the Great Vowel Shift explains many modern rules of reading. There were exceptions though, e.g. put, pull, etc. Vocalisation of [r]:It occurred in the 16th – 17th c. Sound [r] became vocalised (changed to [ə] (schwa)) when stood after vowels at the end of the word. Consequences: 1)new diphthongs appeared: [εə], [iə], [uə]; 2)the vowels before [r] were lengthened (e.g. arm [a:m], for [fo:], etc.); 3)triphthongs appeared: [aiə], [auə] (e.g. shower [‘∫auə], shire [‘∫aiə]).
The PG diphthongs — ei ai iu eu au underwent regular independent changes in Early OE; they took place in all phonetic conditions irrespective of environment. The diphthongs with the i-glide were monophthongised into [i] and [a], respectively; the diphthongs in u were reflected as long diphthongs |io:|, leo:l and lea: I
All Engl dipthongs were monophonized from OE to NE. In PG there were no diphthongs. There was just a sequence of two separate vowels. Diphthongs appeared in OE: some (usually long diphthongs) – as a result of merging of two vowels: a + u ea:, e + u eo:, (i + u) (io:) (dialectal variant). Others (usually short diphthongs) – as a result of the influence of the succeeding and preceding consonants (breaking of [æ, e]).
Breaking: Under the influence of succeeding and preceding consonants some Early OE monophthongs developed into diphthongs. If a front vowel stood before a velar consonant there developed a short glide between them, as the organs of speech prepared themselves for the transition from one sound to the other. The glide, together with the original monophthong formed a diphthong. The front vowels [i] and [e] and the newly developed [æ], changed into diphthongs with a back glide when they stood before [h], before long (doubled) [ll] or [l] pJus another consonant, and before [r] plus other consonants, e.g.: OE deorc, NE dark. The change is known as breaking or fructure. Breaking is dated in Early OE, for in OE texts we find the process already completed. Breaking produced a new set of vowels in OE — the short diphthongs [ea] and [eo[ they could enter the system as counterparts of'the long [ea:], [eo: ] which had developed from PG prototypes. OE diphthongs turned into monophthongs in ME.
New diphthongs appeared due to vocalisation of [j], [γ] and [w]. These consonants turned into vowels ([i], [u] and [u] respectively) and became the glides of the new diphthongs.
The diphthong oi was of French origin. Lengthening and diphthongization in NE (17c) due to the vocalization of r.
After short vowels
ME: o+r=o: (NE); ME: a+r=a: (NE); ME: I,e,u+r=e: (NE); ME: shwa+r=shwa (NE). After long vowels: i:+r=aie: ; e:+r= ie: ; a+r=ee: ; o:+r=o: ;
The Great Vowel Shirt: Early NE witnessed the greatest event in the history of English vowels — the Great Vowel Shift, — which involved the change of all ME long monophthongs, and probably some of the diphthongs. Great Vowel Shift – the change that happened in the 14th – 16th c. and affected all long monophthongs + diphthong [au]. As a result these vowels were: 1)diphthongized; 2) narrowed (became more closed); 3)both diphthongized and narrowed.
The spelling remained unchanged.
lt should be obvious from the chart and the table that the Great Vowel Shift did not add any new sounds to the vowel system; in fact, every vowel which developed under the Shift can be found in Late ME. And nevertheless the Great Vowel Shift was the most profound and comprehensive change in the history of English vowels: every long vowel, as well as some diphthongs, were "shifted", and the
•pronunciation of all the words with these sounds was altered
12. Consonant changes in the history of English
The Development of Consonant System in ME and NE: English consonants proved to be more stable than vowels. Nevertheless, new sets of consonants started to appear.
Sibilants and Affricates: Sibilants – a type of fricatives, narrower and sharper than all other fricatives ([f, v, , ð, h]) – [s, z, ∫, ζ]. Affricates – sounds consisting of a plosive immediately followed by a fricative – [t∫, dζ]. In OE there were only 2 sibilants – [s, z]. [∫] appeared in ME and [ζ] – in NE. Affricates [t∫, dζ] appeared both in ME and in NE. M E: New consonants developed from palatal plosives [k’], [g’] and the cluster [sk’]:
OE Sounds ME Sounds In Writing
[k’] [t∫] tch, ch
[g’] [dζ] g, dg
[sk’] [∫] sh, ssh, sch
|
ME Sounds |
NE Sounds |
|
[sj] |
[∫] |
|
[zj] |
[ζ] |
|
[tj] |
[t∫] |
|
[dj] |
[dζ] |
NE: Palatalisation – as a result of reduction of unstressed vowels several consonants merged into one:
There were some exceptions though, e.g. mature, duty, due, suit, statue, tune, etc. Fricatives
Voicing – occurred in the 16th c. (NE) to fricatives: 1) in functional words and auxiliaries that are never stressed; 2)when preceded by an unstressed and followed by a stressed vowel.
Loss of Some Consonants: In NE some consonants were vocalised or gave birth to diphthongs and triphthongs. 1)[r] was vocalised at the end of the word in the 16th -17th c. (see Lecture 11); 2) [j] disappeared as a result of palatalisation (see palatalisation in Lecture 12); [j] remained only initially (e.g. year, yard, etc.); 3)[х, х’] were lost (e.g. ME taughte [‘tauхtə] – NE taught [to:t], ME night [niх’t] – NE night [neit]; 4) [kn] [n] (e.g. ME know [knou] – NE know [nou]); 5)[gn] [n] (e.g. ME gnat [gnat] – NE gnat [næt]);
Vocalisation of [r]:It occurred in the 16th – 17th c. Sound [r] became vocalised (changed to [ə] (schwa)) when stood after vowels at the end of the word. Consequences: 1)new diphthongs appeared: [εə], [iə], [uə]; 2)the vowels before [r] were lengthened (e.g. arm [a:m], for [fo:], etc.); 3)triphthongs appeared: [aiə], [auə] (e.g. shower [‘∫auə], shire [‘∫aiə]).
Grimm’s law: The first Germanic consonant shifts took place in the V-II cent. BC. Jacobs Grimm’s Law. According to Grimm, he classified consonant correspondences between indoeuropean and germanic languages. There are 3 acts of this law:
The second consonant shift was Carl Verner’s law. According to C.Verner all the common Germanic consonants became voiced in intervocalic position if the preceding vowel was unstressed. p-f > v t-Ө > đ, d k-x > j, g
s-s > z/r Devoicing took place in early common germanic when the stress was not yet fixed on the root. A variety of Verner’s law is rhotacism (greek letter rho). [s] →[z]→[r] we find traces of this phenomenon in form of the verb to be →was – were, is – are; ist – sind – war. II consonant shift occurred in dialects of southern germanic. Eg: еда – eat – essen.
13. Form-building means in the history of English
In OE the vocabulary mainly grew by means of word-formation. 3 main types: 1) -simple words (=root-words) – words consisting of a root-morpheme with no suffixes (god, land) 2)- derived words (a root-morpheme + 1 or more affixes): be-ginnan 3)- compound words (more than 1 root-morpheme): feower-tiene (fourteen), mann-cynn (mankind)
1. sound interchange: -i-mutation verbs from nouns:(food-feed), verbs from adj: full – fill, nouns from adj.: long – length
-consonantal interchanges: death – dead
2. word stress (not frequent) to differ-te between parts of speech
3. prefixation ( - IE prefix (OE neg. un-), - Germ. Pref-s (OE mis-, ofer-), - to modify lexical meaning)
4. suffixation (-dom, -nes, -lic, ful-, scipe-)
The rise of analytical forms in verbal system in NE: NE: -continuous; -do-forms; -future tense; -Perfect; -Passive; -Subjunctive
-1- Future – 17th c. John Wallis – the rule: shall – 1st p, will – 2,3rd p
-2- Perfect – only the auxiliary habban was left while beon ceased to be used in the Perf. Forms not to confuse them with Passive forms (though some of the forms are still left)
-3- Subj. Mood – analytical forms appeared: leten (let), neden (need).sholde/ wolde soon weakened their modal meaning and became auxiliaries.
Pecularities: sh/w + Inf – simult act; sh/w + Perf Inf – preced. act.
-4- Cont-s – 18th c. Cont forms became well-established
18th c. Cont forns in Passive were accepted as a norm (but clumsy and non grammatical)
-5- Do-forms – in the 16th c. in negative, affirm, interr.
17th c. only in negat. And interr. To keep word order S+P+O in affirm. Sent. Do acquired an emphatic meaning.
The grammatical forms of the words were built by means of: Suppletion (inherited from Indo-European) – the usage of 2 or more different roots as forms of one and the same word: Inflections (inherited from Indo-European) – though in the Germanic languages inflections were simpler and shorter than in other Indo-European languages.
Let’s take the system of declensions as an example. In PG it was well-developed but in the Old Germanic languages, due to the stress that was fixed on the root and the weakening of the end of a word as a result, the declensions started to disappear. While the nouns and adjectives still preserved stem-suffixes, they had declensions but once the stem suffixes started to weaken and disappear, the declensions were lost as well and the endings were simplified and got fewer: Sound Interchange – the usage of interchange of vowels and consonants for the purpose of word- and form-building (e.g.: English: bear – birth, build – built, tooth – teeth; German: gebären – Geburt)
Ablaut/Vowel Gradation – an independent vowel interchange, unconnected with any phonetic conditions (phonetic environment/surrounding) used to differentiate between grammatical forms of one and the same word. The Germanic ablaut was consistently used in building the principle forms of strong verbs. Jacob Grimm has subdivided all the verbs into two groups according to the way they build their principle forms:
Suffixation dental suffixes in weak verbs
Analytical Forms
In OE there were no analytical forms. They appeared later:
ME – Future Tense, Perfect, Passive and Subjunctive forms;
NE – Continuous and Do-forms;
and had the following characteristics:
They consisted of 2 elements:
-a verb of broad semantics and high frequency: habben, beon (an auxiliary);
-a non-finite form (Infinitive, Participle 1, 2).
14. OE noun system
As it has been mentioned in Lecture 14, the Noun had the following categories in OE: Number – Singular (Sg) and Plural (Pl). Case – Nominative (Nom), Genitive (Gen), Dative (Dat), Accusative (Acc). Gender – Masculine (M), Feminine (F), Neuter (N): 1)Originally (in PG) it was a semantic division (he/she/it – associated with the lexical meaning of a noun), but in OE this principle did not work any more; 2)In OE the nouns started to be groupped into genders according to the suffix. System of Declensions : Though the stem-suffixes merged with the root, declensions were still existent in OE and were based on the former IE stem-suffixes:
a-stem – the most numerous declension and proved to be productive (M, N).
Traces of a-stem in Modern English: -es (M, Sg, Gen) ‘s (student’s book) – Possessive Case; -as (M, Pl, Nom) -(e)s (watches, books) – plural ending for the majority of nouns; - (N, Pl, Nom) zero ending (deer, sheep) – homogeneous Sg and Pl.
n-stem (M, N, F): Traces of n-stem in Modern English: -an (M, Pl, Nom) -en (oxen, children, brethren) – irregular plural ending.
root-stem – never had stem-suffix, words consisted of just a root (M, F): Traces of root-stem in Modern English: root-sound interchange (M, Pl, Nom) root-sound interchange (men, geese, mice) – irregular Plural.
15. the simplification of the noun declension in English
Most changes occurred to the Noun in ME. System of Declensions: In ME the declensions disappeared due to the reduction of endings. As far as the Case endings were reduced to one or two, there remained no distinction between the Case forms of different declensions and there was no necessity any more to distinguish these declensions.
Gender: The Gender in OE was not supported semantically. It was only a classifying feature for the declensions and as far as the declensions disappeared there was no necessity to preserve the Gender. It disappeared by the 11th – 12th c.
Number: The quantity of the Number endings was also reduced as far as the declensions disappeared. The markers of the Plural became more uniform (-s, -en, root-sound interchange). The preference of the consonantal endings can be explained by the fact that the vowels were more apt to change and reduction then the consonants that in general proved to be more stable.
Case: The Case system was contracted in ME due to the reduction of endings. As far as the Case endings were reduced to one or two, there remained no distinction between the Case forms and there was no necessity any more to distinguish 4 Cases. (Common, Genitive (Possessive))
Causes for Decay of Case System: 1)Influence of the Scandinavian Dialects that were grammatically simpler in comparison with OE Dialects and this influence led to the minimization of grammar. 2)Phonetic reduction of final unstressed syllables (inflections). Consequences of Case System Decay: 1)The number of prepositions started to grow to help to replace the former Case forms. 2)As far as there was no distinctions between the Cases, the distinction between the Subject and the Object of a sentence was lost fixed word order appeared (The Subject almost always took the first place and was followed by the Object).
16. The development of personal pronounce in the history of English
OE personal pronouns had 3 persons, 3 numbers (sing, pl, dual) and 3 genders. Eg: ic – sing, wit – dual, wē – plural. Dual number – Germanic feature (wit – мы оба, git – вы оба). Gender was in the 3rd person sing. Eg: hē – hēo – hit (m – f – n).
Cases: m f n
N ic þэīī hē hēo hit
G min þin his hire his
D mē þe him hire him
Acc me þe hine hie hit
1st pers. sg→2nd pers.sg→3rd pers. sg.
Many forms have survived in ME. Eg: “and I’ll love thee”.
In OE – a tendency toward harmony which increased in ME. The fem. pronoun of the 3rd pers. And mascul. pron. of the 3rd per. could become identical. The language developed new ways:
In NE: 1)the pron of the 2nd pers. sg went out of use in the 17th cent → “you” for sg and pl, the 2nd pl “you” replaced “gē” OE. 2) Late ME “she” is believed to have developed from the OE demonstrative pron of the femin. gender – “sēo” 3)the other forms of OE “hēo” were preserved “hire/her” used in ME as the Obj. case and as a possessive pron. is a form of OE “hēo”. “Hers” was derived from “hire/here”.
17. The development of the adj in the history of English
Historically the Adjective is a younger class of words as compared to the Noun. So it has borrowed many of its categories and inflections from the Noun and the Pronoun. The Adjective had the following categories: Gender: It still existed in OE but was the first category to disappear in the 11th c. Case: At the end of OE Period Instrumental Case fell together with Dative Case due to the homonymy of inflections (see the table below); All other cases disappeared by the end of the 13th c. also due to the homonymy of inflections (see the table below). System of Declensions: The system of declension was inherited from PG. Adjectives had two declensions that had to do also with the category of determination – strong (definite) and weak (indefinite) – and unlike nouns practically all adjectives could be declined both ways (by strong and weak declension). So an adjective did not belong to a particular declension, its declension depended on several factors. There were exceptions from the rule: some adjectives were declined always strong (eall (all), maniζ (many), ōþer (other)), others – always weak (ilca (same)). The endings of the adjectives showed the agreement between a noun and an adjective. There were a lot of homonymous forms the distinction between the declensions faded in ME and the declensions disappeared as far as there was no necessity any more to keep them. Number: There were some homonymous forms in Singular and Plural in both declensions, so the category of Number disappeared together with the system of declensions. The Adjective lost many of its categories in ME as far as all the inflections were lost. Thus it became an unchangeable part of speech. In ME the following changes happened: 1) In most cases inflections -er, -est were used to form the comparative and the superlative degrees; 2) Root-sound interchange fell into disuse (long – longer – longest), though in some cases it was preserved as an exception from the rule (e.g. old – elder – eldest; far – further – furthest); 3)A new way of formation of the degrees of comparison appeared: more + Adj (comparative) || most + Adj (superlative). It was applicable to all adjectives and was interchangeable with -er, -est way of formation till 17th – 18th c. In NE, during the Normalisation Period, the modern rule appeared and this way was applicable only to a certain group of adjectives. In OE there were 3 ways of formation of degrees of comparison: 1)inflections, 2)root-sound interchange+inflections, 3)suppletion
In ME there are foll. changes: -er, -est were used to form compare & superl. Degrees. -root-sound interchange fell into disuse (long-longer-longest). Exeptions: old, far-furthe-furthest -new way of form-n: More, most + adj.
18. The development of demonst pronouns
Demonstrative Pronouns: Demonstrative pronouns belong to an ancient class of words that goes back to two Indo-European roots – se and to. In OE the sound [Ө] started to dominate over the sound [s] due to the pressure of the system (the forms with the sound [Ө] were more numerous (see the table below)). Demonstrative pronouns in OE changed in Gender, Number, Case In ME the Case system disappeared due to the fact that there were some homonymous forms and due to phonetic reduction. In NE the Gender was lost due to the fact that there were some homonymous and the following changes happened to the pronouns marked with * in the table above: 1) se (M, Sg, Nom) – turned into the definite article “the; 2) sēo (F, Sg, Nom) – turned into the personal pronoun “she”; 3) þæt (N, Sg, Nom) – remained as the unchangeable demonstrative pronoun “that”; 4) þis (N, Sg, Nom) – remained as the unchangeable demonstrative pronoun “this”; 5)þý (M, Sg, Instr) – in OE was used in the comparative constructions like “the sooner…the better” but in NE was not distinguished any more phonetically and merged with the unchangeable form of the definite article “the”. The only category that was left in the demonstrative pronouns was the Number (e.g. ModE this – these, that – those).
Rise of Articles: The articles have to do with the category of Determination (definiteness /indefiniteness). Causes for Rise of Articles: 1)In OE the there were two declensions of adjectives – strong (definite) and weak (indefinite) – and the inflections of these declensions indicated whether the noun that followed the adjective was definite or indefinite. At the end of the ME Period the declensions of the Adjective disappeared and there was a necessity to find another way to indicate the definiteness/indefiniteness of a noun. Thus the articles appeared. 2) In OE the word-order was free because inflections were employed to show the relations of the words in a sentence. In ME and NE the majority of the inflections disappeared and the word-order became fixed. This meant that the first place in a sentence was usually occupied by the theme (information already known marked with the definite article) and the second place – by the rheme (new information marked with the indefinite article).
Definite Article: As it was mentioned above, the definite article appeared from the OE demonstrative pronoun se (M, Sg, Nom) from the paradigm of the OE demonstrative pronoun “that” because it was often used to indicate a definite object or notion.
Indefinite Article: The indefinite article appeared from the OE numeral ān (one) and had the meaning of “oneness” (it still indicates only nouns in Sg, i.e. nouns indicating one object or notion). In OE ān had 5-case paradigm that was lost in ME and only one form was left – oon/one. Later it was employed in the building of the indefinite article a/an.
19. OE verbal system
Verbal Categories: Grammatical classificTense2(pr. Past),
Mood(indicative.imperative,subjunctive),
Person(1,2,3)consistently was shown only in the pres ind mood sg,in the past sg of the ind mood, the 1 &3 p coincided & the 2 p had a distinct form., p was not distinguished in the pl,&in the sudjunctive mood, Number(sg&pl), Voice, Aspect, Order, Posteriority.
According to morphological classif -Strong and Weak Verbs: Strong Verbs: Number(300), Type/Origin (Indo-European (reveals suppletivity), Formation of Past Tense forms (by changing the root-vowel (ablaut), Formation of Participle2 forms (with the help of the suffix –en (+ sometimes root-vowel interchange), Derivation (Strong verbs were root-words/non-derivatives (i.e. they were not derived from some other words/roots but were the words/roots from which other words were derived), Productivity (unproductive type (no new words employed this type of form-building), Principle Forms (Infinitive Past Sg Past Pl Participle 2), Classes (subdivided into 7 classes). Weak Verbs: Number (900), Type/Origin (Germanic (reveals dental suffix), Formation of Past Tense forms (with the help of the dental suffix -t/-d), Formation of Participle2 forms (with the help of the dental suffix -t/-d), Derivation (Weak verbs were derivatives from nouns, adjectives, strong verbs), Productivity (productive type (new words that appeared employed this type of form-building), Principle Forms (Infinitive Past Sg Participle 2), Classes (Classes).
20. OE weak verbs and their further development
Weak Verbs: Number (900), Type/Origin (Germanic (reveals dental suffix), Formation of Past Tense forms (with the help of the dental suffix -t/-d), Formation of Participle2 forms (with the help of the dental suffix -t/-d), Derivation (Weak verbs were derivatives from nouns, adjectives, strong verbs), Productivity (productive type (new words that appeared employed this type of form-building), Principle Forms (Infinitive Past Sg Participle 2), Classes (Classes). 1) The division of weak verbs into classes was based on the original stem-building suffix of a verb that was already hard to distinguish even in OE. 2) Weak verbs were not as complex as strong ones and had a greater regularity and simplicity. That’s why they were productive, i.e. all borrowed verbs used weak model of form-building (suffix -t/-d) and, as it has already been mentioned above, many originally strong verbs turned into .The opposite process of turning of weak verbs into strong was very rare and was mainly based on phonetic similarity between some strong and weak verbs, i.e. was a result of mere confusion that later was accepted as a norm due to its persistent and regular character
The OE verb had numerous persons&number cases but it had fewer gram.categories than NE verb has.Weak verbs form their Past forms&Part.II by ending the suffix-d,-t.Had 4principle forms:
-Inf.(macian), -Past Sg, -PartII, -Past Pl
There’re purely of Germanic origin.Presented a productive type.Had 3 classes
- The diversion depended on stem building suffix; Already in OE this suffix can’t be observed. It can be traced only ethimologically.
cl.I: Inf.-an; -the Past-de,-ede,-te; -PartII-d,-ed,-t (the root vowels of these verbs were mutated – cepan – cepte, tellan-tallde)
clII: the most numerous; the only productive class of weak verbs, as a result it served as a model for all new verbs of OE and ME; -cl 2 was based on the suffix oja; j- was presented in the Inf & Pr. tense– lician – licide – licoal (liked), macian; o- was presented in the Past forms – licode, lufode
clIII the least numerous (3 verbs only: habban, libbon, secgan – have, live, say) -inf.-an without vowel before the suf.
The suffix –ode in the Past tense can be transformed in –ed in NE, in ME it was [ed]
21. OE strong verbs & their further dev-t
Strong Verbs: Number(300), Type/Origin (Indo-European (reveals suppletivity), Formation of Past Tense forms (by changing the root-vowel (ablaut), Formation of Participle2 forms (with the help of the suffix –en (+ sometimes root-vowel interchange), Derivation (Strong verbs were root-words/non-derivatives (i.e. they were not derived from some other words/roots but were the words/roots from which other words were derived), Productivity (unproductive type (no new words employed this type of form-building), Principle Forms (Infinitive Past Sg Past Pl Participle 2), Classes (subdivided into 7 classes).
1)As far as the strong verbs were a non-productive class, some strong verbs turned into weak with time, i.e. started to employ -t/-d suffix in their form-building. Thus in NE only 70 strong verbs out of 300 in OE remained. 2)The strong verbs were subdivided into 7 classes according to the type of vowel gradation/ablaut. The classes that survived best through different periods of the history were classes 1, 3, 6.
Strong VERBS, changes: 1) In ME the inflections -an, -on, -en were all reduced to just one inflection -en. 2)In NE the ending -n was lost in the Infinitive and preserved in the Participle 2 in order to distinguish these two forms. 3)In NE Past Singular and Past Plural forms were unified, usually with the Singular form preferred as a unified form because Past Plural and Participle 2 often had similar forms and it was hard to distinguish them the category of Number disappeared in the Verb. In ModE the subdivision into classes was lost though we still can trace some peculiarities of this or that class in the forms of the irregular verbs.
The OE verb had numerous persons and number cases, but fewer gram. categ. than NE verb had. Str. verbs form their Past tense by changing their root vowel, had 4 principle forms: 1)Infinitive, 2)Past sg, 3)Past pl, 4)Participle II
They can be found in Rus → IE origin. Eg: беру – брал,
Often denoted the most important actions and states. In NE they are mainly irregular verbs.
Had 7 classes:
22. OE preterite-present & anomalous verbs & their further development
OE: The preterite-present verbs had the following characteristics: 1) Their Present-Tense forms resembled Past-Tense forms . (Germ. “Präteritum” = past tense, that’s why they were called so);Later they acquired present meaning but preserved many features of the past. 2) Some of these verbs did not have a full paradigm and were called “defective”; 3) These verbs expressed attitude and were followed by the Infinitive without “to” (NB! Most of these verbs are present-day modal verbs); 4)Out of 12 preterite-present verbs only 6 survived in ModE: ought, can, dare, shall, may, must. Some of the verbs acquired forms of the verbals infinitive+ participle.
ME: The following changes happened to the preterite-present verbs: 1) They lost their Verbals (participle and infinitive) (non-finite forms) ; 2) They lost the Number and Mood distinctions
NE: The paradigm of the preterite-present verbs (that had already become modal verbs) was reduced to one or two forms (e.g. must (just one form), can, could (just two forms), etc.).
Anomalous Verbs: They were irregular verbs that combined the features of the weak and strong verbs. There were 4 of them – willan (will), bēon (to be), ζān (to go), dōn (to do). Will :1) had the meaning of volition; 2) resembled the preterite-present verbs in meaning (attitude) and in function (was followed by the Infinitive without “to”); 3)eventually became a modal verb and also together with sculan developed into an auxiliary for the formation of the Future-Tense forms. To do: This verb combined the features of the weak and strong verbs. Can: This verb was suppletive and also combined the features of the weak and strong verbs. To be: This verb was highly suppletive and in OE employed two separate words/roots (Infinitives).
23. Changes in the verb conjugation in the E
Verbal Categories:Grammatical classificTense2(pr. Past), Mood(indicative.imperative,subjunctive),
Person(1,2,3)consistently was shown only in the pres ind mood sg,in the past sg of the ind mood, the 1 &3 p coincided & the 2 p had a distinct form., p was not distinguished in the pl,&in the sudjunctive mood, Number(sg&pl), Voice, Aspect, Order, Posteriority.
morphological classif -Strong and Weak Verbs: Strong Verbs: Number(300), Type/Origin (Indo-European (reveals suppletivity), Formation of Past Tense forms (by changing the root-vowel (ablaut), Formation of Participle2 forms (with the help of the suffix –en (+ sometimes root-vowel interchange), Derivation (Strong verbs were root-words/non-derivatives (i.e. they were not derived from some other words/roots but were the words/roots from which other words were derived), Productivity (unproductive type (no new words employed this type of form-building), Principle Forms (Infinitive Past Sg Past Pl Participle 2), Classes (subdivided into 7 classes). Weak Verbs: Number (900), Type/Origin (Germanic (reveals dental suffix), Formation of Past Tense forms (with the help of the dental suffix -t/-d), Formation of Participle2 forms (with the help of the dental suffix -t/-d), Derivation (Weak verbs were derivatives from nouns, adjectives, strong verbs), Productivity (productive type (new words that appeared employed this type of form-building), Principle Forms (Infinitive Past Sg Participle 2), Classes (Classes).
Changes in the verb conjunction in ME&NE.
Many markers of the grammatical forms of the verb were reduced, leveled&lost in ME&early NE → growth of homonymy: 1)number distinctions were neutralized in many positions(15 th c.)
In 13th 14th c. the ending –en turned into the main, almost universal marker of he pl forms of the verb. But in 15th –en was dropped. The sg forms were marked by –est and –eth/-es. 2.the differences in the forms of Person were maintained in ME. 3. OE ending of the 3rd p. sg -þ,-eþ,-iaþ→ -(e)th → (e)s
4.Past Tense: -1 st p.sg.-d,-ed
-2 nd p.sg.-de,des/edest
5.str. In ME the final syllables of the stems were weakened, early NE – were lost. 6. the root–vowels underwent the regular changes of stressed vowels.
7..ME weak verbs are the source of Mod. standard(regular)verbs. 8. a few weak verbs adopted str.forms. 9.In ME many str.verbs → intj weak: they began to use dental suf. instead of the toot-verb change; 10. structural changes:
-the root vowels in the Past Sg.&Pl. often fell together. In the 15 th. c. one stem is used:in NE 3 forms of str. verb are distinguished
-the inflexion of the pl were reduced and lost.
24. the rise of analytical forms within the verbal system in E
In OE there were no analytical forms. They appeared later: -ME – Future Tense, Perfect, Passive and Subjunctive forms; -NE – Continuous and Do-forms; Had the following characteristics: They consisted of 2 elements: 1. a verb of broad semantics and high frequency (an auxiliary); 2.a non-finite form (Infinitive, Participle 1, 2).
Future-Tense Forms: In OE there was no Future Tense. Future actions were expressed by Present-Tense forms and modal phrases with sculan (shall), willan (will), maζan (may), cunnan (can), etc. 1) Formation sculan/willan + Infinitive. Willan had more strong modal meaning (volition) that was later weakened and almost lost. 2) 13th – 14th c. – these forms were very common and sculan (shall) and willan (will) were completely interchangeable. 3)17th c. – John Wallis introduced the rule “shall – 1st person, will – 2nd and 3rd person”. 4)In NE there is a tendency to use will + 1st, 2nd and 3rd person without any distinction (earlier will + 1st person had the modal meaning of volition). Perfect Forms: 1) Formation: habban/bēon (with transitive verbs ) + Participle 2 ( with transitive verbs) (this distinction is still left in German). 2)In ME and NE only the auxiliary habban was left while bēon ceased to be used in the Perfect forms not to confuse them with the Passive forms (though some of these forms are still left. Passive Forms: 1) Formation: bēon/werthen + Participle 2. 2)Werthen died out in late ME. 3)Passive constructions were often marked with prepositions “by/with” (to show the doer of the action or the instrument of the action).
Subjunctive-Mood Forms: 1)These forms were not always analytical in OE but were widely used in: 1. independent clauses – to express wish, command, hypothetical condition, concession, purpose; 2. dependent clauses – temporal clauses (related to future); 3. impersonal sentences– went out of use in NE. 2) In ME and NE analytical forms of the Subjunctive Mood appeared. Formation: biden (bid)/leten (let)/neden (need)/sholde (should)/wolde (would) + Infinitive. These were the modal phrases that were used to express problematic or imaginary actions. The forms with sholde/wolde outnumbered all other forms, soon they weakened their modal meaning and became auxiliaries: should – 1st person, would – 2nd, 3rd person. 3) Meaning of the Subjunctive forms: 1. in the Past – present or future imaginary or unreal actions; 2. in the Present – future probable or problematic actions 4) Peculiarities: 1. should/would + Infinitive simultaneous actions; 2)should/would + Perfect Infinitive past or preceding actions. Continuous Forms: Sometimes they were found in OE: 1)Formation: bēon + Participle 1. 2)In OE it denoted a “quality” or a “lasting state” and was characterising a person or a thing indicated by the Subject of the sentence. The continuance was not limited in time (as it is in the ModE Continuous forms) and resembled more present-day Indefinite Tense forms 3) In ME Continuous forms fell into disuse. 4) In NE these forms reappeared together with a synonymous form: be + Participle 1 = be + on/in + Gerund (indicated a process of limited duration), 5) 18th c. – Continuous forms became well-established. 6) 19th c. – Continuous forms in the Passive were accepted as a norm. Do-Forms 1)In NE “do-periphrasis” was used in the Past and Present of the Indicative Mood. 2)16th c. – “Do” was used in negative, affirmative and interrogative sentences and was freely interchangeable with the simple forms (without “do”), 3) 17th c. – “do” was left only in negative and interrogative sentences to keep the word-order S + P + O. In affirmative sentences “do” acquired an emphatic meaning
25. Verbals in the history of English
Infinitive: Though sometimes the traces of these meanings are still visible. In ME the Infinitive lost the Dative Case (the inflected form) and only one form was left. Particle to remained in NE as a formal sign of the infinitive with no meaning of direction or purpose. In OE the Infinitive resembled the Noun and had the category of Case (only two Cases – Nominative (Nom) and Dative (Dat))
Participle 1: The formation of the Participle 1 was as follows. In OE Participle 1 was considered Present Participle, had only the form of the Active Voice, possessed the categories of Number, Gender, Case. It was used predicatively and attributively (agreed with the noun in Number, Gender, Case). In ME it lost its nominal and adjectival features together with the categories of Number, Gender, Case and became unchangeable.
Participle 2: As it has been mentioned in the table above, in OE Participle 2 was formed: 1)in strong verbs – with the help of the suffix –en (+ sometimes root-vowel interchange) + often marked by prefix ζe-. In ME prefix ζe- was weakened to prefix i-/y, 2)in weak verbs – with the help of the suffix -t/-d:. Participle 2, unlike Participle 1, had two meanings of the category of Voice. Thus in OE Participle 2 was considered Past Participle, had the forms of the Active and Passive Voice, possessed the categories of Number, Gender, Case. It was used predicatively and attributively (agreed with the noun in Number, Gender, Case). In ME it lost the category of Voice and the categories of Number, Gender, Case and became unchangeable.
Gerund: The Gerund appeared only in the 12th c. Actually it presented a mixture of the OE Verbal Noun (with suffix -unζ/-inζ) and Participle 1 and its characteristics were: 1) It took direct object (verbal feature); 2) It could be preceded by an article or a possessive pronoun (noun feature).
26. the cause of changes in the morphol-l system in ME &NE
The simplification of the nominal paradigms and the replacement of synthetic means by analytical means of word connection — took place mainly in the Early ME period.
The OE division into classes of weak and strong verbs was completely rearranged and broken. Most verbs have adopted the way of form-building employed by the weak verbs: the dental suffix instead of vowel gradation. The strict classification of the strong verbs with their regular system of form-building degenerated. All these changes led to increased regularity and uniformity and to development of a more consistent and simple system of building and principal forms of the verb. Strong verb: In ME the final syllables of the stems were weakened, in early NE most of them were lost. The OE endings –an, -on, -en were reduced to ME –en. The root-vowels underwent the regular changes of stressed vowels. The most imp. Change in the system of strong verbs was the reduction in the number of stems from 4 to 3.
27. The principal features of OE syntax
Old English was a synthetic language, i.e. there were a lot of inflections that showed the relations between the words in a sentence. Syntactic Connections between the Words: 1)Agreement – a correspondence between 2 or more words in Gender, Number, Case, Person: 1. relation – correspondence between the Subject and the Predicate in Number and Person; 2. correlation – agreement of an adjective, a demonstrative pronoun, a possessive pronoun, Participle 1, 2 with noun in Gender, Number, Case. 2) Government – a type of correspondence when one word (mainly a verb, less frequently – an adjective, a pronoun or a numeral) determines the Case of another word.
3) joining – an adj referring to a verb\ adj is connected with it without any formal means.
Functions of Cases: Nominative: 1)Subject of the sentence; 2) Predicative; 3)Direct Address. Genitive: 1)possessive meaning; 2)partitive meaning; 3) objective meaning; 4)subjective meaning; 5)qualitative meaning; 6)adverbial meaning. Dative: 1) Indirect Object; 2)Instrumental meaning; 3)Passive Subject of the sentence (Me lycige). Accusative: 1)Direct Object; 2) adverbial meaning denoting long periods of time.
Word Order: In OE the word order was free as far as there were a lot of inflections that showed the relations between the words in a sentence. Most common word-order patterns were: 1)S + P + O (in non-dependent clauses); 2) S + O + P (when the Object was a pronoun,); (in dependent clauses,); 3)P + S + O (in questions);(in sentences starting with adverbial modifier,). In ME and NE, due to the loss of the Cases and, as a result, loss of the inflections the distinction between the Subject and the Object of a sentence was lost. Thus the word order became fixed and direct (S + P + O – The Subject almost always took the first place and was followed by the Object). Such word order led to the appearance of the formal Subject (formal it, there, e.g. It was winter; There is a book.) that took the place of the Subject if a sentence did not have one and thus preserved the direct word order. Inversion was used only in questions and for emphasis.
Negation: In OE the common word for negation was ne (IE origin). It was simply placed before a word that was to be negated. As a result of this position before a word the particle ne often fused with: 1) a verb; 2)a numeral; 3) a pronoun; 4) an adverb. Multiple negation was perfectly normal. Often the particle ne was strengthened by the particle naht. In ME particle ne fell out of use and was replaced completely by the particle naht that later developed into not, stood manly after a verb (V + not) and negated it. In NE, during the Normalisation Period, no-double-negation rule appeared that prohibited more than one negative word in a sentence.
28. The main trends in the development of E syntax
Old English was a synthetic language, i.e. there were a lot of inflections that showed the relations between the words in a sentence. Syntactic Connections between the Words: 1)Agreement – a correspondence between 2 or more words in Gender, Number, Case, Person: 1. relation – correspondence between the Subject and the Predicate in Number and Person; 2. correlation – agreement of an adjective, a demonstrative pronoun, a possessive pronoun, Participle 1, 2 with noun in Gender, Number, Case. 2) Government – a type of correspondence when one word (mainly a verb, less frequently – an adjective, a pronoun or a numeral) determines the Case of another word.
3) joining – an adj referring to a verb\ adj is connected with it without any formal means.
Word Order: In OE the word order was free as far as there were a lot of inflections that showed the relations between the words in a sentence. Most common word-order patterns were: 1)S + P + O (in non-dependent clauses); 2) S + O + P (when the Object was a pronoun,); (in dependent clauses,); 3)P + S + O (in questions);(in sentences starting with adverbial modifier,). In ME and NE, due to the loss of the Cases and, as a result, loss of the inflections the distinction between the Subject and the Object of a sentence was lost. Thus the word order became fixed and direct (S + P + O – The Subject almost always took the first place and was followed by the Object). Such word order led to the appearance of the formal Subject (formal it, there, e.g. It was winter; There is a book.) that took the place of the Subject if a sentence did not have one and thus preserved the direct word order. Inversion was used only in questions and for emphasis.
Negation: In OE the common word for negation was ne (IE origin). It was simply placed before a word that was to be negated. As a result of this position before a word the particle ne often fused with: 1) a verb; 2)a numeral; 3) a pronoun; 4) an adverb. Multiple negation was perfectly normal. Often the particle ne was strengthened by the particle naht. In ME particle ne fell out of use and was replaced completely by the particle naht that later developed into not, stood manly after a verb (V + not) and negated it. In NE, during the Normalisation Period, no-double-negation rule appeared that prohibited more than one negative word in a sentence.
29. OE vocabulary & its etymological character-cs
The history of words throws light on the history of the speaking community and its contacts with other people. According to some rough counts OE vocabulary had between 23 000 and 24 000 lexical units. About only 15% of them survived in ModE. In OE there were an extremely low percentage of borrowings from other languages (only 3% as compared to 70% in ModE). Thus OE from the point of view of its vocabulary was a thoroughly Germanic language.
Native OE words can be subdivided into 3 following layers: 1) Common IE words – the oldest and the largest part of the OE vocabulary that was inherited by the Proto-Germanic, and later by all the Germanic languages, from the Common Indo-European Language.
Semantic fields: 1) family relations (father, mother, daughter, brother, etc. (except aunt, uncle – words of the Germanic origin)); 2) parts of human body (eye, nose, heart, arm, etc.); 3) natural phenomena, plants, animals (tree, cow, water, sun, wind, etc.).
Parts of speech: nouns (eye, brother, etc.); verbs (basic activities of man) (to be, can, may, to know, to eat, to stand, to sit, etc.); adjectives (essential qualities) (new, full, red, right, young, long, etc.); pronouns (personal and demonstrative) (I, my, this, that, those, these, etc.); numerals (most of them) (1-10, 100, 1000, etc.); prepositions (for, at, of, to, etc.).
2) Common Germanic words – the part of the vocabulary that was shared by most Germanic languages. These words never occurred outside the Germanic group of languages. This layer was smaller than the IE layer.
Semantic fields: nature, plants, animals (earth, fox, sheep, sand, etc.); sea (starve, sea, etc.); everyday life (hand, sing, find, make, etc.).
Parts of speech: nouns (horse, rain, ship, bridge, life, hunger, ground, death, winter, evil, etc. ); verbs (to like, to drink, to bake, to buy, to find, to fall, to fly, to make, etc.); adjectives (broad, sick, true, dead, deaf, open, clean, bitter, etc.); pronouns (such, self, all, etc.); dverbs (often, again, forward, near, etc.).
3)Specifically Old English words – native words that occur only in English and do not occur in other Germanic and non-Germanic languages. They are very few and are mainly derivatives and compounds (e.g. fisher, understand, woman, etc.).
4) Borrowed words – this part of OE vocabulary, as it has already been mentioned above, was a small portion of words that remained on the periphery of OE vocabulary. The words were mainly borrowed from: Latin (around 500 words only) (abbat, anthem, alms, etc. ); Celtic dialects: common nouns (bin, cross, cradle, etc.) – most of them died out, some survived only in dialects; place names and names of waterways: Kent, London, York, etc.; Ouse, Avon, Evan, Thames, Dover – all with the meaning “water”; -comb (“deep valley”) – Duncombe, Winchcombe, etc.; -torr (“high rock”) – Torr, Torcross, etc.; -llan (“church”) – Llandoff, Llanelly, etc.; -pill (“creek”) – Pylle, Huntspill, etc. hybrids:
30. The main trends in word-formation in E
In OE the vocabulary mainly grew by means of word-formation. The words fell into 3 main types: simple words (root-words) – a word consisting of a root-morpheme with no derivational suffixes; derived words – a word consisting of a root-morpheme + 1 or more then one affix; compound words – a word consisting of more then one root-morpheme.
Ways of Word-Formation: Word-Derivation: sound interchange – was employed frequently, but never alone (usually was accompanied by suffixation). Sources of sound-interchange:1)ablaut; 2) palatal mutation (verbs from nouns; verbs from adjectives; nouns from adjectives;), 3) consonantal interchanges). word stress – was not frequent; it helped to differentiate between parts of speech and was used together with other means; prefixation – was a productive way (unlike in ModE): 1) IE prefixes (OE un- (negative)); 2) Germanic prefixes (OE mis-, be-, ofer-(over-)); 3) prefixes were widely used with verbs, but were far less productive with the other parts of speech; 4) prefixes often modified lexical meaning; 5) there were grammatical prefixes( was used to build Participle 2 of strong; turned durative verbs into terminative) . suffixation – was the most productive way, mostly applied to nouns and adjectives, seldom to verbs.
Classification of OE suffixes: 1) Suffixes of agent nouns (-end, -ere, -estre); 2) Suffixes of abstract nouns (-t , -þu, -nes/nis, -unζ/inζ); 3) Adjectival suffixes (-iζ, -isc, -ede, -sum); 4) New suffixes derived from noun root-morphemes (-dōm, -hād, -lāc, -scipe); 5) New suffixes derived from adjective root-morphemes (-lic, -full, -lēas).
Word-Composition: Word-composition – a combination of 2 ore more root-morphemes – was a highly productive way of word-formation. The main patterns were: 1) N + N N (the most frequent); 2) syntactical compounds N; 3) Adj + N Adj (so-called bahuvrihi type); 4) N + Adj Adj; 5) V + N N (very rare) . Word composition was often accompanied by other ways of word formation mentioned above.
31. Borrowing as a source of the replen-t of E vocabulary in ME & NE
Latin has been the most long-lasting donor of borrowings to English because its influence started before the 5th A.D. (when Anglo-Saxons still lived on the Continent) and continues up to present day. Usually Latin borrowings in OE are classified into the following layers: Continental borrowings – words that the West Germanic tribes borrowed from Latin while they still lived on the Continent. Later, when they conquered the British Isles, they brought these words with them. These words are present in all the Germanic languages. Semantic fields: concrete objects (household (cup, pillow, etc.), food (cheese, butter, etc.), animals (mule, turtle, etc.)); units of measurement (mile, pound, inch, etc.). Borrowings after the Roman Invasion of the British Isles (through the Romanised Celts) that lie within the following semantic areas: trade (trade, deal, chest, flask, etc.); building (chalk, file, copper, etc.); domestic life (dish, kettle, etc.); military affairs (wall, street, pile, etc.); place names: -castra (“castle”) (Chester, Lancaster, etc.); -wich (“village”) (Norwich, Woolwich, etc.); -port (“port“) (Bridport, Devonport, etc.). Borrowings after the Introduction of Christianity (597) that lie within the following semantic areas: religion (angel, hymn, idol, pope, psalm; from Greek through Latin – anthem, bishop, candle, apostle, etc.); learning (school, scholar, master, verse, accent, grammar, etc.); everyday life (plant, pine, radish, cap, sock, etc.). Plus there appeared a lot of so-called translation loans – words that were translated part-for-part from Latin (e.g. Monday (“moon day”, from Latin Lunae dies). All Latin borrowings in OE underwent assimilation, i.e.: changed their spelling according to the English rules; underwent some phonetic changes according to the English rules; were used in derivation and compounding; acquired grammatical categories of the English parts of speech.
ME: After the Norman Conquest the main spheres of the Latin Language remained: church; law; academic activities. French became the official language of administration (it was used in the king’s court, in the law courts, in the church (as well as Latin), in the army, by the nobles in the south of England). English was the language of common people in the Midlands and in the north of England. It still remained the language of the majority who were the representatives of the lower classes of society and never learned French, so the Norman barons had to learn English to be able to communicate with locals and soon English regained its position as the language of the country. The surge of interest in the classics during the Age of the Renaissance led to a new wave of borrowings from Latin and Greek (through Latin mainly). Latin (abstract concepts (anticipate), affixes de- (destroy, etc.), ex- (extract, , explore), re- (retell, retry.), -ate (locate,), -ent (present), -ct (correct). Fate of these Borrowings in English: Many of them underwent a shift of meaning, Many of them increased the number synonyms in English, Many of them formed the basis for international terminology.
In ME the main donors of borrowings to English were French and Scandinavian Languages. French Borrowings: Time (since the 11th c. (Norman Conquest), Number (10 000), Area (French borrowings started to penetrate from the South and spread northwards), Ways of Borrowing (French borrowings penetrated through oral and written speech and at first were adopted only by the high strata of the society (French was the language of the administration, king’s court, law courts, church (as well as Latin) and army).
Scandinavian Borrowings: Time (since the 9th c. (Scandinavian Invasion), Number ( 1 000), Area (Scandinavian borrowings came to English from Northern and North-Eastern Dialects), Ways of Borrowing ( Scandinavian borrowings penetrated only through oral speech as far as the Scandinavians had never been too