Check yourself test 5

1. Name the main changes in the phonetic system of MME.

2. Characterize the essential changes in the system of MidE vowels.

3. Compare the system of consonant letters during OE and MidE.

4. What kind of change did the substantive system of the English language suffer during the MidE period?

5. What is the traditionally assumed origin of the article in the English language?

6. How many cases did the MidE nouns possess?

7. Why in Modem English do we sometimes use the terms Genitive Case and Possessive Case as synonyms?

8. What are the main characteristic features of MidE personal pronouns as compared with OE ones?

9. Characterize MidE possessive pronouns.

10. Give the forms of the MidE demonstrative pronouns. Trace the spelling changes in the forms of the MidE demonstrative pronouns.

11. Name the grammatical categories of the MidE adjective.

12. Speak on the ways of formation of degrees of comparison in MidE ad­jectives.

13. Characterize the MidE numeral, its classes and formation.

14. Name the grammatical categories of the MidE verb. What are the main changes that happened to the MidE verb?

15. Compare the word order in OE and in MidE. What is the main reason for such a significant difference?

16. How many negations could be used in a MidE sentence?

17. Dwell upon the fundamental changes in MidE syntax.

18. What were the reasons for the powerful influx of French and Latin bor­rowings into MidE?

Recommended literature

1. Иванова И. П., Чахоян Л. П. История английского языка. – СПб.: Лань, 2004.

2. Мороховский А. Н. Слово и предложение в истории английского языка. – К.: Вища школа, 1980.

3. Плоткин В. Я. Очерк диахронической фонологии английского языка. – М.: Высш. шк., 1976.

4. Расторгуева Т. А. Очерки по исторической грамматике английского языка. – М.: Высш. шк.,1989.

5. Хаймович Б. С. Стислий курс історії анлійської мови. – К.: Вища шк., 1975.

6. Ярцева В. Н. История английского літературного язика IX-XV вв. – М.: Наука, 1985.

7. Ярцева В. Н. Исторический синтаксис английского языка. – М.; Л.: Изд-во АН СССР, 1961.

8. Baugh A. C, and T. Cable. A History of the English Language. - Routledge, 2006.

9. Viney, B. The History of the English Language. - Oxford: Oxford Uni. Press, 2003.

LECTURE 6. VARIETIES OF ENGLISH TODAY

1. Dialects of English on the British Isles.

2. American English.

3. Varieties of English throughout the world.

1. A dialect is a form of a language distinguished from other forms of the same language by pronunciation, grammar and/or vocabulary. The Modern English language on the British Isles exists in a number of regional dialects:

Scottish (used to the north of the river Tweed),

Northern (spoken in the northern part of England),

Midland (subdivided into Western, Central and Eastern, spoken in Midland, between the rivers Thames and Humber),

Southern (found to the South of the river Thames).

These dialects differ mostly in the vocabulary and pronunciation; violation of grammar rules is also observed, for the dialects, naturally, are closer to the spoken variation of language.

Below are given a few extracts from the collection "Folk-tales of the British Isles" (M.: Raduga Publ., 1987), which contains stories from vari­ous regions of the country. Part of the tales in the book are told in Standard English, others are given in the dialect to add the flavour of the original, and still others combine standard and dialectal English. The following ones represent the Southern dialect, the Midland dialect, the Scottish dialect, and the Welsh language.

South East