
- •1№ 1. Germanic languages: their history & classification
- •Table. The classification of old & modern Germanic languages.
- •2. The common features of germanic languages
- •In phonetics:
- •In grammar:
- •In lexis:
- •3. The chronological division of the history of English.
- •4 The Scandinavian invasion and its effect on English.
- •5. Norman Conquest and its effect on English
- •6. The dialectial situation of english
- •Old English Dialects
- •7. Principal oe and me written records
- •8. Spelling changes in me
- •9. Oe sound system
- •Palatal Mutation/I-Umlaut
- •Velar Consonants in Early Old English. Growth of New Phonemes
- •10. Monophthongs in the history of english
- •Qualitative vowel changes in early middle english
- •11. Dipthongs
- •12.Consonant changes in the history of english.
- •Treatment of Fricative Consonants in me and Early ne
- •13. Form-building means in the histoey of english
- •14. Old english noun system
- •15. The Simplification of the Noun Declension in English
- •16. The development of personal pronouns in the history of English.
- •17 The Development of the Adjective
- •18.The development of demonstrative pronouns in the history of English .(Dem pron, their categories , declentions, the decay of declentions & gramm. Categ in Middle e, the rise of articles.)
- •19. The oe verb, its grammatical categories and morphological types.
- •Grammatical Categories oF the Finite Verb
- •20. Old English weak verbs and their further development
- •21. Strong verbs
- •22. Preterite-present and anomalous
- •23. Changes in the verb conjugation
- •25. Verbals in the history of English
- •Development of the Gerund
- •24. The rise of analytical forms in verbal system in me.
- •Category of Voice. Passive
- •Perfect Forms.
- •Interrogative and Negative Forms with do (ne)
- •26. Causes of Grammatical Changes
- •27. Oe syntax
- •28. English syntax.
- •29 Old English Vocabulary
- •30 Word-Formation in Old English
- •31. Borrowings Конспект French and Scandinavian Borrowings in English
6. The dialectial situation of english
6. After the 5th c. the 3 waves of the Germanic tribes arrived to Britain. The feudal system had led to the isolation of each tribe and political disunity (feudal wars). As a result, this period witnessed a great dialectal diversity. The most important dialects were the dialects of the 4 most powerful kingdoms:
Old English Dialects
Kingdom |
Kent |
Wessex |
Mercia |
Northumbria |
Dialect |
Kentish |
West Saxon |
Mercian |
Northumbrian |
Spoken |
in Kent, Surrey, the Isle of Wight |
along the Thames and the Bristol Channel |
between the Thames and the Humber |
between the Humber and the Forth |
Origin |
from the tongues of Jutes/ Frisians |
a Saxon dialect |
a dialect of north Angles |
a dialect of south Angles |
Remarks |
|
9th c. – Wessex was the centre of the English culture and politics. West Saxon – the bookish type of language (Alfred the Great – the patron of culture and learning) |
|
8th c. – Northumbria was the centre of the English culture |
The most important was the WEST SAXON DIALECT.
In the 8th – 9th c. Britain was raided and attacked by the Scandinavians/Vikings. And as soon as the Scandinavian dialects also belonged to the Germanic group, the Danes soon linguistically merged into the local Old English dialects leaving some Scandinavian elements in them.
After the Norman Conquest:
French became the official language of administration. 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.
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).
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 – in French, Latin and English.
In the 14th – 15th c. legal documents started to be issued in English.
1364 – Parliament was opened with an address in English.
1399 – Henry the 4th accepted the throne and made a speech in English.
Translations of the documents written in French into English.
Thus in the 14th c. English becomes the language of literature and administration.
Middle English Dialects
OE Dialects |
Kentish |
West Saxon |
Mercian |
Northumbrian |
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|
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ME Dialects |
Kentish Dialect |
South-Western Dialects |
Midland Dialects |
Northern Dialects |
|
Examples |
- |
East Saxon Dialect London Dialect Gloucester Dialect |
West Midland Dialect |
East Midland Dialect |
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:
The capital of the country was transferred from Winchester, Wesses, to London
The East Saxon Dialect (the basis of the London Dialect) became prominent in that period.
Most authors of the Middle English period used the London Dialect in their works.
Features of the London Dialect:
The basis of the London Dialect was the East Saxon Dialect
The East Saxon Dialect mixed with the East Midland Dialect and formed the London Dialect.
Thus the London Dialect became more Anglican than Saxon in character The London Dialect is an Anglican dialect.
The formation of the national E language. The London dialect.
The formation of the national literary English covers the Early NE period.
Factors that influenced:
The unification of the country and the progress of the culture;
Increased foreign contacts influenced the grouth of the vocabulary.
The Universities of Oxford and Cambridge.
Latin invention of printing → spreading of written form of English.
Early NE → Renaissance: Shakespeare, Thomas More. The end of the 17th cent. – books and dictionaries.
In the18th cent the speech of educated people differed from that of common people: 1) pronunciation; 2) choice of words; 3) grammar.
By the end of the 18th cent the speech may be regarded as completed for new , it possessed both a written and spoken standart.
The history of London dialect reveals the sources of literary language in late ME. The London dialect fundamentally East Saxon.
ME division → LD belonged to the S. Western dial. group.
12-13th S. West. districts – “Black Death” → new arrivals from the East Midland → London dialect became more Anglian.
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, Ancrene Riwle – South-Western dialect.
The dialect division which evolved in Early ME was on the whole preserved in later periods. In the 14th, 15th cent there were the same grouping of local dialects.
Southern group → Kentish
→ South-West dialect
Midland group → East Midland
→ West Midland
Northern group
French was ousted from official spheres and from the sphere of writing.
The Hourishing of literature which makes the second half of the 14cent testifies to the complete reestablishment of English as the language of writing. It was “the age of Chaucer”, the greatest author of this period. “Canterbury tales”
Chaucer was the most outstanding figure of the 14th cent. He had the most varied experience as student, official member of Parliament. His later works were imitative of other authors. He never wrote in any other language than English. The culmination of his work as a poet is his unfinished collection of stories “The Canterbury tales”. He presented in the pilgrims a gallery of life-like portraits taken from all works of life. Chaucer’s literature language based on the mixed London dialect is known as classical ME, in the 15-16th cent it became the basic of the national literary Engl language.
ME 12-15th: