- •The Germanic languages. The Germanic tribes.
- •3.The North Germanic languages.
- •4.The West Germanic languages.
- •5.The periods in the History of English.
- •6.The Old English dialects and the formation of English language.
- •7.Middle English dialects and the formation of the National Literary English Language.
- •8.The Anglo –Saxon conquest and its historical and linguistic importance.
- •9.The historical background of Middle English.
- •10.The development of Middle English dialects.
- •11.The development of the English Vocabulary.
- •12.The English Basic Word Stock.
- •13.Foreign Influences upon English and their importance.
- •14.The Celtic influence.
- •15.The Latin influence.
- •16.The Scandinavian influence.
- •17.The French influence.
- •18.Phonetic peculiarities of Germanic languages.
- •19.The Germanic phonetic system.
- •20.First Consonant Shift (Grimm’s and Verner’s law).
- •21.Principles oe phonetic changes (breaking,I-umlaut (mutation) lengthening of vowels).
- •After sk’ k’
- •2. After j
- •22.Consonant changes in oe. Oe alphabets.
- •Voicing or devoicing
- •After sk’ k’
- •2. After j
- •23.Middle English spelling change and principal sound changes.
- •24.Weakening of Unaccented Vowels and its results.
- •25.Consonant changes in Middle English.
- •Voicing of Fricatives
- •The Great Vowel Shift and its importance.
- •Modern English consonant changes (Vocalization of r, appearance of sibilants in new positions, loss of consonants).
- •Phonetic analysis of Old English sound changes.
- •Phonetic analysis of Middle English and Modern English phonetic change.
- •The Evolution of the Old English phonetic system.
- •Middle English spelling change and principal sound changes.
- •The evolution of the English Noun.
- •The evolution of the Verb.
- •The evolution of the English Adjective.
- •The evolution of the English Pronoun.
- •The evolution of the English Numeral.
- •The evolution of the English Syntax.
- •The discovery of Sanskrit.
- •The Indo-European Family.
- •Grimm’s Law.
- •The Romans in Britain. Romanization of the Island.
- •The Latin Language in Britain.
- •The Anglo-Saxon Civilization. The names “England” and “English”.
- •The Periods in the History of English.
- •The dialects of Old English.
- •Verner’s Law
- •The Definite Article.
- •The Norman Conquest. The origin of Normandy.
- •The Influence of Christianity on the Vocabulary.
- •80. Preterite-present and suppletive verbs.
- •81. The development of analytical tenses.
- •84. Wessex dialect.
- •85. Old English dialect and formation of the English language.
- •86. The periods in the history of English.
- •88. The main oe dialects.
- •89. The development of the English vocabulary. The English Basic Word Stock
- •92. Me phonetic system. Weakening of the unaccentedwords.
- •2.Development of oe å
- •94. Modern English phonetic changes. The Great Vowel Shift.
- •95. Modern English phonetic changes. Vocalization of “r”.
- •96. The importance of the Anglo-Saxon Conquest.
- •100. The definite article
- •Vikings and their influence on English.
- •Grammatical changes in Old English.
- •Grammatical changes in Middle English.
- •Grammatical changes in Early Modern English.
- •Loss of case system in Old English.
- •English as a Germanic language. Periods in the history of English.
- •Main Germanic historical written monuments.
- •London dialect. Formation of National language.
- •Phonetic changes in Germanic languages.
- •Word Stress
- •Consonants. Proto-Germanic consonant shift
- •Phonetic changes in Old English.
- •Phonetic changes in Middle English.
- •Phonetic changes in Early New English. Great Vowel Shift.
- •Word-building in Old and Middle English periods.
- •Main sources of borrowings in Old English.
- •Main sources of borrowings in Middle English.
- •Main sources of borrowings in Modern English.
- •The Noun. Main categories, declensions.
- •Main causes of losing the case system in English.
- •The adjective.
- •Development of degrees of comparison of adjectives.
- •Personal pronouns.
- •Possessive pronouns.
- •Demonstrative and indefinite pronouns.
- •Development of the articles.
- •Strong verbs in the history of English.
- •The periods in the History of English.
- •Middle English Prosody
- •Latin Borrowings
- •Scandinavian Borrowings
- •French Borrowings
- •Celtic Borrowings
- •Greek Borrowings
- •Semantic Borrowings
Main sources of borrowings in Old English.
Loan-words, or borrowings were not so frequent in Old English. They are: Celtic (taken from the substratum languages) and Latin.
Celtic element is not very significant, and is mainly reduced to the the following:
dun (down), dun (dun), binn (bin). These may occur as separate words, but a great many are found only as elements of place-names (amhuin -river: Avon, Evan, uisge water in names beginning with Exe-, Usk-, Esk-, (later - whiskey); dun, dum (hill): Dumbarton, Dundee, Dunstable, Dunfermline, Dunleary\ inbher (mountain) - Inverness, Inverurfe, coil (forest) Killbrook, Killiemore etc. Some common names of people are of Celtic origin, too - Arthur (noble), Donald (proud chief), Kennedy (ugly head).
Besides, one can find some words that were taken from Celtic languages by other Germanic languages, not necessarily on the Isles - wealas (alien) OHG wal(a)ha, Icelvalir, eisarn - isarn, isern - iron.
Latin words in Old English are usually classified into two layers. Some were taken into Germanic languages in pre-British period, during contacts of the Germanic tribes through wars and trade; these words are found in many Germanic languages (we take Present-day German for comparison), and are so assimilated now that only a specialist can trace their origin. Theyare:
castel( castle - Lat. castellum)
cealc (chalk - Lat.calcium)
ciese (cheese - Lat. caseus, Mn Germ Kase),
cires (cherry - Lat. cerasus, Mn Germ Kirsche),
copor (copper, Lat. cuprum, Mn Germ Kupfer),
cycene (Lat. coquina, Mn Germ Kuchen),
cytel (kettle - Lat. catillus, Mn Germ Kessel),
disc ( dish Lat. discus, Mn Germ Tisch),
mile (mile - Lat. millapassum, Mn Germ Meile).
Main sources of borrowings in Middle English.
The aristocracy had adopted English as their language and the use and importance of French gradually faded. The period from the Conquest to the reemergence of English as a fullfledged literary language is called Middle English.
About 900 words were borrowed during this phase, with most of them showing the effects of Anglo-Norman phonology. Examples from this source are: Social: baron, noble, dame, servant, messenger, feast, minstrel, juggler, largess. Literary: story, rime, lay; Church: The largest number of words was borrowed for use in religious services since the French-speaking Normans took control of the church in England. 1250-1400. A great influx of French into general English use took place between these years, a rather long period “during which Anglo-Norman bilingualism gradually turned into a resurrection of English as mother tongue of all inhabitants of England. For all their Old French names, the early nationalist Simon of Montfort and Chaucer embodied the beginning and the end (respectively) of the process of re-Anglicization. English speakers were regaining both social prestige and confidence in the possibilities of their 3 own language, which they also felt free to enrich, by assimilating foreign words that were coming in with new fashions and notions” (Poruciuc, 1992)4. Government and Administrative: govern, government, administer, crown, state, empire, royal, majesty, treaty, statute, parliament, tax, rebel, traitor, treason, exile, chancellor, treasurer, major, noble, peer, prince, princess, duke, squire, page (but not king, queen, lord, lady, earl), peasant, slave, servant, vassal. Ecclesiastical: religion, theology, sermon, confession, clergy, clergy, cardinal, friar, crucifix, miter, censer lectern, abbey, convent, creator, savior, virgin, faith, heresy, schism, solemn, divine, devout, preach, pray, adore, confess.