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Файл:HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE = История английского языка.pdf
41
Взглянуть на чудо –
Следы чудовища;
Из них ни единого
Не опечалила
Кончина недруга.
Следы поведали,
Как, насмерть раненный,
Разбитый в битве,
Убрел враг, шатаясь,
И, Богом проклятый,
Свой путь направил
К бучилу адскому –
В пучине сгинул;
Варом кровавым
Вскипели воды,
Вспучился омут,
Покрылся пеной,
Мутные волны,
Вздымаясь, дымились
Багровым паром,
Кровью злорадца,
Лишенного радостей
И обреченного, –
Геенна приняла
Темного духа.
От топей к дворцу
Повернули старейшины,
К праздничной трапезе;
За ними ратников,
Всадников сила
На серых конях
Шла от болота,
Они возглашали:
Да славится Беовульф
Под этим небом!
42
Нет другого
От моря до моря
На юг и на север
Земли срединной,
Кто бы сравнился
С ним в добродоблести,
Кто был бы достойней
Воестаршинствовать!
(Они и Хродгарда,
вождя любимого,
хвалить не забыли –
он добрый был конунг!)
3. Read and translate the extract from the text OROSIUS
‘WULFSTAND STORY’. Analyze the nouns and verbs
from the point of view their grammatical categories.
Orosius
The Old English text of Orosius is a 9th century translation,
made by king Alfred the Great, of the History of the World
(Historiae adversum Paganos) by the Spanish monk Paulus
Orosius, born towards the close of the 4th century. His book was
written in the 2nd decade of the 5th century. The description of
the north-east of Europe in the Old English translation contains
an original part composed by Alfred; it describes the travels of
Ohthere and Wulfstand – travellers whose accounts Alfred had
recorded. The extract below is a continuation of Ohthere’s story
given in Specimens of Early English compiled by A.I.
Smirnitzky. The dialect is West Saxon.
Þæt Estland is swyðe mycel, and Þær bið swyðe mani burh
and on ælcere byri bið cynin , and Þær bið swyðe mycel huni
and fiscnað; and sē cynin and Þa ricostan men drincað myran
meolc and Þa unspedi an and Þa Þeōwan drincað mede. Þær bið
swỹðe mycel ewinn betwēōnan him; and ne bið ðær næni ealo
ebrowen mid Estum, ac Þær bið medo enoh.
43
THE MIDDLE ENGLISH PERIOD
Norman Invasion
Soon after the collapse of the Northern Empire the reign of
the Anglo-Saxon kings in Britain was restored, but it did not last
long. The new English king Edward the Confessor who returned
from his exile in Normandy brought many Norman monks and
nobles with him. He gave them the best and the richest lands. He
spoke French himself and insisted on it being spoken by the
nobles of his court.
When Edward the Confessor reigned in England he was
visited by William Duke of Normandy and it was rumoured that
Edward appointed William the successor.
In many respects Edward contributed to the Norman
infiltration long before the Norman Conquest.
However, the government of the country was still in the
hands of the Anglo-Saxons headed by Earl Godwin. When in
January 1066 king Edward died the Witan proclaimed Harold,
the eldest son Godwin, king of England.
As soon as this news reached William, who also wanted to
get the British throne, gathered a big army and supported by the
Pope crossed the English Channel. In the battle of Hastings in
October 1066 the British army was defeated and king Harold
was killed. After this battle William received the nick name the
Conqueror.
During the next few years the Normans became masters of
England, the ruling class of the Anglo-Saxon nobility vanished
almost completely. Some of the nobles were killed in the battle,
others were executed by William the Conqueror. This nobility
was replaced by the Norman barons who spoke Norman dialect
of the French language and during centuries the ruling language
in England was French. It was the language of the court, the
government, law, learning and the church. The use of the
English language was reduced to a lowers social sphere: the
main mass of peasantry and town people.
44
Linguistic situation
Under such circumstances, when two languages were spoken
in the country they were sure to influence each other.
The results of the existence of two languages were two-fold:
1. the struggle for the supremacy between English
and French ended in favour of English, but
2. the English language was greatly changed.
After the French invasion and declaration the French
language the language of the court, church and government, a
considerable number of the population came to be bi-lingual.
This created conditions for a mass entry of French words into the
English language. Many words adopted at that time denoted
things and notions connected with the life of aristocracy. Besides
this, many everyday words were borrowed into English. As a
result the English language developed a system of synonyms,
one of which was native and the other a French one.
The development of these synonyms in the course of history
could take two different directions:
1. the borrowed words gradually replaced thee native ones
and the native words gradually came out of use.
E.g. OE French
ea river
fyrd, hēre army.
2. Both words survived in the language, but they acquired
different shades of meaning or different stylistic
colouring.
E.g. English French
work labour
begin commence
life existence
As seem from the examples the words of the English
language are neutral in their stylistic value and borrowed
words are bookish ones. Besides, the borrowed words denote
notions which are characterized by a larger degree of
abstractness than notions denoted by the native words.
45
E.g. Native English French
(Anglo-Saxon)
sheep mutton
swine pork
ox, cow beef
calf veal
As the French language was the language of nobility many
borrowed word were connected with the life of the ruling class –
the French aristocracy and the loaned words of that period may
be grouped according to the semantic principle.
The following semantic groups can be singled out:
1. government and royal court: royal, government, prince,
baron noble, court, duke, etc;
2. court of justice (jurisdiction): judge, justice, accuse, trial,
defendant, charge and the like;
3. military life: army, war, battle, regiment, castle, victory,
defeat;
4. religion and church: religion, saint, pray, priest, chapel,
etc.;
5. art notions: art, colour, figure, image, ornament;
6. town professions: a butcher, a painter, a tailor. Words of
the English origin are used to denote professions which
are spread in the countryside, such as miller, shepherd.
7. amusements: pleasure, leisure, ease, feast, festival,
dinner, supper, lunch.
The Development of the Sounds in ME
Leveling of the unstressed vowels. In ME within the 12-13th
centuries all the unstressed vowels were reduced to the neutral
[ǝ], which in writing came to be denoted by the letter e.
a > e [ǝ], o > e [ǝ], u > e [ǝ], e > e [ǝ]. As in the most cases the
stress was shifted to the first syllable, the unstressed vowels
were mostly found in the endings – case inflections within the
system of nouns and adjectives, the inflections of person, tense
46
and number within the system of the verb: hwila > while, medo
> mede, sunu >sone, drincan > drinken.
This phenomenon formed one of the specific features of the
ME period, which is now called the ‘period of the leveled
endings’. This phenomenon also made a great influence upon the
further development of morphology and syntax.
Lengthening and shortening of vowels. Leveling of the
unstressed vowels led to the change in the rhythm of the
language. Neutral sound required less time to be pronounced. So
the change of the rhythm in its turn brought a change in the
quantity of a vowel followed by only one consonant: hopa [o] >
hope [o:], sprecan [e] > speken [e:]. A long vowel occurring
before two consonants was shortened in ME, but in other
positions it remained long.
OE ME OE ME
cēpan > keepen cēpte > kepte
slǣpan > sleepen slǣpte > slepte
As seen from the examples it brought some changes into the
system of verb. As a result a new sound interchange appeared: a
root vowel in the infinitive and in the Past / Participle II of the
verbs like keepen, sleepen, feeden [e:]>[e]>[e]. In the language
of today this phenomenon is reflected in the sound interchange
[i:]> [e] in the irregular verbs like keep –kept, meet – met and
the like.
Disappearance of æ. In ME the short [æ] developed into [a],
when preceded by w it changed into [o:]: wæs > was [o:], Þæt
> that [a].
Raise of the new diphthongs. All the OE diphthongs
disappeared in Late ME. In ME period there appeared conditions
for the development of the new diphthongs:
1. vocalization of consonants preceded by vowels,
2. borrowings from the French language,
As a result the following diphthongs appeared in the English
language: [ai], [ei], [au], [ou],[eu], [oi].
The Formation of the English National Language
47
After the Norman Conquest the language situation was the
following: the nobility spoke French, the use of the English
language was restricted to the lower social class: peasantry and
town people. There was no written language for two centuries or
even more and no standard that could be understood in all parts
of the country. As time went there appeared people who could
speak both English and French. During the 12-14th centuries
there was struggle between two languages. In the second half of
the 14th century the victory of the English language became quiet
evident but it was only in the 15th century that the French
language was substituted by English.
After the Norman Conquest the kings didn’t speak English.
The first king who spoke English was Henry IV. In fact, all the
laws of the country were translated from Anglo-Saxon first into
Latin and then into French.
In 1258 the king Henry III addressed the population of
London in his Proclamation written in English. In the middle of
the 14th century after the petition of the City of London the
parliament sittings were conducted in English. That contributed
to the development of the English national language.
The national languages usually developed together with the
development of the national bourgeoisie. The English
bourgeoisie appeared in the 14th century. Why was it so
important? This meant civilization of the industry, of state
power and the language. National languages usually use one of
the dialects for their basis. The dialect which may grow into a
national language must be well-known and understood by all the
people. It is usually the dialect of the capital of the country
because it is richer as compared to the rest of the dialects and
economically and culturally more important. The basis of
English became the dialect of London which was situated where
all roads crossed, where people brought characteristic features of
their local dialects. The London dialect is a mixture of Southern
and East Middle dialects.
48
In the 14th century London has a great influence on the other
parts of England because it becomes an important economic
center of the country. The London dialect was used by Geoffrey
Chaucer in the Canterbury Tales. What type of the narration is
it? It is the collection of stories told by fictional pilgrims on the
road to the Cathedral at Canterbury. These tales would help to
shape the English Literature.
Then English became once more a literary language.
Writers adopted a new spelling, based on changes introduced by
the French. ME can be characterised by the confused style of
spelling.
As there were no more conquests afterwards there were no
radical changes in the language. And ME emerged gradually
into Early MnE of Shakespearean Age and then into the English
spoken today. English has many words of foreign origin and it
has been often referred as the Language of Bridge which spans
the gulf between the Germanic and Roman groups of languages
in the Indo-European family.
Practical assignments
The Middle English Texts
Rules for the reading of the Late ME texts:
1. Vowels: a – [a], y – [y] in early ME texts (for example in
‘King Horn’) or [i] in late ME texts, ye – [i:], o – [o], e - [e] (the
endings are read), ee – [e:], ou – [u:],
2. Consonants: Ʒ – [j] at the beginning and in the and of a word
or [g] in all the other positions, wh- [hw], ph - [f], c – [s] before
the front vowels, c – [k] in all other positions, g – [dƷ], th – [Ɵ],
ch – [tʃ], sch – [ʃ], Þ – [ð] in the intevocal positions or [Ɵ] in all
the other cases.
1. Read, translate the extract from the M.E. poem ‘KING
HORN’ (lines 1-26).
49
King Horn
King Horn is a metrical romance of the 13th century. It is
written in the East Midland dialect.
The extract below is the beginning of the poem.
Alle beon he bliÞe
Þat to my song lyÞe:
A sang ich schal ou singe
Of Murry Þe kinge.
King he was biweste
So longe so hit laste.
Godhild het his quen,
Faire ne mi te non ben.
He hadde a sone Þat het horn,
Fairer ne mihte non beo born.
Ne no rein upon birine,
Ne sunne upon bischine.
Fairer nis nan Þane he was,
He was bri t so Þe glas,
He was whit so Þe flur,
Rose red was his colur.
In none kinge-riche
Nas non his iliche.
Twelf feren he hadde.
Þat alle wiÞ him ladde.
Alle riches mannes sones,
And alle hi were faire gomes,
WiÞ him for him to pleie,
And mest he luuede tweie;
Þat on him het haÞulf child,
And Þat oÞer Fikenild.
50
Король рог
(перевод студентки Ксении Шестовской )
Поведаю я вам, друзья
Один чудесный сказ.
Про королевство, короля
Я поведу рассказ.
Легенде много лет моей:
Жил-был король седой,
Жил, не тужил он, со своей
Красавицей женой.
Был королевич, сын у них –
Красивый молодец;
Но от рожденья не простой
Бог дал ему венец.
У королевича был рог
Прозрачней хрусталя,
Белее облака он был
И ярче янтаря.
Был королевич огражден
И спрятан от людей
В кругу надежных слуг отца,
Двенадцати друзей.
Он был и зверь и человек,
Двуликой маской околдован,
Так длилось много, много дней...
И вот случился день особый...
2. Read, translate and make the grammatical analysis of the
piece from Chaucer’s CANTERBURY TALES (1- 8 lines)
Canterbury Tales
THE PROLOGUE