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Файл:HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE = История английского языка.pdf
51
The drohte of Marche hath perced to the rote
And bathed every veyne in swich licour,
Of which vertu engendred is the flour;
Whan Zephirus eek with his swete breeth
Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
The tendre croppes, and the younge sonne
Hath in the Ram his halfe cours y-ronne,
And smalle fowles maken melodye.
Кентерберийские рассказы
(перевод студентки 2 курса Мириевой Лианы)
Как сладок был тот ливень, что в Апреле
Нам мартовскую засуху смочил.
И каждый искупался в той капели,
Что для цветов Всевышний подарил.
И ветер гнал со сладким ароматом
Свою энергию для рощи и степи.
Где пробивался урожай со страхом,
И солнце пробежало пол пути.
52
THE MODERN ENGLISH PERIOD
Changes in the MnE Period
The Great Vowel Shift. In the period of 15th-17th centuries all
the long vowels in the English language were either
diphthongized or narrowed. These changes as well as all the
other phonetic changes of MnE and late ME periods were not
accompanied by the changes in the spelling and this
phenomenon developed the so-called ‘historical principle of the
English orthography’. According to this shift the following
changes took place:
ME MnE
[a:] > [ei] name, take, make;
[o:] > [ǝu] bone, stone, old;
[i:] > [ai] fine, night, right, write;
[u:] > [au] out, house, mouse;
[e:] > [i:] keep, sleep, sea, Peter;
[o:] > [u:] foot, mood.
Reappearance of [æ]. In the 15th century the sound [æ]
reappeared in the English language. It developed from the sound
[a] and it appeared as a semi long vowel that [a] > that [æ].
Vocalization of [r]. This process took a very long period of
time. It began in the early 16th century and was completed in the
middle of the 18th century. Due to vocalization of [r], the new
sounds appeared in the English language. Thus, the sound cluster
–ar gave raise to a long sound [a:] far. Other changes include
the following correspondences:
ME MnE
[or] > [o:] more, core;
[ur] > [ǝ:] fur;
[ir] > [ǝ:] sir;
[er] > [ǝ:] her.
Simplification of the initial clusters. In MnE period the
pronunciation of many initial clusters in the beginning and in the
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middle of the word as well as in the final position was
simplified.
In the initial position:
ME MnE
[hw] > [w] what [hwa:t] > [wo:t],
[kn] > [n] know,
[gn] > [n] gnat, gnu.
In the middle of the word and in the final position:
ME MnE
[stl] > [sl] castle,
[ftn] > [fn] often,
[mn] > [m] column,
[stn] > [sn] mustn’t.
Borrowings from Classical Languages (Age of the Renaissance)
Latin and Greek
Adoption of classical words is accounted by O. Jespersen by
the revival of learning in the age of the Renaissance. Through
Italy and France the Renaissance came to be left in England as
early as the 14th century, although the influence of the classical
languages was mostly felt in the 16th and 19th centuries.
Borrowings from classical languages were mostly new
notions which couldn’t be directly translated into the English
language.
Numerous Latin and Greek words were first used by Thomas
More (early 16th century) who wrote in Latin and in English.
Among his innovations were: anticipate, contradictory, exact,
exaggerate, explain, fact, monopoly, pretext. Many classical
borrowings first appeared in Shakespeare’s works:
accommodation, apostrophe, dislocate, reliance, submerge.
The following list includes loan-words of the 16th and early
17th c. which still circulate today: e.g. anonymous (Gr),
aspiration, criterion (Gr), genius, gesture, history, index, include
individual, major, minor. Some borrowing have specialized
meaning and belong to scientific terminology: acid, analysis,
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appendix, atom, complex, curriculum, energy, formula,
metaphor, rhythm, scene, theatre.
In addition to true borrowings classical languages have
provided a supply of roots in the creation of new words. Words
like democracy, education, encyclopedia, have Greek
component parts.
In addition to words and roots Latin and Greek supplied
English with a number of derivational affixes which have
become productive in the English language.
e.g. suffixes –ism - humanism
-ist - protagonist
- ize, - ise – categorize, characterize
Greek prefixes - anti – antiwar
-di, -neo
Latin prefixes –de,-ex, -re
One of consequences of the classical borrowings on the
English language was the further increase of the number of
synonyms. Replacement of native words by classical loan –
words is rare, a normal result was the addition of another
synonym to the existing words.
The following examples illustrate three sources of synonyms
and their semantic and stylistic differences.
Native English: break, reckon, size, kingly.
French: sever, count, caliber, royal.
Latin: separate, compute, magnitude, regal.
It’s evident that Latin and French words are more bookish
than native, Latin words being sometimes more “elevated” than
French words.
Borrowings from Contemporary Languages in MnE
The foreign influence on the English vocabulary in the age of
the Renaissance and in the following centuries wasn’t restricted
to Latin and Greek.
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I. The influence of French words continued and reached new
peaks in the late 15th and 17th centuries.
French borrowings of the later periods mainly pertain to
diplomatic relations, social life, art, fashion, as Paris had a
world-wide significance in these areas
1 diplomatic terms: attaché, communiqué;
2 social life: ballet, essay, genre;
3 military terms: corps, maneuver, marine, police.
4 fashion in dress and food: blouse, corsage, champagne, menu,
soap.
5 words of miscellaneous character: comrade, detail, entrance,
machine, moustache, progress, ticket.
As seen from the lists, later French borrowings differ widely
from the loan words, adopted in ME. Most of them haven’t been
completely assimilated and have retained some foreign features
to the present day, e.g. spelling and pronunciation of the word
‘restaurant’.
II. English owes the greatest number of foreign words to Italian.
A few early loan-words belong to commercial sphere and
military spheres, while the grater majority of words are related to
art, music and literature, because it’s Italy that was the birth
place of the Renaissance movement.
1. 14th c. Italian words: million, florin, pistol, alarm;
2. music terms: aria, bass, concerto, duet, piano, solo, sonata,
violin;
3. sculpture: balcony, corridor, fresco, gallery, granite, studio;
4. concepts of literature: replica, sonnet.
III. Borrowings from Spanish came as a result of contacts with
Spain in the military, commercial and political fields (16 -17th
centuries). They are: armada, cargo, embargo, banana, canoe,
chocolate, cocoa, mosquito, Negro, potato, tobacco, tomato.
IV. Borrowings from the Germanic languages:
- Dutch made a rather large contribution to English
particularly in the 15th and16th c., when commercial relations
between England and Netherlands were at their peak.
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- Dutch loan-words: strip, cruise, deck, dock, freight,
skipper, easel, landscape, sketch.
- Loan-words from German reflect the scientific and
cultural achievement of Germany at different dates of MnE
period. They are e.g.: cobalt, nickel, zinc, dynamic.
- Miscellaneous words: stroll, kindergarten, halt, plunder,
poodle, waltz.
V. The Russian element in the English vocabulary is of
particular interest. The earliest Russian loan-words entered
English language in the 16th century, when the English Trade
company established the first trade relations with Russian.
The loan-words of the period between the 16th-19th centuries
are the following: intelligentsia, muzhik, rouble, samovar, troika,
tsar, vodka. The loan – words after 1917 reflect the new social
relations and political institutions in the USSR: bolshevik,
komsomol, soviet, collective farm, five-year –plan, wall
newspaper, perestroika; some scientific terms: sputnik,
cosmonaut (astronaut).
History of word-formation
The growth of the English vocabulary from internal sources
trough word-formation semantic change can be observed in all
periods of history.
1. Affixation = prefixation + suffixation. Affixation is a means
of word formation when the new word is built by adding an affix
(a suffix or a prefix or both) to the root of the word. Affixation is
one of the most ancient means of word formation. The table
presents the most productive means of word-formation in OE.
Word-formation in Old English
Derivation
Word Composition
Prefixation
Suffixation
Verbs
(Nouns, adjectives)
(Nouns, adjectives)
(Nouns, adjectives)
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for- Ʒietan, un-riht
(NE forget,
“wrong” (lit. “not
right”))
Ʒod-nis (NE
goodness)
Ʒræd-iƷ (NE
greedy)
ham-cyme,
cild-ƷeonƷ
(NE home-coming,
young as a child)
Wis-dom, freond-leas
(NE wisdom, friendliness)
(suffixation – composition)
Composition
Composition is a means of word-building, when new words
are produced by combining two or more stems. Such words are
called compounds.
Composition was one of the most productive ways of wordbuilding in OE in early MnE. Compound nouns were built
according to a variety of patterns.
I. The most productive type noun + noun stems.
A group of compounds with the 1st component ‘god’ have been
recorded since early ME (godson, godfather, godmother).
The compounds – mousetrap, nightertale (night time) – found in
late ME texts are made of native stems. ME shop window,
football, nightgown are hybrids (window, ball- Scandinavian
words, gown – a French one).
Early MnE compounds of this type are more numerous:
workshop, snowdrop, light house, gooseberry-native; hybrids:
breadbasket (E+Fr), chest-nut, table cloth (Fr+E), business-suit
(Sc+E), schoolboy, schoolgirl (L+E).
II. gerund + noun
ME: working day;
MnE: looking-glass, reading-room, drawing-room;
III. noun + noun + er
ME: householder, standard-bearer;
MnE: rope-dancer;
Late MnE: type-writer, baby-sitter.
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The other types of composition are less productive.
IV. adjective + noun
ME: stronghold;
Early MnE: hothouse, shorthand, greenhouse.
V. verb + adverb
Break down (v, n), make up (v, n).
This kind of formation of nouns from verbs can be treated as an
instance of conversion.
Conversion
Conversion was a new method of word derivation which
arose in late ME and grew into a most productive specifically
English way of creating new words. The word is transformed
into another part of speech, though its phonetic and graphical
forms remain the same. (e.g. house - to house, water – to water).
The growth of conversion is accounted for by grammatical
and lexical changes during the ME period: reduction of endings
and suffixes and the simplification of the morphological
structure of the word.
OE ME MnE
Lufu(n) – lufian (v) love (n) – loven (v) love (n,v)
change (n) – chaungen (v) change (n,v)
In early MnE the words in each pair became homonyms.
The use of conversion didn’t mean only the formation of verbs
from nouns. Nouns as well could be derived from verbs.
Ex.: ME looke (n) from loken (v) MnE look
drive from to drive
paint from to paint
Conversion was and is new one of the most productive ways
of word-building.
Practical assignments
The Borrowings in Different Periods of the History
of the English Language
The History of Word Formation
59
1. Account for the origin (Germanic, Celtic, French) of the
following place names: Germany, Saxony, Anglia, Gothenberg,
Jutland, France, Normandy, Anglesea, England, Britain,
Bretagne, Sussex, Middlesex, Wessex, Northumbrialand.
2. Classify the words into the following groups:
a) Native words,
b) Scandinavian Borrowings,
c) French Borrowings,
d) Latin Borrowings.
1) Skirt 11) tailor 21) dinner
2) evil 12) heaven 22) miller
3) smell 13) odour 23) obvious
4) government 14) pea 24) want
5) cow 15) law 25) minor
6) beef 16) include 26) armour
7) antiwar 17) take 27) marriage
8) they 18) individual 28) sky
9) encyclopedia 19) table 29) neutral
10) bear 20) autumn 30) starve
3. Classify the borrowings from contemporary languages into
a) French
b) Italian
c) Spanish
d) Russian
e) Germanic:
1) champagne 6) piano 11) landscape
2) waltz 7) sputnik 12) menu
3) embargo 8) ballet 13) balcony
4) astronaut 9) kindergarten 14) tsar
5) aria 10) potato 15) moustache
4. Classify the words according to the way of the derivation:
a) Affixation,
60
b) Conversion,
c) Composition:
1) tablecloth 6) schoolgirl 11) chestnut
2) antiwar 7) collect 12) a make-up
3) stepmother 8) disagree 13) freedom
4) serious 9) godfather 14) a drive
5) to house 10) marriage 15) friendship.