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Ministry of education and science of ukraine

Borys Grinchenko Kyiv University

Humanitarian Institute

Germanic Philology Department

Noun grammatical categories in Middle period

Term Paper

Anna Dragunova

Group Fab-1-12-4.0d

Research supervisor

Associate Professor Chuvardynska O.V.

Kyiv 2016

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………………...2

CHAPTER 1. Historical background of Middle English………………………...4

1.1. Evolution of the grammatical system (from 11^th to 18 ^th c)…………………..5

1.2. Spelling changes in Middle English. Written standardization ………………7

1.3. Semantic changes in the vocabulary…………………………………………..9

1.3.1. The Latin influence on English vocabulary…………………………….11

1.3.2. The French influence on the vocabulary in Middle English………….13

CHAPTER 2. Dialect variations in Middle English……………………………..15

2.1. Decay of noun declensions in Early Middle English. ………………………17

2.2. Evolution of category of case…………………………………………………19

2.3. Evolution of category of gender……………………………………………..20

2.4. Evolution of category of number……………………………………………21

CONCLUSIONS…………………………………………………………………..22

REFERENCES…..………………………………………………………………..24

INTRODUCTION

The issues that provoke high interest and are researched by many scholars are still urgent and arguable so far as the theory is new and is not well-founded. This creates the relevance of the chosen subject.

The object of the study is a use of nouns in Middle English.

The subject of the scientific research is a difference of nouns in Middle English.

The problem of identifying the simplification of noun morphology affected the grammatical categories of the noun in different ways and to a varying degree and the Latin and French influences on English vocabulary in Middle English.

The main purpose of the study is to analyze the evolution of category of number, case and gender of nouns.

The aims:

To research evolution of the grammatical system

To analyze the semantic changes in the vocabulary in Middle English

To find out the rules of reading and written standardization

To distinguish the spelling changes in Middle English

The linguistic methods used in the study:

1. Comparative

2. Descriptive

The material for research is noun grammatical categories in Middle period.

The structure of the study includes introduction, two chapters, conclusions and references.

CHAPTER 1.

Historical background of Middle English

There are three main stages in the history of the development of the English language that are usually recognized by the scientists.

1. Old English, or Anglo-Saxon, dates from AD 449 to 1066 or 1100.

2. Middle English dates from 1066 or 1100 to 1450 or 1500.

3. Modern English dates from about 1450 or 1500 and is subdivided into Early Modern English, from about 1500 to 1660, and Late Modern English, from about 1660 to the present time.

Speaking about the historical background of Middle English I want to notice about the Scandinavian Conquest of England. It was a great military and political event, which also influenced the English language. Scandinavian inroads into England had began as early as the 8^th century. The Anglo-Saxons offered the invaders a stubborn resistance, which is seen in the narrations of Chronicle. In the late 9^th century the Scandinavian had occupied the whole of English territory north of Thames. In 878 king Alfred made peace with the invaders. The territory occupied by the Scandinavian was to remain in their power. The northern and eastern parts of England were most thickly settled by Scandinavians. In the late 10^th century war in England was resumed, and the whole country fell to the invaders. England became part of a vast Scandinavian empire in Northern Europe. The Scandinavian conquest had far-reaching consequences for the English language. The Scandinavian dialects spoken by the invaders belonged to the North Germanic languages and their phonetic and grammatical structure was similar to that of OE. They had the same morphological categories, strong and weak declension of substantives, of adjectives, of verbs. Close relationship between English and Scandinavian dialects made mutual understanding without translation quite possible.

The Norman conquest of England began in 1066. It proved to be the turning-point in English history and had a considerable influence on the English language. The Normans were by origin a Scandinavian tribe. In 9^th century they began inroads on the northern coast of France and occupied the territory on both shores of the Seine estuary. Mixing with the local population and adopting the French language and in the mid-11 century, in spite of their Scandinavian origin, they were bearers of French feudal culture and of the French language. In 1066 king Edward the Confessor died. William, Duke of Normandy, who had long claimed the English throne, assembled an army with the help of Norman barons, landed in England, and rooted the English troops. William confiscated the estates of the Anglo-Saxon nobility and distributed them among the Norman barons. All posts in the church, from abbots upwards, were giving to persons of French culture. Frenchmen arrived in England in great numbers. During the reign of William the Conqueror about 200 000 Frenchmen settled in England.

During several centuries the ruling language in England was French. It was the language of the court, the Government, the courts of laws, the English language was reduced to a lower social sphere. The relation between French and English was different from that between Scandinavian and English: French was the language of the ruling class. Under the circumstances, with two languages spoken in the country, they were bound to struggle with each other, and also influenced each other. This process lasted for three centuries the 12^th – 14^th. Its results were twofold: the struggle for supremacy between French and English ended in favor of English, but its vocabulary was enriched by a great number of French words.