- •Lecture 1.
- •Introductory. General characteristics of germanic languages
- •2. Inner and outer history of the language
- •3. Chief characteristics of the Germanic languages
- •3.1. Phonetics
- •Indo-European Germanic
- •Indo-European Germanic
- •3.2. Grammar
- •3.3. Alphabet
- •Lecture 2. Old english. General characteristics
- •Outer history
- •1.1. Pre-Germanic history of Britain The Celts
- •The Latin Language in Britain
- •Britain’s Roman villas
- •The Names “England” and “English”
- •1.2. Anglo-Saxon Civilization
- •1.3. Introduction of Christianity
- •1.4. Principal written records of the Old English period
- •2. Dialectal classification of Old English written records
- •2.1. The dialects in Old English
- •2.2. Old English written records Runic inscriptions
- •2. Inner history
- •3.1. Phonetics
- •3.2. Spelling
- •3.3. Grammar
- •3.4. Vocabulary
- •Lecture 3. Middle english. General characteristics
- •1. Outer history
- •1.1. The Scandinavian Invasions in England
- •1.2. Effect of the Scandinavian Invasions
- •1.3. The Norman Conquest
- •1.4. Effect of the Norman Conquest on the linguistic situation
- •1.4. Early Middle English dialects
- •5. Formation of the National language
- •2. Inner history
- •2.1. Phonetics
- •2.2. Grammar
- •Some grammatical features viewed diachronically
- •Тнe problem of spelling pronunciation
- •Lecture 4. New english. General characteristics
- •1. Outer history
- •1.1. Emergence of the nation
- •1.2. Establishment of the literary norm
- •Geographical expansion of English in the 17th – 20th centuries and its effect on the language
- •Cultural Development in the 14th Century
- •Pre-renaissance culture
- •English renaissance
- •2. Inner history
- •2.1. Phonetics
- •2.1.1. The system of stress
- •2.1.2. Consonants
- •2.1.3. Vowels
- •2.2. Grammar
- •2.3. Word-stock
- •Lecture 5.
- •1. Old english vowels
- •1.1. Origin of Old English vowel phonemes
- •1.2. Changes in Old English vowel phonemes
- •1.2.1. Breaking
- •1.2.2.Palatal mutation
- •Monophthongs
- •1.2.3. Effect of palatal mutation upon grammar and word-stock
- •Verb Verb
- •Old english consonants
- •Voicing of Fricatives in Proto-Germanic (Verner’s Law)
- •Lecture 5. Old english grammar. The nominal system
- •Old English grammar
- •2. General survey of the nominal system
- •Grammatical categories of declinable parts of speech
- •2. The noun
- •2.1. Gender
- •Masculine
- •Feminine
- •2.2. Number
- •2.3. Case
- •Nominative plural
- •Declensions in Old English
- •Vowel-stems. Declension of a-stem nouns
- •Consonant stems. Declension of n-stem nouns
- •Declension of a-stem nouns
- •Declension of n-stem nouns
- •Declension of root-stem nouns
- •Declension of root-stem nouns
- •2.4. Homonymity of forms in Old English and its influence on the further development of noun forms
- •3. The pronoun
- •3.1. The personal pronoun
- •Masculine feminine neuter
- •Singular dual Plural
- •Declension of the personal pronoun Ic
- •3.2. Other pronouns
- •Declension of the demonstrative pronoun sē
- •The adjective
- •4.1. Declension of adjectives
- •Declension of adjectives
- •4.2. Degrees of comparison
- •Summary
- •Lecture
- •1. General survey of finite and non-finite forms of the verb
- •Ic зā tō drincenne (I go to drink)
- •2. Grammatical categories of the finite forms of the verb
- •2.1. Person
- •2.2. Number
- •3. Morphological classification of verbs lecture 6 changes in the phonetic system in middle english and new english
- •Changes in the Phonetic System in Middle English
- •Vowels in the unstressed position
- •Vowels under stress
- •1.2.1. Qualitative changes
- •Diphthongs
- •1.2.2. Quantative changes
- •Consonants
- •Summary – Middle English
- •2. Changes in the phonetic system in New English
- •2.1. Vowels in the unstressed position
- •2.2. Vowels under stress
- •2.2.1. Qualitative changes
- •Middle English New English
- •Influence of the consonant “r” upon the Great Vowel Shift
- •Middle English New English
- •Summary – New English
- •Vowels – qualitative changes:
- •Vowels – Quantitative changes:
- •3. Changes in alphabet and spelling in Middle and New English
- •Lecture 7 changes in the nominal system in middle english and new english
- •1. General survey of grammar changes in Middle English and New English
- •2. The noun
- •2.1. Middle English
- •2.2. New English
- •2.2.1. Morphological classification
- •2.2.2. Origin of modern irregular noun forms
- •2.2.3. Grammatical categories
- •3. The adjective
- •Degrees of Comparison
- •Comfortable – more comfortable.
- •Summary
- •Lecture 8 changes in the verbal system in middle and new english
- •1. Non-Finite forms (verbals)
- •I thanked him for brining the happy tidings.
- •2. Morphological classification of verbs in Middle English and New English
- •2.1. Strong verbs
- •2.1.1. Classes of the strong verbs
- •2.1.2. Principal forms of the strong verbs
- •2.2. Weak verbs
- •2.2.1. Classes of the weak verbs
- •2.2.2. Principal forms of the weak verbs
- •2.3. Origin of modern irregular verbs
- •3. Grammatical categories of the English verb
- •Summary
- •Lecture 9 english vocabulary
- •1. Old English
- •General characteristics
- •1.2. Means of enriching vocabulary
- •1.2.1. Internal means of enriching vocabulary
- •Vowel interchange:
- •2. Middle English
- •3. New English
- •Lecture 12
- •2. Native element in Modern English
- •2.1. Common indo-European stratum
- •2.2. Common Germanic stratum
- •3. Foreign element in Modern English (borrowings)
- •3.1. Latin element
- •3.2. Scandinavian element
- •3.3. French element
- •4. Word-hybrids
- •5. Etymological doublets
- •6. Sources of the new words in modern English
Pre-renaissance culture
Compared to the preceding and the following centuries, the 15th century was comparatively barren. At that time tere were no great poets and writers no great masterpieces were created. The most important book of that time was “Morte de’Arthur” written by Thomas Malory, a Yorkist nobleman. It was one of the last chivalric romances of the king’s Arthur cycle, a swan song of the nobility.
But folklore flourished all long through the 15th century. Many of them were printed (at that time Caxton started printing]. Some of them are ballads of Robin Hood, who had to leave his oppressors and come to Sherwood Forest where very soon other good and honest outlaws gathered to proclaim Robin Hood their leader and begin a life full adventure for justice and nobleness.
Other ballads were historical; many of them described the brinkmanship between England and Scotland.
By the end of the 15th century new forces were beginning to work in English culture. The Oxford University was becoming the center of learning, science and culture. The professors of the university started to discover the antique authors.
English renaissance
Renaissance is the epoch of Humanism and the Revival of Learning born in Italy after revival of the culture and science of Italy and the whole western world. The human being, the beauty and the joy of this life were now the center of attention.
In England three main stages of this process could be distinguished: the early stage of the end of the 15th century and the first half of the 16th century and the later stage coinciding with reign of Queen Elizabeth and the life-span of Shakespeare. The period after Shakespeare’s death and to the beginning of the puritan revolution was the time of decline of the Renaissance and the crisis of Humanism.
The earlier Tudor period was a time of transition from the late medieval to Renaissance culture. The new architecture imported from Italy had little in common with the Gothic style. With the interest to classics there came a tendency to the ancient forms and styles in architecture and art. It was in early 16th century that the influence of the Italian Renaissance architecture was really felt in England in the pure classical lines of Inigo Johnes the example of this style was the Whitehall palace. Christopher Wren, a very outstanding architect used the classic forms with great purity and correctness. After the great fire of London he rebuilt a great number of churches, cathedrals, palaces, houses of the rich people of London. St. Paul’s cathedral is a good example of this style.
Architects and painters were invited from Italy and other western countries. Many of them, though being foreigners were allowed to enrich British culture and are generally treated by historians as the founders of the English school of painting, as for instance Hans Holbein Junior, an outstanding German painter. He depicted all details of the sitter’s appearance. His portraits were so realistic, that they expressed the sitter’s character, his thoughts, and his inner life. English portrait painting started from Hans Holbein Junior’s works. The wealthy houses were soon filled with portraits of ancestors often painted by provincial painters imitating Holbein. Rubens and Van Dyck, the great Dutchmen are also revered as creators of English painting for they were attracted by the English titles and agreed to be treated as English painters.
One of the most famous representatives of the English Renaissance culture was Thomas More, lawyer, scholar, writer, and statesman. His great work was “Utopia” published in Latin in 1516, a scathing satire on feudalism and the emerging capitalism, on the government and society of England.
The description of contemporary England with all the evils of poverty for the many and luxury for the few is made in striking contrasts to the island of “Utopia” where there is not private ownership of land and industrial tools, where community of goods, a national system of education, the rule of work for all. More does not condemn the feudal system, sad assurance that the new system, based on money is no smaller evil. He looks forward the new fair social society with no exploitation, equal rights to all members of the society.
The second stage of Renaissance in England was the age of the theater. In the first period it was the time of “morality play” and the “mystery play”. The theater reflected the reality of those days, showing the political antagonism of the society. There were also plays by classical Greek and Roman tragedians staged by university students. The first theaters were mobile. The actors staged their plays on the squares, markets, taverns and roadside inns.
In 1576 the first theater was built in London by a group of actors and soon theaters appeared everywhere – rough and primitive structures, roofless and curtainless, seating some thousand people.
The third stage of Renaissance epoch was characterized by increasing decay of drama.