Лабораторная работа №2

Old English phonetics. Consonants

Topics for discussion in class

1. The system of Old English consonants and their origin.

2. Grimm's law, Verner's law; voicing, devoicing, hardening and rhotacism in Old English.

Questions and assignments

1. Make a list of Old English consonants and analyse the differentiating features between them.

2. What consonant correlations may be observed between words in English and any other Germanic languages?

3. Find in the text examples showing that voiced and voiceless fricative consonants (f/v, Ɵ/ð, s/z) were conditioned variants (allophones) of the same phonemes.

4. Read and translate the text into Modern English / Russian (part 2). Make the phonetic analysis following the model given in Seminar 1 (analyse only the underlined words).

From the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle A. 1013

Part 2

þā he tō ðǣre byriʒ com, þā nolde sēo burhwaru buʒan ac heoldan mid fullan wiʒe onʒean, forðan pǣr wæs inne sē cyng Æþelrēd and þurkyl mid him. þā wende Sweʒen cyng þanon tō Wealingforda, and swā ofer Temese westweard tō Baþan, and sæt þǣr mid his fyrde. And com Æþelmær ealdorman þyder, and ðā westernan þeʒenas mid him, and buʒon ealle tō Sweʒene, and hī ʒisludon. þā hē ðus ʒefaren hæfde, wende þā norðweard tō his scipum, and eall þeodscype hine hæfde þā for fulne cyng; and sēo buruhwaru æfter ðam on Lundene bēah and ʒislude, forðon hī ondrēdon þæt hē hī fordōn wolde. þā wæs sē cyning Æþelrēd sume hwīle rnid þam flotan þē on Temese læg, and sēo hlæfdisʒ gewende þā ofer sǣ tō hire brēðer Ricarde, and sē cyning gewende þā fram ðam flotan tō þam middanwintra to Wihtlande, and was ðǣr þā tīd; and æfter þǣre tīde wende ofer ðā sǣ tō Ricarde, and wæs ðǣr mid him oþ þone byre þæt Sweʒen wearð dēad.

Лабораторная работа №3

Old English grammar

Topics for discussion in class

1. Old English nominal system. Means of form-building.

2. Grammatical categories of nouns, adjectives and pronouns.

3. Morphological classification of Old English nouns (types of declensions).

4. Traces of the Old English declensions in Modern English.

5. Degrees of comparison of adjectives in Old English and their further history.

6. Old English verbal system. Means of form-building.

7. Grammatical categories of finite and non-finite forms of the verb.

8. Morphological classification of Old English verbs.

9. Traces of the Old English verb conjugation in Modern English.

Questions and assignments

1. What form-building means were used in the Old English nominal system?

2. Enumerate the grammatical categories of nouns, adjectives and pronouns and state the difference between them.

3. Into what types of declensions did the Old English nouns fall? Why are they termed "stems"?

4. Look through the noun paradigm and find instances of different means used in form-building.

5. Explain the difference between the groupings of nouns into types of declension and the two declensions of adjectives.

6. Enumerate the grammatical categories of the finite and non-finite forms, indicating the number of members within each category.

7. Look through the verb paradigm and find instances of different form-building means used.

8. What are the main differences between the weak and the strong verbs?

9. Why did the strong verbs fall into seven classes? Point out the differences between them.

10. Account for the division of the weak verbs into classes and point out the differences between them.

11. Study the model of grammar and vocabulary analysis of an Old English text. Read and translate the text into Modern English / Russian (Ohthere's account of his first voyage). Continue the grammar and vocabulary analysis following the model given below.

From the Alfredian Version of Orosius's World History; about 893 A.D.

Alfred the Great (849—900), King of Wessex, was an outstanding military leader, educator and a man of letters of the time. He tried to restore the cultural traditions of Anglo-Saxon England severely damaged by the barbaric "inroads of the Danes" and to revive learning and literature in his country. He also brought about a great reform in the schools.

He translated into his native tongue some books on geography, history and philosophy written by the popular authors of IV—VIII centuries. This was fortunate for the language which became a medium of expression in the simpler forms of speech itself.

King Alfred's translation from Latin of "The History of the World" by the Spanish monk Orosius (V century) is especially valuable as it contains his own insertions — the descriptions of the sea-voyages in the North West of Europe of the two Scandinavian merchants, Ohthere and Wulfstan.

King Alfred's writings favoured flourishing of literature in Wessex and marked the beginning of the literary tradition later known as "the Alfredian prose".

The extract given below is "From Ohthere's account of his first voyage". It contains interesting geographical and ethnographical information of the places he visited. The dialect is West Saxon.

Ohthere's account of his first voyage

Ōhthēre sæde his hlāforde, Ælfrēde cyninʒe, þæt hē ealra Norðmonna norðmest būde. Hē cwæð þæt hē būde on þǣm lande Norðweardum wiþ þā Westsǣ. Hē sǣde þēah þæt þæt land sīe swīþe lanʒ norþ þonan; ac hit is eal wēste, būton on fēawum stōwum stycce-mælum wīciað Finnas, on huntoðe on wintra and on sumera on fiscaþe be þǣre sǣ.

Hē sǣde þæt hē æt sumum cirre wolde fandian hū lonʒe þæt land norþryhte lǣʒe oþþe hwæðer ǣniʒ mon benorðan þǣm wēstenne būde. þā fōr hē norþryhte be þǣm lande; lēt him ealne weʒ þæt wēste land on ðæt stēor-bord, and þā wīd-sǣ on ðæt bæc-bord, þrīe daʒas. þā wæs hē swā feor norþ swā þā hwælhuntan firrest faraþ. þā fōr hē þā ʒīlet norþryhte swā feor swā hē meahte on þæm ōþrum þrīm daʒum ʒesiʒlan. þā bēaʒ þæt land þǣr ēast-ryhte oþþe sēo sǣ in on ðæt lond, hē nysse hwæðer, būton hē wisse ðæt hē ðǣr bād westanwindes and hwōn norþan, and siʒlde ðā ēast be lande, swā-swā hē meahte on fēower daʒum ʒesiʒian.

þā sceolde hē ðǣr bīdan ryht-norþanwindes; forðǣm þæt land beaʒ þǣr sūþryhte oþþe sēo sǣ in on ðæt land hē nysse hwæðer. þā siʒlde hē þonan sūðryhte be lande, swā-swā hē on flf daʒum ʒesiʒlan. þā læʒ þǣr ān micel ēa up-in on þæt land. þā cirdon hīe up-in on ðā ēa, for-þǣm hīe ne dorston forþ bi þǣre ēa siʒlan for unfriþe; for-þǣm ðæt land wæs eall ʒebūn on ōþre healfe þǣre ēas. Ne mētte hē ǣr nān ʒebūn land, siþþan hē from his āʒnum hām fōr.

Fela spella him sǣdon þā Beormas ǣʒþer ʒe of hiera āʒnum lande ʒe of þǣm landum þe ymb hīe ūtan wǣeron, ac hē nyste hwæt þæs sōþes wæs, for-þǣm hē hit self ne ʒeseah. þā Finnas, him þūhte, and þā Beormas spræcon nēah ān ʒeþode. Swīþost hē fōr ðider, tō-ēacan þæs landes scēawunʒe, for þǣm hors-hwælum, for-ðǣm hīe habbað swīþe æpele bān on hiora tōþum, — þā tēð hīe brōhton sume þǣm cyninʒe —, and hiora hȳd.

Model of grammar and vocabulary analysis

Words as used in the text	Analysis notes	Corresponding New English word		Translation
Ohthere	noun proper, nominative singular				Ohthere (name)
sǣde	verb, 3rd person singular, past tense, indicative mood of secʒan, weak verb, class III		say		said
his	pronoun personal, 3rd person singular, masculine, genitive		his		(to) his
hlāforde	noun, dative singular of hlāford, masculine, a-stem		lord		lord
Ælfrēde	noun proper, dative singular		Alfred		Alfred