1. The object and the aims of the course

The object of the course is the English language as well. Through learning the history of the English language the student achieve a variety of aims, both theoretical and practical. The history of the language is of considerable interest to all students of English, since English of today reflects many centuries of development. One of the aims of this course is to provide the student with knowledge of linguistic history sufficient to account for the principal features of present-day English, as for reading, spelling, vocabulary and grammar difficulties. Another important aim of this course is of a more theoretical nature. The student will be confronted with a number of theoretical questions such as the relationship between statics and dynamics in language, the role of linguistic and extra-linguistic factors, the interdependence of different processes in language history. The students will be discussed in respect of concrete linguistic facts, which will ensure a better understanding of these facts and will demonstrate the application of general principles of language materials. One more aim of this course is to prove the student of English with a wider philological outlook. The history of the English language shows the place of English in linguistic world; it reveals its ties and contacts with other related and unrelated tongues.

2. The development of Germanic languages.

The history of the Germanic group begins with the appearance of what is known as the Proto-Germanic (PG) language (also Primitive/Simply Germanic). PG is the linguistic ancestor or the parent-language of the Germanic group. It is supposed to have split from related Indo-European (IE) tongues between the 15^th and 10^th c. B.C. PG is an entirely pre-historical language: it was never recorded in written form. As the Indo-Europeans extended over a larger territory, the ancient Germans or Teutons moved further north than other tribes and settled on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea in the region of the Elbe. Here the developed their first specifically Germanic linguistic features which made them a separate group in the IE family. The first mention of Germanic tribes was made by Pitheas, a Greek historian and geographer of the 4 c. B.C. Towards the beginning of out era the Teutons had extended over a larger territory and the PG language broke into parts. It split into 3 branches: East Germanic, North Germanic, and West Germanic. The East Germanic (tribes returned from Scandinavia) presented by The Gothic language. There are no other East Germanic languages, which stay alive. Some of the tribal names have survived in place-names: Bornholm, Burgundy (Burgundians), Andalusia (Vandals). North Germanic (the Teutons who stayed in Scandinavia). The speech of the North Germanic tribes showed little dialectal variation until the 9^th c. and is regarded as a sort of common North Germanic parent-language called Old Norse or Old Scandinavian. The principal linguistic differentiation in Scandinavia corresponded to the political division into Sweden, Denmark and Norway. This group is also includes 2 more languages: Icelandic and Faroese. West Germanic ( between the Oder and the Elbe)- The Franconians ( Franks, who occupied the lower basin of the Rhine), The Angles and the Frisians, the Jutes and the Saxons (Netherlands) , The High Germans ( mountainous southern regions of the Federal Republic of Germany).

The Franconian dialects were spoken in the North of the Empire; in the Middle Ages they developed into Dutch and Flemish.(таблица с.33)