- •Contents
- •List of abbreviations
- •Preface
- •Introduction
- •Germanic languages
- •Classification of germanic languages
- •Ancient germanic tribes and their classification
- •Germanic alphabets
- •Some phonetic peculiarities of germanic languages
- •Consonants
- •The First Consonant Shift (Grimm’s Law)
- •Ііі. Act The ie aspirated voiced plosives bh, dh, gh changed in Gc to corresponding unaspirated plosives b, d, g, e.G.
- •Verner`s Law
- •Word – Stress
- •Stressed vowels
- •Germanic Fracture (Breaking)
- •Gradation or Ablaut
- •Unstressed Vowels
- •Grammatical peculiarities of germanic languages
- •The Noun
- •The Adjective
- •The Verb
- •Gothic Strong Verbs
- •Vocabulary
- •Old english
- •2.1. Periods in the History of English
- •2.2. Historical Background
- •2.2.1. The Roman Conquest of Britain
- •2.2.2. The Anglo-Saxon Conquest of Britain
- •2.3. Alphabet and Pronunciation
- •Old English Alphabet
- •2.4. Old English Dialects and Written Records
- •2.5. Some Phonetic Changes of the Old English Period
- •2.5.1. Vowels
- •2.5.2. Old English Breaking
- •2.5.3. Palatal Mutation (I-mutation)
- •Monophthongs
- •Diphthongs
- •2.5.4. Back or Velar Mutation (Velarization)
- •2.5.5. Diphthongization of Vowels after Palatal Consonants
- •2.5.6. Lengthening of Short Vowels
- •2.5.7. Unstressed Vowels
- •2.5.8. Consonants
- •2.5.9. Palatalization of Velar Consonants
- •2.5.10. Assimilation, Metathesis, Doubling of Consonants, Loss of Consonants
- •2.6. Old English Morphology
- •2.6.1. Old English Noun: General Characteristics
- •Vowel Stems
- •Consonant Stems
- •2.6.2. Vowel Stems Strong Declension
- •2.6.3. Consonant Stems: Weak Declension, Minor Declensions
- •2.6.4. Root-Stems
- •2.6.5. Pronouns
- •2.6.5.1. Personal Pronouns
- •2.6.5.2. Demonstrative Pronouns
- •Declension of the Demonstrative Pronoun þes
- •2.6.6. Adjectives
- •2.6.6.1. Strong Declension of Adjectives
- •2.6.6.2. Weak Declension of Adjectives
- •2.6.6.3. Degrees of Comparison
- •2.6.7. Adverbs
- •2.6.7.1. Formation of Adverbs
- •2.6.7.2. Comparison of Adverbs
- •2.6.8. The Verb: General Characteristics
- •Conjugation of verbs
- •2.6.8.1. Strong Verbs
- •2.6.8.2. Weak Verbs
- •Conjugation of Weak Verbs
- •2.6.8.3. Preterite-Present Verbs
- •Conjugation of Preterite - Present verbs
- •2.6.8.4. Anomalous verbs
- •Conjugation of the verb dōn
- •Indicative mood
- •2.6.8.5. Suppletive Verbs
- •Conjugation of the verb bēon
- •Indicative mood
- •Conjugation of the verb ʒān
- •Indicative mood
- •2.7. Old English Syntax
- •2.8. The Old English Vocabulary
- •2.8.1. Word-Building
- •Suffixation
- •Prefixation
- •Composition
- •2.8.2. Borrowings
- •Latin borrowings
- •Celtic Borrowings
- •Middle english
- •3.1. Historical Background
- •3.1.1. Scandinavian Invasions
- •3.1.2. The Norman Conquest
- •3.2. Middle English Dialects Rise of the London Dialect
- •3.3. Early Middle English Written Records
- •3.4. Word Stress
- •3.5. Vowels
- •3.5.1. Unstressed Vowels
- •3.5.2. Stressed vowels
- •3.5.2.1. Quantitative Vowel Changes
- •3.5.2.2. Qualitative Vowel Changes
- •Monophthongs
- •3.5.2.3. Monophthongization of Old English Diphthongs
- •3.5.2.4. Rise of New Diphthongs
- •3.6. Evolution of Consonants in Middle English
- •3.7. Spelling Changes in Middle English
- •3.7.1. Changes in the Designation of Vowels
- •3.7.2. Changes in the designation of Consonants
- •3.8. Changes in the Grammatical System
- •3.8.1. Preliminary Remarks
- •3.8.2. The Noun
- •3.8.2.1. Gender
- •3.8.2.2. Number
- •3.8.2.3. Decay of Noun Declensions
- •3.8.3. The Adjective
- •3.8.3.1. Declension of Adjectives in Late Middle English
- •3.8.3.2. Degrees of Comparison
- •3.8.4. Adverbs
- •3.8.4.1. Formation of Adverbs
- •3.8.4.2. Comparison of Adverbs
- •3.8.5. The Pronoun
- •3.8.5.1. Personal Pronouns
- •3.8.5.2. Possessive pronouns
- •3.8.5.3. Demonstrative Pronouns
- •3.8.5.4. Rise of the Articles
- •3.8.6. The Verb: General Characteristics
- •Conjugation of Verbs
- •Conjugation of Verbs Past Indicative
- •3.8.5.1. Changes in the Morphological Classes of Verbs in Middle English and Early New English
- •3.8.6.1. Strong Verbs
- •3.8.6.2. Weak Verbs
- •3.8.6.3. Preterite-present Verbs
- •3.8.6.4. Suppletive verbs
- •Conjugation of the verb bēon in Old English, Middle English and Early New English
- •Conjugation of the verb bēon in Old English, Middle English and Early New English
- •Conjugation of the verb ʒān in Old English, Middle English and Early New English
- •Conjugation of the verb ʒān in Old English, Middle English and Early New English
- •3.8.6.5. Rise of Analytical Forms
- •Future Forms
- •Perfect Forms
- •Passive Forms
- •Continuous Forms
- •3.8.7. Development of the Syntactic System
- •3.9. Middle English Vocabulary Changes
- •3.9.1. Native Derivational Affixes
- •3.9.2. French Derivational Affixes
- •3.9.3. Scandinavian Borrowings
- •3.9.4. French Borrowings
- •New english
- •4.1. The formation of the English National Language
- •4.2. Changes in Pronunciation
- •4.2.1. Development of Unstressed Vowels
- •4.2.1.1. Loss of unstressed –e [ə]
- •4.2.1.2. Loss of Vowels in Intermediate Syllables
- •4.2.2. Stressed Vowels
- •4.2.2.1. The Great Vowel Shift
- •4.2.2.2. Shortening of Long Vowels
- •4.2.2.3. Development of Short Vowels
- •4.2.2.4. The Development of the New Short [л]
- •4.2.2.5. Changes in Diphthongs
- •4.2.2.6. Vowel Changes under the Influence of Consonants
- •4.2.3. Consonants
- •4.2.3.1. Voicing of Voiceless Consonants
- •4.2.3.2. Loss of Consonants Development of [X]
- •Simplification of Consonant Clusters
- •4.2.3.3. Change of [d] to [ð] when Close to [r]
- •4.2.3.4. Development of Sibilants and Affricates in Early New English
- •4.3. Changes in Spelling
- •4.4. Local Dialects in New English
- •4.4.1. Scottish Dialect
- •4.4.2. Northern Dialects
- •4.4.3. Western, Central and Southern Dialects
- •4.5. Some Essential Grammatical Changes of the New English Period: Morphology
- •4.5.1. The Noun
- •4.5.1.1. Number
- •4.5.1.2. Cases
- •4.5.2. The Pronoun
- •4.5.2.1. Personal Pronouns
- •4.5.2.2. Possessive Pronouns
- •4.5.3. The Adjective
- •4.5.4. The Adverb
- •4.5.5. The Verb
- •4.5.5.1. Personal Endings
- •4.5.5.2. Changes in Strong Verbs
- •4.5.5.3. Changes in Weak Verbs
- •4.5.5.4. Rise of Invariable Verbs
- •4.5.5.5. Changes in Preterite-Present Verbs
- •4.5.5.6. Irregular Verbs
- •4.6. New English Syntax
- •4.7. New English Vocabulary Changes
- •4.7.1. Latin Loanwords
- •4.7.2. Latinization of French Loanwords
- •4.7.3. Greek loanwords
- •4.7.4. French Loanwords
- •4.7.5. Mixed vocabulary of New English
- •4.7.6. Italian and Spanish Loanwords
- •4.7.7. Russian Loanwords
- •4.8. The Expansion of English
- •4.9. The English Language in the usa
- •4.9.1. Some peculiarities of American Pronunciation
- •4.9.2. American Spelling
- •4.9.3. Some peculiarities of American Grammar
- •4.9.4. Vocabulary of American English
- •Conclusion
- •Bibliography
2.8. The Old English Vocabulary
The vocabulary of OE consisted of common IE and specifically Gc words.
Common IE words reflected the most important notions and phenomena of life. Here belong:
(1) nouns denoting members of the family: fæder, mōdor, dōhtor, sweostor, sunu;
(2) parts of the human body: heorte, nosu, tōþ;
(3) plants, celestial bodies: treow (tree), mōna (moon);
(4) adjectives denoting basic colours, size, different qualities: rēad, mycel (large), nīwe (new),
(5) numerals from 1 to 100,
(6) pronouns: ic(I), þū(you), wē(we), se (the), hwā (who),
(7) verbs denoting basic actions and states: bēon (be), dōn (do), standan (stand), sittan (sit), etan (eat), licʒan (lie).
Common Gc words are typical only of Gc languages. They also denote basic notions. Here belong:
(1) nouns denoting parts of the body: hēafod, hand, finʒer:
(2) animals: fox, cealf;
(3) time, natural phenomena: ʒear (year), wicu (week), tima (time), dæʒ, sumor (summer), winter;
(4) dwelling: hūs (house), rum (room);
(5) adjectives denoting colour, size: ʒrēne, bleo(blue), lytel, hēah;
(6) verbs of sense perception: hīeran (hear), sēon (see);
(7) verbs of speaking: sprēcan (speak), andswarian (answer);
(8) specifically English words not found in other Gc languages: wimman (wīf + man), hlāford (hlāf + weard), ealne weʒ (all the way)
The extent of the OE vocabulary is estimated at 20 to 30 thousand words – less than a tenth part of the number of words registered by modern English dictionaries. It is also estimated that about 85% of the English vocabulary, particularly its rich poetic part, has been lost and replaced over centuries mostly by Latin or French loanwords.
2.8.1. Word-Building
As to the means of enriching the vocabulary, derivation and composition were more common in OE than borrowing.
Suffixation
Suffixation was the most productive means of word derivation in OE. Suffixes were mostly used to build nouns and adjectives and seldom – to build verbs.
OE nouns denoting the doer of the action (nomina agentis) were derived from noun and verb stems with the help of the suffix –ere (masculine) and –estre (feminine), which was less common: fiscere < fisc (fish) – fisherman, bacere < bacan (to bake) – baker, bæcestre – a woman baker, webbestre < wefan (to weave) – a woman weaver.
Abstract nouns were formed with the help of the notional words dom (doom), scipe (state), hād (title, rank): wīsdom (wisdom), frēondscipe (friendship), cildhād (childhood).
The noun man was used as a suffix too: wīfman < wīf (woman), sǣman (seaman) < sǣ (sea), aldorman < ealdor (elder), Norðman < norþ (North).
The suffixes –unʒ, -inʒ derived feminine verbal nouns from verbs: ʒrētinʒ (greeting) < ʒrētan, leornunʒ (learning) < leornian.
The suffix -inʒ was used to derive patronymics and to show the descent of a person: Æþelwulfinʒ - son of Æþelwulf, Centinʒ - a man coming from Kent, cyninʒ - head of clan or tribe (OE cynn - clan).
The suffix -nis, -nes was used to derive abstract nouns from adjectives: īdelnis (idleness) <īdel (idle), swētnes (sweetness) < swēte (sweet). Some abstract nouns were derived from adjective stems without any suffix by mutation: lenʒþu < lonʒ (long- length), strenʒþu < stronʒ (strong - strength).
Adjectives.The most productive suffixes were: -iʒ , -isc, -ful(l), lēas -lic.
The common Gc suffix -iʒ derived adjectives from noun stems: hāliʒ (holy) < hāl (whole), īsiʒ (icy) < īs (ice).
The suffix –lic < līc (body) was used to derive qualitative adjectives: frēondlic (friendly), luflic (full of love).
From the notional words full and lēas (deprived) suffixes –ful and –lēas were formed which derived adjectives from abstract noun stems: ārlēas (deprived of honour) < ār (honour), synnfull < synn (sin), sāwollēas (lifeless, deprived of soul) < sāwol (soul), slǣplēas (sleepless) < slǣp (sleep).
The suffix –isc (usually accompanied by mutation) derived adjectives mostly denoting nationality: cf. Englisc – Anʒles (English-Angles), Frencisc – Franca (French, Frank, France).
Verbs. There were some verb- forming suffixes in OE. The most productive suffix was -i, which usually caused mutation: fyllan < full + ian (fill), lǣran < lār+ian (learn). The suffix –lǣc was formed from the verb lǣcan (come near, approach): nēalǣcan (approach) < nēah (near), ǣfenlǣcan cf R вечереть) < ǣfen (evening).