The subject of the history of the English

Lecture 1

The subject of the history of the English.

A language can be studied synchronically and diachronically. In the synchronic approach a language is regarded as a fixed unchangeable system, while in the diachronic approach every linguistic fact is interpreted as a stage or a step in the never ending evolution of the language. In studying the history of the English Language we consider its phonetics, grammar and word-stock diachronically.                     

However the diachronic and synchronic approaches can be combined; the development of the language can be presented as a series of cross-sections, e.g. Old English, Middle English and Modern English.

  1. The history of the English language shows the ties of English with other Germanic languages and languages of other groups, e.g. the French language.

  2. The history of English is an important subsidiary discipline for the history of England and of English literature, as it is based on the history of England, studying the development of the language in connection with the concrete conditions in which the English people lived in several periods of their history.

  It is also connected with disciplines studying present-day English, i.e. theoretical phonetics, theoretical grammar and lexicology. It shows phonetic, grammatical and lexical phenomena in development, and states the origin of the present-day system.

  3. The history of the English language establishes a tie between general principles of linguistics and concrete facts of the contemporary English known to the learner. For example the notion of sound law familiar from introduction to linguistics is to be tested on the facts of the English language history.

   4. The knowledge of the history of English accounts for the essential features and a number of peculiarities which appear unintelligible from the modern point of view. Let us mention a few of them.

In studying the history of a language we are faced with a number of problems concerning the causes of changes in the language. These causes may be of two kinds: external and internal. In the first case the language is influenced by factors lying outside it or extra linguistic factors. Such historical events as wars, conquests, cultural contacts, and the like can hardly fail to influence a language more, especially its vocabulary. On the other hand, most changes in the phonetic structure of a language and also in its grammatical structure are due to its internal causes.

It must also be noted that the evolution of a language is not even: it may be faster or slower, besides, its various levels change at different rates. Thus, the word-stock seems to change rather rapidly; the sound system of a language changes very slowly because it must carefully preserve the contrast between phonemes essential for differentiation between morphemes. As the grammar structure of the language provides general frames and patterns for the other systems of the language it also changes very slowly.

 

 

Germanic Languages

 

The English language is one of the Germanic (Teutonic) languages as well as German, Dutch, Frisian, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Icelandic, Flemish, Yiddish. They belong to the vast Indo-European family of languages.

All Germanic languages are related through common origin and joint development at the early stages of their history

The earliest period in the development of the Germanic groups dates back to prewritten stages of human history. It is generally believed that at the beginning of the first millennium BC groups of tribes speaking the would-be Germanic dialects split from other West Indo-European tribes. At that time the spoken dialects of the ancient Germanic tribes were very much alike. These dialects are commonly known as Common (primitive) Proto Germanic. The Common Germanic period lasted approximately till the beginning of our era. Our knowledge of ancient Germanic is based on testimonies by Greek and Roman writers: the Greek traveler and astronomer Pytheas, who lived in the 4th century BC; the Roman writer Pliny the Elder (23-79AD).

The migrations of the Germanic tribes in the 2nd-5th centuries AD led to the geographical separation of tribal groups and, consequently, to the independent development of their tongues, e.g. to the differentiation of Common Germanic. The earliest inscriptions in some Old Germanic languages (dialects) are dated in the 3rd century.

All Germanic languages (old and new) are classified into 3 groups: North Germanic, East Germanic, West Germanic. Here is the mutual relation between the classification of Germanic tribes based on Pliny's work and that of Germanic languages based on analyses made by modern linguists:

 

Germanic tribes                                Germanic languages

Vindili                                                East Germanic

Ingaevones

Istaevones                                          West Germanic

Herminones

Hilleviones                                      North Germanic

 

                                                            East Germanic 

In the first century of our era several Germanic tribes from Scandinavia migrated south to Northern Germany. There they formed the eastern subgroup of the tribes and represented East Germanic languages. The most numerous of the East Germanic tribes were the Goths; the names of the other tribes are the Vandals and the Burgundians. The Goths were the first of the Old Germanic tribes to be Christianized. In the 4th century a West Gothic bishop made a translation of the Gospel from Greek into Gothic. The Gothic language recorded in Ulfilas' Gospel has undergone very few alterations since the Common Germanic period. It has enabled modern philologists to reconstruct the essential features of the Common Germanic language.

Of the Old East Germanic languages only the Gothic language is well known. All the East Germanic languages have been dead for many centuries.

All North Germanic and West Germanic languages have survived until our own times. 

                                               North Germanic

Ancient Germanic tribes in Scandinavia remained isolated for several hundred years. Up to the 9th century their speech had very slight dialectal variation. Their tongue, known as Old Scandinavian or Old Norse, retained many archaic traits of the Common Germanic language.

In the 9th century the Scandinavians started on their migrations. They settled in France, occupied the greater part of Britain, colonized Iceland and Greenland and from there reached North America.

Usually the Scandinavians who settled overseas were assimilated by the native population and adopted their tongues. In some of the new territories, however, the North Germanic dialects survived (for instance, in Iceland).

The major modern Northern Germanic languages are Icelandic and Norwegian in the West and Danish and Swedish in the East.

                                                   

 

West Germanic

         The Germanic tribes of the western subgroup dwelt in the lowlands between the Oder and the Elbe. Later they spread up the Rhine, to the highlands of Germany, and in other directions.

At the beginning of the migration period there were three principal groups of tribes: the Franconians (the Istaevones), the High Germans (the Herminones), the Angels, the Saxons and the Frisians (the Ingaevones).

In the Early Middle Ages the Franconians were the most numerous and powerful group of tribes. In the 9th century their feudal state split into two - the bases of France and Germany. On the territory of France the Franconian dialects were not preserved; in the lower basin of the Rhine they developed into Dutch, the national language of the Netherlands, and Flemish, a dialect in Belgium.

Another subgroup of the West Germanic tribes - the High Germans lived in the highlands of Germany. The High German dialects developed into the national languages of Germany, Austria, and one of the official languages of Switzerland.

The High German dialects of the Middle Ages became the basis of the language of the Jews termed Yiddish or New Jewish.

The third subgroup of the West Germanic tribes - the Angles, the Saxons and the Frisians lived in the lowlands of Germany.

In the 5th century the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes (a tribe from Jutland) began their invasion of the British Isles. The West Germanic dialects of these tribes developed into the English language. In later ages English was brought to North America, India, Australia, and some parts of Africa.

The bulk of the Frisians stayed on the mainland, and their dialects have survived as the dialect of the mainland, and their dialects have survived as the dialects of Friesland (in the Netherlands).

The dialects of those Saxon tribes who stayed on the continent have always constituted an important dialectal group in Germany (Low German).

 

                                               Lecture 2  
                     Essential Features of Germanic Languages

Phonetics

         All Germanic languages (old and modern) have common linguistic features. It is generally believed that the Germanic group of dialects developed their first specifically Germanic linguistic traits during the first millennium BC (the Common Germanic period). In later ages Old Germanic dialects lost some of their common features and developed new, individual traits.

                                  STRESS IN GERMANIC LANGUAGES

         One of the most important features of the Germanic group is the peculiar Germanic system of word-stress which caused many later Germanic tendencies of development.

Originally stress in Germanic languages was free, that is different syllables of words could be stressed - a system which was preserved in Slavonic and some other languages.

         However, in the stage of the Common Germanic period word stress became fixed on the first syllable (the root syllable). The other syllables (the suffixes and endings) remained unstressed or weakly stressed. This system of fixed stress was preserved by all the Old Germanic dialects and partially by the modern Germanic languages.

         Nowadays in polysyllabic words the word stress generally falls on the root-morpheme, while the suffixes and endings bear a weaker stress (e.g. 'earnestly, 'frightening, 'gathering).

The main kind of the word-accent used in Germanic languages was force or dynamic stress. As it was a very heavy stress, it led to a marked contrast between the sounds in stressed and unstressed positions and caused different development of those sounds.

Thus the Germanic sound system as a whole was affected by the stress. Moreover the morphological structure of the Germanic words was influenced too; it was simplified, as the suffixes and endings which bore a weaker stress were gradually weakened or lost. Compare Old or Middle English verbs with New English verbs: OE - 'tellan; ME - 'tellen; NE - tell.

 

VOWELS

Tendencies of Vowel Development

The most important feature of Germanic vowel development was its dependence on the Germanic word accent. In stressed position the contrast of long and short vowels was maintained. In unstressed position the opposition of long vowels to short ones was neutralized.

The division of vowels into long and short in stressed syllables was supported by some qualitative historical changes: short vowels generally tended to become more open, long vowels - more closed.

During the Common Germanic period vowels changed both in quality and in quantity. The two main qualitative changes were as follows:

1) Indo-European short "o" appeared as short "a" in Common Germanic;

2) Indo-European long "a" appeared as long "o" in Common Germanic:

IE.                                        Germanic

Russ. ночь                           Germ. Nacht

Lat. frāter                             Goth. broÞar

During the Common Germanic period a few assimilative changes occurred in the Germanic vowel system. These changes have been termed Common Germanic mutations or Common Germanic breaking (or fractures).

Breaking concerned two pairs of vowels: e, i, and u, o.

e, i

An Indo-European "e" in the root syllable found its counterpart in Germanic "i", if it was followed by. "i "', "j” or the cluster "nasal + consonant". It is quite obvious that a following "i" or "j" tended (by assimilation) to turn a preceding "e" into "i".

Here are a few examples illustrating the assimilative change:

IE                                                                            Germanic

Lat. medius                                                             OE midde (middle)

Lat. ventus                                                              OE wind (wind).

u,o

An Indo-European "u" found its counterpart in Germanic "u", if it was followed by "u" or by the cluster "nasal + consonant", otherwise the Indo-European "u" found its counterpart in Germanic "o".

e.g.                     IE                                                 Germanic

                         Sanskr. sunus                                OE sunu (son)

 

The Vowel System in Common Germanic

On the whole Germanic has preserved the pattern of the Indo-European vowel system, that is a well-balanced system of long and short monophthongs:

 COMMON GERMANIC VOWEL PHONEMES

short: i/e, e/i, a, o, u

long:  ī, ē, ā, ō, ū

Consonants. Tendencies of Consonant Development

Like other Indo-European languages, the Germanic languages have noise consonants and sonorants  plosives (occlusives) and fricatives (constrictives), voiced and voiceless consonants. However Germanic consonants do not correspond to the same consonants in other languages.

Germanic languages display regular correspondences of consonants with non-Germanic languages: voiceless consonants occur instead of voiced, e.g. p // b, fricatives instead of plosives: f // p.

 

The First Germanic Consonant Shift

During the Common Germanic period almost all the consonants were altered. The most important of these alternations is the First (Common) Germanic consonant shift. The earliest statement of the shift was given in the work "German Grammar" by the great German linguist Jacob Grimm (1785-1863). Accordingly the law is called Grimm’s law. It reads:

              1. Indo-European voiceless stops (p.t.k) correspond to German voiceless fricatives (f, Þ, h)

IE                               Germanic

p                 >                  f

t                  >                  p

k                 >                  h

 

2. Indo-European voiced stops (b, d, g) correspond to Germanic voiceless stops (p, t, k)

IE                              Germanic

b                  >                  p

d                  >                  t

g                  >                  k

 

3. Indo-European voiced aspirated stops (bh, dh, gh) correspond to Germanic voiced stops without aspiration (b, d, g)

IE                              Germanic

bh                 >                 b

dh                 >                 d

gh                 >                 g

Examples:

IE                                                             Germanic

Lat.      pater             p : f                         English     father

Lat.      trēs               t : p                         English      three

Lat.      noctem         k : h                        Goth.         nahts

Russ.    слабый        b : p                        Goth.         slepan

Lat       duo               d : t                         Goth.        twai

Russ.     иго              g : k                        English     yoke

Sanskr. bhrātar         bh : b                      Goth.         broÞar

 

Verner's Law

In some Germanic words there are consonants which do not fit into Grimm's law. In some cases it is voiced stops, rather than voiceless fricatives that correspond in Germanic to IE voiceless stops.

Compare:

IE                              Germanic

Lat. pater                   Goth.fadar

Greek dekas (ten)      Goth. tigus

Germanic “d” and “g” correspond to Indo-European "t" and "k".

These phenomena were explained by the Danish scholar Karl Verner in 1877. Verncr's Law adds the following note to Grimm's law: if an Indo-European voiceless stop was preceded by an unstressed vowel, the voiceless fricative which developed from it in accordance with Grimm's law, became voiced and later this voiced fricative became a voiced stop. Thus in the Latin word "patér" in which the voiceless stop "t" was preceded by an unstressed vowel the following changes occurred: t > Þ (in accordance with Grimm's law); Þ > > d (in accordance with Verner's Law).

Verner's law affected one more voiceless fricative consonant "s": if the preceding vowel is unstressed, ''s'' in Germanic languages becomes voiced - "z" (s > z).

The alteration of the Consonant system was a very slow process. The shift spread gradually over the whole Common Germanic area. The general Indo-European pattern of the consonant system was preserved in Germanic.

The Consonant System in Common Germanic

The Common Germanic system of consonants comprises noise consonants and sonorants. Noise consonants are subdivided into plosives and fricatives.

Among the fricative consonants there is a further differentiation of voiced and voiceless consonants.

COMMON GERMANIC CONSONANT PHONEMES

Consonants	Noise			Labial	Dental	Velar
						Pure	Labiovelar
		Plosive		p	l	k	kw
		Fricative	Voice- less	f	θ ,s	x	xw
			Voiced		, z	γ	γw
	Sonorants			m	n, l, r
Semivowels				w	j