The subject of the history of the English

 

Morphology

Word Structure in Germanic

The Early Common Germanic morphological structure of words was usually more complicated than the word structure of written periods. There were fewer simple words, whose stem was equal to the root. In Common Germanic the stem consisted of two basic components: the root-morpheme and the stem-forming suffix. A third morpheme, the grammatical ending, was added to the stem.

The Common Germanic *fiskaz-"fish" consisted of the stem *fiska and the grammatical ending (Nominative Singular) -z; the stem *fiska comprised the root morpheme *fisk and the stem-forming suffix -a. Stems could be built by different stem-forming suffixes: vowels, consonants or their combinations. Thus there were vocalic stems (e.g., a-stems, i-stems) and consonantal stems (e.g., n-stems, nd-stems).

The Early Common Germanic morphological structure of the word was gradually simplified: the stem-forming suffix disappeared as a separate morpheme in the word structure. It fused either with the root-morpheme or (most frequently) with the grammatical ending. Thus the three basic components in the word structure were reduced to two: Common Germanic *fisk-a-z > Gothic fisk-s.

This simplification was caused by the following: 1) during the Common Germanic period many stem-forming suffixes lost their semantic significance; 2) the final syllable was the weakest element of the word as it was commonly unstressed.

Thus the two morphemes (the stem-forming suffix and the grammatical ending easily blended into one. Commonly, it was a new grammatical ending.

 

Variability of the Root-Morpheme, Gradation or Ablaut

The root-morpheme in Germanic languages is variable: its vowels and sometimes the consonants in the root tend to vary. Vowel alternations in the root morpheme are usually called gradation, or ablaut. The principal vowel gradation used in Indo-European languages can be shown in Russian examples:

e-o:   нести – носит, везу - возит  -  (the quality of the vowel)

                                                    

In the following examples there is a difference in quantity: long vowels alternate with short ones and with the reduced or zero-grade;

e.g., in Latin there are several verbs, which have a short "e" in their present stem (sedeō -  "sit", legō  - "read"), but a long "e" in the perfect (sēdī, lēgī).

In Common Germanic gradation or ablaut was most frequently used in building the forms of the so-called strong verbs. Gradation (ablaut) is still applied to differentiate between words and forms:

e.g. Modem English: sing - sang - sung; choose - chose - chosen; sing - song

The origin of gradation has been a matter for discussion for about a century. The following theory is the prevailing one. The three variants of a root are due to conditions of word accent: full stress brings about the high degree; weakened stress - the medium degree, and unstressed position-zero (the main type of gradation in Indo-European Languages).

 

General Survey of Form-building Means

In Common Germanic various means of form-building were employed, all of them being synthetic means: sound alternations in the root morpheme and grammatical endings or suffixes.

Sound alternations were usually employed in combination with other means. Vowel alternation was used more frequently than consonant alternation. Grammatical endings or suffixes were the most widely used means of form building in all parts of speech. In contrast to endings, grammatical prefixes were hardly ever employed. All these means are preserved by modem Germanic languages to a various extent.

 

Parts of Speech in Common Germanic

Throughout history the following parts of speech could be found in the Germanic group: the noun, the adjective, the pronoun, the numeral, the verb, the adverb, the conjunction and the preposition.

NOUN

The noun in Germanic was remarkable for the elaborate system of declensions which rested on the Indo-European division of nouns into stems. The division into stems was transformed into a new grammatical division: types of declension.

Different noun declensions in Germanic languages are referred to as:

1) vocalic stems: -a-, -o-, -i-,-u- (strong declension); 2) n-stems (weak 'declension); 3) stems in other consonants: -s- and -r- stems; 4) root-stems, this is a peculiar type: these nouns never had a stem-building suffix so that their stem had always coincided with their root.

                       

                                         

   OE N-STEM DECLENSION (SINGULAR)

Nominative                                heorte

Genitive

Dative                                       heortan

Accusative

Besides the category of case (4 cases: Nominative. Genitive, Dative and Accusative) the Common Germanic noun also had the grammatical categories of gender and number. Germanic distinguished three genders: Masculine, Feminine arid Neuter and two numbers: Singular and Plural.

                                     Adjective (and pronoun)

         In Common Germanic the adjective and the pronoun were characterized by the same grammatical categories as the noun, i.e. the categories of gender, number and case.

The peculiar characteristic of the adjective in Germanic was a twofold declension: the weak (or definite) and the strong (or indefinite) declension (the endings mostly correspond to those of the weak and the strong declensions of the noun). However declension of adjectives differs from that of nouns in two ways:

1. every adjective is declined both according to the strong declension and to the weak declension;

2. the strong declension of adjectives is a combination of substantial and  pronominal forms.

                                        

VERB

The Common Germanic Verb distinguished the following grammatical categories (in the finite forms of the verb): the categories of number, person, mood (Indicative, Imperative arid Conjunctive (Subjunctive), tense (present and past). 

Aspect was shown most frequently by lexical rather than by grammatical means.

Voice did not exist in Common Germanic in the meaning known today.

Of the non-finite forms, Common Germanic had two: the Infinitive and Participles I and II.

Strong and Weak Verbs. In Common Germanic all the forms of the verb were built from the principal forms or stems: the Present tense stem, the Past tense stems and Parliciple II. According to the means of form-building used the main mass of Germanic verbs were divided into two groups: strong verbs and weak verbs.

Strong Verbs. There were seven classes of strong verbs in Common Germanic; in each of them a certain gradation series was used. Classes I - VI of strong verbs are traced back to the Indo-European ablaut-series e/o and a/ā.

Verbs of Class VII had an alternation ē/ō (some verbs of class VII had no vowel alternation but they shared many peculiarities with other strong verbs). These verbs (Class VII) were characterized by reduplication, i.e. addition of an extra syllable consisting of the initial consonant and the vowel "e" (spelt ai) in the past tense, both singular and plural.

 

Weak Verbs. In common Germanic weak verbs formed their Past tense stem and Participle II by adding the dental suffix - to the stem of the Present Tense. There were three main classes of weak verbs in Germanic which were distinguished by their stem-forming suffixes. In Gothic there was also a fourth class.

Word-stock

While regarding the Common Germanic word-stock we consider those words which are found in most Germanic languages and which can be traced back to Common Germanic. Common Germanic words or their descendants) constitute the most ancient part of the word-stock in modem Germanic languages.

There are different etymological layers in the Common Germanic word-stock:

1. Common Indo-European words - the most ancient layer of the Germanic vocabulary;

2. Words found in Germanic and a few other Indo-European groups (Slavonic, Baltic etc.);

3. Specifically Germanic words (found in Germanic languages alone);

4. Borrowings (mainly from Latin and Celtic).

Word-Fomation

In all periods of history Germanic vocabulary could be divided into three types: simple, derived and compound words.

Suffixes were most productive in building nouns, prefixes - in building verbs;  word-composition was most productive in nouns.

 

                          Lecture 3. Periods in the History of English

 

With reference to the history of English, which covers roughly 1600 years, it is customary to divide it into three main periods: Old English (OE): 5th-11th centuries; Middle English (ME): 12th-15th centuries; New English (NE): 15th-21st centuries.

The approximate dates fixing the boundaries between the three periods are very close to important events in the social and political life of the country. 1100 follows close upon 1066, the year of the Norman conquest, and 1500 is close to 1475, the year of the introduction of printing, and 1485, the year, when the Wars of the Roses came to an end which marked the decay of feudalism, and the rise of capitalism in England.

However, it should be emphasized that such dates as 1100 and 1500 cannot be taken literally, they are merely a convenient means of expressing the statement that by the end of the 11th and again by the end of the 15th century changes in the language have accumulated to an extent which makes it possible to slate the beginning of a new period in its history.

 

                                               Historical Background

The development of the English language began in the 5th century of our era, when groups of West Germanic tribes settled in the British Isles. Prior to the Germanic invasions the British Isles were inhabited by Celtic tribes. Celtic Britain was a province of the Roman Empire for almost four hundred years.

In 55 BC the Romans under Julius Caesar landed in Britain (the next attempt was made in 43 AD under the emperor Claudis). The Romans subdued the Britons (the largest of the Celtic tribes) and colonized the country. This colonization had a profound effect on the country. The Latin language superseded the Celtic dialects. In the 4th century, when Christianity was introduced in the Roman empire, it also spread among the Britons.

It was about mid-5th century that Britain was conquered by Germanic tribes: the Angles the Saxons and the lutes. The conquest extended over a long period, the invasions lasted into the 6th century. The Angles occupied most of the territory north, of the Thames (up to the Firth or Forth); the Saxon - the territory south of the Thames and some stretches north of it. The Jutes settled in Kent and in the Isle of Wight.

The invaders destroyed the civilization that had grown under the Romans. Gradually the conquerors and the surviving Celts blended into one people. Germanic dialects spread all over Britain with the exception of Wales, Cornwall and Scotland where the Celtic dialects survived.

Since the sett1ement of the Anglo-Saxons in Britain the ties of their dialects with the continent dialects were broken and in its further development they went their own ways. It is at this time, the 5th century, that the history of the English language begins.

 

                                

Old English Dialects

The Germanic tribes, which conquered Britain formed seven separate kingdoms which during four centuries struggled with one another for supremacy: Kent, Sussex. Essex, Wessex, Mercia. East Anglia and Northumbria. In 828 the struggle came to an end with the decisive victory of Wessex. The Wessex (or West Saxon) dialect became the principal dialect of Saxon group and the written language of the time. Its earliest records date in the 9^th century. Three other dialects spoken in Britain were Kentish, Mercian, Northumbrian.

 

                         Writings in Old English. Germanic Alphabets

Germanic tribes used three different alphabets for their writings: 1) The Runic alphabet; 2) Ulfila’s Gothic alphabet; 3) the Latin alphabet.

        In the earliest (Runic) alphabet each separate letter was called a rune. Each rune was used to denote a separate sound, e.g. the rune е stood for sound [f],        the rune m denoted the sound [e].

The runes were angular due to the fact that runic inscriptions were cut in stone, done or wood. These inscriptions were made on objects (tombstones, rings, amulets, coins, etc.). The oldest of the runic texts is an inscription on a box made of whale bone called “Frank’s Casket”, and a short text on a stone cross known as “The Ruthwell Cross”.

         Next comes Ulfila's Gothic alphabet (4th century). This is the alphabet of Ulfila's Gothic translation of the Gospel, a peculiar alphabet based on the Greek alphabet, with some admixture of Latin and Runic letters.

          The latest alphabet to be used by Germanic tribes is the Latin alphabet. Latin was the language of the church, official writing and teaching in monastic schools. The British scribes modified the Latin alphabet to some degree: they changed the shape of some letters (e.g. d, f, g); added letters from the runic alphabet (e.g., the rune p "thorn" to indicate [θ] or [ð]).

        The first English words written down with the help of Latin letters were names of place - names inserted in Latin texts. Gradually Old English documents began to replace Latin ones. These documents were written in the West-Saxon dialect. The West-Saxon dialect is also represented by the works of king Alfred (849--900), he works of the abbot Aelfric (10th century) and sermons of Wulfstan (early 11th century).

        The greatest poem of the time was "Beowulf' (7th or 8th century) which is the oldest epic poem  in Germanic literature "Beowulf" is based on old legends about the tribal life of the ancient Germans. Other epic poems of the OE period are "The Wanderer", "The Seafarer", "Genesis", "Exodus".

The bulk of OE poetry is religious. The religious poems are commonly attributed to two early Northumbrian poets Cædmon and Cynewulf.

       OE poetry is characterized by a specific system of versification (alliterative verse) and some peculiar stylistic device (circumlocution),

         Besides poetry there is a great variety of OE prose texts. Among the prose works we should first of all note the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles - a year-for-year account of the events in English history, starting at 787. Then there are a number of texts associated with the name of King Alfred (9th century).

         The work usually called King Alfred's Orosius is a long text based on the Historis adversus paganos (A History against the Heathens) by the Spanish monk Paulus Orosius, 5th century. This text is particularly valuable because of King Alfred's own original additions containing, geographical information.

        King Alfred (or his associates) other translations were: a book of instruction for parish priests Cura Pastoralls (Pastoral care) by Pope Gregory I, Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum (Ecclesiastical History of English people) written in Latin by Bede.

Among late OE texts we must mention the Homilies Lives of Saints, Latin Grammar of AElfric(lOth century) and the Homilies of Wulfstan (early11th century), one of which, entitled Sermo Lupi ad Anglos, that is, the Wulf’s Sermon of the English was especially famous.

All these works are of the highest value for the study of the Old English language.

 

 

Lecture 4

Old English Phonetics

        Since the OE Language was made up of dialects descending from Common Germanic we can regard its phonetic system as having developed from the Common Germanic system. The differences between the two should be attributed to the changes that occurred in prewritten or Early Old English.

                                       Old English Word Stress

          In OE dynamic or force stress was employed. Stress mostly fell on the first syllable of the word (e. g.   eadi   ra = happier, hlāforde = "lord"). Word stress was fixed: it remained on the same syllable  in different forms of word. Polysyllabic words, especially compounds may have had secondary stress besides NorÞmanna "northman". Words beginning with a prefix had their stress either on the root syllable (words with inseparable prefixes, e.g., of dune “down”,    eÞeode “language”) or on the root syllable and the prefix. Suffixes and endings remained unstressed (mæ den "maiden ").

Old English Vowels

         All OE vowels including diphthongs can be either short or long.

Monophthongs:

                           i,             e,         æ,        a,        å,        o,         u,         y,

                           ī,             ē,         āe,       ā,                   ō,         ū,         ŷ  

Diphthongs:

                           ea,          eo,        io,       ie,

                           ēa            ēo        īo        īe

        Practically every long vowel had a corresponding short vowel.

Changes of Stressed Vowels in Early Old English

In Early OE the vowels underwent a great number of changes. As far as stressed vowels were concerned most of the changes were qualitative.

1. Splitting of Germanic "a" and" ã". The Common Germanic short "a" and the West Germanic long "a" (corresponding to the Common Germanic "ē" split into a number of vowels in Old English):

a
æ	å	a

Ā
æ-	ō

     

 

 

The principal direction of the changes a > æ- and  ā > æ- is often called fronting or palatalization of Germanic "a", " ā ", The other directions can be interpreted as positional exceptions or restrictions to this general trend  

a
æ	å	a

ā
æ-	ō

 

 

 

                                                    ā→æ-

O. High German   sláfan                      slæ-pan                  sleep

 

                                                    ā→ō

O. High German   mâno                       môna                      moon

2. Development of Germanic Vowel Combinations or diphthongs into long monophthongs or long diphthongs. Some Common Germanic vowel combinations or diphthongs developed into long monophthongs or long diphthongs in Old English:     au > ēa;   au/iu > ēo/īo;   ai > ā.

All these changes occurred due to the partial weakening of the second element or the lengthening of the first element.

Examples:

Old German dialects	OE	NE
au→ ēa
Goth. augo	aē  e	Eye
eu/iu→ ēo/īo
Goth. diups	dēop	Deep
ai→ ā
Goth. ains	ān	One