Автор работы: Пользователь скрыл имя, 10 Июня 2013 в 21:05, реферат
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.
The vowels [y] and [y:] were found h"1 all the OE dialects up to the 9tb century, when they were replaced by [e, e:] in Kentish and were confused with [iə] and [ie] in West Saxon.
In Early ME [y] and [y:] > developed into [e], [e:] or [i], [i:]; in the South- Western part of England the two vowels merged with [u] and [u:]:
OE fyllan > ME fellen [felən] > NE fill (Kentish); OE fyllan > ME fullen [fyllən], [fullən] (South Western); OE mys > ME mees [me:s] > NE mice (Kentish).
In OE there existed along open front vowel [æ:] In ME it became slightly narrower in all the dialects:OE stræ-t > ME street[str :t] > NE street .
Another, and a more obvious development in this direction was the narrowing of OE [a:] to ME [o:] in all the dialects except the Northern: OE stān> ME stoon, stone, [sto:n(ə)] > NE stone.
In ME short vowels became more open. The OE open [o] or the nasalised [o] was reflected in ME as [a] and only in the West Midlands as [ə].
Most of the NE words going back to the OE words with the vowel [ ] or [o] have [a]: NE man, sand, and, can; some words, however, especially those ending in [ŋ] should be traced to West Midland, and have [o]; > NE song, pond, fond, from.
Monophthongisation of OE diphthongs
The most important of the Early ME qualitative changes was the loss of OE diphthongs. The OE language had long diphthongs [ēa], [ēo/io], [īe] and short diphthongs [ea], [eo/io], [ie].
Towards the end of the OE period all the OE diphthongs began to merge with monophthongs: OE [īe] and [ie) mingled with OE [y:] and [y]; the long OE diphthong [ēa] coalesced with the long OE [æ:] and did not differ from it in later modifications; the short [ea] merged with [æ] and shared its further development; and the dialectal variants [eo/io] and [ēo/īo] fell together with the monophthongs [e:/i:], [e] and [i] respectively.
The great vowel shift is the name given to a series of English long vowels between the 14th and 17th centuries. During this period all the long vowels became closer or were diphthongized: OE [e:] > NE [i:]; OE [ε:] > NE [e:]> NE [i:]; OE [o:]> NE[u:]; OE [u:] > NE [au].
The narrowest long vowels in OE [u:] and [i:] developed respectively into [au] and [ai].
It is important to note that the Great Vowel Shift was not followed by any spelling changes: the modification in the pronunciation of words was not reflected in their written forms. The gap between the spoken and the written form of word grew and the English spelling system became more conservative and conventional than before. The values of letters have considerably changed, e.g. before the shift the letter “i” stood for [i] and [i:], after the shift it indicated two sounds distinctly different in quality: [I] as in bit and [ai] as in bite: the letter “e” stood for [i:] and [e].
Change illustrated |
Examples | |||
ME |
(Intermediate stage) |
NE |
ME |
NE |
i: |
(ei) |
ai |
time[‘timэ] |
time |
e: |
i: |
kepen[ke:pэn] |
keep | |
ε: |
(e:) |
i: |
street[strε:t] |
street |
α: |
(ε:) |
ei |
maken[‘ma:kэn’] |
make |
: |
(o:) |
ou |
stone[sto:nэ] |
stone |
o: |
u: |
moon[mo:n] |
moon | |
u: |
(ou) |
au |
mous[mu:s] |
mouse |
Changes of Short Vowels in Early New English
In Early New English only two short vowels (out of five) underwent distinct alterations.
1. ME [a] is reflected as [æ] in the NE vowel system: ME that [ðat] > NE that [θæt].
The more obvious change of the ME [a] or [æ] came about when it was preceded by the semi-vowel [w]. Under the influence of this labialised sound the vowel developed a variant which finally merged with another phoneme [ ]. The short [ ] resulting from this development and [ ] inherited from Middle and OE fell together in NE: OE wæs > NE was [was] > NE was [w z]: OE wæter > ME water ['watэr] > NE water ['w tэ].
2. ME short [u] lost its labial character and became [Λ] (except in some dialectal forms): ME hut [hut] > NE hut [hΛt]; ME comen ['kumэn] > NE come [kΛm], but: ME putten ['puttэn] > NE put [put].
Development of Consonants and Associated Vowel Changes
Development of sibilants and affricates
One of the most important consonant changes in the history of English was the appearance of affricates and sibilants, lacking in the OE period. The new type of consonants arose from the OE palatal plosives [k'], [g'] and [sk]. Examples:
OE [k'] > ME [tƒ]: OE cild > ME child> NE child;
OE [g'] > ME [d ]: OE ec e > ME edge> NE edge;
OE [sk] > ME [ƒ]: OE fisk> ME fish> NE fish.
Another development accounting for the appearance of new sibilants and affricates in the English language Dates from the Early New English period and is connected with primarily with the phonetic assimilation of borrowings due to which some clusters of two consonants fused into a single consonant. The clusters: [sj] > [ƒ], [zj] > [ ], [tj] > [t ƒ] , [dj] > [d ]:
ME condicioun [kondi'sju:n] > NE condition;
ME plesure [ple'zju:r] > NE pleasure;
ME nature [na'tjurэ] > NE nature;
ME souldier [soul'djэr] > NE soldier.
Treatment of Fricative Consonants in Middle and Early New English
In OE the pairs of Fricative consonants [f] and [v], le] and [t], [s] and [z] were treated as positional variants or allophones; their use depended on phonetic conditions - in intervocal position they appeared as voiced fricatives, otherwise they were voiceless. In ME and in Early NE these allophones became independent phonemes. The first pair to change into phonemes was [f] and [v]: ME veyne ['veinэ] > NE vein; ME feine ['feinэ] > NE feign.
In the 15th or 16th century the fricatives were once again subjected to voicing under certain conditions. Henceforth they were pronounced as voiced if they were preceded by an unstressed vowel and followed by a stressed one.
In ENE the medial voiceless [s] before a stressed vowel and after an unstressed one became [z], while the final fricative [s] preceded by a stressed vowel remained voiceless. In ENE "'fishes" the final [s] preceded by the unstressed [э] became voiced.
The ENE voicing affected a number of monosyllabic words: the fricatives became voiced in many form-words, which bear no sentence stress: ME the [θe] > NE the [ðэ], ME this [θis] > NE this [ðis]. Due to the ENE voicing the endings in the plural forms of nouns, the form of the possessive case, the form of the 3rd person singular of the verbs in the present tense indicative mood became voiced.
Vocalisation and loss of сonsonants
The vocalization of the OE velar and palatal fricatives [j], [γ], [x'], [x] dates from different periods of history. In the transition period from OE to NE the voiced consonants [j], [γ] between and after vowels developed into [i] and [u] respectively. They fused with the preceding stressed vowels into diphthongs or made the preceding short vowels long. OE dæ > ME day [dai] > NE day; OE fu el > ME fowel [fu:əl] > NE fowl.
In late ME the other two consonants [x'] and [x] turned into [i] and [u] respectively; they formed glides of diphthongs or lengthened the preceding vowel: OE niht > ME night [nix't] > ENE [ni:t] > NE night. In the course of the vocalisation there developed a number of diphthongs with [i] - glides, namely the ME diphthongs [ei] and [ai] (which later fell together into NE [eI] and a number of diphthongs with [u]- glides, namely the ME and ENE diphthongs [oυ] and [aυ].
Development of [r] and Associated Vowel Changes
The sonorant [r] began to influence the preceding vowels already in Late ME. One of its early effects on the vowels was that it made the preceding vowel more open and retracted; the cluster [er] changed to [ar] toward the close of the ME period: ME [klerk] > ENE [klark] > NE clerk.
The change of [er] > [ar] did not affect all the words with the given sounds: ME serven ['servэn] > NE serve. The vocalisation of [r] came about later and was a more universal process.
In Early NE the sonorant [r] was vocalised in the position after vowels, either finally or when followed by another .consonant. Losing its consonantal character [r] changed into the neutral sound [э], which was added to the preceding vowel as a glide thus forming a diphthong: ME there [ðε:r] > NE there [ðεə]. In the course of the vocalisation of [r] there appeared new long monophthongs [з:] and [ :]: ME port [port] > NE port [p :t], and new diphthongs with [ð]- glides and triphthongs: ME shour [ƒu:r] > NE shower [ aυэ].
Loss of Long Consonants and Simplification of Some Consonant Clusters
It is believed that during the ME period the consonants lost their quantitative distinctions, as the long or double consonants disappeared: OE settan> ME setten > ['setэn] > NE set. Another kind of simplification of consonants is to be found in consonant clusters. One of the consonants, usually the first was dropped:
OE [xl] > ME [1]: OE hlæne > ME leene [lε:nэ] > NE lean.
Changes in the Nominal System and in the Verb System
Since the OE period the very grammatical type of the language has changed: from what could be termed a largely synthetic or inflected language, English has developed into a language of the analytical type with analytical means of word connection prevailing over synthetic ones. The syntax of the word group and of the sentence came to play a more important role in the language than the morphology of the word.
In OE all the grammatical forms were built synthetically. In Middle and New English there appeared many forms built in the analytical way: with the help of auxiliary words. In the synthetic forms of the ME and the Early NE periods the means of form-building employed were the same as before: inflections, sound interchanges and suppletive forms. However their application in the language was generally reduced.
Inflections, or grammatical suffixes and endings continued to be used in all the inflected (or "changeable") parts of speech.
It is notable, however, that in NE all the vowels in the grammatical endings were reduced to the neutral [э] and many consonants were levelled to [n] or lost. Different endings were replaced by one and the same ending by analogy.
In the Early NE period most of the old endings were dropped. Compare .OE locian to ME loken with the ending [эn] and NE look, where [эn] has been dropped.
As far as the New analytical ways of form-building are concerned they were not equally productive in all the parts of speech: compound forms built with the help of auxiliary words were very numerous in the verb system, whereas in the nominal system they were confined to the adjective.
In this respect as well as in many others the nominal and the verbal systems developed in widely different ways.
Changes in the Grammatical Categories
In the Early Middle English period the noun lost the grammatical category of gender. In Chaucer's time gender is a lexical category, like in Modem English: nouns are referred to as "he" or "she" if they denote human beings and as "it" if they denote animals or inanimate things.
The two other categories of the noun case and number, were preserved in a modified shape, In ME the number of cases in the noun paradigm was reduced from four to two cases.
Already in OE the forms of the Nominative and the Accusative case were not distinguished in the plural and in some stems they coincided also in the singular. These case-forms ceased to be distinguished altogether in Early Middle English.
The form of the Dative (with -e) fell together with the former Nominative-Accusative into the Common case (the same as in Modem English). Only the Genitive case was kept distinctly separate from the other cases. However its sphere of application has gradually narrowed: in contrast to OE, the Genitive case in Middle English was no longer used as an object, its only syntactical function being that of all attribute. The Common case has acquired a very general meaning which was made more specific by the context, prepositions, the meaning of the verb-predicate, the word order.
The category of number proved to be the most stable of the grammatical categories of the noun. The countable nouns have preserved the distinction of two numbers. The syncretism of cases was a slow process that took many hundred years.
Declension Types in Middle English
In ME the declension system was gradually rearranged and became more regular and uniform. In the Southern dialects the declensions were rearranged in accordance with gender and largely under the influence of n-stems, while in the North and in the Midlands gender distinctions were soon forgotten, the most frequent endings and Midland dialects being those of the former a-stems.
The genitive case of all nouns was marked by ”es”, both in the singular and in plural. (The apostrophe was introduced in the 17-th century).
The plural forms of nouns in the ME had the ending – es [әs] which goes back to the plural ending-as as of a-stems. This ending underwent a number of phonetic changes due to the voicing of fricatives and the loss of [ә] ib unstressed final syllables, e.g. ME wolves [wulvz] > [wulvәz]> [wulvz> NE wolves; ME books [bu:kәz] > [buks’]>NE books; ME dishes > [di⌡әs] > di⌡iz] > NE dishes.
The Middle English plural ending –en goes back to the OE plural ending –an of a-stems. Later it has been preserved only in NE “oxen” , “brethren” and “children”.
The formation of the plural by means of a root vowel alternation comes from the former root-stems: OE fot, fet > ME foot, feet.
Some ME nouns did not change for the plural: ME swine, sheep, deer. These nouns came from
the neuter a-stem with
a long root-syllable, which added no plural ending in OE.
In OE personal pronouns had three genders (in the 3-rd person), four cases, three numbers in the 1-st and 2-nd persons. In ME and Early NE personal pronouns underwent some simplifying changes.
The OE feminine pronouns of the 3-rd person, e.g. heo was replaced by the ME “sho” or “she”.
However, the oblique case from OE heo, ME “hir” > NE her has been retained to the present day.
The pronoun of the 3-rd person plural OE “hie” was replaced by the Scandinavian borrowing “they”. The form of the oblique case NE them>NE them and the possessive their ousted the earlier native English “hem” and “heora”
(duilt from OE hie).
The form of the 2-nd person plural, ye and you, was generalized both as singular and plural, while ME thou became obsolete.
The category of number was brought into conformity with the corresponding category of nouns: the forms of dual number of the 1-st and 2-nd person went into disuse.
As for the category of case it underwent great changes too: the forms of the Dative and the Accusative cases fell together into one form of pronouns, used as an object; therefore we call it the objective case in ME like in Modern English.
The two-case system (Nominative and Objective) is now regarded embracing all the personal pronouns, it and you having homonymous forms.
The forms of the Genitive case of the personal pronouns split from the personal pronouns into a separate group of pronouns called possessive.
The ME my and mine . thy, thyne, his, her etc. like other attributes no longer agree with the noun they modify.
One new pronoun was added to the set of possessive pronouns: the possessive pronoun its corresponding to it, formed on the analogy of other possessive pronouns, replaced the OE Neuter his.
In ME there developed one more class of pronouns - reflexive. They developed on the basis of the oblique case forms of the OE personal pronouns. For instance, the pronoun myself combines a possessive pronoun, ME and NE my with self: the pronoun themselves is a combination of the objective case them with the plural of self, selves. The other classes of pronouns: interrogative, relative, indefinite and demonstrative, displayed great changes too. All the inflected pronouns lost some grammatical distinctions. For instance, the ME demonstrative pronouns retained only number distinctions (hi OE these pronouns had five cases, three genders and two numbers). The Singular forms of the ME demonstrative pronouns - that and this, NE that, this had developed from the ME Nominative and Accusative forms of the Neuter gender, singular of respective OE pronouns Þæt, Þes: the plural forms - ME those and thes, NE those, these - had descended from the OE plural forms of demonstrative pronouns. The development of the OE demonstrative pronoun se, seo, Þæt "that" led to the formation of the definite article.
In ME there had arisen a formal difference between that used as a demonstrative pronoun and retaining number distinctions and the used as the definite article and having no number distinctions. Bearing no sentence stress the newly formed article had weakened its form to the (pronounced as [θэ]) in ME. The indefinite article developed from the numeral and indefinite pronoun OE ān, ME oon, NE one. In ME the indefinite article had the forms a and an.
The adjective has lost all its grammatical categories except the degrees of comparison. Already in OE the agreement of the adjective with the noun became looser and in the course of the 12th century it was almost lost.
The only difference between the forms of the Middle English adjective was the inflection -e, which was added to build the plural in the strong declension and to mark the weak forms of both numbers.
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