S.I.Potapenko
HISTORY OF ENGLISH
IN
CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVE
Nizhyn 2010
ББК 81.43.21:76.0
П 64
УДК 81’42=111
Рецензенти:
доктор філологічних наук, професор О.Л.Бєссонова (Донецький
національний університет);
доктор філологічних наук, професор І.Р.Буніятова (Київський
національний лінгвістичний університет);
доктор філологічних наук, професор А.Е.Левицький (Інститут
філології Київського національного університету імені Тараса Шевченка).
Потапенко С.І. Історія англійської мови у сучасній перспективі:
Посібник для студентів факультетів іноземних мов. – Ніжин: Видавництво
НДУ імені Миколи Гоголя, 2010. – 85 с.
Potapenko S.I. History of English in Contemporary Perspective: Textbook
for students of faculties of foreign languages. – Nizhyn: University Publishing
House, 2010. – 85 p.
У посібнику історія англійської мови подається у зіставленні з її
сучасним
станом
у
руслі
провідних
лінгвістичних
підходів:
комунікативного, когнітивного й культурологічного. У теоретичній частині
кожного розділу висвітлюється розвиток окремого мовного явища з
давнього по сучасний період, а практична частина пропонує завдання до
семінарських занять, вправи й запитання для самоконтролю.
Для студентів факультетів іноземних мов вищих навчальних закладів.
The textbook represents the history of English in comparison with its
modern state drawing on the mainstream linguistic approaches: communicative,
cognitive, and cultural. The theoretical part of each chapter discusses the
development of a particular linguistic phenomenon from the old till modern
period, while the practical part offers tasks for seminars, exercises and questions
for self-control.
The book is addressed to the students of faculties of foreign languages.
© Потапенко С.І., 2010
© НДУ імені М.Гоголя, 2010
2
CONTENTS
Foreword……………………………………………………………………..4
Theme 1. Historical conditions of the development of English…………….. 6
Seminar 1……………………………………………………………..11
Theme 2. Consonants in the history of English……………………………..14
Seminar 2……………………………………………………………..18
Theme 3. Vowels and orthography in Old and Middle English…………….20
Seminar 3……………………………………………………………..25
Theme 4. Vowels and orthography in Modern English……………………..28
Seminar 4 (part 1)…………………………………………………….34
Seminar 4 (part 2)…………………………………………………….37
Theme 5. The noun in the history of English……………………………….40
Seminar 5……………………………………………………………..46
Theme 6. Pronouns in the history of English………………………………..50
Seminar 6……………………………………………………………..56
Theme 7. Verb classes in historical perspective
Old English Syntax……………………..…………………………….59
Seminar 7……………………………………………………………..64
Theme 8. Analytical verb forms in historical perspective
Global Role and Future of English……………………………….68
Seminar 8……………………………………………………………..73
Additional texts for reading…………………………………………………77
Method guide to the film The Story of English……………………………...80
Examination questions……………………………………………………….83
Recommended literature……………………………………………………..84
Abbreviations…………………………………………………………………85
3
Foreword
The textbook is based on the second variant of the syllabus in history of
English, i.e. the material is presented from the synchronic perspective, teaching the
students to understand the tendencies underlying historical change. This structure
of the course develops the learners’ awareness of the unity and interrelation of
historical changes enabling them to get a clear idea of the structure of modern
English.
The contemporary perspective underlying the structure of the textbook is
twofold. Firstly, the development of separate phonetic and grammatical
phenomena spans the old and modern periods which allows to explain the presentday state of the language and in some cases to predict its future. Secondly, the
elucidation of historical changes draws on modern linguistic approaches:
communicative, cognitive, and cultural. The communicative foundations linked to
the principle of least effort in the interlocutors’ activity mainly determine phonetic
changes: the speaker simplifies pronunciation while the addressee expects distinct
articulation. The cognitive perspective explains the development of the plural
forms on the analogy with visual perception as well as links the rise of the
analytical verb forms to the order of their acquisition in ontogeny and
grammaticalization direction. The cultural approach reveals the dependence of
certain linguistic changes on particular historical events while the process of
globalization explains the expansion of the English language and its role in the
modern world.
The textbook consists of eight chapters. The theoretical material, dealing
with the development of a particular linguistic phenomenon, is divided into
compulsory and optional by different fonts. The presentation of the material aims
at facilitating its acquisition by students. The discussion of the phonetic changes is
based on the forms of the numerals at different stages of the language
development: the students are supposed to use their order as a plan for answers
during seminars; the system of the English personal pronouns is reconstructed
through comparison with the corresponding items in Latin and Ukrainian while the
development of the analytical verb forms is treated in connection with the
grammaticalization processes. The practical section of each chapter focuses on an
Old or Middle English text and ends up with questions for self-control which help
the students check the level of their knowledge.
At the end of the book the reader will find additional texts, tasks on the film
about the history of English, a list of recommended literature and examination
questions.
Author
4
Вступ
Пропонований посібник відповідає другому варіанту програми з історії
англійської мови, тобто матеріал подається з точки зору синхронії,
закладаючи у студентів основи розуміння тенденцій зародження й розвитку
історичних процесів. Така організація курсу сприяє розумінню єдності,
взаємозв’язку й взаємозумовленості історичних змін, допомагаючи краще
усвідомити будову англійської мови.
Сучасна перспектива нормативного курсу історії англійської мови
представлена двома ракурсами. По-перше, динаміка еволюції окремих
фонетичних і граматичних явищ одночасно розглядається упродовж усіх
періодів, що дозволяє пояснити стан сучасної мови, а в деяких випадках дати
прогноз її майбутнього розвитку. По-друге, для розкриття причин історичних
змін залучаються сучасні лінгвістичні підходи: комунікативний,
лінгвокогнітивний і лінгвокультурологічний. Комунікативні механізми,
пов’язані з принципом найменших зусиль у діяльності співрозмовників,
враховуються при аналізі фонетичних процесів, викликаних взаємодією двох
протилежних тенденцій: спрощенням адресантом вимови слів і очікуванням
чіткої артикуляції адресатом. Лінгвокогнітивна перспектива розвитку мови
пояснює еволюцію множини іменників окремих розрядів за аналогією до
візуального сприйняття, а формування аналітичних форм дієслова згідно з
послідовністю їх засвоєння людиною в онтогенезі та перебігом процесів
граматикалізації. Лінгвокультурологічний підхід розкриває залежність
окремих мовних процесів від певних історичних подій, а глобалізаційний
ракурс змін виявляє джерела поширення англійської мови у світі та її роль у
забезпеченні міжнаціонального спілкування.
Посібник складається з восьми основних розділів, кожен із яких має
теоретичну та практичну частини. Теоретичний матеріал, присвячений
розвитку певних мовних явищ, поділяється на обов’язковий і
факультативний за допомогою різного шрифту. Спосіб подачі матеріалу
спрямований на полегшення його засвоєння студентами. З цією метою
фонетичні зміни пояснюються через зіставлення форм числівників першого
десятка у різні періоди розвитку мови, а їхня послідовність слугує планом,
згідно з яким студенти будують відповіді на семінарах. Систему
давньоанглійських особових займенників реконструйовано з залученням
відповідних одиниць латинської та української мов, а розвиток аналітичних
форм дієслова висвітлено у зв’язку з загальними тенденціями
граматикалізації. Практична частина кожного розділу побудована навколо
давньо- або середньоанглійського тексту та завершується питаннями для
самоконтролю, які допомагають студентам перевірити рівень набутих знань.
У кінці посібника вміщені тексти для додаткового читання, завдання до
фільму про розвиток англійської мови, список рекомендованої літератури і
питання до екзамену.
Автор
5
Theme 1
HISTORICAL CONDITIONS OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF ENGLISH
§ 1. ENGLISH AS A GERMANIC LANGUAGE OF THE INDO-EUROPEAN
FAMILY
Old English developed from the Germanic language which in its turn goes
back to the Indo-European language. The common Proto-Indo-European language
existed in the 5-2 millennia B.C. Some scholars place its origin in Ukraine around
4000 B.C. (D.Ringe).
In the second millennium B.C. Indo-European split into a number of new
languages which gave rise to 12 branches of the Indo-European family: Germanic,
Slavic, Baltic, Celtic, Romanic, Greek, Albanian, Armenian, Iranian, Indian, and
other extinct languages.
Germanic split into the languages of three groups: East-Germanic, NorthGermanic and West-Germanic.
The East-Germanic group includes only dead languages: Gothic,
Burgundian, and Vandalic. Gothic is of great importance for the students of
Germanic philology since the oldest Germanic texts were written in this language.
It disappeared in the 17th century.
The North-Germanic group comprises Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Faroese
and Icelandic.
The West-Germanic group includes English, German, Dutch, Frisian,
Flemish, Yiddish, and Afrikaans spoken in South Africa.
The history of English began in the 5th century when the Anglo-Saxon tribes
invaded the British Isles.
§ 2. THE STRUCTURE OF THE OLD ENGLISH VOCABULARY
The vocabulary spoken by Anglo-Saxons during the Old English period
reflects the stages of the prehistoric development of English. The word-stock of
that period consists of three layers: Indo-European, Germanic, and Old English.
The words of the Indo-European layer can be found in other Indo-European
languages, e.g. Latin, Russian, Ukrainian.
The words of the Germanic layer are found in other Germanic languages,
e.g. German.
The words of the Old English layer appeared in English and cannot be traced
to any other Indo-European or Germanic languages.
2.1. Indo-European layer
The words of this layer denote the most basic things of everyday life:
 terms of kinship, e.g. mother – Ukr. матір; sister – Ukr. сестра; son – Ukr.
син;
 body parts, e.g. back – Ukr. бік; beard – Ukr. борода; brow – Ukr. брова;
tooth – Lat. dens, cf. Ukr. дантист; heart – Lat. cor, cf. Ukr. кардіолог; lip
– Lat. labium;
6
animals, e.g. cow – Rus. говядина; swine – Ukr. свиня;
plants, e.g. birch – Ukr. береза; tree – Ukr. дерево;
colours, e.g. brown – Ukr. брунатний; red – Ukr. рудий, Rus. рыжий;
verbs, e.g. ask – Rus. искать; call – Ukr. голос; eat – Ukr. їсти; sit – Ukr.
сидіти; stand – Ukr. стояти; sleep – Ukr. слабий; smile – Ukr. сміятися;
 separate objects, e.g. field – Ukr. поле; hammer – Ukr. камінь; milk – Ukr.
молоко;
 prepositions, e.g. to – Ukr. до;
 numerals: ān – Ukr. один; twā, tū, twēgen – Ukr. два; þrī, þrēo, þrīe – Ukr.
три; fēower – Ukr. чотири; fīf – Ukr. п’ять; siex, syx – Ukr. шість; seofon
– Lat. septem(ber); æht, eaht – Lat. octo(ber); nigon – Lat. novem(ber); tÿn,
tien – Ukr. десять, Lat. decem(ber); thousand – Ukr. тисяча.




Additional information. The study of the Indo-European layer of the vocabulary helps
to determine where the Indo-European people lived. In the 19th century it was customary to
assume an Asiatic home for the Indo-European family which was the result of the biblical
tradition that placed the garden of Eden in Mesopotamia. However, the facts of various IndoEuropean languages prompt that the original home for the family was Europe because the
languages of this group have common words for ‘winter’ and ‘snow’ which means that the
family was in a climate that at certain seasons was at least partly cold. Therefore a European
home for the languages of the Indo-European family has come to be considered more probable.
Most of the proposed locations can be in the district of the Germanic area stretching from central
Europe to the steppes of southern Russia and Ukraine.
2.2. Germanic layer
The vocabulary of this layer can be divided into two subgroups:
- expanding the Indo-European word classes;
- names of new phenomena.






2.2.1. Words expanding the Indo-European classes:
terms of distant kinship, e.g. uncle – Germ. der Onkel, aunt – Germ. die
Tante;
body parts, e.g. arm – Germ. der Arm; finger – Germ. der Finger; hand –
Germ. die Hand; head – Germ. das Haupt;
animals, e.g. bear – der Bär; fox – der Fuchs; calf – das Kalb;
plants, e.g. oak – Germ. die Eiche; lime – Germ. Die Linder (a tree under
which trials took place); beech tree – Germ. das Buch (originally pieces of
writing were scratched on beechen boards, hence ModE book);
colours, e.g. green – Germ. grün; blue – Germ. blau;
verbs, e.g. drink – Germ. trinken.
2.2.2. Names of new phenomena:
 spatial terms, e.g. earth, ground, land, sand;
 temporal names, e.g. week;
 names of days: Anglo-Saxons were pagans, i.e. they believed in many Gods,
and gave their names to days of the week:
7
Sunday – Sun’s day;
Monday – Moon’s day;
Tuesday – the day of Tiw (the god of war);
Wednesday – Woden’s day (the god of wind);
Thursday – Thor’s day (the god of thunder, cf. Germ. der Donner
“thunder” – Donnerstag);
Friday – Frige’s day (the goddess of love, cf. ModE friend);
Saturday – Saturn’s day (Roman god of agriculture).
Additional note. To be more exact, names of the days of the week should be treated as
translation loans, i.e. units created on the pattern of Latin words as their literal translations. They
were formed by the substitutions of the name of the corresponding Germanic god for the god of
the Romans. For example, Monday, i.e. Moon’s day = Lat. Lunae dies; Tuesday, i.e. Tiw’s day =
Lat. Martis dies since the Teutonic God Tiw corresponds to Roman Mars.
2.3. Old English layer
These words appeared in Old English and cannot be found in other IndoEuropean languages though some of them were borrowed by other languages later.
The specifically Old English words are bird (OE brid), lord (OE hlāford =
hlāf ‘loaf’ + weard ‘keeper’), woman (OE wīf-man) etc.
2.4. Borrowings
Besides the native words, Old English had two groups of borrowings (about
450 words) – Latin and Celtic.
2.4.1. Latin borrowings comprise three groups: 1) the words introduced by
Roman traveling merchants into the common Germanic language; 2) the words
adopted during the Roman occupation of the British Isles; 3) the units connected
with the introduction of Christianity.
Latin borrowings of the common Germanic period denote measures, e.g.
pound, mile, money, fruit, e.g. pear, plum, cherry, vegetables, e.g. beet, plant,
drinks, e.g. beer, wine, food, e.g. butter, pepper.
The words connected with the fortifications built by the Romans are wall,
street, port, etc.
The Latin borrowings brought with the introduction of Christianity (7th
century) are alter, angel, anthem, candle, devil, pope, school etc.
2.4.2. Celtic borrowings are very few (about a dozen words): ass, bin, clan,
down, iron, tory, whiskey, place-names, e.g. Avon, Dover, Kent, Thames, York,
perhaps, London, names of persons, e.g. Arthur (noble), Kennedy (ugly head).
8
§ 3. FIRST GERMANIC CONSONANT SHIFT: GRIMM’S LAW
Many words of the Indo-European layer have different consonants in related
units, cf. tree – Ukr. дерево, to – Ukr. до, call – Ukr. голос; cow – рос. говядина;
tooth – Lat. dens, cf. Ukr. дантист; heart – Lat. cor, cf. Ukr. кардіолог; hammer
– Ukr. камінь.
These differences were explained in 1822 by a German philologist, Jacob
Grimm. Therefore this set of changes is often called Grimm’s law.
The changes are systematically revealed if we compare Ukrainian and
English numerals:
два – two: d → t;
три – three: t → θ;
п’ять – five: p → f.
The comparison of два and two suggests that the Indo-European voiced
plosives (stops) d, b, g developed into the Germanic voiceless plosives t, p, k, e.g.
два – two, яблуко – apple, голос – call. It is the first act of Grimm’s law.
The comparison of три – three and п’ять – five reveals that the IndoEuropean voiceless plosives t, p, k became Germanic fricatives θ, f, h, e.g. три –
three, п’ять – five, корова – horn. It is the second act of Grimm’s law.
The third act of Grimm’s law is not reflected in modern languages. It
concerns the development of the Indo-European aspirated voiced plosives bh, dh, gh
into the Germanic voiced plosives b, d, g, e.g. Skrt. bhratar – ModE brother.
These developments explain similar consonants in the English and Ukrainian
words back and бік; beard and борода; brow and брова etc.
§ 4. INTERPRETATIONS OF THE GERMANIC CONSONANT SHIFT
Many scholars tried to explain the causes of Germanic consonant shift.
Below you will find some of those interpretations.
1. The romantic theory was put forward by Jacob Grimm who attributed the
changes to the daring spirit of the ancient Germans which displayed itself in their
migration and linguistic innovations.
2. The physiological theory ascribes the changes to the specific shape of the
Teutons’ glottis.
3. The theory of linguistic substratum (A. Meillet) claims that the changes
are the result of the influence of the language of the pre-Germanic population. That
language served as a sort of ‘under-layer’ (substratum) for the would-be Germanic
language.
4. The phonetic theory maintains that the changes may have resulted from a
more energetic articulation of consonants brought about by the Germanic force
word stress.
5. The systematic theories (J.Kurylowicz) state that the shift was caused by
the internal requirements of the language system, i.e. the need for precise
distinctions in all phonetic conditions. It was necessary because before the shift the
opposition of voiced and voiceless plosives was lost in some positions. Therefore
new features appeared.
9
§ 5. GERMANIC VOICING OF FRICATIVES: VERNER’S LAW
The Danish scholar Karl Verner explained some deviations from Grimm’s law, namely
the voicing of fricatives f, θ, h which developed after the first consonant shift and the sound s
inherited from the Indo-European language. According to Verner’s law s and the fricatives were
voiced (and θ modified into d) between vowels if the preceding vowel was unstressed. In the
absence of these conditions they remained voiceless. In some languages s developed into r.
The traces of the changes described by Verner’s law are retained in the following Modern
English words: death – dead, was – were etc.
§ 6. PERIODS OF THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH
The history of English began after the 5th century when the Anglo-Saxon
tribes invaded the British Isles. Different features might be taken as a ground for
the division of history of English into periods: extralinguistic and intralinguistic.
The extralinguistic classification is based on the events of the history of the
English people.
Old English: 5th century (Anglo-Saxon invasion of the British Isles) – 11th
century (Norman Conquest);
Middle English: 11th century – 15th century (introduction of printing by
William Caxton in 1476);
Modern English: 15th century – 1950s (English went global);
Late Modern English: 1950s – till now.
The intralinguistic division of the history of English according to the state of unstressed
endings was proposed by Henry Sweet:
period of full endings: any vowel can be found in an unstressed position;
period of leveled endings: vowels of unstressed endings have been leveled to a neutral
sound;
period of lost endings: endings were lost altogether.
This theory roughly coincides with the one based on the historic events.
10
Seminar 1
Historical conditions of the development of English
Old English reading rules
1. Classification of Germanic languages.
2. Structure of the Old English vocabulary.
3. Grimm’s law.
4. Interpretations of the changes described by Grimm’s law. The most
convincing view.
5. Periods of the history of English.
Literature
1. Verba L. History of the English Language. – Вінниця, 2006. – (2): pp.
90-94; (3): pp. 27-28; (5): pp. 13-18.
2. Аракин В.Д. История английского языка. – М., 1985. – (1): c. 9-10, 12;
(2): c. 92-93, 98-100; (3): c. 15-17; (5): c. 19-20.
3. Иванова И.П., Чахоян Л.П. История английского языка. – М., 1976. –
(1): c. 6-7; (2): c. 13-16; (3): c. 46-48; (5): c. 5
4. Левицький В.В. Основи германістики. – Вінниця, 2008. – (1): c. 2223; (3): c. 196-199; (4): c. 206-210.
Individual tasks
1. The role of Sanskrit in contrastive studies.
2. The importance of Gothic for the study of Germanic languages.
3. The origin and present-day state of Afrikaans.
4. The origin of Yiddish.
5. The present-day state of Frisian.
Exercises
Exercise 1. Below you will find a letter written in one of the modern
Germanic languages by a former student of the University.
1. Read the letter and try to figure out what it is about drawing on the similar
English word forms.
2. Try and guess in what language the letter is written.
Geagte Dame en Here,
Namens die Fakulteit vir Vreemde Tale wil ek graag welkom heet aan almal
wat hier teenwoordig is.
Die Geskiedenis van Engels is 'n besonderse vak. Volgens ons ou studente
(en een van hulle woon nou in Suid Afrika waar Afrikaans een van die amptelike
tale is) is dit 'n absolute treffer. Dit stel jou taal uitkyk opnuut in perspektief. En dit
11
alles gaan gepaard met 'n onvergeetlike prettige aanbieding sodat julle smag
daarna om elke enkele seminaar by te woon.
Dankie.
Exercise 2. Practice the reading of the Old English fricatives in the
following positions:
- at the beginning and at the end of a word:
þrēo, þæt, cūð, waþ, wās, þearf, þis, fīf;
- intervocal position:
seofon, waþema, liðend, suþan, heofon, risan;
- between a vowel and a voiced consonant:
stefn, ōþres;
- at the beginning of a root:
ge-sittan, geþeod;
- in different positions:
broðor, feallan, bufan, þā, þāra, hlāforde, þrim, his, horsian, swiðe, bið,
þēowan, up-riste.
Exercise 3. Practice the reading of the letter g (joh) in the following
positions:
- before back-lingual vowels:
gān;
- before and after forelingual vowels:
gēar, weg, gebētan, twentig;
- between two back vowels:
dagas, slogon, āgan;
- after n:
streng;
- in different positions:
gān, gēar, streng, weg, dagas, slogon, āgan, gebētan, twentig.
Exercise 4. Read the following words and state the character of the sound
symbolized by the letter c:
- before front vowels:
cild, cēapian, micel, cyning;
- in non-front vowel positions:
clift, folc, geweorc;
- in different positions:
folc, cild, cēapian, clift, scēacan, micel, cyning, geweorc.
Exercise 5. Text work.
1. Read the following Old English text and determine the related words in its
Modern English translation. Translate the Old English text into Ukrainian:
12
On þy ylcan gēre worhte sē foresprecena here geweorc bē Lygan twentig
mila būfan Lundenbyrig. þā þæs on sumera fōron micel dæl þāra burgware ond ēac
ōþres folces þæt hīe gedydon æt þāra Deniscan geweorce, ond þær wurdon
geflīemde, and sume fēower cyninges þegnas ofsleanne (The Parker Cronicle).
In that very year the beforementioned army built a fortress by the river Lea
20 miles above London. Then in summer there came a great part of those citizens
and also of different other people so that they reached the Danish fortress and there
they were defeated and about four king’s warriors were killed.
2. Find the Ukrainian, Russian or Latin equivalents of the following English
words using Grimm’s law:
hammer; fish (OE fisc); pool; naked; sit; sleep (OE slæpan); wall; folk, full.
3. Determine the layer of the Old English vocabulary the following words
from the text belong to:
gēre (Germ. Jahr); sprecen (Germ. sprechen); twentig; mila; byrig – burg
(Germ. Burg); sumera (Germ. Sommer); fōron – fāran (Germ. fahren); dæl (Rus.
доля, делить); ōþres (Germ. anderer); folc; þæt (Germ. das, Rus. то); fēower;
cyning (Germ. König, Rus. князь).
Exercise 6. From the list of the OE Latin borrowings choose those which
you learned at school:
abbot, alms, altar, angel, anchor, apostle, ark, cancer, canon, cap, cedar, cell,
cleric, creed, cucumber, deacon, demon, disciple, elephant, epistle, fever, font,
giant, grammatical, history, hymn, idol, laurel, lentil, lobster, martyr, mass, master,
mat, noon, nun, offer, organ, oyster, paper, place, pope, priest, prophet, psalm,
purple, radish, relic, rule, school, scorpion, sock, temple, tiger, verse.
Exercise 7. Divide the words from exercise 6 into semantic groups. Choose
and learn three words new to you.
Questions for Self-Control on Seminar 1
1. What group of the Germanic languages does English belong to?
2. What changes does Grimm’s law explain?
3. When did the history of the English language begin?
4. How many layers does the Old English vocabulary consist of?
5. How many groups of Latin borrowings does the Old English vocabulary
include?
Do you know that …
among the names of meals only breakfast seems purely English formed from
two words break + fast. The early Christians thought you should not eat in the
morning before church services, i.e. you should fast. After service you were
allowed to break your fast, so you would take “breakfast”.
13
Theme 2
CONSONANTS IN THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH
§ 1. HISTORICAL EVENTS OF THE OLD ENGLISH PERIOD
The 5th century is named as the date of the beginning of the history of the
English people. It was in this century that the Germanic tribes of Angles, Saxons
and Jutes crossed the Channel and invaded Great Britain. The Angles occupied
most of the territory north of the Thames, the Saxons, the territory south of the
Thames, the Jutes settled in Kent and on the Isle of Wight.
Before the invasion the Angles, Saxons and Jutes were surrounded by other
Germanic tribes and their history is the history of all the ancient Germans. Since
the settlement of the Anglo-Saxons in Britain the ties of their language with the
continent were broken and in its further development it went its own way.
Before the Anglo-Saxon invasion Great Britain was inhabited by Celtic
tribes, which were subjugated by the invaders.
As a result of the invasion seven Germanic kingdoms were founded in
Britain. Since the very earliest times there were four main dialects in Old English:
- Northumbrian, spoken by the Angles living north of the Humber;
- Mercian, spoken by the Angles between the Humber and the Thames;
- West-Saxon, the language of Saxons south of the Thames;
- Kentish, the language of Jutes.
The rise of Wessex as a political power in the 9th century has its
consequences for the West-Saxon dialect: in the course of that century it became
the dominating literary language of the epoch. The West Saxon dialect is
represented by the works of King Alfred, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (till 891),
works of abbot Aelfric (10th century).
The English language of that period was also influenced by the introduction
of Christianity in the 7th century. It resulted in an extensive adoption of Latin
words and the substitution of the Latin alphabet for the special Germanic alphabet,
called Runic.
Runes consisted of vertical and diagonal strokes. They were usually scratched upon
stone, hard wood, or metal. That’s why they were not very suitable for continuous writing.
Originally the runic alphabet consisted of 24 symbols. Some of them were inherited by Old
English, e.g. the letter þ “thorn”. Runes may have developed in Denmark. The original meaning
of the noun rune is ‘secret’. Writing in runes was looked upon as a magic art. Runes were used
as magic symbols on articles of handiwork, especially weapons.
§ 2. PECULIARITIES OF THE OLD ENGLISH SYSTEM OF CONSONANTS
Consonants are more stable than vowels being easier for study.
The Old English consonants had two peculiarities which distinguish them
from the Modern English sounds: they were long as well as lacked sibilants and
affricates.
14
2.1. Long consonants
Most Old English consonants, except r, j and w, were long after a short
vowel before j. They were represented by two letters in writing, e.g. OE fyllan –
ModE fill.
In Middle English double consonants were simplified but two letters
continued to be written. As a result the doubling of letters came to be associated
with the shortness of the preceding vowel. Two letters were introduced even for
those consonants which had always been simple, e.g. copper, fellow, poppy etc.
2.2. Sibilants and affricates
Old English had only two sibilants s and z while was devoid of ∫ and had no
affricates t∫ and dz.
Instead palatal lingual consonants were used before and after front vowels:
k’, e.g. cild; sk’, e.g. scipu; g’, e.g. brycg.
Towards the Middle English period the palatal consonants developed into
sibilants and affricates, e.g. child, ship, bridge.
§ 3. DEVELOPMENT OF SEPARATE CONSONANTS IN OLD AND MIDDLE
ENGLISH
The development of separate consonants in Old and Middle English can be
described through comparison of the Old English and Middle English forms of
words. The latter are kept in modern spelling which has hardly changed since the
introduction of printing. Therefore the description of the development of separate
consonants in Old and Middle English will be based on the comparison of the Old
and Middle English numerals which you can use as a plan during your answer at
the seminar:
OE numerals
ān
twā, tū, twēgen
þrī, þrēo, þrīe
fēower
fīf
siex, syx
seofon
æht, eaht
nigon
tÿn, tien
ME/ModE numerals
one
two
three
four
five
six
seven
eight
nine
ten
derivatives
other languages
a (indefinite article)
Germ. fünf
1. The comparison of the Old English ān and the indefinite article a reveals
the loss of n in unstressed positions when the following word began with a
consonant. That is how verbs lost the final n in the infinitive, cf. OE writan –
ModE write.
2-3. The Old English and Middle English forms of the numerals two and
three do not show any changes in consonants.
15
4. The Old English fēower and the Middle English four reveal the
vocalization of w, i.e. it developed into a neutral vowel which was lost. The
process of vocalization also took place in the word answer where the letter w is
silent.
Another peculiarity of the Old English consonant w is reflected in the
spelling of the Modern English words what and which. Their Old English forms
are hwæt and hwic. The letter h at the beginning of the words shows that Old
English had a voiceless w as well as voiceless sonorants r, l, n at the beginning of a
number of words. The spelling wh was introduced in Middle English for the
devoiced w.
5-7. The Old English fīf and the Middle English five demonstrate the voicing
of fricatives between two vowels. Another example of this change is revealed by
the comparison of the Old English seofon and Middle English seven.
The Old English fīf and the German fünf show the loss of n before fricatives
which also occurred in the words us (Germ. uns), goose (Germ. die Gans).
8. The Old English æht, eaht and the Middle English eight reflect the change
of the spelling of the sound х.
9. The difference between the Old English nigon and Middle English nine
demonstrates the vocalization of γ marked by the letter g which developed into w
in the intervocal position and later got vocalized.
§ 4. DEVELOPMENT OF SEPARATE CONSONANTS IN MODERN ENGLISH
The development of separate consonants in Modern English is easily traced
if we compare the Middle English pronunciation of words presented by their
modern spelling and the Modern English articulation known to all the learners of
English. Numerals can serve as a plan for that description:
1. The comparison of the Middle English onε and the Modern English [wΛn]
reveals the development of w under the influence of the bilabial vowel o. A similar
process occurs in the following Ukrainian and Russian words вогонь – огонь;
вівця – овца; вулик – улей; вчений – ученый.
2. The Middle English two: and the Modern English [tu:] reveal the merger
of w with o. Similar changes take place in the words sword, who (OE hwō).
3-4. The numeral three does not show any changes in consonants. However,
the Middle English fu:r (four) and the Modern English [fo:] reflect the vocalization
of r, i.e. its development into a neutral vowel which in this case joined the
preceding sound making it long.
5-8. The numerals from five up to seven did not undergo any changes in
consonants. However, the comparison of the Middle English eight [eiхt] and the
Modern English [eit] reflects the loss of the palatal х with the lengthening of the
preceding vowel. In the words cough, enough, rough etc. the consonant х
developed into f under the influence of the preceding bilabial vowel.
16
§ 5. MODERN ENGLISH DEVELOPMENT OF CONSONANTS: INFLUENCE
OF ACTIVITY OF SPEAKER AND ADDRESSEE
Some Modern English changes of consonants resulted from the activity of
the speaker and the addressee. The speaker’s activity is aimed at the economy of
efforts which often results in simpler pronunciation of sounds. According to the
same principle the addressee seeks to hear well articulated sounds motivating the
speaker to pronounce them distinctly.
The activity of the speaker influenced the Modern English simplification of
the pronunciation of some consonant groups which were difficult to articulate.
However, the letters are kept in the corresponding positions of the words which
accounts for the discrepancies in spelling and pronunciation:
 at the beginning, e.g. knife, gnat, wrong;
 in the middle, e.g. castle, Christmas, whistle;
 at the end in the clusters mb, mn, ng, e.g. autumn, climb, dumb, sing.
The activity of the addressee is reflected in the voicing of fricatives and
affricates in unstressed positions:
 in auxiliary words, e.g. was, of, his;
 in endings, e.g. reads, boxes;
 at the end of notional words, e.g. knowledge. However, in some cases the
voicing was not reflected in spelling, e.g. Greenwich, sandwich, spinach.
17
Seminar 2
Consonants in the history of English
1. Historical events of the Old English period.
2. Peculiarities of the Old English system of consonants.
3. Development of separate consonants in Old and Middle English.
4. Evolution of separate consonants in Modern English.
5. Modern English development of consonants: influence of the activity of
the speaker and addressee.
Literature
1. Shakhrai O. The ABC of English Historical Grammar. – K., 1971. – (2):
pp. 13-18; (3): pp. 64-69; (4-5): pp. 69-72.
2. Verba L. History of the English Language. – Вінниця, 2006. – (1): pp.
18-24; (3): pp. 35-37.
3. Аракин В.Д. История английского языка. – М., 1985. – (1): c. 22-24;
(2): c. 42-45.
4. Иванова И.П., Чахоян Л.П. История английского языка. – М., 1976. –
(1): c. 8-9; (2): c. 53-58.
Individual tasks
1. Language situation in pre-Germanic Britain.
2. Runic alphabet.
3. Old English alphabet.
4. Old English written records.
5. Linguistic differences of the Old English dialects.
Exercises
Exercise 1. Make up a list of the most important events of the Old English
period.
Exercise 2. Text work.
1. Read the following Old English text and find the related words in the
Modern English variant. Translate the Old English text into Ukrainian:
þā wæs on þā tid Aeþelbeorhte cyning hāten on Centrice, and mihtig: hē
hæfde rice oþ gemaeru Humbre strēames, sē tōscadeþ sūþfolc Angelþēode and
norþfolc (Bede’s Ecclesiastical History, about 890).
18
Then (there) was in that time a king named Aethelbert in Kent, and (a)
mighty (one): he had power up to (the) Humber river, which separated the south
folk of the English and north folk.
2. Explain the reading of the fricatives in the words from the text.
3. Explain the reading of the letter c in the words from the text.
4. Explain the reading of the letter g in the words from the text.
5. How can you account for the subsequent development of the Old English
consonants in the following words:
þā (then); wæs (was); cyning (king); mihtig (mighty); sē (the).
6. Determine the layer of the Old English vocabulary the following words
from the text belong to:
and; cyning (Germ. König, Rus. / Ukr. князь); folc; haten (Germ. heisen);
hæfde – habban (Germ. haben); mihtig (Germ. mächtig); rice (Germ. Reich); sūþ
(Germ. Süden).
Questions for Self-Control on Seminar 2
1. Why do we write the letters b, n, g at the end of words like comb, bring
but do not read them?
2. Why do we write the letters g, k, w at the beginning of words like gnaw
but do not read them?
3. Why is the letter w written but not read in two, answer and some other
words?
4. How can you account for the discrepancies between spelling and
pronunciation in the words sandwich and spinach?
5. Why is gh read f in words like enough and silent in the words like
daughter and night?
6. Why are the letters t and d written but not read in the middle of some
words?
7. Why is wh read w in what and most other words but h in who and whole?
8. Why is f read v in of?
Do you know that …
lunch is a shortened form of luncheon, and its first appearance is
documented in 1829. Originally luncheon meant a thick piece though the origin of
the word itself is not quite clear. Views differ as to its Spanish or dialectal origin.
Luncheon is now used on formal occasions, e.g. Somerset Maugham’s story
Luncheon.
19
Theme 3
VOWELS AND ORTHOGRAPHY IN OLD AND MIDDLE ENGLISH
§ 1. OLD ENGLISH SYSTEM OF VOWELS
The Old English system of vowels can be easily described if you compare
the Old English and Modern English numerals:
OE numerals
ME/ModE numerals
ān
twā, tū, twēgen
þrī, þrēo, þrīe
fēower
fīf
siex, syx
seofon
æht, eaht
nigon
tÿn, tien
one
two
three
four
five
six
seven
eight
nine
ten
a (indefinite article)
Germ. fünf
The analysis of the Old English numerals reveals a number of specific
features of the vowel system of that period. It possessed:
 long (ā, ū, ē, ī, ÿ, æ, ō) and corresponding short (a, u, e, i, y, æ, o)
monophthongs;
 long (ēo, īe, ēa) and short (eo, ie, ea) diphthongs which being weak
simplified into monophthongs at the end of the period;
 long sound æ which was narrowed into ē, e.g. sæ → sea;
 long and short vowels ÿ, articulated like i with protruded lips. These vowels
disappeared at the end of the Old English period.
§ 2. DEVELOPMENT OF OLD ENGLISH VOWELS
The development of separate Old English vowels can be revealed through
comparison of the Old English and Middle English numerals whose pronunciation
is reflected in their Modern English spelling.
OE numerals
ME/ModE numerals
derivatives other languages
ān
twā, tū, twēgen
þrī, þrēo, þrīe
fēower
fīf
siex, syx
seofon
one
two
three
four
five
six
seven
ænig (any)
20
Germ. lang
æht, eaht
nigon
tÿn, tien
eight
nine
ten
1. The comparison of ān and one reveals the development of ā into ō under
the influence of the neighbouring n. The process is called narrowing of vowels
before nasal consonants. As a result, vowels become more front and high. The
scale of this change can be clearly seen if we compare some English and German
words: song – Germ. der Sang; long – Germ. lang.
If we compare the OE numeral ān with its derivative ænig (any) we observe
the development of a more front vowel æ under the influence of the sounds i or j.
This phenomenon is called i-umlaut or palatal mutation. Under its influence the
vowel in the preceding syllable moved to a more front position. These changes
mainly took place in the pre-written period and we can only speak about their
traces in the irregular formation of the plural, degrees of comparison, and word
formation:
- irregular plural forms:
man – men;
foot – feet;
mouse – mice;
louse – lice;
- irregular degrees of comparison:
old – elder – eldest;
- word formation:
gold – gild;
strong – strength.
2. The OE twā and the Middle English two demonstrate narrowing of ā into
ō which is an instant of a general tendency of all English monophthongs to become
closer. As a result Middle English acquires two types of long vowels – open, e.g.
boat, sea, and close, e.g. two, tree.
In the case of open vowels the back of the tongue is low in the mouth cavity,
i.e. it opens the air passage; during the pronunciation of close vowels the tongue is
high, i.e. it closes the air passage.
3-4. The comparison of the Old English þrī, þrēo, þrīe and the Middle
English three as well as of the Old English fēower and Middle English four
demonstrates the simplification of the Old English diphthongs into monophthongs.
5-6. Though the Old and Middle English forms of the numeral five reveal no
changes in vowels, the comparison of syx and six demonstrates the unrounding of
the Old English sound y.
The outcome of this change differs with respect to various Middle English
dialects. The vowel y was unrounded into i in the North (mys – mis), into e in the
South (myrig – merry), into u in the West (mycel – much). However, some Modern
English words borrowed their pronunciation from one dialect and spelling from
21
another which accounts for the discrepancies between spelling and pronunciation
of the words bury, busy, build.
7-8. While the Old and Middle English forms of seven demonstrate the
simplification of diphthongs, the Old English variants of the numeral eight (æht,
eaht) reveal the process of Old English breaking. In its course the front vowels i,
e, æ develop a glide before h, r, l + consonant, e.g. meolcan, heorte.
9-10. While the Old and Middle English forms of the numeral nine show no
changes in vowels, the comparison of the Old English tÿn, tien and the Middle
English ten reveals the simplification of the Old English diphthongs and the
unrounding of the Old English vowel ÿ which is also characteristic of the numeral
six.
The numerals fail to reflect one important OE change of vowels, i.e. their
lengthening before homoganic clusters of consonants ld, nd, mb, e.g. kind, child.
Both sounds in these clusters are voiced and articulated by the same speech organ.
The exceptions to this change are:
- in the word children i was not lengthened because the cluster of
consonants was followed by one more sound, r. A similar condition
prevented the lengthening of the vowel in bewilder (derivative from
wild): in its OE form bewildrian the cluster of consonants was also
followed by r;
- the noun wind is believed to have a short vowel because of its frequent
use in the compound word windmill.
§ 3. DEVELOPMENT OF VOWELS IN MIDDLE ENGLISH: INFLUENCE OF
ACTIVITY OF SPEAKER AND ADDRESSEE
A language develops in a constant rivalry between the speaker and the
addressee. The former tends to simplify the pronunciation of sounds while the
latter prevents him from it for the sake of effective communication.
In Middle English the speaker’s activity resulted in the reduction of vowels
before groups of consonants and at the end of words while the addressee’s activity
influenced the lengthening of the root vowels which made words stand out in
speech.
3.1. The activity of speaker
1. The reduction of the final unstressed syllable which led to the loss of
endings in the majority of words though the letter e continued to be written, e.g.
one, five. Sometimes the silent letter e was even added to the words which had
never had a final vowel sound, e.g. hūs – house, stān – stone.
2. The shortening of vowels took place in two positions:
- before groups of consonants in closed syllables, e.g. keep – kept;
- before two unstressed syllables, cf. holy – holiday; five – fifteen (OE
fīftiene); house – husband (OE hūsbonda).
22
3.2. The activity of the addressee
The activity of the addressee influenced the lengthening of vowels in the
root at the expense of the reduced final sound to keep the salience of words, e.g.
OE talu – ModE tale; OE nosu – ModE nose.
Short vowels are kept in the open syllable in two cases:
1. disyllabic words ending in –y because the final vowel was not reduced,
e.g. body, many;
2. in the words of French origin, e.g. city, novel, pity, very, since in French
stress falls on the final syllable with the vowels in unstressed syllables being short.
When in English the stress was shifted to the first syllable but the vowels remained
short.
Additional information. The Middle English development of vowels is believed to have
changed the rhythm of English. It became a stress-timed language, i.e. it has equal intervals
between stressed syllables despite the number of unstressed ones. Therefore stressed syllables
are longer in duration than the unstressed ones. In this respect English differs from French,
Russian, Spanish and Ukrainian considered to be syllable-timed languages. They have the same
length of stressed and unstressed syllables.
§ 4. NORMAN CONQUEST
The Norman Conquest of England began in 1066. It proved to be a turning
point in English history and had a considerable impact on the language. All the
important positions in the government, army, and church were occupied by the
French. Thus French became the official language of the country and remained so
for about three centuries. English was reduced to a lower social sphere: the main
mass of peasantry and townspeople. Under such circumstances the two languages
influenced each other. The struggle for supremacy between French and English
ended in favour of English, but it emerged from the struggle in a considerably
changed condition especially in vocabulary and orthography.
The main effect of the Norman conquest was the enormous number of
French words which came into the language – around 10,000, according to some
estimates. The words were largely to do with law and administration, but they also
included units from such fields as medicine, art, and fashion. Most have stood the
test of time, about three-quarters of them being in use today. Some of the French
loans are: governmental and administrative terms (government, crown, country,
parliament, state etc.), legal terms (judge, crime, accuse, prison etc.), military
terms (army, war, enemy, battle, victory, siege etc.), religious terms (religion,
miracle etc.), words reflecting French dominance in arts and literature (art, colour,
beauty etc.), the French way of life and habits (jewel, feast, pleasure etc.).
Many of the French loans were not needed semantically as there were native English
words for the concepts, such as battle, army, navy, etc. Sometimes both the old English and the
French loanwords survived but with different meanings, e.g. hearty/cordial, fare/journey. In
other cases the Germanic and French words were used synonymously, e.g. town/city,
land/country, folk/people.
Note. As for the pronunciation of all these new words, French stress on the last syllable
did not agree with the native Germanic root-initial stress. Therefore the two conflicting prosodic
patterns clashed. At first the early loans were stressed in the French way. It can be seen in
23
rhymes in Middle English poetry as in the following lines from Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales
where contree rhymes with he and confessioun with toun:
Ful wel biloved and famulier was he
With frankeleyns over al in his contree,
And eek with worthy wommen of the toun;
For he hade power of confessioun.
Even some native Germanic words were occasionally given French stress. In the
centuries following the Middle English period, polysyllabic French loans were also subject to the
same sound changes as the native Germanic words in English, such as the weakening and loss of
vowels in unstressed positions. This meant that in many cases the vowels that had been the most
prominent in the French pronunciation of the words became weakened or even lost, for instance
in words like captain, culture, journal, nation etc.
§ 5. NORMAN CONQUEST: DEVELOPMENT OF SPELLING
During the Middle English period, after the Norman Conquest, the business
of writing was in the hands of Norman scribes (переписувачі). They introduced
some French letters to render English sounds, especially vowels.
Some of those new digraphs are represented in the spelling of Modern
English numerals.
The numeral three has two digraphs: th for the consonant θ and ee for the
long close vowel ē.
Besides close ē Middle English had an open vowel ε rendered by the digraph
ea, e.g. tea, sea, speak.
Digraph oo rendered the long close vowel ō in the words book, look etc.,
while oa stood for the long open vowel ō in the words road, goat, boat etc.
The numeral four has the digraph ou signifying the long vowel ū.
The numeral eight acquired the digraph ei rendering the diphthong ei which
later developed into long vowel ē and then into long ī, e.g. receive, deceive.
One change concerns the spelling of the sound u in the words wonder (cf.
Ukrainian вундеркінд of German origin), some (OE sume), honey (OE hunig),
come (OE cumen), monk (OE munuc), love (OE lufu). The Old English variants of
these words consisted of many vertical strokes which made reading difficult. To
simplify it the Norman scribes introduced the letter o before v, n, m.
As for the consonants the Norman scribes introduced z and g as well as
helped to regularize the spelling of ch and sh.
Additional information. The letter y came to be used as an equivalent of i and was
preferred when i could be confused with the neighbouring letters m, n. Sometimes y and w were
put at the end of a word for purely ornamental reasons, i.e. to finish a word with a curve, e.g.
very, my.
24
Seminar 3
Development of vowels and orthography in Old and Middle English
1. Old English system of vowels.
2. Evolution of Old English vowels.
3. Middle English development of vowels.
4. Norman Conquest.
5. Norman Conquest: development of orthography.
Literature
1. Shakhrai O. The ABC of English Historical Grammar. – K., 1971. – (1):
pp. 12-13; (2): pp. 19-24; (3): pp. 24-31.
2. Verba L. History of the English Language. – Вінниця, 2006. – (1): pp.
30-31; (2): pp. 31-34; (4): pp. 102-107; (5): pp. 111-112.
3. Аракин В.Д. История английского языка. – М., 1985. – (1): c. 31-33;
(2): c. 36-42; (3): c. 115-119; (4): c. 103-104; (5): c. 110-112.
4. Иванова И.П., Чахоян Л.П. История английского языка. – М., 1976. –
(1, 2): c. 58-65; (3): c. 73-76; (4): c. 17-21.
Individual tasks
1. Word formation in Old English.
2. Middle English dialects.
3. Middle English written records.
4. Word stress in Middle English and Early Modern English.
Exercises
Exercise 1. Text work.
1. Read the Old English text and find the related words in the Modern
English variant. Translate the Old English text into Ukrainian:
Ohthere sæde his hlāforde Aelfrede cyninge þæt hē ealra Norþmonna
norþmest bude, þā fōr hē giet norþryhte swā fēor swā hē meahte on þam ōþrum
þrīm dagum gesiglan (Orosius’s ‘World History’, translated by King Alfred from
Latin into the West-Saxon dialect, ab. 893).
Ohthere said to his lord Alfred, the King, that he of all Northmen to the
north lived. Then he sailed to the north so far as he might in the other three days
sail.
2. Explain the reading of the letter g in the following words from the text:
cyninge, giet, dagum, gesiglan.
25
3. Explain the reading of the fricatives in the following words from the text:
hlāforde, þæt, norþmest.
4. Explain the subsequent development of vowels in the following Old
English words:
sæde, cyninge.
5. Explain the origin of short diphthongs in the following words from the
text:
ealra, feor, meahte.
6. Explain the Middle English and Modern English development of
consonants in the following words:
his, might.
7. Make up a list of the Old English words from the text which have endings.
Trace their subsequent phonetic development.
8. Determine what layer of the Old English vocabulary the following words
from the text belong to:
sæde (Germ. sagen); hlāforde (ModE lord); þæt; feor; þrim; dag.
Exercise 2. How can you account for the short root vowel in the nouns
Monday (OE Mōnandæg) and Saturday (OE Sæternesdæg) in spite of the long root
vowel in Old English.
Exercise 3. Divide the French borrowings below into semantic groups with
respect to the spheres of life they describe:
accuse, archer, arson, biscuit, blur, brown, button, cathedral, ceiling, charity,
collar, court, crime, cushion, dress, flower, geometry, grammar, grape, heresy, joy,
kennel, leisure, lieutenant, mountain, pearl, pen, pity, plaintiff, prayer, prince,
realm, salad, sausage, sir, spaniel, surgeon, terrier, towel, treaty, tyrant, usual,
vinegar, wait.
Exercise 4. From the French borrowings in exercise 3 choose those you
learned at school.
Exercise 5. In his book Ivanhoe W.Scott points out that domestic animals
kept their English names (ox, cow, calf, sheep, swine) but the corresponding kinds
of meat were given French names (beef, veal, mutton, pork). How can you account
for that?
Exercise 6. Distinguish native English words and French borrowings in the
list below taking into account the spheres of use of the two languages during the
Norman Conquest:
adventure, appetite, baron, bear, birch, blacksmith, crucifix, diamond,
emerald, face, finger, hand, head, house, lord, miller, painter, palace, spy, tailor,
uncle, venison.
26
Exercise 7. Read the following verse written by one of the students and
decide if it describes the activities of the Norman scribes correctly.
When the Norman conquest came to an end
The business of writing was in their hands.
They thought over and over what to invent
And offered diagraphs that wasn’t bad.
Then Norman scribes sat and thought
About vertical strokes: just to like them or not.
They didn’t like them – changed “u” into “o” –
This was wiser than Grimm’s law (Ye. Yurchenko).
Questions for Self-Control on Seminar 3
1. How can you account for the different vowels in the words wild and
bewilder?
2. How can you explain the irregular plural formation of the word louse?
3. How can you account for the short vowel in the word children?
4. Why is the root vowel short in the words novel and pity though the
corresponding syllables are open?
5. Why does the spelling of the root vowel differ in the German word
Wunder and the English word wonder?
6. How can you account for the discrepancies in reading and spelling of the
words busy and bury?
7. How can you account for the differences in the reading of the verb to wind
and the noun wind?
8. How can you account for the different reading of the root vowel in the
following words of related origin: moon – Monday, south – southern, house –
husband?
9. How can you account for the short reading of the root vowel in the noun
body though the syllable is open?
Do you know that …
among the names of meals there are two French borrowings: dinner and
supper. Dinner originates from OF di(s)ner coming from Lat. disjunere (‘dis’ –
away, ‘junere’ – hungry), i.e. reveals semantic similarity to the noun breakfast.
Supper comes form OFr soper derived from Germanic suppa cognate with soup
which in the Germanic period designated a piece of bread on which broth was
poured.
27
Theme 4
VOWELS AND ORTHOGRAPHY IN MODERN ENGLISH
§ 1. FORMATION OF THE ENGLISH NATIONAL LANGUAGE
One of the characteristic features of a nation is the national language which
rises above all territorial and social dialects and unites the whole nation. The
formation of the national literary language covered the early Modern English
period (c. 1475-1660). Usually a national language evolves around some territorial
dialect. The English national language has developed on the basis of the London
dialect because after the Norman conquest London became the political and
cultural centre of England and with the development of trade, its economic centre
as well.
The rise of the London dialect was also due to the popularity of Chaucer.
Besides in 1475, in Bruges, William Caxton (1422 – 1491) printed the first English
book. It was his translation of the story of Troy Recuyell of the historyes of Troye.
A few years later he brought his press over to England and set it up in
Westminster. All in all about one hundred books were issued by his press and
about a score of them were either translated or edited by Caxton himself. In
preparing the manuscripts for publication William Caxton and his successors
edited them so as to bring them into conformity with the London form of English
used by their contemporaries. The introduction of printing in England helped to
form a unified standard national language on the basis of the London dialect
because with cheap printing books became available to a greater number of
readers, the London form of speech was carried to other regions and was imitated
in the written works produced all over England. However, it is the main reason for
modern discrepancies between pronunciation and spelling.
§ 2. THE GREAT VOWEL SHIFT
The Great Vowel Shift is a series of changes which influenced the Middle
English long vowels resulting in their narrowing and diphthongization.
2.1. Regular changes
The Great Vowel Shift is largely reflected in the numerals. Therefore the
main changes can be described through comparison of the Middle English numeral
forms represented in their modern spelling and their Modern English
pronunciation.
Numeral 2. The comparison of the Middle English two and the Modern
English [tu:] shows that the Middle English long close o developed into the
Modern English long vowel [u:].
Besides long close o Middle English had an open vowel ø which changed
into the Modern English diphthong [ou], e.g. boat, road, coat.
Numeral 3. The comparison of the Middle English three and Modern
English [θri:] reveals that the Middle English long close vowel e developed into
the Modern English long vowel [i:].
28
Besides long close e Middle English had a long open vowel E: which also
changed into the Modern English long vowel [i:], e.g. tea, speak, sea.
Numeral 4. The comparison of the Middle English four [fu:r] and the
Modern English [fo:] shows that the Middle English vowel [u:] developed into [o:]
under the influence of r which is an exception to the shift. However, the words
house, louse, mouse show that according to the Great Vowel Shift the long vowel
u: changed into the diphthong [au].
Numeral 5. The comparison of the Middle English five and the Modern
English [faiv] shows that the Middle English long vowel i developed into the
Modern English diphthong [ai].
The only change which is not reflected in the numerals is the development of
the long vowel ā into the diphthong [ei] demonstrated by the words take, name,
plate etc.
Additional information. The narrowing of the closest vowels, i.e. close e and close o
took place in the 15th century. Other changes took a longer time since they involved intermediary
stages. For example, the Middle English open E: narrowed to close e: before changing to [i:].
The narrowing of ā into [ei] seems to have gone through a number of stages: a: → æ: → E: →
e: → ei. The different speed of the changes triggered some exceptions to the shift.
2.2. Exceptions to the Great Vowel Shift
1. The words break, steak, great with the unusual reading of ea are thought
to have had in early Modern English variants with [i:] and [e:] both from the ME
long open vowel E:, and as a result they joined the words with the Middle English
ā which by that time had reached the stage of [e:].
2. The form broad with [o:] instead of [ou] was borrowed from a dialect
where ō was not diphthongized.
3. In the units borrowed before the Great Vowel Shift the vowels changed in
the same way as in native words, e.g. chamber, table.
In the majority of words borrowed after the Shift the vowels keep their
foreign pronunciation, e.g. group, machine, police, though some words underwent
a change, e.g. scene.
The words tomato and vase are believed to have two variants of
pronunciation because they were borrowed during the Shift.
§ 3. CAUSES OF THE GREAT VOWEL SHIFT
The Great Vowel Shift has attracted the attention of many linguists who
have put forward a number of explanations. Below you will find some of them:
 the narrowing of the vowels is attributed to intonation conditions:
pronunciation of a vowel with a high tone leads to a narrowing of articulation
(W.Horn, M. Lehner);
 the Great Vowel Shift is connected with the loss of phonemic status by
length and shortness of vowels in Middle English. This made it necessary to
reinforce the length of vowels by additional features (A.Martinet);
 the changes are put down to the loss of the final vowel which gave rise to
a number of monosyllabic words similar in pronunciation but different in meaning.
29
Therefore the difference between long and short vowels in these words was to
acquire greater contrast (V.Plotkin).
§ 4. INFLUENCE OF THE GREAT VOWEL SHIFT ON THE
DEVELOPMENT OF SPELLING
As a result of the Great Vowel Shift English orthography underwent further
changes.
First, the names of letters of the English alphabet changed their reading. The
Latin letter a was, as in other languages, called [a:] before the Great Vowel Shift.
The letter b was [be:], the letter d was [de:], p was [pe:]. After the Great Vowel
Shift they are [bi:], [di:], [pi:] respectively.
The letter k was called [ka:] and the letter h was [a:tſ]. After the shift they
became [kei] and [eitſ] respectively.
Secondly, the reading of the Middle English digraphs changed under the
influence of the Great Vowel Shift. The digraph oo which in Middle English stood
for the long close vowel ō came to be read as [u:]. The diagraph oa read in Middle
English as long open ō began to render the diphthong [ou]. Diagraphs ee and ea
became to be read as [i:] and sometimes as [e] as a result of other changes.
§ 5. DEVELOPMENT OF VOWELS AND DIPHTHONGS
FOLLOWED BY r
One of the most distinctive features of Modern English sound system is the
part played by the consonant r which was vocalized, i.e. developed into a neutral
vowel. However, r is kept in American, Scottish and Irish English.
The change took place as a result of widening the air passage between the
blade of the tongue and the roof of the mouth to such an extent that a vowel is
produced instead of a consonant.
The vocalized r influenced the pronunciation of the preceding vowels which
underwent the following changes:
 lengthened, i.e. changed their quantity;
 developed into new vowels, i.e. changed their quality;
 deviated from the Great Vowel Shift, giving rise to diphthongs.
The quantitative change is observed in the words like car, corn.
The qualitative changes resulted into two innovations:
- the sound э: developed in the clusters ir, ur, er, e.g. her, fur;
- the ME e: transformed into [a:] in the words far (ME ferre), starve and the
like.
The latter change was not reflected in the spelling of the words sergeant,
clerk, Derby.
The deviation in the development of vowels from the Great Vowel Shift
brings about different reading of some digraphs which depends on the stage of the
Shift at which the vocalized r joined the preceding vowel.
The specific reading of the digraph ea in the words bear and fear is
explained by the fact that in the word bear r was vocalized when the vowel was
30
still Ē while in the word fear vocalization took place when the vowel was already
[i:].
Similarly, in the word door vocalization took place when the vowel was still
ō, while in poor it already was [u:]. Note the modern tendency to pronounce poor
as [po:].
§ 6. SPEAKER’S ROLE: FORMATION OF SHORT VOWELS
The speaker’s tendency towards simpler pronunciation of sounds is reflected
in the Modern English formation of short vowels as a result of quantitative and
qualitative changes.
6.1. The quantitative changes are reflected in the shortening of the Middle
English vowels Ē and ū.
The long open vowel Ē was shortened in the 16-17th centuries before
forelingual consonants, mainly [d] and [t], e.g. bread, sweat, death, threat, lead
(metal). However the shortening did not take place in the words to read, to lead,
wheat etc.
The vowel ū was shortened twice. In the 16th century it changed mostly
before forelingual consonants, e.g. blood, flood, brother, and in the 17th century
mainly before backlingual consonants, e.g. shook, book, cook.
6.2. The main qualitative change is reflected in the unrounding of u into [Λ]
(except the Northern dialects), e.g. cup, cut, mutton, sun, supper, uncle etc.
This change took place after the first shortening of ū which explains the
specific reading of the digraph oo before forelingual consonants in the words like
blood, flood.
However, the short vowel u is kept in a number of words where it is
preceded by bilabial consonants, e.g. bull, butcher, bullet, bush, full, put, push.
There are a number of exceptions to this rule:
 in the Latin loan words we find [Λ] after labial consonants as a result of the
influence of reading rules, e.g. publish, pulse, republic, pulmonary;
 in the word bus the vowel [Λ] after a bilabial consonant may be explained
by the fact that it comes from a weak stressed syllable of omnibus (from Lat.
omnibus – “for all”);
 in the conjunction but [Λ] is favoured by the word being usually unstressed
in speech.
The second qualitative change was the development of [a] into [æ], e.g. cat. This change
didn’t take place in the words want, watch, what etc. under the influence of the preceding
bilabial consonant. However the vowel wasn’t labialised before backlingual consonants, e.g.
wax, wagon etc.
§ 7. ADDRESSEE’S INFLUENCE: FORMATION OF LONG VOWELS
AND DIPHTHONGS
The addressee’s desire for the distinct articulation of perceived sounds is
reflected in the Modern English formation of long vowels.
31
Long vowels underwent quantitative and quantitative-qualitative changes.
7.1. Quantitative changes are reflected in the lengthening of short a before
voiceless fricatives th, ss, st, sp, ff, ft, e.g. basket, bath, brass, fast, gasp, raft etc.
The exceptions are:
 the American variant keeps the sound [æ] which goes back to the Middle
English period when Englishmen began to settle on the new territory;
 the vowel wasn’t lengthened in the words classic, passenger, passage etc.
because the words are salient as they are;
 the words gas, lass, mass keep a short vowel due to their dialectal origin;
 the word bass has diphthong [ei] because in Italian it had a long vowel a
which according to the Great Vowel Shift developed into [ei].
7.2. Quantitative-qualitative changes are reflected in the development of
diphthongs and lengthening of vowels with a change in their quality.
The development of diphthongs was brought about by the appearance of an
u-glide before [l] which was not reflected in spelling of the words folk, gold, poll,
toll etc.
The lengthening of vowels with the change of quality is reflected in the
development of Middle English short a into [o:] before [l], e.g. all, ball, call, fall,
hall etc. In this case an u-glide developed before [l] and the mutual influence of the
sounds a and u led to the formation of the vowel [o:].
§ 8. LATINIZATION OF SPELLING
PROSPECTS OF SPELLING REFORM
Renaissance scholars inserted silent letters to bring out the etymological
connection (real or imaginary) of English words with foreign, mostly Latin
originals. Therefore this process is sometimes called latinization.
Here are some of its examples:
 the word debt comes from French dette and was pronounced without b
in Middle English. The French word, in turn, came from Lat. debitum (cf.
Ukr. дебет). So a silent b was inserted in the English form of the word as a
reminder of its origin from Latin;
 the word doubt is related to Lat. dubitare;
 in the word island the silent s is due to false etymology. The word
comes from ME īland (OE igland) and never had a s-sound. The silent letter
was inserted because the initial part of the word īland was mistakenly
identified with the word isle borrowed from French which originates from
Lat. insula;
 other examples of latinization are heir, receipt, scissors (Lat. scindere
= to cut);
 in some cases the introduced letters began to be pronounced, cf. ModE
adventure – Fr. aventure / Ukr. авантюра.
32
Since the end of the 18th century people have been beginning to call for a
more orderly and reliable system of spelling. However, many English scholars are
against the reform. Here are their reasons:
1. Old spellings are well established and familiar. They differentiate the
words which have the same phonetic form, cf. eight – ate. After the reform there
will be no way to distinguish many words, e.g. sew and sow will become so.
2. It is difficult to decide which of the variants of pronunciation should be
taken as a basis, British or American, or dialectal. For example, in American
English many people say medal for metal.
3. English as a global language preserves the spelling of borrowed words, so
that people of many nations are immediately aware of thousands of words which
could be incomprehensible if written phonetically.
The spelling reform has been quietly going on for centuries in a small but
not insignificant way. Many words have shed a pointless final e (deposite, fossile,
secretariate), musick gave up its needless k, the spelling of catalog, dialog, omelet
has simplified.
33
Seminar 4
(Part 1)
The Great Vowel Shift
1. Formation of the English national language.
2. The Great Vowel Shift.
3. Causes of the Great Vowel Shift.
4. Influence of the Great Vowel Shift on the development of spelling.
Literature
1. Shakhrai O. The ABC of English Historical Grammar. – K., 1971. – (2):
pp. 38-40; (4): pp. 40-43.
2. Verba L. History of English Language. – Вінниця, 2006. – (1): pp. 154156; (2): p. 165; (3): pp. 165-166.
3. Аракин В.Д. История английского языка. – М., 1985. – (1): c. 180-182;
(2): c. 194-196.
4. Иванова И.П., Чахоян Л.П. История английского языка. – М., 1976. –
(1): c. 27-31; c. 35-36; (2): c. 79-84.
Individual tasks
1. Economic and political conditions for the formation of the English
national language.
2. Expansion of English over the British Isles as a condition for the
formation of the English national language.
3. Literature of the Early Modern period.
4. Grammars and Dictionaries in the late 17th and 18 th centuries.
Exercises
Exercise 1. Text work.
1. Read the Old English text and find the related words in the Modern
English variant. Translate the Old English text into Ukrainian:
Syððan hē undergeat þæt eall folc him tō gebogen was, þā bēad hē þæt man
sceolde his here mettian and horsian; and hē ðā wende syððan sūðweard mid fulre
fyrde, and betæhte þā scipu and þā gislas Cnute his suna (Two of Anglo-Saxon
Chronicles Parallel).
When he understood that all that folk had submitted, he ordered that they
should supply his army with food and horses; and then he went southwards with all
his army and put his son Cnut in trust of his ships and hostages.
34
2. Explain the reading of the letters g, c and fricatives in the words from the
text.
3. How can you account for the origin of the diphthongs in the words from
the text:
eall, sceolde.
4. Explain the subsequent development of the OE consonants in the
following words from the text:
þæt, sceolde, his, scipu.
5. How can you account for the subsequent development of spelling and
pronunciation of the following OE words from the text:
hē, suna (ModE son), was.
Exercise 2. Text work.
1. Read and translate the following Middle English text into Ukrainian. Do
the exercises after the text.
Upon a day bifel, that he for his desport is went in-to the feelds him to pleye.
Hys wyf and eek his doghter hath he left inwith his hous, of which the dores weren
fast y-shette (G. Chaucer. The Canterbury Tales).
2. In the text find the digraphs introduced by the Norman scribes. Explain
what sounds they stand for.
3. In the text find the words borrowed from French. Determine what spheres
of activity they are connected with.
4. Explain the origin of the digraph ie in the Modern English noun field.
5. How can you account for the mute letter e in the Modern English form of
the noun house, cf. ME hous.
6. How can you account for the subsequent development of the unstressed
vowels in the words from the Middle English text?
Exercise 3. How can you account for the different root vowels in the
following Modern English words of related origin:
south – southern (OE sūþerne); two – twopence.
Questions for Self-Control on Seminar 4
(Part 1)
1. How can you account for the two variants of pronunciation of the words
vase and tomato?
2. How can you explain the specific reading of the digraph ea in the words
steak, break and great?
3. How can you account for the peculiar reading of the digraph oa in the
word broad?
4. How can you account for the “strange” reading of the letters of the
English alphabet?
35
Do you know that …
tea has a Chinese origin and is said to have been introduced to England
around 1655 perhaps by the Dutch or by the Portuguese. A century later (1738) the
word came to designate a meal or social entertainment.
36
Seminar 4
(Part 2)
Development of separate vowels and orthography in Modern English
5. Development of vowels and diphthongs followed by r.
6. Role of the speaker: formation of short vowels.
7. Role of the addressee: formation of long vowels and diphthongs.
8. Latinization of spelling.
9. Prospects of a spelling reform. Your attitude to them.
Literature
1. Shakhrai O. The ABC of English Historical Grammar. – K., 1971. – (5):
pp. 49-53; (6): p. 44; (7): pp. 53-56; (8): pp. 78-79.
2 Аракин В.Д. История английского языка. – М., 1985. – (6): c. 196-198;
(7): c. 199-200; (8): c. 189-191; (9): c. 191-193.
3. Иванова И.П., Чахоян Л.П. История английского языка. – М., 1976. –
(5): c. 86-88.
Individual tasks
1. Word stress in Middle and Modern English.
2. Historical foundations of Modern English spelling.
3. Word-building in Early Modern English.
Exercises
Exercise 4. Text work.
1. Read the Old English text and find the related words in its Modern
English variant. Translate the Old English text into Ukrainian:
Jungum mannum gedafenað, þæt hī leornjon summe wīsdom and ðam
ealdum gedafenað, þæt hī tæcon sum gerād heora junglingum, forðan ðe ðurh lāre
byð sē gelēafa gehealden (Aelfric’s Grammar).
It fits young man to learn some wisdom and it fits the old to teach wisdom to
the young because with the help of learning wisdom is held over.
2. Explain the reading of the letters g, c and fricatives in the words from the
text.
3. How can you account for the origin of the diphthongs in the Old English
words from the text:
leornjon, gehealden, ealdium.
4. Explain the subsequent development of the OE consonants and vowels in
the following words from the text:
37
þæt, jungum, wīsdom, and.
5. How can you account for the subsequent development of spelling and
pronunciation of the following OE words from the text:
sum, tæcon.
Exercise 5. What are the historical causes of the difference in the reading of
the letter i in the following Modern English words:
sit, time, machine, first.
Exercise 6. What are the historical causes of the difference in the reading of
the letter o in the following Modern English words:
box, home, morning, do, come, work.
Exercise 7. What are the historical causes of the difference in the reading of
the letter u in the following Modern English words:
put, duty, bus, fur.
Exercise 8. What are the historical causes of the difference in the reading of
the letter u in the following words:
rubber, pudding, pulse, but, put, puddle.
Exercise 9. Read a verse written by one of the students and determine what
Modern English development in vowels and spelling it examplifies.
A sergeant and a clerk woke with the lark
To try their luck at Derby.
The sergeant was bold to win the gold:
He ran like a rabbit through the Gobi (M.Tetus’).
Exercise 10. Read the following extract which implements one of the
variants of spelling reform and try to determine the principles of rendering the
sounds:
Americans doen’t aulwaez go for whut’s eezy – witness th faeluer of th
metric system to cach on. But propoenents of simpler speling noet smatering of
aulterd spelingz hav maed th leep into evrydae ues.
Questions for Self-Control on Seminar 4
(Part 2)
1. Why wasn’t a lengthened before fricatives in the word passenger?
2. How can you account for the discrepancies between pronunciation and
spelling of the words sergeant and clerk?
3. Why is the same digraph read differently in the words blood and look?
4. Why didn’t u get unrounded in the words butcher and bull?
5. How can you account for the mute letter b in the word doubt?
38
Do you know that …
the words snack and bite have the same meaning. Snack was borrowed from
Dutch where it means to bite, bite is an English word.
39
Theme 5
THE NOUN IN THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH
English grammar is so complex and confusing for the one very simple
reason that its rules and terminology are based on Latin – a language with which it
has little in common. However for a long time it was taken for granted that the
classical languages must serve as models.
§ 1. GRAMMATICAL SYSTEM OF THE OLD ENGLISH NOUN
The Old English noun had categories similar to those of Modern German:
number, case, and gender.
The Old English noun had two numbers: singular and plural.
Unlike Modern English, Old English had four cases (cf. with Modern
German): Nominative, Genitive, Dative, and Accusative.
The majority of scholars believe that Modern English does not possess the
category of gender though the Old English noun had three genders: masculine,
feminine and neuter.
It is claimed that the Modern English noun has the category of sex since it
distinguishes between being male and female. It is true that historically gender has
developed on the analogy with the extralinguistic category of sex. The distinctions
between the categories of sex and gender are demonstrated by the gender of the
Old English noun wīfman which denoting a woman belonged to the masculine
gender because the second element of the compound was masculine. Besides such
words as mægdan (“maiden”) and wif (“wife”) were of neuter gender which
reflected the attitude of society towards women and wives.
Additional information. Modern pronouns often attribute sex to lifeless objects of two
groups:
- the personified lifeless things and abstract notions. It is claimed that in children’s
literature the lifeless things denoted by he tend to be strong, active, brave, wise, clever, and
mischievous, while the lifeless things denoted by she tend to be weak, passive, or foolish;
- the pronoun she is often used to refer to ships, engines and cars, e.g. She was a fine ship.
§ 2. DECLENSION OF THE OLD ENGLISH NOUN
The Old English nouns are classified into declensions with respect to the
stem-forming suffixes they had in the Germanic period, i.e. this classification is
historical because those suffixes are hardly visible in the Old English noun.
With respect to the Germanic character of the stem suffix the Old English
nouns are grouped into three main declensions: vocalic, consonantal, and root.
The vocalic declension embraces the nouns with a vowel in the stem, the
nouns of the consonantal declension possess consonants in the stem while the
nouns of the root declension are characterized by the gradation of the root vowel.
2.1. The nouns of the vocalic declension are either masculine or neuter and
have vowels a, o, i, u in the stem.
40
The peculiarities of the nouns of the vocalic declension can be demonstrated
by the units of the a-stem. The noun stān of the masculine gender was declined in
the following way:
Nominative
Genitive
Dative
Accusative
singular
plural
stān
stānes
stāne
stān
stānas
stāna
stānum
stānas
The noun scipu of the neuter gender had the following paradigm:
Nominative
Genitive
Dative
Accusative
singular
plural
scip
scipes
scipe
scip
scipu
scipa
scipum
scipu
The nouns of the vocalic declension had the following peculiarities:
1. Old English masculine and neuter nouns possessed the same endings in
the singular which later led to their merging.
2. The nominative and accusative cases coincided which later facilitated the
formation of the common case.
Nevertheless, the nouns of the vocalic declension had more ramified endings
in comparison with the words of other classes discussed below. Therefore this
declension is often called strong.
The nouns of this declension were very numerous and were characterized by
high frequency which determined their domination in the subsequent development
of English.
2.2. The consonantal declension includes a group of nouns originally
having n-stem. This group consisted of the nouns of all three genders which had no
influence on their endings. Therefore we shall discuss only one noun – nama:
Nominative
Genitive
Dative
Accusative
singular
plural
nama
naman
naman
naman
naman
namena
namum
naman
The endings in the nouns of the consonantal declension coincided in many
cases which resulted in their little distinctive force. Therefore this declension is
called weak.
41
2.3. The nouns of the root declension had a mutation of the root vowel in
the dative case singular and in the nominative and accusative cases plural which
was the result of the process of i-umlaut. Below this declension is exemplified by
the Old English noun mann:
Nominative
Genitive
Dative
Accusative
singular
plural
mann
mannes
menn
mann
menn
manna
mannum
menn
Though not numerous, the words belonging to this declension were
characterized by high frequency of use.
The nouns belonging to the r-stem included terms of kinship, e.g. father, mother.
The nouns of the nd-stem denoted persons and combined the features of a-stem and rstem, e.g. friend.
§ 3. DEVELOPMENT OF THE CATEGORY OF CASE
IN THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH
The declension of nouns in the Old English period was considerably
simplified in comparison with other Indo-European languages. The number of
cases was smaller; in the remaining cases many forms had no grammatical ending;
a number of cases coincided.
In the course of the Middle English period the declension of nouns was
further simplified through the reduction of final vowels which led to the merging
of cases. Vocalic endings were all reduced to –e, which was subsequently lost. The
endings –an, -ena, -um were leveled to –en. In the singular it was reduced to –e
and finally dropped. As a result by the end of the Middle English period the
distinction between various declensions obliterated and all the cases in the
singular, except genitive, merged into one form with no grammatical ending.
Consequently, Modern English has two forms that are regarded as cases:
common case with no ending and the genitive, or possessive, case. It differs from
the Old English genitive in meaning and form. Unlike the Old English genitive
used with all the nouns, Modern English possessive is restricted to the units which
denote active things or changing phenomena: people (Peter’s book), institutions
(party’s policy), some abstract notions (life’s necessity).
The development of the genitive case was favoured by its phonetic
coincidence with the possessive pronoun his where the initial h was often dropped,
e.g. Arthur’(h)is men; the painter’ys name.
The apostrophe in the possessive case can be explained by the confusion of
the noun ending with the possessive pronoun. Besides the apostrophe may have
been intended to mark the loss of the unstressed vowel of the old genitive ending.
Some scholars claim that the loss of genitives is currently proceeding both in English and
other Germanic languages (C.Allen), e.g. Obama friends got a taste of that down-home flavor at
a private party (People 2.02.2009, 55). This process is especially felt in the Internet language.
42
The headlines lose the possessive endings, e.g. Madagascar president offers poll, while the
introductory paragraphs keep them: Madagascar’s president Marc Ravalomanana offers to hold
a referendum to resolve the country’s political crisis (news.bbc.co.uk 15.03.2009).
§ 4. DEVELOPMENT OF THE CATEGORY OF NUMBER
IN THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH
The Old English noun had no special plural ending. The plural meaning was
expressed by the inflection together with the case endings (like Russian and
Ukrainian).
In early Middle English two ways of the plural formation remained fairly
distinctive: –s or –es from the vocalic declension and –en from the consonantal.
For a time at least in southern England, it would have been difficult to predict that –s
would become the almost universal sign of the plural. By the 12th century it was the standard
plural ending in the north. Until the 13th century the –en plural enjoyed great favour in the south,
being often added to nouns which had not belonged to the consonantal declension in Old
English.
Subsequently –es prevailed because it was voiced and became most clearly
marked nominal ending.
Modern English has a number of words which keep the Old English endings
of the plural.
The ending –en is preserved in the words oxen, children and brethren.
The noun oxen belongs to the Old English consonantal declension.
The form brethren and children come from other consonantal stem classes
of nouns. Historically they have two inflexions of the plural: the Old English –r
which marked the kinship terms and –en added in Middle English.
In Modern English brethren denotes members of a male group, especially
monks, e.g. The Brethren meet regularly for prayer [OALD 2000: 150].
The Old English form of children was cildru to which -en was added in
Middle English.
The mutation of the root vowel is kept in the words which go back to the
Old English root declension, e.g. louse – lice, tooth – teeth, man – men etc.
The uninflected plural form of the nouns deer, sheep, swine is explained
by the fact that they denote the animals which go together in herds (flocks), at least
in Britain, so that a collection of these animals can be regarded as a unit.
The noun swine is only used collectively for a herd of animals, while individual animals
are called pig, pigs.
The noun fish has developed an uninflected plural form because fish usually move in
shoals and are represented collectively, e.g. There are about 30 000 species of fish in the world
[OALD 2000: 480] (cf. Ukrainian свіжа риба, багато риби). The inflected plural form fishes
can be used to refer to different kinds of fish, e.g. The list of endangered species includes nearly
600 fishes [OALD 2000: 480].
43
§ 5. SCANDINAVIAN INVASION
At the end of the Old English period (8th century) the English language
underwent a third foreign influence, that of the Scandinavian language. Activities
of the Scandinavians began in plunder and ended in conquest. The Swedes
established a kingdom in Russia; Norwegians colonized parts of the British Isles,
the Faroes, and Iceland, and from there pushed on to Greenland and the coasts of
Labrador; the Danes founded the dukedom of Normandy and finally conquered
England.
The Scandinavian sea-rovers, commonly known as Vikings, settled in the
country. After a certain period of struggle the Scandinavians occupied some
territory of England which was called Danelaw.
The Scandinavian dialects spoken by the invaders belonged to the North
Germanic languages and their phonetic and grammatical structure was similar to
that of Old English. The Scandinavian influence manifested itself in the
vocabulary, several hundred words being borrowed from the Scandinavian dialects
(600-900 according to different authors). Among the loan words are call, fellow,
law, take, wrong, many place names (about 1400). There are some reliable criteria
by which we can recognize a borrowed Scandinavian word. One of the simplest is
the development of the sound cluster sk. In Old English this early palatalized to sh
whereas in the Scandinavian countries it retained its hard sk sound. Consequently,
while native words like ship, shall, fish have sh in Modern English, the words
borrowed from Scandinavian are generally with sk, e.g. sky, skin, scrape, scrub,
bask, whisk. In the same way the retention of the hard pronunciation of k and g in
such words as kid, dike (=ditch), get, give, gild, egg is the indication of the
Scandinavian origin. Sometimes it is difficult to say whether the form of a given
word is Scandinavian or English. The word sister is usually regarded as a
development of the Scandinavian systir but it might also be considered as a
development of the Old English sweoster under the Scandinavian influence. The
Old English word dream (ModE dream) meant joy, its present meaning came with
the Scandinavians. Scandinavian words that made their way into English were not
only nouns, adjectives and verbs but extended to pronouns, prepositions, adverbs.
The pronoun they and its derivatives are Scandinavian. Both and some are of
Scandinavian origin, too. From the same source comes the modern form of the
conjunction though. Finally, the plural are of the verb to be is the most significant
adoption. When we remember that in the expression they are both the pronoun and
the verb are Scandinavian we realize how intimately the language of the invaders
has entered into English.
§ 6. INTERPRETATIONS OF THE CHANGES OF THE
MORPHOLOGICAL CATEGORIES OF THE NOUN
Phonetic theory attributes the simplification of English morphology to the
effect of phonetic changes, namely the weakening and loss of unstressed final
syllables.
44
Functional theory puts down the loss of the endings to the appearance of
other means fulfilling the function of endings, namely prepositions. The
grammatical inflections of the nouns became unnecessary after their functions
were taken over by prepositions.
Theory of confusion of languages ascribes the loss of endings to the
confusion of Old English and Old Scandinavian which were not much different
being Germanic languages. They had a large common vocabulary with certain
differences in inflectional endings (cf. OE sunu and OScan sunr). The distinct
pronunciation of the roots was more essential than the pronunciation of endings.
Consequently, grammatical endings could be lost.
Theory of progress (O.Jespersen) claims that the general tendency of all
languages is towards shorter grammatical forms. On the way to such ideal structure
English has reached a more advanced stage than the other languages what testifies
to a superior level of thinking of English speaking nations.
45
Seminar 5
The noun in the history of English
1. Grammatical system of the Old English noun.
2. Declension of the Old English nouns.
3. Development of the category of case in the history of English.
4. Development of the category of number in the history of English.
5. Scandinavian invasion, its influence on the vocabulary and grammar.
6. Interpretations of the changes of the morphological categories.
Literature
1. Shakhrai O. The ABC of English Historical Grammar. – K., 1971. – (1):
pp. 96-98; (2): pp. 85-88; (3): pp. 89-91; (4): pp. 92-96.
2. Verba L. History of English Language. – Вінниця, 2006. – (1): pp. 38-39;
(2): pp. 40-49; (3): pp. 119-120; (4): pp. 118-119; (5): pp. 102-104.
3. Аракин В.Д. История английского языка. – М., 1985. – (1) c. 47-48;
(2): c. 47-60; (3): c. 123-127, 210-211; (4): c. 210; (5): c. 24-26.
4. Иванова И.П., Чахоян Л.П. История английского языка. – М., 1976. –
(1): c. 100; (2): c. 101-108; (3): c. 108-109; c. 111-112; (5): c. 16-17; (6): c. 109110.
Individual tasks
1. Decay of declension and grammatical categories of the adjective.
2. Historical development of the degrees of comparison.
3. The adverb in the history of English.
Exercises
Exercise 1. Text work.
1. Read the Old English text and find the related words in the Modern
English variant. Translate the Old English text into Ukrainian:
Aelfred cyning hāteð grētan Wærferd biscep his wordum luflice ond
frēondlice ond ðē cÿðan hāte ðæt mē cōm swiðe oft on gemynd, hwelce wiotan īu
wæron giond Angelcynn ægðer gē godcundra hāda gē woruldcundra; ond hū
gesæliglica tīda ðā wæron giond Angelcynn (Cura Pastoralis. Preface).
King Alfred orders to greet bishop Waerferth with friendly words and orders
to tell, you, what often enough came to my mind, what wise men there were in the
past among the Angles either of divine state or simple state; and what a wonderful
time there was among Englishmen.
46
2. Recall the types of OE declension. Which of them is presented in the text?
3. Find the nouns with case endings. Describe their subsequent development.
4. Explain the sound correspondences between the nouns from the OE text
you read and the corresponding units in other Indo-European languages you know.
5. Explain the subsequent development of the consonants in the following
OE words from the text:
biscep, luflice, ðæt, his, hwelce.
7. How can you account for the vowel o in the conjunction ond from the
text?
8. Explain the subsequent development of the root vowel in the word
‘Angle-‘ (ModE English).
9. How can you explain ME and ModE development of pronunciation and
spelling of the vowels in the following words from the text:
grētan, hū, cuman, frēondlice, gemynd, cyning.
10. Determine the layer of the OE vocabulary the following words from the
text belong to:
cyning; haten; grētan (Germ. grüsen); luflice (Germ. Liebe, Ukr. любити);
frēond (Germ. Freund, Rus./Ukr. приятель); oft (Germ. oft).
Exercise 2. From the following list of Scandinavian borrowings choose
those which you remember from school:
awkward, band, bank, booth, bull, calf, crook, dirt, egg, fellow, flat, freckle,
gait, gap, gasp, give, guess, ill, kid, leg, lift, link, loan, loose, odd, race, rift, root,
scales, scare, scrap, seat, skill, skin, skirt, sky, sly, snub, steak, tight, trust, want,
weak.
Exercise 3. Point out Scandinavian borrowings in the following list of words
explaining your choice:
abbot, art, beauty, battle, call, colour, dream, fellow, grammar, judge, kid,
law, prison, royal, sister, shirt, skill, skin, sky, steak, take, time, victory, wall,
wrong, window.
Exercise 4. How can you account for the extra letter s in the names of the
days of the week such as Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday?
Exercise 5. In the headlines below point out the examples of the possessive
case simplification in Modern English:
1. Jackson goods (=Michael Jackson commemorative goods) given green
light. 2. Jackson’s mother granted custody. 3. Jackson doctor’s phones seized. 4.
Clinic of Jackson doctor raided. 5. Jackson’s wife denies pay off. 6. LA to foot
Jackson memorial bill. 7. Jackson friend claims paternity. 8. Jackson’s autopsy
results sealed. 9. Jackson doctor breaks silence. 10. Michael Jackson’s burial
delayed. 11. Jackson death (=the death of pop star Michael Jackson) ruled as
homicide. 12. Michael Jackson’s death was homicide, a Los Angeles coroner rules.
13. Fans around the world dance on Michael Jackson’s 51st birthday. 14. Family
47
prepare for Jackson burial. 15. Burial film irks Jackson brother. 16. Jackson glove
thrown to fans sells for $49,000. 17 Jackson mother to get $1m a year. 18. Jackson
autopsy details revealed. 19. New Jackson song is given airing. 20. Jackson’s
father seeks allowance. 21. Global premiere for Jackson movie. 22. Jackson glove
sells for $350,000 (= The glove worn by Michael Jackson for his Moonwalk
dance). 23. FBI releases Michael Jackson file. 24. Michael Jackson’s doctor ‘to be
charged’. 25. Jackson doctor appears in court. 26. Michael Jackson’s doctor denies
manslaughter charge. 27. Jackson medic denies manslaughter (news.bbc.co.uk/).
Exercise 6. Read and translate into Modern English the definition of the
noun from Aelfric’s grammar and compare it with contemporary interpretations of
this part of speech:
Nomen is nama, mid ðam wē namnað ealle ðing, ægðer gē synderlīce gē
gemænelīce: rex-cyning, episcopus-bisceop.
ægðer
synderlīc
gemænelīc
Vocabulary
either, each, both
separate, special, private
common
Questions for Self-Control on Seminar 5
1. How can you account for the peculiarities of the plural form children?
2. What is the plural form of the noun sheep? How can you account for it?
3. What is the plural form of the noun ox? What is its origin?
4. How can you explain the origin of the plural form brethren?
5. What is the plural form of the noun deer? How can you account for it?
6. What is the plural form of the noun fish? Why?
7. How can you account for the irregular formation of the plural of the nouns
goose, louse, man etc.?
8. What is the origin of the apostrophe in the Possessive Case?
9. What is the plural form of the noun swine? How can you account for it?
Do you know that …
in OE the word egg had a different form which was spelled as ey in Middle
English; its plural form was eyren. The Scandinavians brought with them to Britain
their word egg. It first spread in the northern dialects, the southerners did not know
it and used their native word. The Scandinavian word has won after all. William
Caxton wrote in a preface to one of his books about a funny episode with eggs.
Once English merchants from the Northern region were sailing down the Thames
for the Netherlands. They decided to get some food at a small southern village.
They came to a house and one of them asked a woman if she could sell them eggs.
The woman answered that she did not understand him because she did not know
48
French. The merchant became very angry and said that he did not speak French
either. Then another merchant helped. He said that they wanted eyren, the woman
understood them and brought them eggs.
49
Theme 6
PRONOUNS IN THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH
The Old English pronouns fell roughly under the same main classes as
modern pronouns: personal, demonstrative, interrogative and indefinite. As for the
other groups – relative, possessive and reflexive – they were not as yet fully
developed.
Old English personal pronouns had three persons, three numbers in the 1st
and 2nd person, two numbers in the 3rd person.
The pronouns of the first and second person belong to the Indo-European
layer. Therefore many of their Old English forms can be reconstructed through
comparison with the corresponding units in other Indo-European languages, e.g.
Latin and Ukrainian.
§ 1. DEVELOPMENT OF THE PERSONAL PRONOUNS OF THE FIRST
PERSON
The Old English pronouns of the 1st person had two categories: number and
case.
The three numbers were singular, plural, and dual (wit – “ми двоє”). The
dual number had passed out of use by the 12th century.
The four cases were nominative, genitive, dative, and accusative.
1.1. Reconstruction of the Old English forms
The nominative and genitive cases singular can be reconstructed through
comparison with the corresponding forms of other Indo-European languages while
the phonetic forms of the other cases are preserved in their modern spelling.
The nominative case of the Old English pronoun of the 1st person singular is
reconstructed on the basis of the Latin form ego. The differences between them can
be explained in the following way:
- the vowel e was narrowed into i;
- the consonant g developed into k according to Grimm’s law;
- the final vowel o was reduced.
The resulting Old English form is ic.
The genitive case singular can be reconstructed through comparison with the
Ukrainian form мене:
- the consonants m and n didn’t change according to Grimm’s law;
- the vowel e between the consonants was narrowed into ī;
- the final vowel e was reduced.
The resulting Old English form is mīn.
The dative and accusative cases singular are reconstructed on the basis of the
spelling of the Modern English objective case closest to the Middle English
pronunciation. As a result we have the Old English form mē.
The spelling of the Modern English we shows that the Old English
nominative case plural was wē. In the spelling of the genitive case plural the
50
digraph ou stands for the Old English vowel ū, the letter r points to the consonant r
and the letter e is added for the lost vowel. As a result we get the Old English form
ūre.
The spelling of the Modern English objective case us hints that the Old
English dative and accusative forms were ūs.
The Old English dative and accusative cases can also be reconstructed through
comparison with the Modern German uns, where n was lost before fricatives with the
lengthening of the preceding vowel which results into ūs.
The discussed procedures enable us to present the paradigm of the Old
English pronouns of the 1st person:
singular
Nominative
Genitive
Dative
Accusative
ic
mīn
mē
mē
plural
(cf. Lat. ego)
(cf. Ukr. мене)
(cf. ModE me)
(cf. ModE me)
wē (cf. ModE we)
ūre (cf. ModE our)
ūs (cf. ModE us)
ūs (cf. ModE us)
1.2. Middle and Modern English development of pronouns
The Old English ic has developed into Modern English I in the following
way:
- ic lost the consonant in an unstressed position;
- the consonantless form began to be used under stress displacing the strong
form ic/ich;
- in stressed position i was lengthened in an open syllable;
- the vowel i developed into [ai] in the course of the Great Vowel Shift;
- the form i has been spelt with a capital letter since early Modern English to
make it stand out as a separate word.
In the pronoun wē the Middle English vowel ē changed into Modern English
[i:] as a result of the Great Vowel Shift.
The Oblique Cases developed in the following way:
- the genitive case gave rise to the Modern English possessive pronouns;
- the dative and accusative cases merged into the objective case: in the form
mē the Middle English vowel ē developed into [i:] during the Great Vowel Shift
while in the form ūs the Middle English ū was shortened in an unstressed position
and then unrounded into [Λ].
§ 2. DEVELOPMENT OF THE PERSONAL PRONOUNS OF THE
SECOND PERSON
Like the personal pronouns of the 1st person the units of this group had three
numbers and four cases. The form of the dual number was git (ви двоє).
51
2.1. Reconstruction of the Old English forms
The singular forms can be restored through comparison with the Ukrainian
pronoun ти. According to Grimm’s law the Indo-European t developed into the
Germanic þ. Therefore the nominative case of the singular is þū.
The oblique cases can be derived from the 1st person singular by the
replacement of m with þ. The resulting singular forms are þū, þīn, þē, þē.
The plural form of the 2nd person plural is kept in the Modern English phrase
Good-bye which means God be with you. From the comparison of these two
greeting forms it becomes obvious that the Modern English you corresponds to the
Old English yē.
The oblique cases of the second person plural should be remembered taking
into account their simplification in comparison with each other: ēower, ēow, ēow.
The discussed procedures enable us to obtain a full paradigm of the Old
English pronouns of the 2nd person:
singular
Nominative
Genitive
Dative
Accusative
þū
þīn
þē
þē
plural
(cf. Ukr. ти)
(cf. mīn)
(cf. mē)
(cf. mē)
yē (cf. Good-bye)
ēower
ēow
ēow
2.2. Middle and Modern English development of the pronouns
The nominative case singular þū changed its pronunciation and spelling:
- in pronunciation the consonant þ was voiced due to the activity of the
addressee and the Middle English vowel ū developed into [au] according to the
Great Vowel Shift;
- in spelling the diagraphs th and ou were introduced by the Norman scribes.
The resulting Modern English form thou is used in poetry and religious
texts, e.g. Thou art indeed just, Lord [OALD 2000: 1352].
The form thee going back to the Old English oblique cases also occurs in Modern
English, e.g. We beseech thee, O Lord [OALD 2000: 1345].
The form ye renders in Modern English fiction old-fashioned speech, e.g. ‘An actress –
are ye?’ And Miss Brill smoothed the newspaper (K.Mansfield. Miss Brill).
The Modern English you has developed from the Old English ēow through
the following stages:
- the stress shifted from e to o;
- the unstressed e was reduced to i;
- i changed into to j under the influence of the nominative case;
- ow became the diphthong ou due to the vocalization of w;
- the diphthong ou was simplified into ū.
The plural forms ye, you, your began to oust the singular forms thou, thee in
th
the 15 century.
The Old English genitive case has developed into the possessive pronouns.
52
§ 3. DEVELOPMENT OF THE PERSONAL PRONOUNS OF THE
THIRD PERSON
The Old English personal pronouns of the 3rd person had the categories of
number (singular and plural), case (nominative, genitive, dative, accusative), and
gender (feminine, masculine and neuter).
The units of this class derive from the Indo-European demonstrative
pronouns and have no equivalents in Ukrainian. Therefore we shall only discuss
the development of the nominative case singular and plural which has serious
consequences for modern English.
The Old English nominative case was:
SINGULAR
Nominative
masculine
neuter
feminine
hē
hit
hēo
hī
hÿ
PLURAL
Nominative
hīe
Inquisitive students may want to know the full paradigm of the Old English personal
pronouns of the 3rd person. Here it is:
SINGULAR
Nominative
Genitive
Dative
Accusative
masculine
neuter
hē
his
him
hine
hit
feminine
hēo
hire
hire
hit
hīe
hī
hira
him
hī
hÿ
hyra
PLURAL
Nominative
Genitive
Dative
Accusative
hīe
hiera
hīe
hÿ
The Old English forms of the 3rd person pronouns underwent the following
changes in Middle English.
In the feminine hēo the diphthong ēo simplified into the monophthong ē and
coincided with the masculine form. To distinguish the two genders shē was
introduced. It is believed to have resulted from the combination of hēo with the
demonstrative pronoun sēo.
The plural forms underwent the following changes:
- in hīe the diphthong was simplified into ī;
- in hÿ the sound ÿ was unrounded into ī;
53
- the common plural form hī tended to coincide with the 3rd person singular
masculine hē due to the Great Vowel Shift;
- the pronoun they of Scandinavian origin was introduced to distinguish the
plural from the singular.
§ 4. OLD ENGLISH DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS
DEVELOPMENT OF ARTICLES
4.1. Demonstrative pronouns
Like modern Slavic languages the Old English demonstratives were divided
into strong, indicating proximity (like the Ukrainian form ці or Russian эти), and
weak, implying distance, cf. той – sē, та – sēo, те – þæt; ті – þā.
Historically, the closest Old English and Ukrainian forms are þæt – те and
þā – ті in which θ developed from t according to Grimm’s law.
The Modern Ukrainian forms suggest that the Old English demonstratives
had the categories of number (singular and plural), gender (masculine, feminine
and neuter) and case. However, unlike other Old English parts of speech they had
five cases – nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, and instrumental.
Below is the paradigm of the pronoun sē, the most frequent in the Old English period:
SINGULAR
PLURAL
N. sē
G. þæs
D. þæm, þām
A. þone
I. þy, þon
þā
þāra
þæm, þām
þā
-
In Middle English demonstrative pronouns lost distinctions of gender and
case and their system was reduced to the present-day opposition of the pronouns
this (pl. these) and that (pl. those) which keep the meanings of proximity and
distance respectively.
4.2. The article
The Old English weak demonstratives (sē, sēo, þæt, þā) gave rise to the
specific phenomenon – the definite article.
For some time the proto-definite article existed in opposition with no (zero)
article and only in the 12th century the indefinite article a developed from the
numeral ān taking some meanings of the zero form. It means that in modern
English the indefinite article should be treated in opposition to no article and the
system of articles may be represented like this:
Definite article
→
no (zero) article
↓
indefinite article
54
The attempts to explain the origin of the article system in English have
resulted into three main theories.
Theory of determination explains the development of article by the need to
mark the noun and noun phrases in speech to distinguish them from other parts of
speech after the nominal endings disappeared, cf. The answer is wrong – To
answer is wrong. The definite article and particle to with the same word (answer)
facilitate the understanding of the functions of particular words.
Theory of definiteness/indefiniteness claims that the articles appeared to
mark the category of definiteness / indefiniteness expressed in Old English by
strong adjectives which were not accompanied by demonstrative pronouns.
Information theories relate the use of articles to information distribution in
speech. They are represented by two approaches: functional perspective and
construal.
According to the functional perspective theory (актуального членування)
the definite article presents familiar information (the theme of a sentence) while
the indefinite or zero article indicates new information (the rheme of a sentence).
For example, in the sentence A woman entered the room the indefinite phrase a
woman represents new information while the definite phrase in the sentence The
woman entered the room refers to what the addressee knows from the situation. In
Slavic languages this way of information distribution is rendered by word order:
compare the sentence in English with its variants in Ukrainian (До кімнати
зайшла жінка) and Russian (В комнату вошла женщина). The functional
perspective theory has two drawbacks: first, it is restricted to the meaning of a
separate utterance ignoring the structure of text; second, an utterance often has
more than two articles as can be seen from the sentence The woman with a bunch
of flowers entered the room the boys were sitting in.
According to the construal theory the definite article refers to familiar
objects while nouns with the indefinite and zero articles represent objects from
varying perspectives, cf. A turkey ran from the farm – I don’t eat turkey on
Christmas. In the first sentence the indefinite phrase a turkey names the bird from
a close perspective which enables its perception as a whole object. In the second
example the zero form turkey denotes meat from the immediate perspective when
the outlines of the bird are lost.
In Modern English the functions of articles have been undergoing further development,
especially with the nouns used predicatively and with proper names.
It has been shown that the indefinite article has a tendency to disappear in the predicative
position, cf. He’s good man (T.McArthur), and He is leader of the team (P.Rastall).
The definite article has also been dropped with the proper names Sudan, Yemen,
Lebanon, Ukraine. As for the latter, one should be careful with the statements that it is possible
to pinpoint the date when the article disappeared (B.Berezowski). Even after two decades of the
country’s independence the article is still used by older speakers of English because they were
taught so at school, e.g. Javine, Britain’s contestant in the Song Contest in the Ukraine last
night, appeared to be losing her battle with a throat infection hours before going on stage (The
Mail on Sunday 22.05.2005, 11).
55
Seminar 6
The pronoun in the history of English
1. Development of the personal pronouns of the first person.
2. Development of the personal pronouns of the second person.
3. Development of the personal pronouns of the third person.
4. Origin of possessives pronouns (see: Shakhrai 1971: 103-105).
5. Origin of articles.
Literature
1. Shakhrai O. The ABC of English Historical Grammar. – K., 1971. – (4):
pp. 103-105; (5): pp.106-107.
2. Verba L. History of English Language. – Вінниця, 2006. – (1-3): pp. 5051; 125-126; 171-172; (4): pp. 126-127; 172-173; (5): p. 120.
3. Аракин В.Д. История английского языка. – М., 1985. – (1-3): c. 67-69;
130-132; (4): c. 133-134; (5): c. 134-135.
4. Иванова И.П., Чахоян Л.П. История английского языка. – М., 1976. –
(1-3): c. 112-113; 116-119; (4): c. 119-121; (5): c. 121, 124.
Individual tasks
1. Interrogative pronouns in the history of English.
2. Indefinite pronouns in the history of English.
3. Relative pronouns in the history of English.
4. Historical development of numerals.
Exercises
Exercise 1. Text work.
1. Read the Old English text and translate it into Modern English and
Ukrainian:
þæt Estland is swÿðe mycel, and ðær bið swÿðe manig burh, and ælcere
byrig bið cyning, and ðær bið swÿðe mycel hunig and fiscaþ; and sē cyning and þā
ricostan men drincað myran meolc and þā unspedigan and þā þēowan drincað
mede (Orosius. Wulfstan’s Story).
Vocabulary
Estland (n.n.a.)
swÿðe (adv.)
mycel (adj.)
ðær (adv.)
the east land, Estonia
very
much
there
56
burh, burg (n.f.cons.)
ælc (prn.)
cyning (n.m.a.)
hunig (n.n.a.)
fiscaþ (n.m.a.)
rice (adj.)
drincan (s.v.)
myre, mære (adj.)
meolc (n.f.ō)
unspēdig (adj.)
þēowa (n.m.n.)
medu, meodu (n.m.n.)
town (Germ. Burg)
each
king
honey
fish
rich
to drink
great
milk
poor
servant
mead (a drink made of honey (cf. Ukr.
мед)
2. Point out demonstrative pronouns in the text. Determine their function.
Decide in what cases the demonstrative pronouns are used as the definite article.
3. Explain why the numeral ān doesn’t occur in the text in the function of
the indefinite article.
4. Determine the declension of the noun burh. How can you account for the
mutation of the root vowel?
5. How can you account for the origin of the diphthong eo in the noun
meolc?
6. Explain the subsequent development of the pronunciation and spelling of
sounds in the following words:
mycel, hunig.
7. Determine the layer of the OE vocabulary the following words from the
text belong to:
burh (Germ. Burg); land (Germ. Land); fiscaþ; mede; meolc; drinkan; manig
(Germ. manch, Rus. много).
Exercise 2. Read and translate into Modern English the definition of the
pronoun from Aelfric’s grammar and compare it with the modern understanding of
this part of speech:
Pronomen is ðæs naman speljend, sē spelað þone naman, þæt þī nē ðurfe
tuwa hine nemnan. gif ðū axast: quis hoc fecit? hwā dyde ðis? þonne cwest ðū: ego
hoc feci-ic dyde ðis: þonne stent se “ic” on ðines naman stede: tu-þū; ille-sē.
Vocabulary
speljend
spellian
ðurfan
tuwa
ascian
fecan
cweðan
pronoun in Aelfric’s terminology
to talk
to be in need of something
twice
ask
fetch
say
57
Exercise 3. How can you account for the use of the definite article with the
place-name Ukraine in the following sentence:
Miners in the Ukraine have been fully transferred to a 30-hour working
week (Morning Star, 1980).
Exercise 4. Do you agree with the explanation of the use of the definite
article with the name of Ukraine given in the following extract:
I was born in Ukraine. Luckily, we can now use the word without the
definite article. U Kraya means at the edge in Old Russian; so until recently the
Ukraine implied a province at the edge, rather than the name of a country and had
to be used with the definite article in English (V.Vitaliev. – The European. 7
February 1993, p. 10).
Exercise 5. How can you account for the absence of the article in the
following American place names:
Roanoke Island, North Carolina, Chesapeake Bay, Cape Cod, Plymouth,
Massachusetts, Tangier Island.
Questions for Self-Control on Seminar 6
1. What is the origin of the pronoun they?
2. What do you know about the origin of the pronoun she?
3. What is the origin of the possessive pronouns?
4. How can you account for the origin of the pronoun you?
5. How has the pronoun ic developed since Old English?
6. What layer of the OE vocabulary do personal pronouns belong to?
Do you know that…
the word brunch was coined by the British author Beringer in 1896 and has
kept part of its humorous and affected connotation. It is widely used in America,
and it is often described as an Americanism.
58
Theme 7
VERB CLASSES IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
OLD ENGLISH SYNTAX
The Old English verb has categories similar to those of the Modern
English verb and different from them.
The similar categories are number (plural and singular), person (first,
second, third) preserved in the Modern English verb to be, the category of mood
(indicative, subjunctive and imperative).
The specific categories of the Old English verb are:
- two tenses (present and past);
- two non-finite forms (infinitive and participle).
§ 1. MORPHOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION OF THE OLD ENGLISH
VERB
The morphological classification of the Old English verbs is based on the
manner in which they formed their past tense, i.e. by the gradation of the root
vowel or with the help of the dental suffix. According to this principle the verbs
are divided into strong and weak giving rise to Modern English irregular verbs.
Strong verbs appeared in the Indo-European period, cf. Ukr. беру – брав.
Weak verbs emerged in the German period, cf. ModE opened – Germ.
geoffnet.
Besides the two main classes of verbs in Old English there were several
minor groups. One of them was represented by preterite-present verbs which in the
present tense had the endings of the past (which is also called preteritum). The
verbs of this group have given rise to the Modern English modal verbs.
The anomalous verbs with a complicated systems of conjugation included
bēon, dōn, gān, willan.
§ 2. HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE OLD ENGLISH STRONG
VERBS
The classification of the Old English strong verbs was based on the
gradation of the root vowel which goes back to the Indo-European period. At that
time it was independent of any phonetic conditions and the verbs had four forms:
1) present, 2) past singular, 3) past plural, 4) Participle 2.
The first form (present) had a front vowel (i, e), the second form (past
singular) had a back vowel (a, æ, o).
These peculiarities are represented in the following table:
st
1 form
2nd form
3rd form
4th form
Front vowels
Back vowels
No vowel
No vowel
i, e
a, æ, o
However, in Old English the vowel change in the root was complicated by
neighbouring sounds. As a result, Old English acquired seven classes of strong
59
verbs distinguished according to the sounds which influenced the original IndoEuropean vowel alternation.
2.1. The Old English classes of strong verbs
The Old English classes were named with respect to the sound which
influenced the pronunciation of the root vowel.
The first two classes are vocalic because the alternation of the root sound
was influenced by vowels i and u.
Therefore the first two classes are called i-class and u-class.
Class 1: i-class
wrītan – wrāt – writon – writen
In the first and second forms the additional short vowel i caused the
lengthening of the root sound while in the third and fourth forms the vowel i was
short because it was inserted into the positions which had had no vowel.
Class 2: u-class
The verbs of this class acquired the vowel u, e.g.
lūcan – lēac – lucon – locen
Besides ū the verbs of the first form have the diphthong ēo:
bēodan – bēad – budon – boden
The next three classes are consonantal because the gradation of the root
vowel was influenced by the neighbouring consonants: sonorant + noise
consonant; sonorant; noise consonant.
Class 3: sonorant + noise consonant
drincan – dranc – druncan – druncen
Class 4: sonorant
stelan – stæl – stælon – stolen
Class 5: noise consonant
sprecan – spræc – spræcon – sprecen
Class 6 is characterized by the repetition of the vowel in the infinitive and
Participle 2, while the vowel in the past tense forms was the same both in the
singular and plural:
standon – stōd – stōdon – standen
The specifically Germanic is class 7.
It includes the verbs which formed their past tense by the reduplication
(repetition) of the root syllable. In Old English these forms contracted and the long
vowels that appeared in place of two repeating stems may be different:
lætan – lēt – lēton – læten
60
Additional note. Classes 1 and 3 were the most numerous of all: about 60 and 80 verbs;
within Class 3 the first group with a nasal or nasal plus a plosive in the root (findan, rinnen)
included almost 40 verbs, which was about as much as the number of verbs in Class 2. The rest
of the classes had from 10 to 15 verbs each.
2.2. Middle English simplification of strong verbs
In Middle English the classes of strong verbs were simplified in the
following way:
1. strong verbs came to have one common stem for the singular and plural
through analogical influence, e.g. (class 1) writen – wrot – writen – writen;
2. past tense form and participle 2 coincided in many cases;
3. the verbs of the 4th and 5th classes merged;
4. 100 verbs passed out of use being replaced by Scandinavian borrowings;
5. 80 strong verbs joined weak verbs.
As a result, in Modern English there remain 68 of the Old English strong
verbs and 13 keep both the strong and the weak forms.
§ 3. HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE OLD ENGLISH WEAK VERBS
The Old English weak verbs formed past tense and Participle 2 by means of
a dental suffix (-t- or -d-). Weak verbs had three forms: the infinitive, past tense
and Participle 2.
The suffix was added to the stem in three ways which resulted into their
division into three classes.
In the verbs of the 1st class (ended in –an) the dental suffix was joined by a
vowel – i/e,
e.g. temman – temede – temed (tame).
In the verbs of the 2nd class the dental suffix was joined by the vowel –o,
e.g. lufian – lufode – lufod.
In the verbs of the 3rd class there was no joining vowel because it had
disappeared. The most frequent verbs of this class were:
habban – hæfde – hæfd (to have);
libban – lifde – lifd (to live);
secgan – sægde – sægd (say).
In Middle English the second class of weak verbs served as the basis for the
unification of the past tense and Participle 2.
The Old English irregular verbs of the 1st class remain irregular in Modern
English: tell, sell, seek, bring. Many regular weak verbs of the 1st class with the
gradation of the root vowel have an irregular formation of the past in Modern
English: feel, meet, bend, send, lose.
The verbs have and say from the third class joined the irregular verbs.
The irregular verbs also include those in which the dental suffix of the past
merged with the root consonant. As a result they are invariable now: cast, cost, cut,
hurt, let, put, set, shut, split, thrust etc.
61
§ 4. ORIGIN OF THE MODAL VERBS
Six of the modern modal verbs (can, may, must, ought to, shall and dare) go
back to the Old English preterite-present verbs which combined the features of the
strong and weak verbs. Their present tense was built up according to the rules of
the formation of the past tense of the strong verbs, i.e. by the gradation of the root
vowel, their past tense had all the peculiarities of the weak verbs, e.g.
infinitive
cunnan
Present
singular
cann
Present
plural
cunnon
Past
Participle 2
cūðe
cūð
know
Conjugation of the preterite-present form cunnan
Singular 1st
2nd
3rd
plural
present
past
cann
canst
cann
cunnon
cūðe
cūðest
cūðe
cūðon
In the history of English some preterite-present verbs were lost altogether.
Four of the Modern English modal verbs (can, may, shall, will) retain their
past forms from Old English.
Must has one form because it comes from the Old English past tense mōste
which replaced the Old English present form mote.
Ought has also one form which comes from the Old English past tense āhte.
Besides the verb the forms of the Old English āhte gave rise to the Modern English
verb to owe and the adjective own.
The Old English form of the participle of the verb can developed into the
Modern English adjectives cunning and uncouth (“awkward”).
The verbs have to and be to developed their modal meaning in Modern
English.
Will and need were not preterite-present verbs but now they are classed with
the modal verbs.
Presently, the verb want and the phrase to be going to seem to be joining the
modal verbs which is mainly reflected in the change of their forms in spoken
English: wanna and gonna.
§ 5. OLD ENGLISH SYNTAX
One of the obvious features of syntactic style in any language is the degree
to which grammatical and semantic relationships are expressed by subordinate
clauses. A high proportion of long sentences with subordination is known as
hypotactic style, whereas shorter sentences and a higher proportion of principal
clauses is paratactic. Parataxis may also be interpreted as immature and childish.
There are clear differences in our modern perception of OE texts written in
the paratactic style and OE texts written with embedded clauses. The problem is in
62
determining whether a particular clause is independent or subordinate, because the
words that do the subordination are often ambiguous. Thus OE þā at the beginning
of a clause can be either an adverb translated then and introducing an independent
clause, or a subordinating conjunction translated when and introducing a dependent
clause. Similarly, þær can be translated as there or where, þonne as then or when,
swā as so or as. In each pair the first word is an adverb, and the style that results
from choosing it is a choppier style with shorter sentences, whereas the choice of
the second word results in longer sentences with more embedded clauses. Current
research in OE syntax aims to understand the use of these ambiguous subordinators
and adverbs. The conclusions that emerge will affect our modern perception of the
sophistication of the OE writing in verse and prose.
63
Seminar 7
Verb classes in historical perspective
Old English syntax
1. Morphological classification of the Old English verbs.
2. Historical development of the Old English strong verbs.
3. Historical development of the Old English weak verbs.
4. Origin of the modal verbs.
5. Development of the verb endings in the History of English (Read
Shakhrai 1971, §126. – pp. 135-138 and explain the origin of the ending –s in the
third person singular).
6. Old English syntax.
Literature
1. Shakhrai O. The ABC of English Historical Grammar. – K., 1971. – (1):
p. 115; (2): pp. 115-118; 120-122; (3): pp. 118-120, 122-127; (4): pp. 135-138; (5):
pp. 135-138.
2. Verba L. History of the English Language. – Вінниця, 2006. – (1): pp.
71-72; (2): pp. 73-79, 132-133; (3): pp. 79-82, 133-136; (5): pp. 83-85, 179-182.
3. Аракин В.Д. История английского языка. – М., 1985. – (1): c. 69-70;
(2): c. 70-78, 137-142, 212-218; (3): c. 80-84, 142-145, 219-220; (5): c. 85-88,
145-146; (5): c. 146-149; (6): c. 88-89, 91-92.
4. Иванова И.П., Чахоян Л.П. История английского языка. – М., 1976. –
(1): c. 148; (2): c. 137-143, 156-159; (3): c. 143-146, 159-161; (4): c. 147, 161163; (6): c. 239-241, 292-295.
Individual tasks
1. Old English irregular verbs.
2. Middle English syntax.
3. Early Modern English syntax.
4. The gerund in the history of English.
5. The rise of analytical forms with do.
Exercises
Exercise 1. Text work.
1. Read the Old English text and translate it into Modern English and
Ukrainian:
ælcum men gebyrað þe ænigne gōdne cræft hæfð, þæt hē ðone dō nytne
ōðrum mannum and befæste þæt pund, þe him god befæste, sumum ōðrum men
þæt godes feoh ne ætlicge and hē bēo lyðre þēowa gehāten and bēo gebunden and
geworpen into þēostrum swæswā þæt hālige godspel segð (Aelfrec’s Grammar).
64
Vocabulary
ælc (adj.)
gebyran (w.v.1)
gōd (adj.)
cræft (n.m.n.)
habban (w.v.3)
dōn (irr.v)
nyt (adj.)
ōðer (adj.)
befæstan (w.v.1)
pund (n.n.a.)
sum (indef. pr.)
feoh (n.n.a)
ætlicgan (s.v.5)
bēon (irr.suppl.v.)
lyðer (adj.)
þēow (n.m.a.)
gehāten (s.v.7)
geweorpan (s.v.3)
þeostru (n.f.o.)
swæswā (conj.)
hālig (adj.)
godspel (n)
secgan (w.v.3)
each
to happen
good (Germ. gut)
power, skill (Germ. Kraft)
to have (Germ. haben)
do (Germ. tun; Rus. делать)
useful (Germ. nutzen)
one of two (Germ. anderer)
fasten
pound, measure (Germ. Pfund, Lat. pondo)
some
reward (Germ. Vieh, Lat. pecus)
to lie still
to be (Germ. bin, Rus. быть, Ukr. бути)
base, vile (Germ. liederlich; Rus. лютый)
servant
call (Germ. heisen)
throw
darkness
as
holy (Germ. heilig)
gospel
to say (Germ. sagen)
2. Point out strong verbs in the text. Determine what class they belong to.
Explain the differences between them.
3. Point out weak verbs in the text. Determine what class they belong to.
Speak on the peculiarities of each class of weak verbs.
4. Point out the nouns belonging to the vocalic declension. Speak on the
traces of this declension in Modern English.
5. Determine the case of the noun godes.
6. How can you account for the origin of the vowel æ in the following OE
words from the text:
ænigne (cf. OE ān), befæstan (OHG fastian).
7. How can you account for the different root vowels in the German word
anderer and the English word other? Why doesn’t the English equivalent possess
the consonant n?
8. What OE declension does the noun man belong to? How can you account
for the different vowels in its singular and plural forms?
9. Explain the subsequent development of the pronunciation and spelling in
the following OE words from the text:
hē, dō, ōðrum, pund, hālige.
65
10. Explain the subsequent development of the pronunciation and spelling of
vowels in the following OE words from the text:
sumum, gebunden, god.
Exercise 2. How can you account for the different root vowels in the
following words of related origin:
holy – holiday.
Exercise 3. Determine what morphological group of the Old English verbs
(strong or weak) the following items belong to:
begin – began – begun; give – gave – given; lead – led – led; leave – left –
left; meet – met – met; say – said – said; send – sent – sent; set – set – set; speak –
spoke – spoken; swim – swam – swum; wind – wound – wound.
Exercise 4. Read and translate into Modern English the definition of the
verb from Aelfric’s grammar and compare it with contemporary interpretations of
this part of speech:
Verbum is word, and word getācnað weorc oððe ðrōwunge oððe geþafunge,
weorc byð, þonne ðū cwest: “aro”-ic erige: þrōwung byð, þonne ðū cwyst: “ligor”ic eom gebunden; geðafung byð, þonne ðū cwyst: “amor”- ic eom gelufod.
getācnian (w.v.2)
weorc (n.n.a)
oððe
ðrōwung
þafian (w.v.2)
þonne
ðū
cweþan (s.v.5)
Vocabulary
to signify, symbolize
work, labour
or
suffering
agree
then
you
to say
Questions for Self-Control on Seminar 7
1. When did strong verbs appear?
2. How did Old English acquire seven classes of strong verbs?
3. When did the weak verbs emerge?
4. How many classes of weak verbs did Old English have? What is the
difference between them?
5. What is the origin of the modal verbs?
6. What is the origin of the adjective cunning?
7. Why doesn’t the modal verb must have the past form in Modern English?
8. What is the meaning of þā in the Old English texts?
66
Do you know that …
in Old English there was a different word with which the Englishmen called
bread, it was hlāf. The Scandinavians living in Britain, called their bread by the
word brauth. The English had a similar word – bread meaning a lump, a piece of
bread. Under the influence of the Scandinavian language the word bread widened
its meaning and began to mean bread in general, while the word loaf (from Old
English hlāf) narrowed its meaning to a large lump of bread which we slice before
eating.
67
Theme 8
DEVELOPMENT OF ANALYTICAL VERB FORMS
GLOBAL ROLE AND FUTURE OF ENGLISH
Old English had only two tenses – present and past. They were formed with
the help of suffixes, i.e. synthetically (cf. synthesis = combining things), e.g.
works, worked. However, the majority of Modern English verb forms are made up
by auxiliary and notional verbs, i.e. analytically (cf. analysis = dividing into parts),
e.g. is working, has worked, has been working etc.
The analytical aspect and tense forms have developed in Modern English
from Old English lexical word combinations through three stages:
- a lexical word combination in Old English;
- the loss of the lexical meaning (grammaticalization) by one of the
components of the phrase in Middle English;
- the establishment of the Modern English form.
These stages should be taken as a plan for the explanation of the rise of the
Modern English forms of Future, Perfect, Continuous, and Passive.
It is assumed that the order of historical development of tense and aspect forms coincides
with their acquisition by children (Y.Stepanov, D.Edelman). Consequently, tenses should be
taught at school in the way they developed in the history of English. Therefore Present Indefinite
and Past Indefinite are the first to be taught. Since in Old English the majority of analytical
forms existed as lexical word combinations, it seems logical to teach them to the beginners as
such. As for the analytical forms they should be studied in the following order: Future Indefinite,
Present Perfect, Past Perfect, and Continuous. It seems preferable to teach the Passive Voice at
the last stage or before the Continuous forms.
§ 1. PROBLEM OF THE FUTURE TENSE IN THE HISTORY OF
ENGLISH
Like other Germanic languages Old English had no special form of the
future tense. A future action was generally expressed by a verb in the present with
an adverbial modifier of future, e.g. Ic lufige tō dæg oðð tō mergen – “Я полюблю
сьогодні або завтра”.
Besides the modals sceal “shall” and wille “will” were combined with the
infinitive to express a future action though the meaning of future was not basic for
these verbs, e.g. Ic wille wyrcean mīn setl on norðdæle – “Я побудую свій трон в
північній частині”.
In Middle English the modal meaning of shall and will weakened which
contributed to the development of analytical forms of the future. It should be taken
into account that the modal verb shall was the first to lose its lexical meaning and
in Middle English was used for all persons. The grammaticalization of the verb
will began in early Modern English. In the 17th century the auxiliary verb will
started to oust the verb shall in the 2nd and 3rd persons. The rules concerning shall
and will, introduced by J.Wallis, were registered in grammar books of the 18th and
19th centuries and were taught at school as obligatory. It may have been the reason
why they were observed in British English throughout the 19th century.
68
As for colloquial English will became the common auxiliary for all the
persons and gave rise to the contracted form ‘ll which testifies to the complete
formal differentiation of the pure auxiliary form.
§ 2. HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE PERFECT FORMS
Like other analytical forms of the verb, the Perfect has developed from Old
English lexical phrases.
Old English had two phrases with the meaning of an action completed
before a certain moment. One of them was a combination of the verb habban with
Participle 2 of the transitive verb: habban + direct object + Participle 2, e.g. Hē
hæfde þā stafas āwritene – “він написав ті листи”.
The other pattern consisted of the verb bēon and Participle 2 of the
intransitive verb, e.g. Nū is sē dæg cumen – “тепер прийшов той день”.
The lexical nature of those patterns is proved by their two peculiariries:
 the verb and the participle were not placed next to each other;
 the participle agreed with the direct object in form.
In Middle English these forms were grammaticalized:
 the verb have lost its notional meaning and became auxiliary;
 the participle lost its agreement with the direct object;
 the auxiliary verb and the participle began to be written together.
The Present Perfect Tense has acquired its modern meaning in the period
after W. Shakespeare, at the beginning of the 18th century, to be more exact. The
great English writer used the verbs be and have interchangeably.
In Modern English the forms with be specialize in expressing state, e.g. The
Soviet system is gone (Newsweek 17.04.1997, 16) – “Радянської системи нема”.
The Past Perfect at first developed in the 16th century in subordinate clauses.
The use of this form in simple sentences was established at the end of early
Modern English.
§ 3. HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE CONTINUOUS FORMS
In the Old English verb system there were no continuous forms. They are
believed to have developed in Middle English and fully established in late Modern
English.
However, Old English had a lexical word combination of the link verb bēon
and Participle 1. It denoted a quality, or a lasting state, characterizing the person or
thing indicated by the subject of the sentence, e.g. Sēo eorðe is berenbe
missenlīcra fugela – “ця земля кормить різноманітних птахів”.
In Middle English this construction fell into disuse and was often confused
with the gerundial phrase of the type he is on singing. In this construction on was
reduced into a (16th century), e.g. a-singing, which was lost at the end of the 17th
century, e.g. he is singing.
The resulting construction is singing began to be used as a regular means of
expressing an action in progress at a given moment. The Continuous form became
common in late Modern English (18th century).
The Perfect Continuous Tense became fully established in the 17th century.
69
The Future Continuous Tense appeared at the beginning of early Modern English but was
established in its modern use in the early 20th century.
The growth of the Continuous in the last two centuries is proved not only by
the development of new forms but also by their increasing frequency and the
loosening of the lexical limitations. Presently the Continuous occurs with verbs of
diverse lexical meaning.
§ 4. HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE PASSIVE FORMS
The Old English finite verb had no category of voice.
The analytical forms of the Passive Voice go back to the Old English
phrases consisting of bēon / weorðan (“become”) + participle 2 of a transitive
verb, e.g. þæt geweorc geweorct wæs – “ця фортеця була побудована”/ on ðām
dæge wurden gēarlīce tīda gessette – “у той день були встановлені пори роки”.
Forms with weorðan had a more distinct meaning of passive while the forms
with bēon combined the meanings of passive and state.
In Middle English weorþan was replaced by new link verbs: becomen, geten
etc. The meaning of the verb bēon was grammaticalized and together with
Participle 2 they developed into an analytical form. It can express not only a state
but also an action. The pattern of the Passive Voice spread to many verb forms.
The Passive Continuous Tense aroused the protests of many scholars. Samuel Johnson,
the greatest lexicographer, called it a ‘vicious’ expression and recommended the active form as a
better way of expressing the passive meaning. He thought that phrases like the brass is forging
had developed from the brass is a-forging which meant ‘is in the process of forging’ and
therefore possessed the meaning of the Passive. Even in the late 19th century it was claimed that
the house is being built was a clumsy construction which should be replaced by the house is
building. But in spite of all these protests the Passive Voice of the Continuous Aspect continued
to be used and eventually was recognized as correct.
§ 5. THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN AMERICA
The most significant step in the progress of English towards its status as a
world language took place in the last decades of the sixteenth century, with the
arrival of the expedition commissioned by Walter Raleigh to the ‘New World’.
The first venture was a failure. In 1584 the first group of explorers landed
near Roanoke Island, in what is today called North Carolina, and established a
small settlement. But a conflict with the Indians followed, and it proved necessary
for a ship to return to England for help and supplies. By the time those arrived, in
1590, none of the original group of settlers could be found. The mystery of their
disappearance has never been solved.
The first permanent English settlement dates from 1607, when an expedition
arrived in Chesapeake Bay, and called the settlement Jamestown, after James I.
Then in 1620, the first group of Puritan settlers arrived on the Mayflower, – the
“Pilgrim Fathers” – searching for a land where they could found a new religious
kingdom ‘purified’ from the practices which they found unacceptable in the
English Church. They landed at Cape Cod, in Plymouth, Massachusetts, and
established a settlement there.
70
These two patterns of settlement resulted in different linguistic
consequences. The southern explorers came mainly from the Western Country, and
brought with them the characteristic west-country accent, with its voicing of s
sound, and r pronounced after vowels. Strong hints of this accent can still be heard
in the speech of communities living in some of the isolated valleys and the islands
in the area, such as Tangier Island in Chesapeake Bay. These “Tidewater” accents,
as they are called, have had changes over the past 300 years, but not as rapidly as
elsewhere in the country. They are sometimes said to be closest we will get to the
sound of Shakespearean English.
In contrast, the puritans came mainly from East Anglia and the surrounding
counties, and their accent was quite different – notably lacking r after vowels (as in
present day standard English). This tendency not to pronounce the r is still a main
feature of the speech of the people from the New England area today.
Other features of the dialects of the seventeenth-century England that can be
identified in modern American speech are such as short a vowel where British
Received Pronunciation later developed the long a, e.g. dance. British English also
later pronounced such words as not with lip-rounding, but in the USA the earlier
unrounded vowel remains (‘nat’). Several older words or meanings were kept, such
as mad (angry) and fall (autumn). A phrase such as I guess which is treated as an
Americanism, in fact, can be traced back to Middle English.
§ 6. FUTURE OF ENGLISH
As the world is in transition, so the English language is itself taking new
forms. There are different views on the future of English. The language is thought
to be at a critical moment in its global career: soon the number of people who
speak English as a second language will exceed the number of native speakers. The
implications of this are likely to be far reaching: the center of authority regarding
the language will shift from native speakers as they become minority stakeholders
in the global resource. Their literature and television may no longer provide the
focal point of a global English language culture, their teachers no longer form the
unchallenged authoritative model for learners.
We may find the hegemony of English replaced by an oligarchy of
languages, including Spanish and Chinese. To put it in economic terms, the size of
the global market for the English language may increase in absolute terms, but its
market share will probably fall.
Commentators vary greatly in attitudes towards and expectations of global
English. At one extreme, there is an unproblematic assumption that the world will
eventually speak English and that this will facilitate the cultural and economic
dominance of native-speaking countries (especially the US). Such a view is
challenged, however, by the growing assertiveness of countries adopting English
as a second language that English is now their language, through which they can
express their own values and identities, create their own intellectual property. The
spread of English in recent years is, by any criterion, a remarkable phenomenon.
But the closer one examines the historical causes and current trends, the more it
becomes apparent that the future of English will be complex, more demanding of
71
understanding and more challenging for the position of native-speaking countries
than has hitherto been supposed.
David Crystal foresees the gradual emergence of a tri-English world – a
world in which three levels of English co-exist:
 the basic level, i.e. the family dialect;
 the level of the national variety of Standard English which most people
learn when they go to school;
 the level of International Standard English – an English which in its
grammar and vocabulary is not recognizably British, American or anything else.
International Standard Spoken English is not a global reality yet, but it is getting
nearer.
According to this scholar, many foreign learners of English will have an
ethnic language for level one, and a national language for level two, and the level
of International Standard English.
72
Seminar 8
Development of analytical verb forms
English as lingua franca
1. Problem of the future tense in the history of English
2. Perfect forms in historical perspective.
3. Continuous forms in historical perspective.
4. Passive forms in historical perspective.
5. The English Language in America.
6. Future of English.
Literature
1. Shakhrai O. The ABC of English Historical Grammar. – K., 1971. – (1):
pp. 146-147; (2): pp. 142-144; (3): pp. 148-149; (4): pp. 144-146.
2. Иванова И.П., Чахоян Л.П. История английского языка. – М., 1976. (1): c. 164-168; (2): c. 176-180; (3): c. 180-185; (4): c. 171-176.
Individual tasks
1. The infinitive in the history of English.
2. The participle in the history of English.
3. The English language in Canada.
4. The English language in Australia.
Exercises
Exercise 1. Text work.
1. Read the Old English text and translate it into Modern English and
Ukrainian:
þā stōd him sum mon æt þurh swefn ond hine hālette ond grētte ond hine be
his noman nemnde: “Cædmon sing mē hwæt-hwugu!” þā ondswarede hē ond
cwæð: Ne con ic nōht singan; ond ic for-þon of þēossum gebēorscipe ūt ēode ond
hider gewāt for-þon ic nāht singan ne cūðe! (Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of
English. Cædmon).
þā
standan (s.v. 6)
sum
mon, mann
þurh
swefn
Vocabulary
then
stand; Ukr. стояти
some; Rus. сам, самый
man; Germ. Mann, Rus. муж
through
dream; Ukr. сон
73
hālettan (w.v.1)
grētan (w.v.1)
nama (n.m.n)
nemnan (w.v.1)
singan (w.v.1)
hwæt-hwugu
ondswarian (w.v.2)
cweðan (s.v.5)
cunnan (prt.-prs.)
nōht (prn.)
for-þon
gebēorscipe (n.m.a)
ūt (adv.)
gān (ēode, ge-gān)
hider
gewitan (s.v.1)
wesan (s.v.5)
hwæðer
magan (mæg) (prt.-prs)
to greet
to greet; Germ. grussen
name; Germ. Name; Lat. Nomen
call
to sing; Germ. singen
something
answer;
to say; Lat. veto ← ‫٭‬guesto
can; Germ. Konnen; Lat. gnosco
nothing
for
feast
out; Germ. aus
to go; Germ. gehen
hither
to speak; Germ. sprechen
to be
however
may; Germ. mogen; Ukr. могти
2. Find the verbs in the text, state what morphological groups they belong to.
3. Point out strong verbs in the text. What classes do they belong to?
4. How can you account for the dental suffix in the past form of the verb
ondswarian? What other verbs of this type do you know?
5. Point out preterite-present verbs in the text, give their basic forms.
Explain their subsequent development.
6. Determine the declension of the Old English nouns mon and noman. What
are the peculiarities of the nouns of those declensions?
7. Point out demonstrative pronouns in the text if any. Try and determine
which of them are used in the function of the definite article.
8. How can you account for the vowel o in the words from the text which in
Old English normally have a:
mon, ond, noman, ondswarian, con.
9. Explain the subsequent development of the consonants in the following
words from the text:
his, hwæt.
10. Explain the subsequent development of the vowels in the following
words from the text:
mē, ūt, noman.
11. Explain the subsequent development of the spelling and pronunciation of
the vowels in the following words from the text:
stōd, sum.
12. Determine what layer of the Old English vocabulary the following words
belong to (consult the vocabulary list after the text):
cunnan, gān, grētan, ic, magan, nama, singan, sprecan, stōd, sum, swefn, ūt.
74
Exercise 2. Text work.
1. Read the Middle English text and translate it into Modern English:
But of o thing I warne thee ful right,
Be wel advised, on that like night
That we ben entered in-to shippes bord
That noon of us ne speke nat a ward
(The Miller’s Tale)
2. Point out the verb in the Present Perfect Tense. Explain the use of the
auxiliary verb ben in this case.
3. Point out the digraphs and letters introduced by the Norman scribes.
4. Give the forms of the Old English verb sprecan (s.v.5). What changes
occurred in them during the transition to the Middle English period?
5. In the text point out the noun in the Possessive Case. Speak on the
development of this case in the History of English.
Exercise 3. Explain the peculiarities of the use of the Continuous forms in
the following extracts:
1. As the second volume was slowly printing the publisher intimated to me
that the work might grow to a length that would consume the profits (J.Cooper.
The Spy).
2. The clock struck ten while the trunks were carrying down (J.Austin, late
th
18 c.).
3. It was not for nothing that my nose fell a-bleeding on Black Monday
(Shakespeare).
Exercise 4. Modern-day English is the product of many influences over the
centuries, some of which are listed below. They are, however, given in the wrong
order. Sort them out and list them in the order in which they occurred, starting with
the earliest influence. Finally, add the approximate dates for each influence:
Viking
West Indian
Celtic
Roman
Norman French
Anglo-Saxon
Exercise 5. Point out Latin, Scandinavian and French borrowings in the
following list:
abbot, alter, baron, beef, candle, cucumber, diamond, dress, fellow, felon,
flower, grammatical, law, lieutenant, noon, paper, pearl, school, siege, skirt, sky,
sock, spy, taste, tiger, tyrant, veal, wardrobe, wrong.
75
Exercise 6. Give the British variants of the following American phrases.
Comment on the peculiarities of American English they demonstrate:
twenty of four; five after eight; Hudson River; real good; a half hour; I
burned it; He’s gotten off the chair; in the future; I snuck out quietly; I just ate it; I
asked that he leave; He’s in the hospital; I didn’t see it yet; I’ll see you over the
weekend; Look out the window; I’ll go momentarily; I haven’t seen her in ages.
Exercise 7. Here is the English translation of the address to the students
from seminar 1 (exercise 1). Read it and try to determine phonetic and lexical
differences between Afrikaans and English.
Dear Ladies and Gentlemen
On behalf of the Faculty of Foreign Languages, I wish to welcome
everybody present here.
History of English is a very special subject. According to our former
students (and one of them now lives in South Africa where Afrikaans is an official
language) it is an absolute hit. It brings your language awareness into perspective
once again. And all that going hand in hand with an unforgettable presentation
style, which makes you all desire to attend all lectures and seminars for the pure
fun of it.
Thank you.
Y.Kudiyarov
Questions for Self-Control on Seminar 8
1. What is the difference between the synthetic and the analytical forms of
the verb?
2. How was the idea of the future expressed in Old English?
3. What is the meaning of the form He is gone in Modern English?
4. What happened to the verb weorðan in the history of English?
5. What is the name of the process of the loss of meaning by notional words?
Do you know that…
Web 2.0. describing the next generation of internet services has become one
millionth English word. It entered the dictionary on June 11, 2009 at 10.22. To be
accepted a word must be used at least 25,000 times across national boundaries and
outside specialisms. Ja! Ho!, a Hindi phrase signifying the joy of victory, became
the 999,999th word thanks to the Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire. At
1,000,001 is Financial Tsunami – a sudden financial restructuring (Daily Mail
11.06.2009, p. 37).
76
ADDITIONAL TEXTS FOR READING
OLD ENGLISH
1. Ic Aelfric wolde þās lytlan bōc āwenden tō engliscum gereorde of þām
stæfcræfte, þē is gehāten Grammatica, syððan ic ðā twā bēc āwende on
hundeahtatigum spellum, forðan ðe stæfcræft is sēo cæg, ðe ðæra bōca andgit
unlīcð (Aelfric’s Grammar).
I, Aelfric by name, should like to translate into English this little book on the
art of writing which is called Grammar, for I have already translated two books,
consisting of eighty stories, and therefore (I think) this Grammar is that key which
would help to reveal the wisdom of those books.
2. And ælc man ðe wisdōm lufað, bÿð gesælig, and, sē ðe nāðor nele, ne
leornian nē tæcan, gif hē mæg, þonne ācōlað his andgyt fram ðære hālgan lāra, and
hē gewit swā lytlum and lytlum fram gode. Hwanon sceolde cuman wīse lārēowas
on godes folce, būton hī on jugoðe leornion? (Aelfric’s Grammar).
And each man who loves wisdom, is happy, and one who neither wants to
learn nor to teach, if he can, loses knowledge of his holy teaching and thus gets
little by little from god. Where would wise people among god’s folk come from, if
they do not study in their youth?
3. þā þæs on hærfeste þā wicode sē cyning on nēaweste byrig, þā hwīle þe
hīe hīre corn gerÿpan, þæt þā Deniscan ne mehton þæs rīpes forwīernan. þā sume
dæge rād sē cyng ūp be þære sæ and gehawade hwær mon mehte þā ēa forwyrcean
þæt hīe ne mehton þā scipu ūtbrengan (The Parker Chronicle).
Then during the harvest time the king stayed in the nearest town while they
gathered their crops, so that the Danes should not prevent them from gathering the
crop. One day the king rode by that sea and thought if it was possible to block that
river so that they might not bring their ships up the river.
4. And þā hē forð ēode hē ge-seah Leuin Alpei sittende æt his cēp-setle, and
hē cwæð tō him: folga mē, þā ārās hē and folgode him (The OE Gospel, West
Saxon Version).
And he went further, he saw Levin Alphei sitting at his tall booth, and he
told him: follow me, and then he arose and followed him.
5. Sē wudu is ēastlang and westlang twelftiges mila lang oþþe lengra and
þritiges mīla brād. Sēo ēa þe wē ær ymbe spræcon liþ ūt of þām wealda.
77
The forest one hundred and twelve miles in length and thirty miles in width
lies to the east and to the west. The river I said about lies out of the forest.
6. Partes orationis sunt octo; eahta dælas synd ledenspræce; nomen,
pronomen, verbum, adverbivm, participvm; conivnctio, præpositio, interiectio
(Aelfric’s Grammar).
MIDDLE ENGLISH
6. The Sonday night, er day bigan to springe,
When Palamon the larke herde singe,
(Although it here nat day by houres two,
Yet sonf the larke), and Palamon right tho
With holy herte, and with an heigh corage
He roos, to wenden on his pilgrimage
(The King’s Tale)
On Sunday night, before dawn broke, when Palamon heard the lark sing
(though it was two hours before dawn yet the lark sang) just when then
wholeheartedly and full of courage he got up to go on his pilgrimage.
7. He hopede inou to drinke,
þis boket beginneþ to sinke,
To late þe vox biþout
þo he wes in þe ginne i-brout
Vocabulary
inou
boket (n)
vox (n)
biþout
ginne (n)
i-brout
enough
bucket
fox
past tense of ‘bethenken’
trap
past tense of ‘bringen’
8. The bee has thre kyndis. Ane es þat scho es neuer ydill… Anothire es þat
when scho flyes scho takes erthe in hyr fette … The thyrde es þat scho kepes clene
and bryghte hire wynges.
Vocabulary
bee
kynde
ane
scho
ydill
bee
nature, quality
one
she
idle
78
flyes
fette
clene
to fly
feet
clean
9. Little Lewis my sone, I have perceived wel by certain evidences thyn
abilite to lerne sciences touchinge noumbres and proportiouns; and as wel
considere I thy bisy preyere in special to lerne the Tretis of the Astrolabe …
I purpose to teche thee a certain nombre of conclusions apertening to the
same instrument (A Treatise on the Astrolabe, Prologue).
10. Now wol I preyen meekly every discreet persone that redeth or hereth
this litel tretis, to have my rewde endyting for excused, and my superfluite of
wordes, for two causes. The firste cause is, for that curious endyting and hard
sentence is ful hevy atones for swich a child to lerne. And the seconde cause is
this, that sothly me semeth betre to wryten unto a child twyes a good sentence,
than he forgete it once (A Treatise on the Astrolabe).
79
METHOD GUIDE TO THE FILM THE STORY OF ENGLISH
Film 2. The Mother Tongue
A. Preliminary Tasks
1. Find out when these people lived and what they were famous for:
Tacitus, Alfred the Great, Duke William of Normandy, King Harold,
G. Chaucer, W.Caxton.
2. Where do you expect these places to be situated? How do you expect
them to be connected with the history of English?
Hindu Temple, Winchester, Westminster Abbey, Yorkshire, Stonehenge.
3. Point out words and word combinations which can characterize English:
divine, a wealth of synonyms, triangle, chaotic spelling, a dialect of French,
idiosyncratic spelling, a hallmark, to scrap the endings, a stronghold, authentic
features.
4. Point out the words and phrases which can characterize the Anglo-Saxon
people:
savage, to drown people in bogs, to dig peat, to chant in holy language
Sanscrit, to dig ditches, to have a reflective, ruminative temper of mind, bold,
sophisticated, to have an ear to music of a spoken word.
5. Point out the words which may be connected with the introduction of
Christianity:
the cornerstone of history, the Gospel, Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Hindu
Temple, ancestor, an heir, a sundial, a monk, a knight, the clergy, a stronghold, a
bishop, a chronicle, a priest, a serf, a sovereign, chaotic spelling.
6. Point out the words and phrases which can be used to describe the English
countryside:
marshes, chroniclers, fishing, huts, sundials, to be richly carpeted with
settlements, strongholds, serfs, peat, bogs, Hindu Temple.
7. Point out the events in the history of Britain the following words describe:
to set up a press, the French speaking court, Jutes, to multiply copies, to
assemble a fleet, to commission a chronicle, Frisians, plaintiff.
8.How do you expect these words to be related to each other?
The Willas – foreigners – Wales.
9. What do you know about Sanscrit, the Danelaw, Beowulf? Put these
names in the order in which those phenomena appeared in history.
80
B. Watch the film and answer the following questions.
1. What has a Hindu Temple to do with the history of English?
2. Where did Celts flee after the Anglo-Saxon invasion?
3. What is the origin of the name of Wales?
4. How is the Welsh language connected with the Celtic past?
5. How has the Welsh language survived?
6. Why are dogs in Wales trained to answer calls in Welsh and English?
7. Who saved the English language during the Viking rule?
8. How many commonest English words come from Old English?
9. What city was in the centre of Danelaw?
10. Why did the English language face extinction during the Danish
invasion?
11. What is the greatest puzzle of the Viking rule?
12. What is the shape of the fishing huts in the north? Why?
13. What are the linguistic peculiarities of the process of buying a horse in
the north of England?
14. What are the features of the Yorkshire accent?
15. What event is considered a historic blessing in disguise?
16. Was the Anglo-Norman society wholly French-speaking? Give facts.
17. In what places was English developing during the Norman conquest?
18. What was the attitude of the Norman kings to English? Who of them
tried to learn it? Who used it for swearing?
19. What is the peculiarity of G. Chaucer’s tomb?
20. What problems did W.Caxton face? How did he resolve them?
21. What is the basis of standard English of the 20th century?
22. What are the causes of the English chaotic spelling?
23. What was the most popular play of the 15th century? What is its plot?
Film 3. A Muse of Fire
A. Preliminary tasks
1. What do you know about Queen Elizabeth I and Walter Raleigh?
2. Where are the following places situated:
Dorset, Massachusetts, Cornwell, Roanoke Island, Jamestown?
3. Why is Stratford-on-Avon considered a Mecca of modern world?
4. Point out the words and word combinations characterizing the English
language:
clipped, uninflected, double negative, postvocalic r, idiosyncratic spelling,
teeming vocabulary, comprehensible genius, folio of plays.
81
5. Choose the words and phrases which can characterise W. Shakespeare and
his works:
passion for words, a man of letters, quotable quotes, obscene, teeming
vocabulary, comprehensible genius, folio of plays.
6. Point out the words which may be connected with the arrival of the
English to America:
moccasin, uncharted land, toboggan, settlers, wigwam, sea-farers, pilgrims,
tomahawk, puritans, void, Mayflower, to search in vain, estuary.
B. Watch the film and answer the following questions:
1. How is the period of Queen Elizabeth I called? Why?
2. How many words were borrowed during the Elizabethan period?
3. How can you characterize Shakespeare’s language?
4. How did the translation of the Bible influence the development of
English?
5. How many Indian words did English pick up in America? Give examples.
6. What features of Elizabethan English are preserved in modern American
variant?
82
EXAMINATION QUESTIONS
Main
1. Grimm’s law. Interpretations of the changes.
2. Middle English development of vowels: the role of the speaker and
addressee.
3. Norman Conquest: borrowings and development of orthography.
4. Influence of the activity of the speaker and addressee on the Modern
English development of consonants.
5. The Great Vowel Shift, its causes.
6. Development of vowels and diphthongs followed by r.
7. Latinization of spelling. Prospects of a spelling reform.
8. Historical development of the category of the noun case.
9. Historical development of the category of number of the noun.
10. Origin of articles.
11. Perfect and continuous forms from historical perspective.
Additional
1. Classification of Germanic languages.
2. Structure of the Old English vocabulary.
3. Periods of the history of English. The future of English.
4. Historical events of the old English period. Peculiarities of the Old
English system of consonants.
5. Development of separate consonants in Old and Middle English.
6. Development of separate consonants in Modern English.
7. Old English system of vowels, their subsequent development.
8. Influence of the Great Vowel Shift on the development of spelling.
Formation of the English national language.
9. Role of the speaker: formation of short vowels in Modern English.
10. Role of the addressee: formation of long vowels and diphthongs in
Modern English.
11. Grammatical system of the Old English noun. Declension of the Old
English nouns.
12. Interpretations of the changes of the morphological categories.
Scandinavian invasion.
13. Development of the personal pronouns of the first person.
14. Development of the personal pronouns of the second person.
15. Development of the personal pronouns of the third person.
16. Origin of possessive pronouns.
17. Morphological classification of the Old English verbs.
18. Historical development of the Old English strong verbs.
19. Historical development of the Old English weak verbs.
20. Origin of the modal verbs.
21. Problem of the future tense in the history of English.
22. Passive forms in historical perspective.
83
RECOMMENDED LITERATURE
Main
Програми педагогічних інститутів: Історія англійської мови / Укл.
В.В.Євченко. – К.: ІСДО, 1993. – 56 с.
Аракин В.Д. История английского языка. – М.: Просвещение, 1985.
Иванова И.П., Чахоян Л.П. История английского языка. – М.:
Просвещение, 1976.
Ильиш Б.А. История английского языка. – Л.: Просвещение, 1973.
OALD: Hornby A.S. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. – Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2000.
Shakhrai O. The ABC of English Historical Grammar. – K.: Радянська
школа, 1971.
Verba L. History of the English Language. – Вінниця: NOVA KNYHA,
2006.
Optional
Аракин В.Д. Очерки по истории английского языка. – М.:
Государственное
учебно-педагогическое
издательство
министерства
просвещения РСФСР, 1955.
Иванова И.П., Беляева Т.М., Чахоян Л.П. Практикум по истории
английского языка. – М.: Просвещение, 1985.
Левицький В.В. Основи германістики. – Вінниця: NOVA KNYHA,
2008.
Мартине А. Основы общей лингвистики // Новое в лингвистике. Вып.
3. – М.: Изд-во иностран. лит-ры, 1963. – С. 347-566.
Смирницкий А.Н. Древнеанглийский язык. – М.: Изд-во литературы на
иностранных языках, 1955.Allen C.L. Genitives in Early English. – Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2008.
Baugh C.B., Cable Th. A History of the English Language. – L.: Routledge,
1994.
Bynon Th. Historical Linguistics. – Cambridge University Press, 1977.
Crystal D. The Future of Language. – L.: Routledge, 2009.
McArthur T. Is it new way of speaking? // English Today. – 1994. – 4. – P.
2.
Poluzhyn M.M. Lecture Notes on Historiography of Linguistics. –
Вінниця: Фоліант, 2004. – 271 p.
Rastall P. Sparing the article // English Teaching Forum. – 1993. – 4. – P.
49-50.
Rastorgueva T.A. History of English. – M.: Высшая школа, 1983.
Ringe D. From Proto-Indo-European language to Proto-Germanic. – Oxford
University Press, 2008.
Shakhrai O. Historical Background of Present Day English Reading and
Spelling. – K.: Вища школа, 1976.
The Future of English? – L.: British Council, 1997.
84
Abbreviations
adj.
adv.
conj.
f.
Fr.
Germ.
indef. pr.
irr.v.
Lat.
ME
ModE
n.
m.
OE
OF
OHG
OScan
pl.
prt.-prs.
prn.
Rus.
Skrt.
s.v.
Ukr.
w.v.
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
adjective
adverb
conjunction
feminine gender
French
German
indefinite pronoun
irregular verb
Latin
Middle English
Modern English
noun; neuter gender
masculine gender
Old English
Old French
Old High German
Old Scandinavian
plural
preterite–present verb
pronoun
Russian
Sanskrit
strong verb
Ukrainian
weak verb
85