A HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

Chapter 1: Continuity and chane

By origin, English is a Germanic language, like German or Dutch or the Scandinavian
languages such as Danish or Swedish. Its most common words as well as its fundamental
grammatical structure are similar to those of the other Germanic languages. But English has
undergone a number of more radical changes than the other Germanic languages, for instance
German, which makes it strikingly different from them.
The historical develoment of English reflects the internal history !sounds, inflections, etc"
as well as the e#ternal history, i.e. the olitical, social and intellectual forces that have
determined the course of the develoment at different eriods. The history of the English
language is to a large e#tent the history of the foreign influences which have affected it.
$evertheless, in site of the e#tensive foreign influences, English has always remained a
Germanic language.
%s %.Baugh and Th. &able oint out in their book, the 'istory of the English (anguage is
a cultural sub)ect and *the soundest basis for an understanding of resent day English is a
knowledge of the ath it has followed in becoming what it is.+ !,-./0 ,"
It is imortant to study the history of the English language because the future secialists
of English should know something about the structure and evolution of the English language,
about the wealth of its vocabulary together with the sources from which the vocabulary has
been enriched and is being enriched.
It is also imortant to know something about the great social, olitical and cultural
factors which have influenced the English language0 the English language of today reflects in
its entire develoment the social, olitical and cultural history of the English eole.
1ore recisely, it is necessary to study the history of the English language in order to
understand certain phonetic, grammatical and lexical henomena of the contemorary
language0
2 It is only by studying the history of the English language that we can understand the
relation between pronunciation and spelling in contemorary English. It thus becomes clear to
us why certain letters have no corresonding sounds in words like knee, gnat, night, sign,
doubt, debt etc., or why certain letters are ronounced in different ways, e.g. the letter a, or
the digrah ea in words like hear, dead, great, bear, hard, heart. 3r, further, why one and the
same sound can be reresented by different letters, e.g. the sound 4] can be reresented by
the letter u in words like run, sun, or by the letter o in words like come, son. &ertain sounds
can have an even more diverse reresentation, e.g. the sound 45 can be reresented by at least
eight sellings0 ship, sure, tissue, moustache, ocean, conscience, motion, fuchsia.
2 There are grammatical phenomena which become clear only when they are e#amined from
the oint of view of their origin. 6or instance, irregular lurals like men, feet, geese, mice, or
nouns like deer, sheep which have the same form in the lural as in the singular7 or modal
verbs like must, can, may which take no s in the 8
rd
erson singular 9resent Tense Indicative.
2 In the field of vocabulary, we are struck by the similarity between a large number of
English and German words. !house Haus, winter Winter, good gut, bring bringen,
have haben, etc", on the one hand, and between some English and rench words !cousin
cousin, table table, village village, beauty beaut!, change changer, etc", on the other
hand. The coe#istence of Germanic and :omance elements within one and the same language
is e#lained by studying the history of the English language.
2 The history of the English language is also of great hel to us when studying the history of
England. Thus, for instance, it is e#tremely interesting to study such imortant historical
events as the introduction of &hristianity, the $orman &on;uest, the :enaissance, the
Industrial :evolution, the e#ansion of the British Emire, etc., in close connection with the
enrichment of the English vocabulary. Thus, the &hristiani<ing of Britain in =-. brought
,
England into close contact with (atin civili<ation and made significant additions to the
English vocabulary.
The Scandinavian invasions resulted in a considerable mi#ture of the two eoles and their
language.
The $orman &on;uest made English for two centuries the language mainly of the lower
classes while the nobles and those associated with them used 6rench on almost all occasions.
%nd when English once again regained suremacy as the language of all elements of the
oulation, it was an English language greatly changed in both form and vocabulary from that
it had been in ,>??.
In a similar way, the 'undred @earsA Bar, the :enaissance, the develoment of England as
a maritime ower, the e#ansion of the British Emire, the growth of commerce and industry,
of science and literature, have each, in its way, contributed to make the English language what
it is today.
In short, the English language reflects in its entire develoment, the olitical, social,
cultural history of the English eole.
2 1oreover, a study of the evolution of English will enable us to gras the full beauty and
significance of the imortant literary works of different eriods, e.g. G. &haucer in 1iddle
English, B. Shakeseare in Early 1odern English, etc. %s &. (. Brenn uts it, *the aesthetic
areciation of Shakeseare and 1ilton is immensely ;uickened by an understanding of their
language7 the e#act shades of meaning of their words and hrases become clear only through
the consciousness of the semantic changes in the language+. !cited from E. Iarovici, ,-.80 ?"

C
Cour!e ": En#i!h $ a Ger%anic #anuae
"&1& %lthough the earliest inhabitants of Britain were not of Germanic origin, English
belongs to the Germanic languages which, in their turn, belong to the larger grou of
languages known as Indo2EuroeanD.
The Indo2Euroean family is comosed of the following main branches of languages0
Indian, Iranian, %lbanian, %rmenian, 'ellenic E Greek, Italic, Baltic, Slavic E Slavonic,
Germanic, &eltic, Tocharian, 'ittite.
The Indo2Euroean languages have two main characteristics0
a" An in'#ectiona# !tructure, i.e. a grammatical system based on changes in the forms of
words by means of endings !inflections" and vowel modifications to indicate various
grammatical categories0 case, number, mood, tense7
b" %ll Indo2Euroean languages share a co%%on (ord !toc), i.e. words that resemble one
another in form and meaning !FcognateA words". This common word stock includes the names
of arts of the body, family relations, natural henomena, lants, animals, the numerals from
one to ten, etc. Be shall illustrate the common Indo2Euroean vocabulary with two cognate
words from five Indo2Euroean languages.
e.g. !night" 3E niht, G. $acht, (. noctis, Gk. nuktGs, Sl. HoIJ !noch"
!brother" 3E broor, G. Bruder, (. frater, Gk. 9hrater, Sl. KLMmN !brat"
"&"& The Germanic languages fall into three grous0 East Germanic, "orth Germanic and
West Germanic. These Germanic languages must have originated in a language generally
called &ommon or 9rimitive Germanic which is not reserved in any document.
"&"&1& Ea!t Ger%anic
The chief reresentative of the East Germanic languages is Gothic. 6or a time, the Goths
layed a rominent art in Euroean history0 thus, the 3strogoths and Oisigoths con;uered
Italy and Sain.
The Gothic language has been reserved in a translation of the Bible made by the bisho of
the Oisigoths called Bulfila, in the second half of the P
th
century. The translation is the oldest
Germanic document, three centuries older than any old English document, thus forming the
nearest aroach one can have to &ommon !or 9rimitive" German. Besides Gothic, to this
branch also belonged #urgundian and $andalic which disaeared a long time ago, leaving
no traces e#cet a few roer names. %ll these languages are e#tinct now.
"&"&"& North Ger%anic
This branch, also known as $orse !or Scandinavian" includes Swedish, Danish, $orwegian
and Icelandic. The oldest $orth Germanic documents Q some runicR inscritions !in 3ld
$orse" date from the P
th
or =
th
century.
"&"&*& +e!t Ger%anic
The Best Germanic languages were divided into two branches0 High German and %ow
German, according to their geograhic osition0
i. High German is now reresented solely by German Q the literary language of Germany,
also soken in %ustria and a large art of Swit<erland.
ii. %ow German includes the following languages0
2 3ld Sa#on, which has become the main comonent of modern (ow German !or
9lattdeutsch"7
2 3ld 6ranconian, which is the basis of modern Dutch !in 'olland" and 6lemish !in
northern Belgium"7
2 3ld 6ri!e"sian, which survives in the Dutch rovince of 6riesland7
2 3ld English, which is the basis of modern English.
8
Because of their common ancestry, the Germanic languages are said to be enetica##y
re#ated. Early forms of English and German were once dialects of a common ancestor
called ,roto-Ger%anic, )ust as the :omance languages, 6rench, Sanish, etc., were once
dialects of (atin soken in the :oman Emire. % roto2language is the ancestral language
from which related languages have develoed. !O. 6romkin0 P=,"
Both (atin and 9roto2Germanic were themselves descendants of the older language
called Indo2Euroean !see aragrah C.,."
&ld English, therefore, belonged to the (ow Germanic languages which were art of
the grou of Best Germanic languages. 3ld English was the result of a mi#ture of several
Germanic dialects brought to the British Isles by the %ngles, the Sa#ons and the Sutes.
%s English belongs to the Best Germanic branch of the larger Germanic family, it shares
certain characteristics common to all the Best Germanic languages. i. English, together
with other Germanic languages, shows the shifting of certain consonants. In ,/C> the
German hilologist Sacob Grimm following u a suggestion of a Danish contemorary, :.
:ask, formulated an e#lanation which systematically accounted for the corresondences
between certain consonants in the Germanic languages and those found in other Indo2
Euroean non2Germanic languages, for e#amle in (atin and Greek. This is described as
GrimmAs law. Thus0
2 The consonant p in the IE !non2Germanic" languages became ' in the Germanic
languages7
2 The consonant ) in the IE !non2Germanic" languages became h in the Germanic
languages7
2 The consonant d in the IE !non2Germanic" languages became t in the Germanic
languages7
2 The consonant ' in the IE !non2Germanic" languages became . in the Germanic
languages.
IE non-Ger%anic !(atin" Ger%anic #anuae
(atin English German
p T ' pater father $ater
pisces ish isch
pes ' pedem foot u(
)T h centum hundred Hundert
d T t duo two )wei
dens ' dentem tooth )ahn
' T . frater brother #ruder
ii. 6rom the grammatical oint of view there are some similarities between English and
the other Germanic languages0
a" In English, as well as in other Germanic languages, there are two large grous of verbs0
strong verbs, which form the 9ast Tense by internal vowel changes within its stem7 and weak
verbs, which form the 9ast Tense by the addition of a suffi# containing a dental consonant 2ed
in English, 2t*e+ in German.
strong Os0 trinken trank,getrunken !drink 2 drank Qdrunk"
weak verbs0 fragen fragte , gefragt !ask Q askedQ asked"
The attern of the strong verbs !with internal vowel change" was inherited from Indo2
Euroean, but that of the weak verbs was new and distinctly Germanic. Sacob Grimm called
them FweakA because, being unable to change the internal vowel, they had to resort to e#ternal
means, namely to suffi#es.
P
b" There are grammatical similarities between English and other Germanic languages !in
articular German"0
2 in the con)ugation of verbs0
9resent Tense - hear -ch h.re
9ast Tense - heard -ch h.rte
9resent 9erfect - have heard -ch habe geh.rt
!9resent Tense of au#. haben Q have U 9ast 9articile"
9ast 9erfect - had heard -ch hatte geh.rt
!9ast Tense of au#. haben 2 haveU 9ast 9articile"
2 there were two tyes of ad)ective declension in 3ld English as well as in other
Germanic languages0 the weak declension !when the ad)ective was receded by a determiner"
and the strong declension !when the ad)ective was not". In the $ominative case there were
two forms0
weak decl. se goda mann !Germ. der gute /ann Fthe good manA "
strong decl. god mann !Germ. guter /ann Fgood manA"
2 There are grammatical similarities between English and German in the inflections for
comaring ad)ectives0
e.g. Engl. loud louder the loudest
Germ. laut lauter der *die, das+ lauteste
, the synthetic genitive in Fs0
e.g. Engl. the man0s name
Germ. 1er "ame des /annes2 des /annes "ame !formal, obsolete"
iii. There are similarities in the vocabulary, esecially in simle, everyday words between
English and other Germanic languages0
e.g. E. father' G. $ater2 brother ' #ruder2 sing ' singen2 good ' gut2 here ' hier
"&*& The #anuae! that preceded En#i!h in /ritain
Be are so accustomed to thinking of English as the language of the British Isles that we are
likely to forget that English has been the language of the British Isles for a comaratively
short eriod. The English language was introduced into the British Isles comaratively
recently Q about the middle of the =
th
century. @et, the British Isles have been lived by man
for about =>,>>> years. During this long stretch of time the resence of a number of races can
be detected and each of the races had a language. Vnfortunately, we know ne#t to nothing
about the early languages of Britain.
"&*&1& Ce#tic
The earliest inhabitants of Britain about whose language we have reliable information are
the &elts. There were two main branches of &elts0
i. The Britannic &elts who lived in Britain7
ii. The Goidelic !Gaelic" &elts who lived at first in Ireland and then sread to the East and
South East.
&eltic was the first Indo2Euroean language to be soken in the British Isles and it is still
soken in some arts of the island0
a" The language of the Britannic &elts is now reresented in Britain by Welsh which is
soken in Bales. Belsh is soken by about one million eole, most of whom are bilingual0
according to a census made in ,-=, only 8W of the oulation in Bales did not know
English.
3ornish, which had the same origin as Belsh, died out as a soken language in &ornwall
towards the close of the ,/
th
century.
=
b" The language of the Goidelic !Gaelic" &elts is now reresented by -rish !soken in
Ireland by about half a million eole, most of whom are bilingual"7 4cots Gaelic !soken in
the highlands of Scotland" and /anx !soken in the Isle of 1an".
"&*&"& Latin
The second language to be soken in Britain was (atin which was introduced after the
:oman con;uest of P8 %D when Britain became a rovince of the :oman Emire.
In fact, the attemt at con;uering the island had started much earlier. In == B&, Sulius
&aesar, having comleted the con;uest of Gaul, decided uon an invasion of Britain, but the
attack failed. The following year, =P B&, he again invaded the island and this time he
succeeded in establishing himself in the south2east. S. &aesar e#acted tribute from the &elts,
which was never aid, so he again returned to Gaul, and Britain was not troubled by the
:oman armies for nearly a hundred years. In P8 %D, the emeror &laudius decided to
undertake the con;uest of the island. Bithin 8 years he sub)ugated the tribes of the south 2
eastern and central regions. Subse;uent camaigns brought almost the entire island under
:oman rule with the e#cetion of some arts in Bales and Scotland where most of the &elts
had fled to. The military con;uest was followed by the 5omani6ation of the rovince0
highways, roads, well2lanned towns with ublic buildings, amhitheatres, baths, etc., testify
to the introduction of the :oman way of life.
(atin was soken for about four centuries, but it did not relace &eltic as it did in Gaul.
(atin was known to the uer classes and it was the language of civil administration, the
army, trade and, to a large e#tent, it was known by the inhabitants of the cities and towns.
'owever, its use began to decrease after the :oman troos were withdrawn at the beginning
of the =
th
century and did not survive the Germanic invasion, leaving comaratively few
traces.
"& *.*& The Ger%anic Con0ue!t
A'ter the year 112 an e3ent occurred (hich pro'ound#y a''ected the cour!e o' hi!tory&
In that year .ean the in3a!ion o' /ritain .y certain Ger%anic tri.e! that !ett#ed in
/ritain in the 4
th
and 5
th
centurie! and (ho are con!idered the 'ounder! o' the En#i!h
nation&
% detailed account of the Germanic invasion is given by a monk and scholar, called the
Oenerable Bede. In his chronicle Ecclesiastical History of the English 7eople, written in (atin
!Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis 8nglorum" and comleted in .8,, he tells us that the Germanic
tribes who con;uered the island were the %ngles, the Sa#ons and the Sutes.
In fact, Britain had been e#osed to attacks from the Sa#ons much earlier than PP-, from
as early as the P
th
century, even while the island was under :oman rule. Two other &eltic
tribes, the 9icts and the Scots had been attacking Britain from as early as 8=>. %ll these tribes
were ket out only at the rice of constant vigilance. %gainst both of these sources of attack
the :oman military organi<ation seems to have roved ade;uate. But the &elts who were not
warriors, had come to deend on the :oman army for their rotection. Vnder :oman rule they
had settled down to a more eaceful way of life and had lost some of thew military skill.
&onse;uently, when the :omans withdrew in P>., the &elts found themselves unrotected
and were no longer able to kee out the Germanic bands.
The 8ngles occuied some arts of Britain north of the Thames and lowland Scotland.
The 4axons, who were closely akin to the %ngles in seech and customs, occuied the
whole art of Britain south of the Thames7 they also settled in some regions north of the
Thames such as Esse# and 1iddlese#.
The 9utes had come to Britain to assist the &elts to drive away the invading 9icts and
Scots. But they liked the country, so they decided to stay and began to settle down. They
settled in Xent, Southern 'amshire, the Isle of Bight.
?
Though the Sa#ons were numerically suerior to the %ngles, the latter were influential
enough to imose their name on the whole7 after the year ,>>> the country began to be called
8nglaland !YEngland", i.e. the land of the %ngles and the language was called 8nglisc
!YEnglish".
The linguistic conse;uences of the Germanic &on;uest were e#tremely imortant, for a
new language suerseded &eltic and (atin Q a Germanic language !e#cet in Scottish
'ighlands, in Bales and &ornwall". This new language resulted from the fusion of the
dialects soken by the Germanic tribes who had come from the continent. The seech of the
%ngles cannot have differed very much from that of the Sa#ons or that of the Sutes, but those
differences that e#isted must account for the various English dialects.
"&1& The period! in the hi!tory o' the En#i!h #anuae
The history of the English language in England begins with the settlement of the Germanic
tribes 2 the %ngles, the Sa#ons and the Sutes Q in Britain in PP-. The evolution of English in
the fifteen hundred years of its e#istence in England has been an unbroken one. Bithin this
steady develoment, however, it is ossible to distinguish three main eriods, each of them
having certain broad characteristics0
O#d En#i!h lasted from PP- to about ,>=> !,>?? E ,,>>".
The English language soken in Britain from the Germanic invasions of the =
th
century
!PP-" u to about the end of the ,,
th
century !,>=>" is now usually called &ld English, though
the term 8nglo,4axon is also in use. The name %nglo2Sa#on was meant to distinguish the
Sa#ons who had come to Britain, from those who remained on the continent. The term is
often used now to refer to eole of English descent. The term 3ld English has the advantage,
when used together with 1iddle English and 1odern English, of ointing out the continuous
historical develoment of the English language.
6idd#e En#i!h lasted from about ,>=> !,>?? E ,,>>" to about ,=>>.
6odern En#i!h0 from ,=>> to the resent time.
(ike all divisions in history, these eriods of the English language are matters of
convenience, and the dividing line between them is urely arbitrary, being marked by the
dates of events in English history, but each eriod has certain broad characteristics and certain
secial develoments that took lace.
%n e#amination of the changes that have occurred in English during the ast ,,>>> years
shows changes in the le#icon as well as the honological, morhological, syntactic, and
semantic comonents of the grammar.
3ld English is generally referred to as the eriod of full endings or full inflections7
1iddle English as the eriod of levelled endings or levelled inflections and 1odern English
as the eriod of lost endings or lost inflections.
%s far as the inflectional system is concerned, 3ld English was a !ynthetic language, i.e.
one in which the relations between words are e#ressed by inflections, whereas 1odern
English is an ana#ytica# language i.e. one in which such relations are e#ressed by form
words and fixed word order. In the course of its develoment, English has simlified its
inflectional system to a larger e#tent than all the other Germanic languages. $evertheless, it
has not become oorer in means of e#ression, because the relations between words were
rendered by other means than inflections, vi<. by form words and a fixed word order.
$3TES0
5une*s"0 the characters of the alhabet used esecially in carved inscritions by the
Germanic eoles from the 8
rd
to the ,8
th
century
orm words are also known as function words or grammatical words7 The term is used for
a word whose role is largely or wholly grammatical, e.g. articles, reositions, con)unctions7
they contrast with le#ical words, which carry the main semantic content.
.

Chapter *: OL7 ENGLISH
*&1& O#d En#i!h 7ia#ect!:
In the ?
th
century, the gradual change from clans to feudalism began and the English settled
down into a number of small kingdoms. There were seven kingdoms at the end of the ?
th
century0 "orthumbria, /ercia, East 8nglia, Essex, :ent, 4ussex, Wessex.
3ld English was not an entirely uniform language. 3n the one hand, there were differences
between the language of the earliest written records !about .>> %D" and that of the later
literary te#ts7 on the other hand, the language differed from one locality to another.
The manuscrits that have been reserved enable us to establish the chief dialects. There
were four dialects in 3ld English0 "orthumbrian, /ercian, :entish, West 4axon.
i& The Northu%.rian 7ia#ect e#tended from the 'umber into the (owlands of Scotland. It
had been brought to Britain by %nglian tribes. The dialect is reserved mainly in charters,
runic inscritions, some translations of the Bible. The most imortant manuscrits written in
the $orthumbrian dialect are &aedmonAs Hymn, BedeAs 1eath 4ong. 1any manuscrits seem
to belong to the -
th
century. This dialect has a descendant in (owland Scots.
ii& The 6ercian 7ia#ect8 also brought by the %ngles was soken between the 'umber and
the Thames. %s very few 1ercian te#ts have been reserved, we know ne#t to nothing about
the 1ercian dialect whose descendant was to become the basis of the national language in late
1iddle English.
iii& 9enti!h8 the dialect of the Sutes, was soken in the South2East !over an area slightly
larger than the resent county of Xent". This dialect is known from very few remains, a few
glosses and charters.
i3& The +e!t Sa:on 7ia#ect, which was soken south of the Thames !Besse#" had been
brought to Britain by Sa#on tribes.
Xent was the first to gain suremacy owing to the cultural sueriority of its invaders and to
the continuous contact with the continent. In the early art of the .
th
century $orthumbria
en)oyed olitical and cultural suremacy over the other kingdoms. But in the -
th
century this
leadershi assed to Besse#. Vnder Xing %lfred the Great, who ruled between /., Q //-,
Besse# attained a high degree of roserity and enlightenment. In the -
th
century, the Best
Sa#on dialect began to be used as a sort of common literary language owing to the hegemony
established by Xing %lfred the Great and to the influence of his writings. The ma)or art of
3ld English literature has survived in the Best Sa#on Dialect.
O#d En#i!h Literature: The language of a ast time is known by the ;uality of its
literature. It is in literature that a language dislays its full ower, its ability to convey in vivid
and memorable forms the thoughts and emotions of a eole. The literature of the %nglo2
Sa#ons is one of the richest and most significant of any literature reserved among the early
Germanic eoles. The oldest are several glosses and glossaries belonging to the /
th
and -
th
centuries.
O#d En#i!h ,oetry is best reresented by #eowulf. It is a long oem !some 8,>>> lines"
relating the life and death of a great hero Beowulf. It is at the same time a very imortant
record of the language at that time.
%nglo2Sa#on oets sang of the things that entered most deely into their e#erience0 they
sang of war, of e#ile, the sea with its hardshis and its fascination, of minstrel life.
/
3ld English oetry also comrised verse arahrases of the Scriture !such as Genesis and
Exodus by &aedmon", sacred oems by &ynewulf, legends from the lives of the saints,
didactic oems, elegies.
O#d En#i!h ,ro!e: In the develoment of literature, rose generally comes late. Oerse is
more effective for oral delivery because it is more easily retained in memory. It is, therefore, a
rather remarkable fact that English reserved a large body of rose literature in the -
th
century.
3ld English rose is less interesting than 3ld English oetry. It is mostly a scholarly
roduction written by monks and scholars. Still, we must mention the name of The Oenerable
Bede who left us many interesting data about the history of England down to .8, in his
Ecclesiastical History of the English 7eople !written in (atin".
English reserved a considerable body of rose literature in the -
th
century also due to
Xing %lfred who made considerable efforts to romote learning. In order to sread culture
among his eole he translated !or had scholars translate" several (atin works into the Best
Sa#on dialect. 'e translated historical works like 3rosiusA ;niversal History or History of the
World !Historia /undi" and moral treatises like BoethiusA 3onsolation of 7hilosophy !1e
3onsolatione philosophiae" in order to oulari<e them.
<he 8nglo,4axon 3hronicle, started by %lfred the Great and continued after his death u to
,,=P is a valuable historical and linguistic document of the 3ld English eriod.
%nother scholar who romoted learning was the abbot %lfric. 'is works comrise a
collection of homilies, a translation of the first seven books of the Bible and religious
treatises. 'e also comiled a (atin Grammar in the vernacular.
9resent2day knowledge of 3ld English is rather limited7 most te#ts are written in the Best
Sa#on dialect. The vocabulary of the te#ts is either highly oetic or limited to religious terms.
It hardly contained any everyday words or hrases !what we might call Fcollo;uial EnglishA".
In the rose works, the construction of the sentence was very much influenced by the (atin
sentence.

*&"& O#d En#i!h Spe##in and ,ronunciation
(ike all the Germanic tribes !of Germany and Scandinavia" at a very early stage, the
English used certain angular letters called runes, for writing charms and inscritions uon
monuments. The runes were angular and rectangular avoiding curves because of the writing
surface !stone, slis of wood, bark" and the writing instrument !knife".
%fter the introduction of &hristianity !=-.", the English adoted a form of the (atin
alhabet. Selling was phonetic in 3ld English, whereas nowadays it is etymological.
The main characteristics of the selling system of 3ld English were the following0
i. The vowel sounds were reresented by long and short monohthongs and long and short
dihthongs0 long vowels were marked by an acute accent !macron" laced above a letter0 e.g.
m=tan !meet", h>s !house", b?c !book", st@n !stone", c> !cow"
ii. The digrah A was a letter, not a honetic symbol as it is now7 it reresented the sound
4Z5, as in0 bAc !back", fAder !father"
iii. &onsonants were much the same as they are in 1odern English. $evertheless, a few
e#cetions can be ointed out0
2 The letter c stood for two sounds0
4k5 before consonants or before back vowels !a, o"0 crAft !craft", catt !cat", c?l !cool"
4t5 before front vowels !i, e"0 cBld !child", c=osan !choose"
2 The digrah sc stood for 45, as reresented by sh in 1odern English0 e.g. scip !shi", fisc
!fish"
2 The letter h reresented two different sounds0
initially, before vowels, it was simly an asirate, as it is now 4h50 e.g. h>s !house"
-
medially and finally !usually before consonants", it stood for the voiceless velar fricative
sound 4[5 which we still find now in the Scottish dialect, i.e. a harsh, guttural fricative !e.g. in
the word loch"0 e.g. rBht !right", l=oht !light", dohtor !daughter"
2 The letter corresonded to two sounds0
4g5 when it occurred initially and medially0 e.g. lAd !glad", do a !dog"
4i5 when it occurred finally0 dA !day"
iv. 3ld English made use of two characters Q C and \ to reresent the sounds which are
now reresented by the digrah thD e.g. Canc !thank", t?C !tooth", ba\ian !bathe"
By the year ->> these two characters had been relaced by means of the digrah th under
he influence of the (atin selling of the Greek letter ] !theta"
v. There were no silent consonants in 3ld English0 e.g. cniht !Y knight"
vi. Double consonants usually occurred in the middle of the word0 e.g. habban !have",
tellan !tell", sittan !sit"
*&*& O#d En#i!h ;oca.u#ary
The 3ld English vocabulary is almost urely Germanic. %n 3ld English dictionary
contains about C>,>>> words of which only a few hundred are not Germanic.
%bout /= er cent of the 3ld English vocabulary have gone out of use now. 1any of the
3ld English words that have disaeared were relaced in 1iddle English by other words !of
6rench, (atin origin" or are now archaic, dialectal.
$evertheless, the ,= er cent of the words that have been reserved constitute the basic
word stock and this is of Germanic origin.
$owadays, although more than half of the words to be found in an English dictionary are
of :omance origin !6rench, (atin" the basic word stock of the English language has remained
mostly Germanic. Indeed, desite large2scale borrowings, the native element !i.e. Germanic"
forms the foundation of the 1odern English vocabulary !it is at the core of the language". The
native word stock stands for fundamental things dealing with everyday ob)ects0 names of the
nearest family relationshis, arts of the body, lants, animals, tools, colours, everyday
activities, etc. The native word stock includes au#iliary and modal verbs, ronouns, most
numerals, reositions, and con)unctions, most verbs of the strong con)ugation !irregular
verbs".
6ean! o' Enrichin the ;oca.u#ary in O#d En#i!h
To one unfamiliar with 3ld English, it might seem that a language which lacked the large
number of words borrowed from 6rench and (atin, which now form such an imortant art of
the English vocabulary, such a language would be somewhat limited in resources. This is,
however, not so. The language at that early stage showed great fle#ibility, resourcefulness.
The rincial means of enriching the vocabulary in 3ld English were word formation
!building" and borrowing, the former device being much more fre;uent than the latter.
*&*&1& +ord 'or%ation </ui#din=
The main devices of word formation !building" were affixation and composition. The two
devices were sometimes intermingled.
A''i:ation
a= ,re'i:e!
The use of refi#es was articularly an imortant feature in the formation of verbs. There
were about a do<en refi#es which occurred with great fre;uency, such as be,, for,, e,, mis,,
to,, wiC,.
i. The refi# for, indicated destruction0 ford?n !kill, destroy", forsettan !obstruct". The refi#
is still found in a few verbs0 forgo !give u, manage without", forsake !desert", etc.
,>
ii. The refi# mis, had a negative meaning as in mislBcian !dislike", mishyran !not to listen
to, to disobey". The refi# survives, but it is not so roductive as it was in 3ld English0
mislead, misprint, mistake.
iii. The refi# to, has the same value as the German 6er2 !FasunderA", e.g. tobrecan !destroy,
break to ieces".
iv. The refi# wiC, entered into more than => 3ld English verbs where it had the meaning of
FagainstA. 3f the => verbs only a few are still in use now0 withstand, withdraw, withhold !kee
back, refuse to give".
% very striking difference between 3ld English and 1odern English vocabulary is the fact
that a large number of borrowings as well as Oerb U adverbial article combinations !Fhrasal
verbsA" have relaced verbs which in 3ld English were derived from other verbs with the hel
of refi#es. Thus, the verb settan gave birth to besettan !aoint", forsettan !obstruct",
unsettan !ut down", wiCsettan !resist", etc.
.= Su''i:e!
Noun-'or%in !u''i:e! were often closely linked with the grammatical category of
gender. Thus, the suffi# ere was generally used to form masculine nouns denoting
rofession, e.g. fiscere !fisher", wrBtere !writer".
The suffi# estre was used for feminine nouns denoting rofessions, e.g. spinnestre
*woman who sins+ !1odern English spinster Funmarried, single womanA".
&ertain words came to be used as suffi#es0 thus, we find h@d !FstateA, FconditionA" in
words such as cBldh@d !childhood". The word scipe !from the verb scipan Fto shaeA, Fto
createA" aears in words like freondscipe !friendshi".
Ad>ecti3e - 'or%in !u''i:e!:
The suffi# ,i was used to form ad)ectives from nouns0 misti !misty" from mist2 ,Bsi
!*icy" from Bs !ice".
Bith the hel of the suffi# isc ad)ectives were formed from nouns0 mannisc FhumanA,
FmannishA", folcisc !oular", 8nlisc !English".
The suffi# full was used to build ad)ectives from nouns0 carefull !careful", synfull !sinful".
The suffi# leas from the ad)ective leas !Fdevoid ofA, FwithoutA" served to form ad)ectives
from nouns0 slApleas !sleeless", m?dleas !siritless"
Co%po!ition: Bord comosition was e#tremely roductive in 3ld English, being based on
self,explaining compounds.
Self2e#laining comounds are comounds of two or more native words whose meaning in
combination is self2evident. In 1odern English steamboat or railway are e#amles of such
words. This tye of comosition was e#tremely revalent in 3ld English as it is in 1odern
German. Bhere 1odern English has resorted to borrowings made u of elements derived
from (atin and Greek, 1odern German still refers self2e#laining comounds. Thus,
German uses the comound !das+ ernsehen !Ffar2seeA" for television, a word whose Greek
and (atin elements mean )ust what the German word does.
&omound nouns were generally formed of two nouns0
e.g. eorCcrAft !geometry", m?dCcrAft !intelligence"
Sometimes the first word in the comound was in the Genitive case0
8nlaland, i.e Fthe land of the %nglesA YEngland7
/?nandA, i.e. Fthe day of the 1oonA Y 1onday
There was a close connection between derivation and composition. ^uite a number of
notions which are rendered in 1odern English by means of (atin, 6rench, Greek or other loan
words, were e#ressed in 3ld English by comounds and derivatives, such as iestliCnes
*iest _ guest7 liC _ gracious7 ,nes _ 2ness" _ FhositalityA.
*&*&"& Forein in'#uence! on O#d En#i!h </orro(in!=
,,
3ld English was not merely the roduct of the dialects brought to England by the %ngles,
the Sa#ons and the Sutes. These dialects formed its basis0 the sole basis of its grammar and the
source of the largest art of its vocabulary. But there were elements of other languages which
entered into 3ld English vocabulary. In the course of its e#istence in England Q .>> years 2
3ld English vocabulary was brought into contact with three other languages, the languages of
the &elts, the :omans and the Scandinavians. 6rom each of these contacts, it shows certain
effects, esecially additions it its vocabulary.
Ce#tic #oan (ord!
6rom the fact that the original language of Britain was &eltic, it might be e#ected that
numerous &eltic elements would have become absorbed into 3ld English, but actually very
few were.
The relations between the Germanic invaders and the con;uered &elts have been much
debated by historians. %s very few words of &eltic origin seem to have been traced in the
English language, some historians assumed that the English invaders had killed all those
Britons !i.e. &elts" who had not run away into the mountainous districts. In fact, the &elts
were by no means e#terminated e#cet in certain areas and in most of England large numbers
of &elts were gradually absorbed by their Sa#on con;uerors. The suosition of total
e#termination is ruled out from the distribution of &eltic lace names0 In the east, the bulk of
the oulation was English !i.e. %nglo2Sa#on" and the Britons who survived in that area were
enslaved. The further west we go !Bales, &ornwall", the greater becomes the number of
Britons in the oulation.
&eltic elements survive in lace names, esecially in the south 2 west, e.g. /> er cent lace
names in &ornwall are of &eltic origin. Thus, :ent, 1evon, 1over, 3ornwall, %ondon are of
&eltic origin.
But the greatest number of &eltic names survives in the names of rivers and hills. Thus,
the <hames is a &eltic river name, and various &eltic words for FriverA are reserved in the
name 8von !e.g. 4tratford on 8von", in the name 8ber !meaning Fthe mouth of a riverA" as
found in 8berdeen !used as a refi#".
%art from lace names, the influence of &eltic uon 3ld English vocabulary was an
e#tremely slight one, robably because the Germanic con;uerors had enough terms to denote
the various notions e#isting at the time.
Latin #oan (ord!
If the influence of &eltic uon 3ld English vocabulary was slight, it was doubtless because
the relation of the &elts to the %nglo2Sa#ons was that of a sub)ugated race and because the
&elts were not in a osition to make any notable contribution to %nglo2Sa#on civili<ation.
It was ;uite otherwise with the second great influence e#erted uon English Q that of
(atin Q and the circumstances under which they met. (atin was not the language of a
con;uered eole. It was the language of a higher civili<ation, a civili<ation from which the
English had much to learn. &ontact with that civili<ation e#tended over many centuries0 it
began long before the %nglo2Sa#ons came to Britain and continued throughout the 3ld
English eriod.
There were two distinct occasions on which borrowings from (atin occurred in the 3ld
English eriod0
a" The first eriod of (atin borrowings Q during the :oman occuation !P8 %D until the
middle of the =
th
century". During the first eriod the contact was military and commercial.
b" The second eriod of (atin borrowings began with the introduction of &hristianity into
Britain in =-.. The contact was religious and intellectual. This was the most imortant
influence of (atin uon 3ld English. It lasted over =>> years and it brought a large number of
new words into the English language.
,C
Even after the Danish invasion (atin remained the language of learning. This fact was
going to facilitate later (atin influences as well as 6rench influences !in the 1iddle and
1odern English eriod".
The words borrowed from (atin may be subdivided into several categories0
i. Terms connected with military life !introduced during the first eriod of (atin
borrowings"0
e.g. wAl !`(. vallum" F wallA
strAt !`(. strata via" FstreetA, FroadA
The (atin word castra !cam" ac;uired in 3ld English the meaning of FtownA. It is to be
found in various 3ld English lace names ending in ,cAster. In 1odern English, in the $orth
and East of England, the term became selled caster !as in %ancaster"7 in the 1idlands it
became reselled cester !as in %eicester, Worcester"7 and in the South and Best it became
reselled chester !as in /anchester, 1orchester+.
ii. Terms connected with domestic life, clothes, food0
e.g. cBese !`(. caseus" FcheeseA7 pipor FeerA
butere !`(. butyrum" FbutterA7 wBn FwineA
disc !`(. discus" FdishA
iii. Terms connected with tradeD
e.g. pund FoundA, c=ap FcheaA, FbargainA
iv. Ecclesiastical, religious terms !introduced during the second eriod of (atin borrowings"0
e.g. Almese FalmsA7 abbod FabbotA7 biscop FbiscoA7
candel FcandleA7 deofol FdevilA7 munuc FmonkA7
nunna FnunA7 preost FriestA
v. Terms connected with education, learningD
e.g. sc?l FschoolA7 mAister FmasterA7 fers FverseA
The e:tent o' the Latin in'#uence.
To be sure, the e#tent of a foreign influence is most readily seen in the number of words
borrowed. The two eriods of (atin borrowings introduced about P=> words into 3ld English.
%bout ,>> of these were urely learned, but the rest Q about 8=> Q may be really considered
art of the English vocabulary and most of them were fully acceted and assimilated. !The
real test of a foreign influence is the degree to which a word is assimilated, i.e. how
comletely a word could be derived or could be converted, )ust like native words".
1ost (atin borrowings could be converted into other arts of seech or could be
combined with native affi#es, giving many hybridR derivatives. Thus, native suffi#es such as
2h@d, ,d?m were used to turn a concrete noun !of (atin origin" into an abstract one0
martyrh@d, martyrd?m.
The (atin influence of the second eriod was not only e#tensive but thorough as well and
marks the real beginning of the English habit of freely incororating foreign elements into its
vocabulary.
Scandina3ian #oan (ord!
$ear the end of the old English eriod, the English language underwent another foreign
influence Q the result of the contact with another imortant language Q the Scandinavian
!Danish".
The Scandinavians were the Germanic inhabitants of the Scandinavian 9eninsula and
Denmark, so they were closely related to the %nglo2Sa#ons in language and blood. 6or
centuries, the Scandinavians had lived ;uietly in their northern homes, but in the /
th
century
some changes Q ossibly economic and ossibly olitical ones Q occurred in that area ad
rovoked among them a sirit of unrest and adventurous enterrise. They began a series of
attacks uon all the lands ad)acent to the $orth Sea. The incursions of the Scandinavians or
$orsemen Q commonly known as Oikings Q started in the year ./., gradually develoing
,8
from irate raids to camaigns of armies attemting to con;uer territories and settle down.
Xing %lfred ut u a brave struggle against them and in /./ an agreement was reached by
which England was divided into two halves. The north and the East were occuied by the
Danes Q a region which came to be known as 1anelaw, that is, the country under the law of
the Danes. The South and Best remained occuied by the %nglo2Sa#ons Q region known as
4axon England. The Danes reached the eak of their con;uest and achievement in ,>,? when
the Danish king &anute became king of England. %s he had also con;uered $orway, from his
English caital, he ruled the whole Scandinavian world.
%ll these events had as an imortant conse;uence the settlement of numerous
Scandinavians !Danes and $orwegians" in England, which e#erted a owerful influence and
left a lasting imrint on the 3ld English language.
The settlement of numerous Scandinavians accounts for the large number of laces bearing
Scandinavian names. In England there are more than ,P>> laces bearing Scandinavian
names0
a" Thus, there are about ?>> place names ending in Qby !the Danish word for FtownA" such
as 1erby, Whitby. There are also lace names ending in Qbury !the Danish word for
FboroughA" such as 3anterbury2 also in wich !the Danish term for FcreekA" such as -pswich,
Greenwich. 1ost of these laces are, naturally, in the $orth and East of England, for it was
here that the ma)ority of the invaders settled.
Besides lace names, Scandinavian loan2words refer to0
b" War and esecially to navy0 most of the loan words have not been reserved in the
language because they were relaced by 6rench words in 1iddle English after the $orman
&on;uest.
c" %aw0 most Danish law terms were later relaced by 6rench words. Some words which
have been reserved are0 lau !law", CrAl !thrall".
d" The greatest number of Scandinavian loan2words refer to everyday life0 commonlace
ob)ects, customs, actions, feelings, etc. !e#amles in 1odern English"0 anger, crop, guess,
scale, scar, skill, skin, want, window, happy, ill, wrong, law, ugly, to call, to die, to scare, to
scream, to take, etc.
In order to estimate the Scandinavian influence, it is imortant to remember how great the
similarity between 3ld English !abbreviated to 3E" and 3ld $orse !abbreviated to 3$" was.
The English and the Scandinavians were able to understand one another without the hel of
interreters because a large number of words were almost identical in form and meaning. %
very large number of words had the same root, only their endings were different, e.g. 3E.
d?m &" d?mr2 3E. oxa , &". oxe, etc.
1any Scandinavian words that have been introduced into the language were in use side by
side with the corresonding English words. Eventually, one of the following henomena
occurred0
a" In some cases, it was the Scandinavian word that revailed7 e.g. the Scandinavian word
syster !Y sister" relaced the 3E form sweostor. %lso, the Scandinavian taka !Y take" relaced
the 3E nBman !G.0 nehmen"7 the Scandinavian angr !Y anger" relaced the 3E irre, etc.
b" In other cases, it was the English word that survived, while the Scandinavian word
finally disaeared or subsists only dialectally, e.g. 3.$. kirk subsists as the dialectal Scottish
e;uivalent of church.
c" Sometimes, both the English and the Scandinavian word were retained, develoing a
difference in meaning and E or use0
e.g. 3.E. craft ' 3.$. skill2 3.E. from ' 3.$. fro !in Fto and froA"
no ' nay2 whole ' hale !hale and hearty"7
blossom ' bloom2 hide ' skin2 evil ' ill
,P
The influence of Scandinavian was not confined to nouns, ad)ectives, verbs, but it
e#tended to ronouns, reositions, con)unctions, adverbs and even a art of the fre;uently
used verb be. Such arts of seech are not often transferred from one language to another.
Thus, the ronouns Ceir !they", Ceirra !their", Ceim !them" relaced the native forms hie,
hiera, him robably because of the ambiguity of these forms !they might have been confused
with forms of singular". The ronouns both and same are of Scandinavian origin, the
reosition fro, the con)unction though.
3ne of the most significant adotions is the 9resent Tense lural form of the verb to beD
are, which relaced the native forms sind, sindon.
% certain number of inflectional elements have been attributed to Scandinavian influence,
among others the s of the 8
rd
erson singular 9resent Tense, Indicative 1ood.
The Scandinavian settlers, mainly Danes and $orwegians, came to live close together with
the English. The resulting mi#ture seems to have shed much of 3ld English morhology.
They also heled to seed u the rocess of wearing away and levelling the intricate system
of inflectional endings 3ld English had shared with the other Best Germanic dialects.
Inflectional endings could become redundant because they had been losing their force and
significance, which had gradually been taken over by !fi#ed" word order and other syntactic
features, innovations !D. Giering, ,-.-0 ,C"
In synta#, the omission of the relative ronoun in :elative &lauses and the omission of the
con)unction that is in conformity with Danish usage. %lso, the use of the reosition in
ostosition is not to be found in the other Germanic languages, e#cet in Danish.
e.g. <he man - talked to .

*&1& O#d En#i!h Gra%%ar
Grammar is the most fundamental feature that distinguishes 3ld English from 1odern
English. 3ld English was a synthetic language whereas 1odern English is an analytic
language.
% synthetic language is one which indicates the relations of words in a sentence largely by
means of inflections. In its grammar, 3ld English resembles modern German0 3ld English
had a very rich inflectional system0 the noun, the ronoun, the ad)ective were declined7 the
verb had distinctive endings for different ersons, numbers, tenses and moods7 the ad)ective
had distinctive endings for each of the three genders.
Since, during the 3ld English eriod, the endings of the noun, the ad)ective and the verb
were reserved, 3ld English is generally referred to as the eriod of full endings or full
inflections. 1iddle English is referred to as the eriod of levelled endings, and 1odern
English the eriod of lost endings.
Be shall illustrate the nature of the 3ld English inflections in the following aragrahs.

*&1&1& The Noun
Nu%.er and ca!e
The inflection of the 3ld English noun indicated distinctions of number !singular and
lural" and case !the 3ld English noun had four cases". The endings of these cases fall into
certain broad categories or declensions. There is a vowel declension !also called strong
declension" and a consonant declension !or weak declension" according to whether the stem
ended in a vowel or a consonant in &ommon Germanic and within each of these tyes there
are certain subdivisions. The stems of nouns belonging to the vowel declension ended in one
of four vowels0 a, o, i or u and the inflection varies accordingly.
It is imossible here to resent the inflections of the 3ld English noun in detail. Their
nature may be gathered from two e#amles of the strong declension0 st@n FstoneA !masculine"
and word FwordA !neuter"0
,=
Sg. $. st@n !masculine" word !neuter"0
G& st@nes wordes
D. st@ne worde
%. st@n word
9l. $. st@nas word
G. st@na worda
D. st@num wordum
%. st@nas word
It is aarent from these e#amles that the inflection of the noun was much more elaborate
in 3ld English than it is today. Even these few aradigms clearly illustrate the marked
synthetic character of English in its earliest stage.
The declension to which neuter nouns belonged in 3ld English differed from the declension
of masculine nouns only in the $ominative and %ccusative lural !<ero ending". 3ld English
nouns such as deer, swine, sheep have the same form for the singular and the lural because in
3ld English they were neuter.
Some nouns formed their $ominative and %ccusative lurals in 3ld English by changing
the vowel of the stem. $ot very many 3ld English nouns belonged to this declension but about
half of them have ket this method of forming the lural until the resent day, with the result
that we have the lural forms men*n+ !sg. man*n"", f=t !sg. f?t", t=C !sg. t?C" etc.
Gender
Sust as in Indo2Euroean languages generally, the gender of 3ld English noun was not
deendent uon meaning or considerations of se#. Bhile animate nouns designating males
were generally masculine !man*n+, fAder" and females were generally feminine !modor,
dohtor", those indicating ob)ects !inanimate" were not necessarily neuter. 4t@n !stone" was
masculine !` G. der Stein", m?na !moon" was masculine but sunne !sun" was feminine as in
German !in German *der+ /ond !moon" is masculine, !die+ 4onne !sun" is feminine.
^uite often the gender of 3ld English nouns was illogical. Bords like mAden !maiden,
girl", wBf !wife", cBld !child" which we should e#ect to be feminine or masculine, were in fact
neuter, while wBfman !woman" was masculine because the second element of the comound
was masculine.
The simlicity of 1odern English gender is one of the chief assets of the language. Gender
in 1odern English is determined by meaning0 all nouns naming living creatures !beings"
belong to the masculine or feminine gender, according to the se# of the individual and all
other nouns !inanimate" are neuter.
%ttributive gender, as when we seak of a ship as feminine or the sun and moon as
masculine or feminine is ersonification and a matter of rhetoric not grammar.
*&1&"& The Ad>ecti3e
The ad)ective was fully declined in 3ld English, having three genders, two numbers and
four cases !sometimes also a fifth case0 the Instrumental".
There were two tyes of ad)ective declension7 the strong and the weak declension. The
strong declension was used with nouns that were not accomanied by a determiner. The weak
declension was used with nouns that were receded by a determiner, such as a definite article,
a demonstrative or a ossessive ad)ective.
Strong declension ?d man*n+ Fgood manA
Beak declension !e ?da man*n+ Fthe good manA
The declension of the ad)ective ?d !good" in the singular0
Stron declension +ea) declension
1 6 $ 1 6 $
$. ?d ?d ?d ?da ?de ?de
,?
G. ?des ?dre ?des ?dan ?dan ?dan
D. ?dum ?dre ?dum ?dan ?dan ?dan
%c. ?dne ?de ?d ?dan ?dan ?de
I. ?de ?de
%s far as the comparison of adEectives was concerned, ad)ectives were comared by adding
ra for the comarative of sueriority and est ',ost for the relative suerlative0 lAd ,lAdra
,lAdost
%s in other Indo2Euroean languages the comarison of certain ad)ectives was based on
different roots, forming suletive F systems0
e.g. ?d betra betst !good Qbetter Q best"
yfel wyrsa wyrst !evilEbad Q worse Q worst"
micel m@ra Q mAst !much Q more Q most"

*&1&*& The ,ronoun: The 9ronoun comrised several categories in 3ld English0 ersonal,
ossessive, demonstrative, relative, interrogative, indefinite.
The per!ona# pronoun!: The ersonal ronouns in 3ld English had distinctive forms for
ersons, cases, gender !for the third erson singular" and number. Besides the ordinary two
numbers Q singular and the lural Q there was a third number, the dual used for two ersons or
two things !first and second erson". The forms of the first erson ersonal ronoun0
sg. $. ic !I" 9l. $. w= !we"
G. mBn !mine" G. >re !ours"
3b). m= !me" 3b). us !usA"
Dual $. wit !we two"
G. uncer
3b). unc
6rom the fre;uency if its use and the necessity for secific reference when used, the
ersonal ronoun has reserved the system of inflections in 1odern English. The distinction
between the dual and the lural, which was an unnecessary comlication in language, has
disaeared in 1odern English.
The de%on!trati3e pronoun: There were two fully develoed demonstrative ronouns in
3ld English0 the 4imple demonstrative and the Emphasi6ed demonstrative.
a" The 4imple demonstrative originally meant FthatA. Its meaning was often weakened
e#ressing the function of the definite article. The forms of the 4imple demonstrative for the
$ominative case were the following0
singular . lural
1. 6. $. !all genders"
s= s=o CAt C@
6or e#amle0 se grund Fthe groundA7 s=o eorCe Fthe earthA7 CAt land Fthe landA.
b" The Emphasi6ed demonstrative corresonds to FthisA. Its forms for the $ominative case
were the following0
singular lural
1. 6. $. !all genders"
Ces Ceos Cis C@s
*&1&1& The ;er.
%s in all Germanic languages, there were two large classes of verbs0 the strong and the
weak verbs. These two classes of verbs were distinguished in the following way0
a" The 7ast <ense in strong verbs was formed by vowel gradationEchange, while in weak
verbs was formed by adding a dental suffi# *,de, ,te" to the stem of the resent.
e.g. strong verb0 drincan dranc !drink Q drank"
weak verb0 hAlan hAlde !heal Qhealed"
,.
b" The 7ast 7articiple of strong verbs was formed by adding on ' ,en, and that of weak
verbs by adding ,ed.
e.g. strong verb0 drincan dranc Q druncon !drink Q drank 2 drunk"
weak verb0 hAlan hAlde Q hAled !heal Q healed 2 healed"
c" The 7ast <ense, second erson singular in strong verbs was marked by the ending e,
while in weak verbs it was marked by adding est0
e.g. strong verb0 Cu n@me !you took"
weak verb0 Cu d=mdest !you )udged E thought"
In 1odern English these characteristics artly ersist0
a" The first one !9ast Tense" has been reserved, but the final e of weak verbs has
disaeared, leaving no difference between the 9ast Tense and the 9ast 9articile !both ended
in d".
b" The second characteristic !9ast 9articile" has been reserved, e#cet that many of the
strong verbs have lost the ending Qon',en.
c" The third characteristic !second erson singular" no longer e#ists.
6ood!
In 3ld English there were three finite moods !the Indicative, the Sub)unctive and the
Imerative" and three non2finite moods !the Infinitive, the 9resent 9articile and the 9ast
9articile".
The Su.>uncti3e 6ood, of which there are only a few traces left in 1odern English, was
widely used in 3ld English, esecially in subordinate clauses. The underlying rincile,
which determined the use of the Sub)unctive in Subordinate clauses in 3ld English, was that
the Sub)unctive was re;uired in all deendent statements which do not e#ress a fact0
e.g. ic ascode hine hwAt GAt wAre
FI asked him what that were !_ was"A.
The In'initi3e. There were two Infinitive forms in 3ld English0
a" The Simle Infinitive ending in anD
e.g. h= onan sinan Fhe began to singA
b" The 9reositional Infinitive was formed with the reosition to and the dative case of a
verbal noun ending in anneD
e.g. sele us flAsc to etanne Fgive us meat to eatA
Both the an and the anne inflections were later levelled and lost and the reosition to
came to be used very fre;uently with the infinitive, gradually losing its initial meaning
!direction, urose, intention". Eventually, to was no longer felt as a reosition, but as a
article, a art of the so2called (ong Infinitive. The Simle infinitive is still used with shall,
can, may, let, make, see, etc.
%s far as ten!e! are concerned, the situation was rather different from what it is nowadays.
Thus, the 7ast <ense indicated a ast action having no connection with the resent !i.e.
corresonding to the 9ast Tense of 1odern English", or a ast action related to the resent
!i.e. corresonding to the 9resent 9erfect of 1odern English".
3n the other hand, a construction corresonding to the 9resent 9erfect in later English was
sometimes used for e#ressing a ast action that had no relation with the resent. It was
formed with habban when the verb was transitive and with beon when the verb was
intransitive.
e.g. H= is ecumen. !*'e is come+"
In 3ld English there e#isted no secial tense for denoting a ast action comleted before
another ast action, i.e. there was no 9ast 9erfect. The simle 9ast Tense was generally
resorted to, the conte#t indicating the time of the action. Sometimes the construction hAfde U
9ast 9articile was used to e#ress a ast action accomlished before another ast action, but
,/
the rocess was comleted only in 1iddle English, when the construction became the 9ast
9erfect.
There was no 6uture Tense and the notion of futurity was either e#ressed by the 9resent
Tense, sometimes together with an adverbial modifier of time or, rather infre;uently, by
means of the verbs sculan and willan in association with the Infinitive. The former verb Q
sculan , e#ressed the idea of obligation, the latter Q willan e#ressed the idea of wish or
intention.
e.g. se @st Ce ic eow asendan wille !Fthe sirit that I to you to send intendA Q the sirit
that I intend to send to you"
The con)ugation of the verb in 3ld English had twice as many forms as there are in 1odern
English, owing to the well develoed Sub)unctive and esecially to the fact that the forms of
the lural differed from those of the singular.
*&1&4& Synta:
In 3ld English, synta# was based on inflection. Oery few grammatical relationshis
deended on form words and none deended on word order.
In 3ld English word order was not very imortant as a means of denoting syntactic
relations, owing to the rich inflectional system of the language. %s in (atin, the lace of
words could be changed according to rhetorical uroses. It was e;ually ossible to say0
4e man nam Ca b?c. !FThe man took the bookA"7 4e man Ca b?c nam2 Ca b?c nam se man.
The only difference between the sentences consists in the emhasis conferred on the words
in front osition.
Sometimes the 3b)ect receded the Sub)ect followed by the redicate0
e.g. ela worda sprAc se enel. !F1any words soke the angelA"
The order of the main arts of the sentence !Sub)ect and 9redicate" deended on the
resence and absence of a secondary art of seech at the beginning of the sentence. Bhen
the sentence did not start with a secondary art of seech, the usual order was subEect H
predicate.
Bhen the sentence began with a secondary art of seech such as Ca !*then+", n> !*now+",
ne !*not+", etc. the order was usually inverted.
e.g. "e can ic n?ht sinan. !F&annot I nought sing Y I cannot sing anythingA"
Chapter 1: 6I77LE ENGLISH
The transition eriod in the history of English between 3ld English and 1odern English is
known as 1iddle English. Its chronological limits are, however, not easy to establish, because
the changes transforming any language are always gradual and consicuous only after some
time. $evertheless, it is often agreed that 1iddle English was the English soken
between,,>> Q ,=>>.
1&1& Hi!torica# out#ine o' the period
In order to understand the linguistic changes that took lace in that eriod we shall outline
the most imortant historical events of that time.
1&1&1& The Nor%an Con0ue!t and it! Con!e0uence! <1?5? $ 1"??=
Towards the end of the 3ld English eriod an event occurred, which had a very great effect
on the English language, mainly on its vocabulary. This event was the $orman &on;uest in
,>??.
The $ormans Q who lived in $ormandy, a district on the $orthern &oast of 6rance Q were
among the most advanced and rogressive of the eoles of Euroe. 6or some time before the
$orman &on;uest, the relations between England and 6rance had been fairly close. Bhen in
,>?? Edward the &onfessor died childless, England was faced with the choice of a successor.
In the end, 'arold, the son of a Sa#on earl was elected king, but the election was challenged.
Billiam, the duke of $ormandy, a cousin to the late king, believing himself entitled to the
,-
throne, decided to obtain the English crown by force. In Setember he landed on the southern
coast of England7 the battle was fought at 'astings ending with the victory of the $ormans.
3n &hristmas day ,>??, Billiam *The &on;ueror+ was crowned king of England.
The $orman &on;uest was attended by several conse;uences0
a" %t the time of the &on;uest, the $ormans had advanced feudal institutions and this fact
accelerated the full establishment of feudalism in Britain. 3ne of the most imortant
conse;uences was the introduction of a new nobility. 1any of the English higher class had
been killed on the battlefield at 'astings, those who escaed were treated as traitors and the
laces were filled by BilliamAs $orman followers and for several generations after the
$orman &on;uest the imortant ositions at the &ourt were almost always held by $ormans.
b" The $orman clergy were given all the imortant ositions in the &hurch.
c" Since the governing class in both State and &hurch was almost e#clusively made u from
among $ormans, their influence was enormous. They used their own language, i.e. 6rench
and for C>> years after the $orman &on;uest, 6rench remained the language used among the
uer classes in England. %t first, those who soke 6rench were of $orman origin, but soon,
social interests made the remnants of the English ruling class learn 6rench. They reali<ed that
it was to their own advantage to learn the new language and before long the distinction
between those who soke English and those who soke 6rench was not ethnic, but largely
social. 6rench was the language of the &ourt and the uer classes, while English remained
the language of the masses !of the lower classes". Thus, about -> er cent of the oulation
!easants, craftsmen, tradesmen" continued to seak English.
The situation in the 1iddle English eriod is summed u by D. Giering as follows0 *The
6rench2seaking $ormans had consolidated their olitical ower and introduced their
language into all imortant sheres of the feudal state. %t court and in the church, in the law2
courts and the army, in the schools and in the arts, in the nobility down to the country s;uire,
everywhere a northern dialect of 6rench !$orman", became the dominant language. 6or
almost three centuries English continued to be soken only by the lower classes, the masses of
the eole+ !Giering, ,-.-0 ,8".
%fter the &on;uest, the $orman kings of England continued to be dukes of $ormandy and
many noblemen had estates on both sides of the &hannel. Thus, there were economic links,
which naturally imlied the continued use of 6rench.
/ritain in the 6idd#e Ae!
Bhereas the serfs had houses made of mud and timber, the knights, according to their
right to rule, considered themselves of Fblue bloodA and the their governing as being the rule
by the best eole, therefore started building castles of stone beginning with ,>??.
There was a code of chivalry but it did not involve the relations with the lower classes,
ine;uality was at the base of the social yramid. There was no galantry or romance, as it
might aear, but a cast solidarity. The knightsA duty was to rotect God and the king, give
feasts, hunt, terrori<e easants. Barfare was enobling0 Edward, the Black 9rince, was an
e#onent of the sense of honor and duty but led ruthless camaigns in 6rance. Xing Sohn was
famous for slitting noses and lucking out eyes.
GodAs intermediary is the archbisho of &anterbury and his retenue !suita". 9oe was
the feudal overlord which led to an aristocratic rebellion in ,CC8 resulting in the drawing of
1agna &arta the source of western liberties.
There were three orders of the society0 the clergy, the military aristocracy and the
working eole.
In ,8/, over =>,>>> easants led by the riest Sohn Ball attacked (ondon. The town
was set abla<e.
1&1&"& The Ree!ta.#i!h%ent o' En#i!h <1"?? - 14??=
C>
Several factors led to the reestablishment of English0
i. The loss of $ormandy0 In ,C>P Xing Sohn lost $ormandy because he did not accet the
king of 6rance as his overlord. %fter the loss of $ormandy, many noblemen had to give u
their estates in $ormandy. Towards the middle of the century, when they no longer had any
economic interests in 6rance, English began to come into general use again. They continued
to seak 6rench, but instead of using 6rench as their mother tongue inherited from $orman
ancestors, 6rench became a fashionable language en)oying great restige at most Euroean
courts.
English won back its leading role as the official language of the country only towards the
end of the 1iddle English eriod. This was ossible as a result of a gradual re2orientation on
the art of the $orman uer classes who wanted to take a firmer hold of their English
ossessions and to unite with the remaining English nobility against their common feudal
enemy, the 6rench king. Bith the shift of their economic and olitical interest from
$ormandy to England, English became a atriotic symbol of their new identity as
Englishmen. The first English king of $orman descent to oen 9arliament in English !in
,8?8" was Edward III !Giering, ,-.-0 ,8".
By the middle of the ,8
th
century English became the language used among the uer
classes. It was at this time that the adotion of 6rench words into the English language
assumed large roortions. Bhile trying to e#ress their ideas in English, all those who had
been usually seaking 6rench, often simly had to transfer 6rench words into English and the
outcome was a large scale borrowing of 6rench words.
ii. Besides the loss of $ormandy, there were other factors !social, olitical and economic
ones" which contributed to the disuse of 6rench0
a" The 'undred @earsA Bar !,88. Q,P=8" between England and 6rance7
b" The 9easantsA :ising of ,8/,7
c" The gradual decline of feudalism and esecially the rise of two imortant English
seaking social strata0 the small landowners and the town bourgeoisie, i.e. the rise of the
middle class !%. Baugh, a T. &able, ,-./0 ,P,". The economic imortance of these two
classes increased with it the imortance of the language they soke, i.e. English.
Such changes in the social and economic life enable us to understand the final triumh of
English. Towards the close of the ,P
th
century English was restored in law courts, in schools
and at &ourt.
The last ste the English language had to make in its gradual ascent was its emloyment in
writing !literature", for here it had to meet the cometition of (atin as well as 6rench. It was
only in the second half of the ,P
th
century that English succeeded in taking the lace of 6rench
and (atin in writing.
6idd#e En#i!h Literature
The literature written in England during the 1iddle English eriod reflects fairly accurately
the linguistic situation shown above. Three eriods can be distinguished0
a" During the first eriod !,,=> Q,C=>" FoliteA literature was written in 6rench, while
chroniclers and scholars used (atin. The only works written in English were almost
e#clusively religious such as the &rmulum. The outstanding e#cetions to this kind of
literature were (ayamonAs #rut and <he &wl and the "ightingale.
b" In the ,8
th
century romances began to be translated and adoted from the 6rench.
c" The second half of the ,P
th
century is an outstanding eriod in 1iddle English literature
owing to Geoffrey &haucer, Billiam (angland and Sohn Bycliffe. G. &haucer is imortant
not only as the founder of English oetry, but he is e;ually imortant because he firmly
established the English literary language. The most famous of his work is <he 3anterbury
C,
<ales which, besides giving us in the General 9rologue a matchless ortrait gallery of
contemorary tyes, constitutes in the variety of the tales a veritable anthology of medieval
literature.
B. (angland is the author of a long social allegory, 7iers the 7lowman. S. Bycliff was the
first to attemt the translation of the Bible into English.
Besides their literary value, these works rove the secure osition the English language had
attained in the ,P
th
century.
1&1&*& The E!ta.#i!h%ent <'or%ation= o' the Nationa# Lanuae& The Ri!e o' Standard
En#i!h
3ne of the striking characteristics of 1iddle English was its enormous variety in the
different arts of the country. This variety was not confined to the forms of the soken
language, as it is to a great e#tent today, but aeared e;ually in the written literature.
$evertheless, four main dialects are generally distinguished in 1iddle English0 "orthern
!from the 3E $orthumbrian dialect", East /idland, West /idland !both coming from the 3E
1ercian dialect" and 4outhern !from the 3E Best Sa#on".
In the ,=
th
century, from a country whose land was divided among great feudal lords,
England started to become a national state. Bourgeois relations were develoing raidly. The
economic relations between different arts of the country were getting stronger and it became
both necessary and ossible to establish a national language that should be above all dialects
and should be understood all over the country.
3ut of this variety of local dialects there emerged towards the end of the fourteenth
century a written language that in the course of the fifteenth century won general recognition
and has since become the recogni<ed standard in both seech and writing.
Therefore, alongside the gradual victory of English in its struggle with 6rench, another
imortant rocess took lace 2 the e!ta.#i!h%ent !'or%ation" of the nationa# #anuae.
The art of England that contributed most to the formation of this !tandard was the East
1idland district, and it was the East 1idland tye of English that became its basis,
articularly the dialect of the metroolis, (ondon.
Several factors contributed to the attainment of this result0
a" In the first lace, as a 1idland dialect, the English of this region occuied a middle
osition between the e#treme divergences of the north and the south. It was less conservative
that the southern dialect, less radical than the northern. In its sounds and inflections it
reresents a kind of comromise, sharing some of the characteristics of both its neighbours
!%. Baugh0 ,-C".
b" In the second lace, the East 1idland district was the largest and most oulous of the
ma)or dialect areas. The land was more valuable than the hilly country to the north and west,
and in an agricultural age this advantage was reflected in both the number and the roserity
of the inhabitants.
c" % third factor was the resence of the universities, 3#ford and &ambridge, in this
region. In the fourteenth century the monasteries were laying a less imortant role in the
dissemination of learning than they had once layed, while the two universities had develoed
into imortant intellectual centres.
d" The oularity of G. &haucerAs and S. ByclifAs works suorted the diffusion of standard
English.
e" % very imortant contribution to the sread of Standard English was the introduction of
rinting in ,P.?. B. &a#ton, the first English rinter used the seech of (ondon in all works
he rinted.
f" By far the most influential factor in the rise of Standard English was the imortance of
(ondon as the caital of England. Indeed, it is altogether likely that the language of the city
CC
would have become the revailing dialect without the hel of any of the factors reviously
discussed. In doing so, it would have been following the course of other national tongues Q
6rench as the dialect of 9aris, Sanish as that of &astile, etc. !Baugh0 ,-P". (ondon was, and
still is, the olitical and commercial centre of England. It was the seat of the court, of the
highest )udicial tribunals, the focus of the social and intellectual activities of the country. The
history of Standard English is almost a history of (ondon English.
1&"& The #inui!tic characteri!tic! o' 6idd#e En#i!h
1&"&1& 6idd#e En#i!h Spe##in and ,ronunciation
In the ,P
th
and ,=
th
centuries aer began to be used for manuscrits instead of
archment which was very e#ensive. The growing number of schools imlied an ever
increasing necessity of manuscrits. But since most of the te#ts were written in 6rench or
(atin, whenever an English te#t was coied its selling was influenced by these two
languages. %s most of the scribes were $orman, the 6rench methods of reresenting sounds
began to revail. There were certain vowels and consonants which did not e#ist in 6rench and
which the $orman scribes found rather difficult to reresent. That is why certain symbols
which had e#isted in 3E but did not e#ist in 6rench selling were discarded0
,. 6rench had neither the symbol A nor the sound 4Z5. That is why the symbol A gradually
disaeared from te#ts and was relaced by a or e0
e.g. 3E lAd Y 1i.E glad
3E slApan I 1i.E slepan !later on the vowel e was doubled"
C. The symbols C and did not e#ist in 6rench0 these signs were relaced by th.
8. % new letter Q g Q was introduced at the beginning of the 1iddle English eriod
!abbreviated to 1iE" to relace in initial and final osition. e.g. 3E od Y 1i.E god
P. The grou of consonants sc which rendered the sound 45, in 3E was relaced by sh in
1i.E0
e.g. 3E. scip Y 1i.E. ship
=. % number of 6rench reresentations of sounds were introduced0
ou, ow !in final osition" for the sound 4u05
e.g. 3E l>d I 1iE loud2 3E c> Y 1iE cow
3E c was relaced by k after n and before front vowels !i" e.g. 3E drincan Y 1iE
drinkan
?. (ong vowels were no longer indicated by a macron ! b " as they had been in 3ld English7
they began to be doubled0
e.g. 3E ?s Y 1iE goos2 3E f?t I 1iE foot
'owever, B was not doubled because of the similarity of J and >, which would have brought
about misunderstanding. In the ,=
th
century the scribes began to add a final e to the stem in
order to show that i was long0
e.g. 3E. wBf Y 1iE wife
By analogy with such sellings, other monosyllabic words such as goos, hors added a silent
e to their stems0 goose, horse.
1ost of these changes in selling were due to the reselling of English by $orman scribes
according to 6rench selling traditions. $aturally, the falling out of use of secial marks for
long vowels, the introduction of new symbols weakened the honetic character of English
selling0 honetic rinciles were mi#ed u with 6rench sellings and with conservative 3ld
English sellings.
1&"&"& 6idd#e En#i!h Gra%%ar
The most imortant changes affecting the language during the 1iddle English eriod were
the further levelling and reduction of 3ld English inflectional endings !they were much
C8
reduced both in number and comle#ity". Some were the result of the $orman &on;uest and
the conditions which followed in the wake of that event. 3thers were a continuation of
tendencies that had begun to manifest themselves after the Scandinavian invasion.
It was in this eriod that the change from a redominantly inflectional !or synthetic" to a
more synta#2orientated !analytic" grammatical structure could be regarded as a breakthrough
!D. Giering, ,-.-0 ,8".
The Noun
The rocess of the decay of the inflectional system of the noun develoed more raidly in
the $orth, where it was suorted by the mi#ing of English and Scandinavian dialects.
a= Gender. The inflections indicating the gender of a noun began to be discarded. In 1iddle
English we witness the elimination of 3ld English grammatical gender !the weakening of
inflections led to the loss of the old grammatical gender". In the $orth, where inflections were
weakened earlier, grammatical gender disaeared first7 in the South it lingered longer
because the decay of inflections was slower.
.= Nu%.er. In early 1iddle English there remained only two methods of indicating the
lural0 the *e+s for masculine nouns !strong declension" and the en for weak declension. In
late 1iddle English the *e+s lural sread ;uickly and it became the normal lural ending of
nouns, with a few e#cetions0 oxen, children, brethren and a few more which have changed in
the meantime0 eyen.
c= Ca!e. The masculine nouns !those belonging to the strong declension" were reduced to
two cases in 1iddle English0 The common case !$ominative, Dative, %ccusative" and the
9ossessive !Genitive" case. The neuter nouns !weak declension" had no case forms at all. The
two main tyes of declension !strong and weak" of 1iddle English can be illustrated by two
nouns ston !stone", masculine and eye, neuter.
Stron Decl. +ea) Decl.
Sg. l. sg. l.
&ommon case ston stones eye eyen
9ossessive stones stones eye eyen
!genitive"
The rocess of droing the inflections was also due to the growth of other means of
indicating grammatical relations, i.e. of indicating the function of words in the sentence.
,repo!itiona# phra!e! began to be used more and more often instead of case forms, namely
the to,phrase instead of the Dative and the of,phrase instead of the Genitive.
In 3ld English the reosition to had generally indicated direction and the reosition of
had meant FfromA, Fout of. In 1iddle English the meaning of both reositions was
weakened0 to and sometimes for indicated the Indirect 3b)ect, i.e. the 3b)ect towards which
the action was directed and for which it was erformed. &f fre;uently indicated ossession.
It is difficult to know whether these reositional hrases came into use in order to
comensate for the loss of inflections or )ust to make the meaning of cases clearer, thus
rendering their inflection unnecessary, levelling them and finally discarding them. Bhat is
most robable is that at first, these reositions began to be used to give more syntactic force
to the inflections and when, in 1iddle English the inflections were levelled and therefore lost
their distinctive ower, the reositions became absolutely necessary to show the resective
syntactic relations.
The Ad>ecti3e
The ad)ective was influenced by the loss of grammatical gender and by the loss of most
case inflections of the noun. !In 3ld English the ad)ective had agreed with the noun in gender,
case, number".
There remained only a few traces of the number distinctions and the distinctions between
the strong and the weak declension. In 3ld English a weak ad)ective !i.e. an ad)ective
CP
accomanied by a determiner" had five distinct singular and lural forms which indicated both
case and number by means of the endings0 2a, ,e, ,an, ,ene, ,um. In 1iddle English all these
endings were levelled to eD
Stron declension +ea) declension
!Det U %d) U $oun"
Singular hard harde
9lural harde harde
The result was that in the weak declension there was no longer any distinction between
the singular and the lural, since both ended in e. Bhen in the ,P
th
century final 2e ceased to
be ronounced, it became a mere feature of selling. The ad)ective had become an uninflected
word by the close of the 1iddle English eriod.
Besides the synthetic comarison !formed by means of the suffi#es er, ,est.' ,ost" in the
,P
th
century, ad)ectives were often comared analytically !with more and most"0
e.gcwhich partie is the bettre and more profitable. !G. &haucer, <he 3anterbury <ales"
The ,ronoun
The ,er!ona# ,ronoun In the 9ersonal ronoun the losses were not so great. 'ere there
was greater need for searate forms for the different genders, cases and accordingly, most of
the distinctions that had e#isted in 3ld English were retained.
The 9ersonal ronoun suffered the following changes in 1iddle English0
,. The dual number !wit _ we two" disaeared in the ,8
th
century.
C. The forms of the Dative and %ccusative cases merged into one form called the 3b)ective
case0 me, him, her.
8. The forms they, them, which are due to the Scandinavian influence relaced the 3ld
English ronouns hB, hem.
The 7e%on!trati3e ,ronoun In 3ld English the Demonstrative 9ronoun had two
numbers, three genders and four or five cases. In 1iddle English the simlification of the
inflectional system of the demonstrative ronoun consisted in the elimination of gender
distinctions and the reduction of the number of cases. 3f the numerous forms of s= !1", s=o
!6", CAt !$" for singular $ominative, we have only s= I the, and CAt I that surviving
through 1iddle English and continuing in use today. The form s= I the began to be used as a
definite article7 that continued to be used in the function of demonstrative ronoun.
The ;er.
%art from some levelling of inflections and the weakening of endings in accordance with
the general tendency, the rincial changes in the verb during the 1iddle English eriod
were0
,. The con)ugation of the verb was sub)ected to serious modifications in 1iddle English.
Thus, owing to the weakening of vowels in unstressed syllables, the difference between the
endings an !in the 3ld English Imerative and Infinitive", ,on !Indicative ast lural", 2en
!9resent and 9ast Sub)unctive7 also 9ast 9articile of strong verbs" was lost. The final
consonant n was gradually weakened and lost in 1iddle English eriod, e#cet in the 9ast
9articile of certain strong verbs.
C. The serious losses suffered by the strong conEugation. The number of weak verbs
became much larger than the number of strong verbs for the following reasons0
i. $early a third of the strong verbs in 3ld English died out in the 1iddle English eriod7
ii. The large number of 6rench verbs which were borrowed during the 1iddle English eriod
reinforced the weak con)ugation7
iii. The attern of analogy, i.e. the tendency of language to adat a more comle# form to a
simler one, is e#emlified by the number of verbs which had belonged to the strong
con)ugation in 3ld English but which became weak in 1iddle English0 climb, help, walk, etc.
C=
iv. In a number of cases, some verbs which had belonged to the strong con)ugation in 3ld
English and which later became weak verbs, have reserved the strong form of 9ast 9articile
!in *e+n " only when they are used as ad)ectives0 laden !`load", molten !`melt", rotten !`rot",
shaven !`shave", misshapen, cloven.
8. The 3ld English refi# to the 9ast 9articile Ke, was reduced to y, in 1iddle English
!later on y, disaeared altogether leaving no traces of this refi#".
e.g. 3E es=on I 1i.E. yseon
P. The verbs shal and, to a certain e#tent, will were fre;uently used in 1iddle English to
denote a future action0 e.g. cof which - tolde yow and tellan shal.
=. The &ontinuous %sect aeared in 1iddle English but it was not often resorted to.
Synta:
,. The decay of inflectional endings had an e#tensive influence on synta#, in articular on
word order.
So long as inflections served to indicate the case of nouns !their function in the sentence",
word order was comaratively unimortant, but when, for e#amle, the $ominative and the
%ccusative came to be identical in form, a fi#ed word order was necessary as a means of
denoting syntactic relations.
The sub)ect generally receded the redicate e#cet when the sentence began with an
adverbial modifier, e.g. Wel coude he sittan on hors. !FBell could he sit on the horseA"
The ressure e#erted by the more and more rigid character of word order accounts for
certain changes connected with imersonal verbs0 the former indirect ob)ects receding them
became sub)ects0
3E /e wAs eiefan a b?c L (ate 1iE - was given a book
C. In 1iddle English it was still ossible to use several negative words in the same sentence0
e.g. Me neshulen habben no best bute cat one. !F@ou should have no animal but one
catA"
The negative words no, noht !FnoughtA" which were laced after the verb and emhasi<ed
the negative article ne, receding the verb, gradually became indeendent of the article and
ousted it comletely.

1&"&*& 6idd#e En#i!h ;oca.u#ary
The develoment of the vocabulary in 1iddle English is due to the inner resources of the
language, as well as to the borrowing of words from other languages.
1&"&*&1& The inner re!ource! o' the #anuae in 6idd#e En#i!h
They were reresented by a" %ffi#ation7 b" &omosition7 c" &hanges of meaning.
a= A''i:ation
3ld English had enlarged its vocabulary chiefly by a rich use of refi#es and suffi#es. In
the 1iddle English eriod there is a visible decline in the use of these old methods of word
formation. 1any of the 3ld English refi#es and suffi#es gradually lost their roductivity
!artly or comletely" because of the large influ# of 6rench words.
i& ,re'i:e!. 6or e#amle, the refi# for, !corresonding to the German ver,+ which was
used to intensify the meaning of a verb or to add the idea of something detrimental,
destructive became obsolete in 1iddle English. The only verbs in which for, occurs had their
origin in 3ld English0 forgive, forget, forsake, forswear, forbid, forgo.
The refi# to, !corresonding to the German 6er," has left no traces at all.
3ther refi#es have lost their roductivity0 be,, mis,, un2. Thus, the negative refi# un,,
found in words such as unable, unbold !timid", unfrend !hostile", unhonourable
!dishonourable", unmovable !immovable" Q began to share its roductive ower with refi#es
of 6rench or (atin origin such as dis,, in,, re,.
C?
ii& Su''i:e!& % similar decline is observable in the formative ower of certain suffi#es which
were widely used in 3ld English. The loss here is erhas less distinctly felt because some
imortant suffi#es remained in full force in 1iddle English, such as0
,er*e+D formed agent nouns from verbs or other nouns0 baker, fisher7 ,ness*e"0 formed nouns
from ad)ectives0 brihtnesse !brightness", frelnesse !frailty"7 ,ful0 was used to form ad)ectives
from nouns and verbs0 forgetful, rihtful !rightful, )ust".
But other suffi#es, e;ually imortant were lost !e.g. Qend which was used to form agent
nouns from verbs" or were diminished in roductivity0 ,dom, ,hood, ,ship.
.= Co%po!ition
$ot only affi#ation but also comosition lost some of its roductive ower in 1iddle
English. The ractice of combining native words into self2interreting comounds was not
abandoned in 1iddle English, but in many cases where a new word could have been easily
formed on the native model, a ready2made 6rench word was borrowed instead. 6or instance,
in 1iddle English comound nouns were of two tyes0
2 endocentric !one element of the comound determines another"0 rainbowe !rainbow",
aleh>s !alehouse", hangeman !hangman"7
2 e#ocentric !noneEneither of the elements determines another"0 pickepurse !ickocket",
redbrest !redbreast".
c= Chane! o' %eanin
%nother imortant means of enriching the vocabulary was &hange of meaning. The
meanings of words are not fi#ed, they are liable to change. There are several causes for
changes of meaning0 some social, some sychological, some urely linguistic. It has been
observed that, in their develoment of meaning words often ursue certain tendencies. The
chief trends of semantic change are0 e#tension of meaning, narrowing of meaning, elevation
of meaning, degradation of meaning.
i& E:ten!ion o' %eanin !or Genera#i@ation" refers to the henomenon when the meaning
is widened, generali<ed from one narrow field to a wider one0 e.g. husband originally meant
*master of a house+7 in 1iddle English it began to be used with the meaning of *a man to
whom a woman is married+.
The word holiday originally meant Fholy dayA, a day of religious significance. But in
1iddle English semantic change e#tended the meaning of holiday to what it is in 1odern
English0 Fany day on which we do not have to workA.
Nuarantine once had the restricted meaning of Fforty daysA isolationA.
ii& Narro(in o' %eanin !or Specia#i@ation" refers to the case when the word ac;uires a
more restricted, seciali<ed sense.
e.g. meat originally meant Fany kind of foodA. Thus, in the Bible, God says of the herbs
and trees, *to you they shall be for meat+ !Genesis ,0 C-, cited from 6romkin a :odman,
,--/0 P?8". To a seaker of 3ld English meat meant FfoodA while flesh meant FmeatA.
But in 1iddle English semantic change narrowed the meaning of meat to what it is in
1odern English0 it began to refer to one secial tye of food Fedible fleshA. The earlier
meaning still survives in the comound sweetmeat !a sweet or cake", also in the saying Fone
manAs meat is another manAs oison.
Wade in 3ld English meant Fto goA but in 1iddle English it began to be used with the
meaning of Fto walk through water, mudA
iii& E#e3ation o' %eanin imlies the rocess by which the new meaning of a word ac;uires
a higher status in comarison with the initial one.
e.g. knight !3E cniht" originally meant Fa boyA, Fa servantA7 in 1iddle English it began to
be used with the meaning of Fman raised to honourable military rankA.
C.
i3& 7eradation o' %eanin refers to the rocess when a neutral word becomes derecating
in meaning. Thus, cnafe !` G. :nabe" originally signified Fa boyA but in 1iddle English it
began to be used with the meaning of FknaveA.

1&"&*&"& /orro(in!
The greatest number of words borrowed in the 1iddle English eriod came from 6rench
and (atin.
The French in'#uence on the 3oca.u#ary
The end of the 1iddle English eriod witnessed an enormous influ# of thousands of 6rench
words. Since that time borrowing has won a favourite lace in English word2formation.
6rench influence did not begin immediately after the $orman &on;uest when there was a
well2marked searation between the two languages. This influence was strongest in the years
,C=> Q ,P>>, i.e. after the loss of $ormandy and the reestablishment of English.
6rench has enriched the English vocabulary by about ten thousand words, three ;uarters of
which are still in current use. Besides, the imortance of the 6rench influence is not to be
)udged only by the number of the words borrowed, but also by their freOuency of use and by
their degree of assimilation.
1any of the words borrowed from 6rench were connected with the develoment of
feudalism, and with the life, ideas, customs and tastes of the $orman nobility. The 6rench
loan words may be divided into the following grous according to the main sheres of activity
they belong to0
a" Bords reflecting feudal administration0 state !` dtat", mayor !` maire", realm, govern,
government, court, prince, noble, duke, sovereign, maEesty, reign, royal, revenue, etc.
b" Bords connected with law. %s 6rench was the language of the law courts for a very long
time, most legal terms are of 6rench origin0 Eustice, sentence, prison, defence, defendant,
crime, accuse, plea, to plead, Eudge, Eudgment.
c" Bords connected with army and military life. The imortant art layed by war in
feudalism, the control of the army and the navy by the 6rench2seaking aristocracy, the wars
waged with 6rance, all these factors contributed to the adotion of numerous 6rench military
terms, such as0 captain, lieutenant, spy, army, battle, siege, enemy, regiment, combat, etc.
d" :eligious, ecclesiastical terms. The fact that the ma)or art of the higher clergy were of
$orman origin accounts for a large number of 6rench words such as0 religion, sermon, saint,
miracle, clergy, friar, pray, baptism, hermit.
e" Terms connected with art, literature, science. The cultural and intellectual interests of the
ruling class are reflected in words ertaining to the arts, architecture, science, medicine, etc0
art, paint*ing+, prose, pain, poison, ointment, logic, grammar, etc.
f" Terms reflecting fashion, meals, social life0 dress, garment, robe, button, fashion, dinner,
appetite, taste2 beef, veal, mutton, pork, Eoy, pleasure, leisure, dance, music, ease, etc.
1any of the 6rench words that were borrowed had a meaning already e#ressed by an
English word. In such cases two linguistic henomena haened0 i. one of the two words
disaeared7 ii. where both survived, they were differentiated in meaning.
i. 3ne of the two words !6rench or English" disaeared0
2 Sometimes, after a time, it was the 6rench word that went out of use0
e.g. 3E amity was used for some time in 1iE alongside friendship but was finally relaced by
friendship2 amity is now used in very formal style.
3E moiety !`6. moitid" was finally relaced by half.
2 In a great many cases it was the 3ld English word that died out0
e.g. The 3.E. ACele was relaced in 1i.E. by the 6rench word noble, and ACeling
became nobleman.
C/
3E oldhord was relaced in 1i.E by the 6rench word tresorI treasure !1od.E".
%lthough the comound went out of use, the searate words have been retained0 gold, hoard
!*ile+".
3E erihte was relaced in 1iE by the 6rench word Eustice.
The 3.E. d?m was relaced in 1i..E. by the 6rench word Eudgment. But the 3.E.
word has survived in some secial senses0 Fthe day of doomA or FdoomsdayA !_ the day of
)udgment"7 Fto be doomed to oblivionA !_ to be condemned by fate toc", or Fto meet one0s
doom0.
The 3.E. d=man was relaced in 1i.E. by the 6rench word to Eudge. The 3.E. word
has survived in some secial senses0 Fto deem it right E roerA !_ to think E to hold an
oinion".
ii. Bhen both the English and the corresonding 6rench words survived, they were
maintained and they were generally differentiated in meaning. Thus, there aeared stylistic
differences )ustifying the retention of both words in the language. %s a rule, the native word 2
English 2 had a concrete character, it referred to everyday life and therefore it was referred in
informal style, having a more emotional sense7 the loan2word 2 6rench 2 had a more bookish,
more abstract character and it was referred in formal style.
There are numerous e#amles of two le#ical items, one Germanic and one :omance, for one
single concet in English0 hearty ' cordial, help ' aid, deep ' profound, begin ' commence, ask
' demand, hide ' conceal, wedding ' marriage, wish ' desire, freedom ' liberty, child ' infant,
work ' labour, life ' existence, etc.
:eferring to the air of words hearty and cordial, %. Baugh a Th. &able write0 PIn the
fifteenth century hearty and cordial came to be used for feelings which were suosed to
sring from the heart. Etymologically they are alike, coming resectively from the 3ld
English and the (atin words for FheartA. But we have ket them both in the language because
we use them with a slight difference in meaning, hearty imlying a certain hysical vigour, as
in a hearty dinner, cordial a more ;uiet or conventional manifestation, as in a cordial
reception. * !,-./0 ,/>" Because of the concrete value, the English word has a stronger
emotional colouring than the 6rench one. Thus, hearty welcome is warmer than cordial
welcome !3. Sesersen, ,-==0 ,>P+.
%lso, referring to the difference between help and aid, 3tto Sesersen writes0 *Help
e#resses greater deendence and deeer need than aid. In e#tremity we say FGod help meeA
rather than FGod aid meeA In time of danger we cry FhelpQ helpeA rather than FaidQ 8idA
4c5Help includes aid, but aid may fall short of the meaning of help.+ !,-==0 ,>8"
In the same way, the English have ket a number of words for smell. The common word in
3ld English was stench. During the 1iddle English eriod this was sulemented by the
word smell !of unknown origin" and the 6rench words aroma, odour, and scent. To these the
English have since added stink !from the verb" and perfume and fragrance, from 6rench. 1ost
of these have secial connotations and smell has become the general word. 4tench now always
means an unleasant smell !Baugh a &able, ,-./0 ,/>".
Oery often, the difference in origin has develoed into a difference in meaning. %n
interesting grou of words illustrating the rincile is ox, sheep, swine, and calf beside the
6rench e;uivalents beef, mutton, pork, and veal. The 6rench words rimarily denoted the
animal, as they still do, but in English they were used from the beginning to distinguish the
meat from the living beast.
%longside of 6rench words, many 6rench word2building elements entered the English
language0
9refi#es0 dis, ' des2 !disdain, destroy2 disown, dislike !with English roots"7 en, *enEoy,
encircle+.
C-
Suffi#es0 ,ence' ,ance *defence, obedience2 ignorance, arrogance+2 ,tion *corruption,
attraction+2,ment *treatment, government2 fulfilment !hybrid"7 ,ess !princess, goddess
!hybrid"7 2able' ,ible0 admirable, terrible, readable !hybrid".
It must not be thought that the e#tensive modification of the English language caused by
the $orman &on;uest had made of it something else than English. The language had
undergone much simlification of its inflections, but its grammar was still English. It had
absorbed several thousand 6rench words as a natural conse;uence of a situation in which
large numbers of eole were for a time bilingual and then gradually turned from the habitual
use of 6rench to the habitual use of English. It had lost a great many native words and
abandoned some of its most characteristic habits of word2formation. But great and basic
elements of the vocabulary were still English. %s %. Baugh and Th. &able rightly oint out,
*Bhile we are under the necessity of aying considerable attention to the large 6rench
element that the $orman &on;uest brought directly and indirectly into the language, we must
see it in roer ersective. The language which the $ormans and their successors finally
adoted was English, and while it was an English changed in many imortant articulars from
the language of Xing %lfred, its redominant features were those inherited from the Germanic
tribes that settled in England in the fifth century+ !,-./0 ,/=".
The Latin in'#uence on the 3oca.u#ary
% great number of words were borrowed from (atin in the ,P
th
and ,=
th
centuries. This is
;uite natural, for (atin was the language of theology and learning. Besides, the influence of
6rench words facilitated the adotion of (atin words. The new borrowings were learned
words and they enetrated into the language through literature, esecially through the
numerous translations from (atin made at that time. (atin borrowings in 1iddle English
belong to different sheres, mainly social life, law, medicine, science, religion E theology,
literature.
It is unnecessary to attemt a formal classification of these borrowings. Some idea of their
range and character may be gained from a selected but miscellaneous list of e#amles0
e.g. abEect, allegory, conspiracy, custody, homicide, immune, incredible, incumbent,
index, infancy, inferior, infinite, innate, intellect, legal, promote, prosecute, prosody, rational,
script, scripture, secular, solar, submit, summary, testify, testimony, tract, etc.
1any of these borrowings introduced into the language suffi#es and refi#es which
began to be used for forming derivatives !some of these affi#es reinforcing the corresonding
6rench ones"0
9refi#esD ab,, ad,, con,, dis,, im, ' in,, pro,, re,, sub,
Suffi#es0 ,able ' ,ible, ,ent, ,al, ,ous, ,ive.
Synony%! at three #e3e#!
The richness of the English language in synonyms is largely due to the mingling of
English !native", 6rench and (atin elements. This may be seen in the grous of synonyms
where a difference between collo;uial, literary and learned terms is ;uite aarent. The
English term is more collo;uial in style, the 6rench term is literary7 the (atin term is generally
more learned or bookish0
e.g. En#i!h French Latin
rise mount ascend
ask demand E ;uestion interrogate
fast firm secure
fire flame conflagration
holy sacred consecrated


8>

Chapter 4: 6O7ERN ENGLISH
This eriod falls into three stages0
,. Early 1odern English0 the ,?
th
and ,.
th
centuries
C. The ,/
th
century
8. (ate 1odern English0 the ,-
th
and C>
h
centuries
4&1& Ear#y 6odern En#i!h
The beginnings of the modern eriod are, at the same time, the beginnings of the
:enaissance in England0 the ,?
th
century was the eriod of magnificent flourishing of science,
art and literature.
In the ,?
th
century, the English language faced a number of roblems, the most imortant
of which was the struggle with %atin in science and literature, i.e. the struggle for recognition
in the fields where (atin had, for centuries, been sureme.
%lthough towards the end of the 1iddle English eriod the English language had attained
an established osition as the language of literature, there was still a strong tradition according
to which (atin was used in all fields of knowledge. This idea was strengthened by the revival
of Greek and (atin learning. %ccording to this tradition, it was considered that English was
not fit to e#ress serious thought and it was used only for light literature.
'ere are a few e#amles of writers or scientists who thought that their writings would last
only if they were written in (atin0 Th. 1ore wrote his ;topia in (atin in ,=,?, and the book
was translated into English only 8= years later, long after his death. 6r. Bacon ublished his
hilosohical work 1e 8ugmentis in (atin. This work was an e#anded version of <he
8dvancement of %earning.
'owever, as we aroach the end of the ,?
th
century we see that English had slowly
won recognition as a language of serious thought. % number of factors contributed to this
victory0
2 the rising bourgeoisie defended the national language7
2 the :eformationD contributed to the victory of English7
2 the struggle between English and (atin had a commercial asect, as well0 the market for
English books was much larger than the market for (atin books.
In the ,?
th
century there is a considerable body of literature defending the English
language against those who comared it unfavourably to (atin or other modern tongues,
atriotically recogni<ing its osition as the national seech, considering that it was fit for
literary use.
The roof that English was fit for literary use came from a large number of remarkable
literary works, written in the ,?
th
and ,.
th
centuries. The works written by B. Byatt, Surrey,
E. Senser, &h. 1arlowe, B. Sonson, B. Shakeseare Q in the ,?
th
century7 by S. 1ilton, S.
Dryden, B. &ongreve in the ,.
th
century show, indeed, that English has won recognition as a
language of serious thought.
4&1&1& Spe##in in Ear#y 6odern En#i!h
8,
In the ,?
th
century, selling was e#tremely comlicated. It was no longer honetic and it
was not yet fi#ed. In 1iddle English the $orman scribes had introduced a great deal of
confusion which was increased because certain sellings became conventional, while
ronunciation went on changing. In a number of cases the discreancy between sounds and
their grahic reresentation became even more striking when certain etymologists inserted
letters in words where they were not ronounced.
Thus, the 1i E dett, borrowed from 6. dette was reselt in E1E as debt, i.e. the consonant
b was introduced, so that the word could be traced back to (atin debitum.
The 1i E dout, borrowed from 6. doute*r+ was reselt in E1E as doubt, i.e. the consonant
b was introduced, so that the word could be traced back to (atin dubitare.
1any of the new sellings were wrong even from the etymological oint of view. Thus,
many words were reselt on account of analogy. The 1i E sent !derived from (. sentire or 6.
sentir" was reselt in E1E as scent, i.e. the consonant c was introduced on account of the
analogy with words that were ronounced in the same manner !e.g. science+. Therefore, the
introduction of the consonant c was not correct from the etymological oint of view.
In the first half of the ,?
th
century selling was so unstable that it varied from one writer
to another and, sometimes, one and the same writer selt certain words in several ways. Thus,
1atthew Green wrote0 felow, felowe, fellow, fellowe. !cited from Iarovici, ,-.80 ,=,"
Therefore, the imortant roblem in the ,?
th
century was to bring about greater agreement
in the writing of English0 numerous attemts were made to draw up rules and to simlify the
very comlicated selling. %s a result of these attemts0
2 certain unnecessary letters were eliminated, such as final e0 e.g. faerie Oueene *1od.E.
fairy Oueen+
2 or, it became the custom to use i initially and medially and y finally. That accounts for the
sellingsD beauty beautiful2 dry drier.
By ,?=> English selling, in its modern form, had been ractically established. But
ronunciation went on changing. The numerous and imortant honetic modifications that
occurred later are not reflected in selling !which had become fi#ed by that time".
Therefore, the main causes of the discreancy between sellings and ronunciation are0
a" the arbitrary modifications brought about by certain etymologists and scribes7 b" the fact
that selling had become fi#ed by ,?=> but ronunciation went on changing.
4&1&"& ,ronunciation in Ear#y 6odern En#i!h
The most striking changes undergone by the sounds of the English language were the
following0
a" The comlete alteration of most vowel sounds in stressed syllables. %ll long stressed
vowels came to be ronounced with a greater raising of the tongue and closing of the mouth,
e.g. e I i2 o I u7 those vowels in which the tongue could not be raised without becoming
consonantal, i.e. i, u Q became dihthongs0 i Y 4ai5, u Y 4au5. The ma)or change in the history
of English that resulted in new honemic reresentations of words and morhemes took lace
aro#imately between ,=>> and ,?>>. It is known as <he Great $owel 4hift. Thus, the five
long or tense vowels of 1iddle English underwent the following change0
Shift E#amle
6idd#e 6odern 6idd#e 6odern
En#i!h En#i!h En#i!h En#i!h
4i05 T 4ai5 4mi0s5 T 4mais5 mice
4u05 T 4au5 4mu0s5 T 4maus5 mouse
4e05 T 4i05 4ge0s5 T 4gi0s5 geese
4o05 T 4u05 4go0s5 T 4gu0s5 goose
405 T 4e05 4n0m5 T 4ne0m5 name
8C
These changes are among the most dramatic e#amles of regular sound shift. The
honemic reresentation of many thousands of words changed. Today, some reflection of this
vowel shift is seen in the alternating forms of the morhemes in English0 please pleasant,
serene serenity, sane sanity, crime criminal, sign signal, and so on. 3nce, the vowels
in each air were the same. Then the vowels in the second word of each air were shortened
by a rule called the Early /iddle English $owel 4hortening rule. %s a result The Great Oowel
Shift, which occurred later, affected only the first word in each air. The second word, with
its short vowel, was unaffected. This is why the vowels in the morhologically related words
are ronounced differently today, as shown in the table below !6romkin a :odman, ,--/0
P=?"0
E''ect o' the ;o(e# Shi't on 6odern En#i!h
1i. E. Shifted Short Bord with Bord with
Oowel Oowel &ounterart Shifted Oowel Short Oowel
f ai i divine divinity
g au u rofound rofundity
h i i serene serenity
j u o fool folly
k e Z sane sanity
The Great Oowel Shift is a rimary source of many of the selling inconsistencies of
English because the selling system still reflects the way words were ronounced before the
Great Oowel Shift took lace.
The vowels of unstressed syllables had a tendency to weaken and often to disaear in
ronunciation0
different 4ldifrnt5, medal 4lmedl5, etc.
b" %mong the changes that aeared in consonant sounds the most imortant are the artial
or total silencing of certain consonants0
i. the gradual silencing of 4r57 it had been rolled in 1iddle English !as it still is at resent in
Scotland"7 in E1E it ac;uired a dull sound at the beginning of words and in the middle of
words between two vowel sounds !e.g. rat, /ary"7 in the middle and at the end of words it has
been comletely silenced !e.g. arm, far".
ii. The weakening of consonant grous0
2 4w5 was silenced in the grou wr7 wrong, write, wring2
2 4h5 was silenced in the grou wh0 where, which, whip2
2 4k5 was silenced in the grou kn0 know, knife, knot2
2 4l5 was silenced in the grou lk, lm, lfD walk, calm, half.
2 Oery often when a word ended in a combination of two consonants *mb, mn+ the second one
was droed0 climb, comb, autumn, column2
2 Bhen a word contained a combination of three consonants the one in the middle was
sometimes droed0 bustle, castle, handsome, grandmother, handkerchief, etc.
Such honetic changes widened even further the discreancy between selling and
ronunciation.
4&1&*& Gra%%ar in Ear#y 6odern En#i!h
%fter the essential grammatical changes that had occurred in 1iddle English, the evolution
of 1odern English grammar seemed rather uneventful. Grammar underwent few changes in
Early 1odern English. % very imortant characteristic of Early 1odern English grammar was
lack of stability7 certain old forms survived while certain new ones came into use.
There were very few inflections left.
The Noun
The only inflections retained in the noun were those marking the category of number !the
lural" and case !the ossessive singular".
88
a= Nu%.er. The lural in s has become the only regular form. &ertain nouns, robably due
to their fre;uent use maintained their old lurals. Some in *e+n maintained their old weak
!neuter" lural, e.g. ox oxen, child Q children7 also, those based on internal vowel change,
e.g. foot feet, tooth teeth, man men, etc7 the invariable nouns !with unchanged lurals"
from the 3E neuter ones0 sheep, deer, swine.
$ouns which had been borrowed from other languages in 3ld English and 1iddle English
had generally taken the inflections characteristic of English words. But loan 2 words
belonging to the modern eriod often retain their original !foreign" lural0 axes, phenomena,
stimuli, etc. $evertheless, in contemorary English there is a tendency to regulari<e some
foreign lurals !e.g. symposia or symposiums" or to maintain the foreign lurals only as
scientific terms !e.g. formulas used in everyday language while formulae is restricted to
scientific usage".
.= Ca!e& The system of declension which had gradually narrowed to two case forms by the
,=
th
century !3b)ective and 9ossessive", maintained itself in Early 1odern English and it has
survived down to our days. $evertheless, an imortant change occurred little by little, namely
the narrowing of the shere of the inflected Genitive !in Qes" to nouns denoting living beings.
Towards the end of the ,.
th
century the Genitive singular ending in Qes began to be relaced
by Rs and about a century later, the aostrohe came to be used for the Genitive lural.
The Ad>ecti3e
By the end of the 1iddle English eriod, the ad)ective had already lost all its endings, so
that it no longer e#ressed distinctions of gender, number and case.
The chief interest of this art of seech in the modern eriod is in the forms of the
comarative and suerlative degrees. The two methods commonly used to form the
comarative and suerlative !the synthetic and analytical comarison", with the endings Qer
and est and with the adverbs more and most, had been customary since 3ld English times.
But there was much variation in their use0 in the si#teenth century these were not always
recisely those now in use. &omarisons found in ShakeseareAs works like certainer,
honester, famousest, honourablest, are now relaced by the analytical forms. 3n the other
hand, monosyllabic ad)ectives often formed their comarative and suerlative analytically,
e.g. -ngratitude more strong than traitor0s arms.
Double comaratives or double suerlatives were ;uite fre;uent in Early 1odern English.
e.g. -0m more better than 7rospero. !The Temest"
%et not my worser spirit tempt you again. !X. (ear"
cin the calmest and most stillest night. !'enry IO"
The chief develoment affecting the ad)ective in modern times has been the gradual
settling down of usage so that monosyllables take Qer and est while most ad)ectives of two
or more syllables take more and most.
The ,ronoun
The ronoun underwent certain rather imortant changes.
The per!ona# pronoun
The si#teenth century saw the establishment of the ersonal ronoun in the form which it has
had ever since.
In attaining this result three changes were involved0 a" the disuse of thou, thy, thee7 b" the
substitution of you for ye as a nominative case7 c" the introduction of its as the ossessive of
it.
a" The forms of the ersonal ronoun0 ye, you, your*s+ had begun to be used as a mark of
resect in addressing a suerior, maybe under the influence of 6rench usage in court circles.
The old forms thou, !$om.", thee !3b).", thy !oss. %d).", thine !9oss. 9ron." were used as
e#ressions of intimacy or for addressing social inferiors. (ittle by little, the forms ye, you,
your*s+ became the usual ronouns of direct address irresective of rank or intimacy. It was
8P
only in the ,?
/h
century that the forms thou !$om.", thee !3b).", thy !9oss. %d).", thine !9oss.
9ron." disaeared comletely, they fell into disuse, e#cet in certain dialects and in oetry.
b" %t first, there had e#isted a clear distinction between ye !used only as Sub)ect in the
sentence _ $ominative" and you !used as 3b)ect _ Dative or %ccusative". In the ,?
th
century
the two forms began to be used rather indiscriminately, until ye eventually disaeared and
you became generali<ed as the $ominative and %ccusative form. Thus, we find in the literary
works of the time e#amles of fluctuation between ye and you.
e.g. <herein, ye Gods, you make the weak most strong. !Shakeseare, S. &aesar"
4tand sirs, and throw us that you have about ye . !Shakeseare, <he <wo Gentlemen
of $erona"
c" %n interesting develoment in the ronoun at this time was the formation of a new
ossessive neuter, its. The ersonal ronouns of the third erson singular, he, she, it, had a
distinctive form for each gender in the nominative and ob)ective cases. % need seems to have
been felt for a distinctive form in the ossessive case as well0 his, her, its.
The ersonal ronoun they began to be used indefinitely !i.e. as the sub)ect of an indefinite
imersonal sentence" instead of the 3ld English and 1iddle English man, mon.
e.g. <hey say if ravens sit on hen0s eggs, the chickens will be black.
The re'#e:i3e pronoun
The refle#ive ronouns aeared in the ,?
th
century and they began to relace the ersonal
ronouns in those constructions in which the ronouns were co2referential. But in Early
1odern English the refle#ive ronouns were not consistently used7 therefore, we still find
ersonal ronouns in cases in which we would use refle#ive ronouns in &ontemorary
English0 e.g. How she opposes her against my will. !Shakeseare"
The re#ati3e pronoun
%nother imortant develoment was the use of who as a relative ronoun. :efinements in
the use of subordinate clauses are a mark of maturity in style. %s the loose association of
clauses !parataxis" gives way to more recise indications of logical relationshi and
subordination !hypotaxis", there is need for a greater variety of words effecting the union
!Baugh0 CPP". 3ld English had no relative ronoun roer. It made use of the definite article
s= !1", s=o !6", CAt !$", which, however it was felt in 3ld English times, strikes us as having
more demonstrative force than relative.
Early in the 1iddle English eriod CAt !that" became the almost universal relative
ronoun, used for all genders. In the fifteenth century which begins to alternate fairly
fre;uently with that. %t first it referred mostly to neuter antecedents, although occasionally it
was used for ersons, a use that survives in the (ordAs 9rayer &ur father, which art in heaven.
But the tendency to emloy that as a universal relative has never been lost in the language.
It was not until the si#teenth century that the ronoun who as a relative came into use. The
earlier use of who as an interrogative in indirect ;uestions aears to have been the imortant
source of the new construction0 the se;uence Whom do you wantm !direct ;uestion" , <hey
asked whom you wanted !indirect ;uestion", - know the man whom you wanted !relative" is
not a difficult one to assume. In any case, our resent2day widesread use of who as a relative
ronoun is rimarily a contribution of the si#teenth century to the language !Baugh0 CPP".
&mission of the relative pronounD In Early 1odern English the relative ronoun was
fre;uently omitted, even when it had the syntactic function of sub)ect.
e.g. - have a brother is condemned to die. !Shakeseare, 1easure for 1easure"
<here0s somebody wants to see you.
The inde'inite pronoun
There were some old forms of indefinite ronouns that were used in Early 1odern English.
8ught !something, anything", which survives today only in hrases such as Ffor aught I knowA,
was fre;uently used during the :enaissance0
8=
e.g. -f thou remember0st aught ere thou comest here. !The Temest"
"ought or "aught !nothing" was still in current use u to the middle of the ,.
th
century.
The comound indefinite ronouns somebody, anybody, nobody, something, anything,
nothing aeared in Early 1odern English.
The ;er.
Some imortant changes occurred in the con)ugation of the verb.
The inflection for the 8
rd
erson singular 9resent Indicative had been *e+th in the South
and South East of England all through the 1iddle English eriod. In the ,=
th
century, in the
$orth, forms ending in s had aeared from time to time and their number increased in the
,?
th
century, esecially in collo;uial use. During the first half of the ,.
th
century *e+th
continued to be used ;uite often in writing, but s became universal in the soken language.
6or a time, the two endings !in Qeth and s+ were indiscriminately used, sometimes in one and
the same te#t. It has been observed that in the rose arts of ShakeseareAs lays, 2s revails
and Qth generally seems to belong to solemn seeches rather than to everyday talk.
e.g. (ady 1acbeth0 He has almost supp0dD why have you left the chamberm
1acbeth0 Hath he asked for mem
(ady 1acbeth0 :now you not he hasS
Similar fluctuations can be seen in the form of the second erson singular, 9resent
Indicative ending in st !or art for be". Such forms normally occurred with the ronoun thouD
e.g. -f thou remember0st aught ere thou comest here. !Shakeseare Q The Temest"
The form in st was gradually relaced by the form of the second erson lural !without
any ending" used with the ronoun you. Instances of both forms are sometimes found in one
and the same te#t0
<hou art the truest friend in the worldTMou wrong her. !&ongreve"
Such fluctuations illustrate the gradual disaearance of the category of number in the
second erson of the verb in 1odern English.
In Early 1odern English the ten!e! of the verb were generally the same as they are today.
'owever, intransitive verbs of motion usually formed the 9resent 9erfect with the
au#iliary be instead of have0
<he deep of night is crept upon our talk. !Shakeseare 2 S. &aesar"
Whither are they vanishedm !Shakeseare Q 1acbeth"
The resent distinctions between the 7ast <ense and the 7resent 7erfect were not yet very
clear in Early 1odern English, as one can see in0
Mou spoke not with her since. !Shakeseare QXing (ear"
- have drunk poison while he utter0d it. !Shakeseare"
%s far as the Future was concerned, we notice that the weakened le#ical meaning of shall
and will was more obvious than it had been in 1iddle English.
e.g. He that Ouestioneth much, shall learn much. !6. Bacon"
The grammars written in the ,?
th
century do not mention any differences of use between
shall and will for e#ressing future time.
The Continuou! A!pect develoed very slowly in 1odern English. Its forms were more
fre;uent in ShakeseareAs works than they had been in &haucerAs but they were still very rare.
Thus, addressing 'amlet, 9olonius asks, FWhat do you read my lordmA !and not FWhat are you
readingmA". The e#tension of the rogressive forms to the assive !<he house is being built"
was an even later develoment. It is only since the ,-
th
century that the &ontinuous %sect has
come into wide use.
The use of do as a du%%y au:i#iary in Interrogative and $egative sentences.
Towards the close of the ,=
th
century the verb to do had begun to be used as a dummy
au#iliary in Interrogative and $egative sentences. This tendency grew stronger in the ,?
th
and
8?
,.
th
centuries. It was robably due to the fact that to do was to be found ;uite often in
affirmative sentences with an emhasi<ing function0
-f you do meet Horatio andTbid them make haste !Shakeseare Q 'amlet"
%lthough in Early 1odern English we still find constructions of Interrogative and
$egative sentences formed without the au#iliary do, from time to time we come across the
new forms with do.
e.g. Goes the king hence todaym !Shakeseare Q 1acbeth"
<hey perceive not how time moves. !Shakeseare 2 %s @ou (ike It"
What do you read my lordm m !Shakeseare Q 'amlet"
&h, my lord, dost thou lie so lowm !Shakeseare Q S. &aesar"
The number of 3er. $ ad3er.ia# partic#e combinations began to grow in Early 1odern
English. The few verb adverb combinations that had e#isted in 1iddle English had
e#ressed a concrete, satial meaning. In other words, they had reserved both the meaning
of the verb and that of the adverb. The meaning of the hrasal verb is the fairly literal sense of
the verb and the adverbial particle in combination, the article merely imlying a certain
intensification of the idea conveyed by the verb, e.g. to climb up, to fall down. But in Early
1odern English these combinations grew more and more numerous and their meaning
became less and less self2evident.
e.g. "or am - yet persuaded to put up in peace what already - have foolishly suffered.
!Shakeseare 2 3thello"
Thus the grou put up was assing from the notion of sace to the resent2day meaning of
FtolerateA. They suggest comarison with verbs having searable refi#es in German, and to a
smaller e#tent with English verbs like withstand, overcome. The latter were much more
common in 3ld English than they are today, their gradual disuse being one of the
conse;uences of the $orman &on;uest.
Synta:
In the shere of synta#, we find certain imortant changes, some of which are connected
with the evolution of the morhological structure of the language. Thus, the comlete
disaearance of agreement is due to the fact that the ad)ective has become an invariable art
of seech, as well as to the loss of nearly all the ersonal infle#ions of the verb.
In Early 1odern English we still find instances of two or even more than two negations in
one and the same sentence0
e.g. Met, Rt was not a crown neither . !Shakeseare Q S. &aesar"
In the ,?
th
century impersonal sentences were still fre;uent, but they began to be
suerseded by ersonal sentences. Thus, we find sentences such as F-t likes me wellA.
!Shakeseare Q The Tamingc", alongside of F- do not like this tune.A !Shakeseare Q The
Two Gentlemen of Oerona"
% henomenon which belongs both to morhology and synta#, as well as to le#icology,
and which became very fre;uent in Early 1odern English is con3er!ion or 'unctiona# !hi't.
&onversion !or <ero2morheme derivation" is the rocess whereby one word is created
from another without any change of form !Bolton, ,--80 C=.". &onversion became ;uite
fre;uent in Early 1odern English owing to the loss of most endings and inflections. Thus, the
3E verb andswarian and the 3E noun andswaru became in 1iE answeren !v." and answere
!n."7 In E1E they merged into one and the same form answer !verb and noun". %lso0
3E 1iE E1E
Oerb lufian loven love
$oun lufu love love
3n the analogy of such e#amles there aeared in Early 1odern English numerous
shifts from verb to noun and from noun to verb.
8.
The fact that the ad)ective had lost all its case, number and gender infle#ions accounts for its
being turned more and more often into a noun. This haened not only with words of 3ld
English origin, but also with those borrowed from other languages !esecially 6rench and
(atin", e.g. effective from 6rench7 abstract, from (atin.
Shakeseare resorted to conversion very fre;uently, for e#amle, he often turned nouns
into verbs0 cudgelling oneUs brains2 beggaring all description, etc.
The further loss of inflectional endings had as an imortant conse;uence a greater
deendence on fi#ed word order. The main sentence attern consists of Sub)ect Q Oerb Q
3b)ect. This has come to be regarded as the FnaturalA word order in declarative sentences.
Stuart :obertson rightly oints out that *through the function of inflection, the word was
generally autonomous in 3ld English, while in 1odern English grammatical autonomy has
shifted to the word2grou. Be are more deendent uon conte#t than Xing %lfred was7 for us
the order of words indicates more Q indeed, sometimes everything Q about their grammatical
function, whereas in 3ld English that was imlicit in the form of the word. Thus, as the
language has changed from inflectional or synthetic structure to analytic structure, individual
words have gained simlicity of form or fle#ibility of function7 but within the sentence they
have lost freedom of movement, and have become more deendent uon one another !,-=/0
,P="
4&1&1& The Enrich%ent o' the ;oca.u#ary in Ear#y 6odern En#i!h
The :enaissance was a eriod of increased activity in all fields. The flourishing of
classical studies, the e#tensive study of (atin and Greek authors, the amle use of (atin as the
international language of science, introduced into English a large number of (atin and Greek
borrowings.
The closer contact with Italian arts and literature, the connection with the $ew Borld Q all
these factors oened u new hori<ons, also bringing along large2scale borrowings from
Italian, Sanish, 9ortuguese.
1any of the new words were absolutely necessary, for the vernacular was not ade;uate to
meet the ever growing demand of the economic, olitical, scientific and cultural life of the
time. $ew words were articularly needed in various technical fields in which English was
oor. By far the greater art of the additions to the English vocabulary in the eriod of the
:enaissance was drawn from sources outside of English.
Latin and Gree) .orro(in!
It was articularly during the time of the :enaissance or the age of new learning that the
influence of (atin and Greek reached unrecedented heights. 1uch more than 6rench, (atin
left its imrint not only on the vocabulary, but also on English grammar. (atin synta# is
reflected in comle# structures !absolute constructions" with articiles, infinitives and
gerunds as comonents. &ertain writers of that time tried in an e#aggerated manner, to imitate
(atin atterns, e.g. Sydney in his 8rcadia0
#ut then, 1emagoras assuring himself, that now 7arthenia was her own, she would never
be his, and receiving as much by her own determinate answere, not more desiring his own
happiness, VTW the wicked 1emagoras desiring to speak with her, with unmerciful force,
rubbed all over her face a most horrible poisonD the effect whereof was such that never leper
looked more ugly than she didD which done, having his men and horses ready, departed away
in spite of her servants.
Sydney used as many as four articiial constructions in Qing before the main verb
!FrubbedA". The final art of the sentence begins with a (atini<ed assive absolute
construction !Fwhich doneA" with the ersonal ronoun FheA omitted before FdeartedA in the
truly (atin fashion. !D. Giering, ,-.-0 ,P".
The ma)or art of (atin and Greek terms were and have remained learned words, but
many of them are ;uite indisensable today. They have generally entered the language
8/
through the medium of writing. 'ere are some e#amles of (atin and Greek loan words !the
latter having come in through (atin"0 allusion, animal, apology, apparatus, appropriate,
atmosphere, autograph, axis, climax, conspicuous, crisis, drama, emphasis, exert, expensive,
genius, insane, Eunior, omen, parenthesis, pathetic, pauper, pneumonia, scheme, skeleton,
system, tactics, etc.
Bords like anonymous, catastrophe, polemic, tantali6e, thermometer, tonic, etc. were taken
straight from Greek.
3n enetrating into the English language some words maintained their original form, e.g.
climax, appendix, axis, delirium.
3ther words underwent changes0
a" Some words cut off their ending, e.g. to consult !` (. consultare+, to permit !`(.
permittere+, exotic !` (. exoticus+
b" a great number of words changed their endings0
2 the (atin ending Qus in ad)ectives became Qous0
conspicuus I conspicuous
2 the (atin ending Qtas in ad)ectives became Qty0
brevitas I brevity
Sometimes the same word was borrowed more than once in the course of time0
a" Some words had been borrowed in 3ld English and again later in Early 1odern English0
e.g. (atin discus aeared in 3E as disc I dish and was again borrowed later in E1E as
discus !in sorts Fdiscus throwingA and disc FrecordA".
b" % large number of (atin words enetrated into the English language in 1iddle English !in
a $orman 6rench form" and they were reintroduced in Early 1odern English !in a (atin form"
sometimes with a different meaning. Two or more words that have come from the same
source but that followed different routes of transmission are called doublets. 'ere are a few
e#amles of such doubletsD
Latin word
abbreviare
corpus
exemplum
factum
fragilem
historia
radius
pauperum
maEorem
securum
6idd#e En#i!h
!French form"
abridge
corps !grou"
sample
feat
frail
story
ray
poor
mayor
sure
Ear#y 6odern En#i!h
!Latin form"
abbreviate
corpse !dead body"
example
fact
fragile
history
radius
pauper
maEor
secure

%s may be seen from these e#amles, the difference in meaning is sometimes a rather slight,
insignificant one, the more recent borrowing merely having a more learned or more abstract
character, e.g. in airs like ray and radius, poor and pauper. But the difference in meaning is
;uite often a very imortant one, e.g. corps and corpse, mayor and maEor.
There were also cases of Greek doublets such as the following0
Gree) (ord
adamanta
phantasia
phantasma
paralysis
/orro(ed in
6idd#e En#i!h
diamond
fancy
phantom
palsy
/orro(ed in Ear#y
6odern En#i!h
adamant
fantasy
phantasm
paralysis
8-

The abundance of 6rench words borrowed during the 1iddle English eriod made the
adotion of (atin words in Early 1odern English easier and it is often very difficult to know
whether a word introduced during the :enaissance was borrowed straight from (atin or
through 6rench. Oerbs like consist or explore could have come either from the (atin
consistere and explorare or from the 6rench consister and explorer.
% certain number of (atin abbreviations enetrated into the English language0 a.m. !(. ante
meridiem _ Fbefore noonA"7 e.g. !(. exempli gratia _ Ffor e#amleA"7 i.e. !(. id est _ Fthat is to
sayA"7 p.m. !(. post meridiem _ Fafter noonA"7 vi6. !(. videlicet _ FnamelyA"7 etc. !(. et cetera _
Fand so onA".
(atin technical terms and hrases were also adoted, and some of them later assed into a
wider circulation. 3thers have remained art of the secial terminology of law, trade,
medicine, etc. 'ere are some such words and hrases0 ad hoc, alter ego, corpus delicti, in
memoriam, non compos mentis, per annum, per diem, sine die, sine Oua non, etc.
Other .orro(in!
During the :enaissance foreign borrowings were not limited to words taken from (atin and
Greek. The ma)or art of the loan 2 words adoted during the :enaissance were Q besides
(atin and Greek Q 6rench, Italian and Sanish.
In Early 1odern English many of the French words were borrowed after ,?>>, esecially
after the :estorationR. The :estoration brought back the feudal aristocratic culture alongside
a new wave of 6rench influence.
The 6rench borrowings belonging to the Early 1odern English eriod are different from
those adoted during the 1iddle English eriod.
a" 1ost of them are restricted to articular categories of words, i.e. they reflect the
reoccuations of the aristocracy and of the educated eole, or else they are technical terms.
b" Vnlike the 6rench words borrowed during the 1iddle English eriod which were
comletely assimilated, the new loans were not fully assimilated and are still felt as aliens0
2 They often have the stress on the last syllable, as in 6rench !whereas the older borrowings
had the stress on the first syllable"0 e.g. ambuscade 4Zmbslkeid5, bi6arre 4bil<05, genteel
4denlti0l5
2 They have fre;uently reserved the 6rench ronunciation of their vowels and consonants0
e.g. naXve 4n0li0v5, machine 4mli0n5, champagne 4Zmlein5, bourgeois 4lbuw05,
prestige 4reslti05 !ronunciation of the grous ch , ge"7 ballet !final t is not ronounced"
4lbZlei5, debris !final s is not ronounced" 4ldeibri05,
2They kee the diacritic marks, e.g. caf!, clich!, fianc!.
% number of Ita#ian words were adoted, mostly terms related to arts and literature0 canto,
cupola, fresco, sonnet, stan6a, violin, etc.
The total number of words added to the English language during the :enaissance amounts
to about ,>,>>>. 1any of them died out sooner or later, but about half of them became a
ermanent art of the English language. %lthough not all borrowings were absolutely
necessary, they have contributed to the wealth of synonyms that we find in English. This
wealth of synonyms enriches the language and hels writers to avoid reetition on the one
hand, and to emhasi<e certain ideas, on the other. Thus, in 5ichard --- Shakeseare seaks
of *blind forgetfulness and dark oblivion+.
In conclusion, the 3ld English element !the Germanic words" forms the foundation and
framework of the English language. The (atin and Greek element has imroved and enriched
the scientific terminology of the language, its ower of e#ressing abstract thoughts, as well
as its synonymy.
$3TES0
P>
D <he 5eformation was a religious movement for reform of the :oman &atholic &hurch,
resulting in the establishment of :eformed or 9rotestant &hurches !The movement was begun
by 1. (uther in Germany, S. &alvin in 6rance".
R The :estoration _ the eriod of the reestablishment of the monarchy in England after ,??>
when &harles II became king.
AUESTIONS FOR 7ISCUSSION:
,. 'ow do Early and 9resent2day English differ in the form and use of ronounsm
C. &ite a few ad)ectives that still fluctuate between inflectional and analytical comarison in
current English, as they did in Early 1odern English.
4&"& The 1B
th
century
6rom the linguistic oint of view, the ,/
th
century was characteri<ed by attemts made to
standardi<e, imrove !refine" and fi# the English language. Such intellectual tendencies are
seen ;uite clearly in the following directions.
a" The English made attemts to establish an English %cademy !to follow the e#amle of
the 6rench %cademy" in the effort to set u a standard of correctness.
b" English le#icograhy made a substantial contribution towards standardi<ing the language.
The earliest dictionaries were etymological dictionaries. It was Dr. Samuel SohnsonAs
1ictionary of the English %anguage !,.==" that was the landmark in the develoment of
English le#icograhy. In this dictionary, le#icograhical techni;ue aroaches contemorary
standards.
c" In the first treatises on English grammar the early grammarians had the following aims0
2 To stabili<e English by setting u certain rules which should govern the language. They did
not recogni<e the imortance of usage as the basis of correctness.
2 To oint out errors in order to correct and imrove the language.
2 They based their methods of aroach on reason, etymology and the e#amle of (atin.
The achievements of the ,/
th
century grammarians were enormous because they attemted
to give order to a body of linguistic material which had not been systemati<ed or arranged
until then. They settled a large number of disuted oints. 3n the other hand, their greatest
weakness, drawback was their failure to recogni<e the imortance of usage in language. In
other words, they did not reali<e that changes in language could not be checked by linguistic
decrees.
1any of the rules that are now acceted were first set down in the grammars of the
eighteenth century, e.g.0
2 The interdiction of the double negation. :obert (owthD stated the rule that we are now
bound by0 *Two negatives in English destroy one another, or are e;uivalent to an
affirmative.+
2The interdiction of the double comarative or the double suerlative
2 The use of the comarative rather than the suerlative where only two things are involved
!the larger, not the largest, of two"
2 $on2gradableR ad)ectives, such as perfect, round, chief, should not be comared !more
perfect, etc"
2 The differentiation of between and among, etc.
2 The roer case after than and as was a ;uestion that troubled the eighteenth century
grammarians greatly !He is taller than -, or me". But :obert (owth e#ressed the view that
has since been acceted, that the ronoun is determined by the construction to be sulied or
understood !He is older than she2 He likes you better than me".
P,
2 It was not until the second half of the eighteenth century that the rescritions governing
the use of shall and will were e#licitly defined0 simle futurity is e#ressed by shall in the
first erson, by will in the second and third.
In the ,/
th
century the stream of English may be said to have become fi#ed in its
ermanent course. Briters beginning with Defoe, Swift, Steele, %ddison, and 9oe, continued
by Sohnson, 6ielding, Sterne, Goldsmith and 'ume set down standards of clarity and ease of
comrehension still resected today.
$3TES0
D :obert (owth, 4hort -ntroduction to English Grammar !,.?C", ;uoted in %. Baugh0 . C./"
R Vngradable0 in grammar, the term is used to refer to various items which do not show the
ability to take comarison. See :. ^uirk0 C8P
4&*& Late 6odern En#i!h
The 12
th
century and a'ter <the 'ir!t ha#' o' the "?
th
century=
The events of the nineteenth century and twentieth centuries affecting the English2seaking
countries have been of great olitical and social imortance, but in their effect on the
language they have not been of a revolutionary character. The success of the British on the sea
in the course of the $aoleonic Bars, culminating in $elsonAs famous victory at Trafalgar in
,/>=, left England in a osition of undisuted naval suremacy and gave her control over
most of the worldAs commerce.
The great reform measures Q the reorgani<ation of arliament, the revision of the enal
code and the oor laws, the restrictions laced on child labour, and the other industrial
reforms Q were imortant factors in establishing English society on a more democratic basis.
The establishment of the first chea newsaer !,/,?" and the imroved means of travel
and communication brought about by the railway, the steamboat and the telegrah had the
effect of uniting more closely the different arts of England and of sreading the influence of
the !tandard !peech.
4&*&1& Spe##in
9resent2day selling is very comlicated. The causes of this situation may be summed u in
the following way, now that the stages of the develoment of the English language have been
studied in turn0
,. 9resent2day selling generally reresents the ronunciation of (ate 1iddle English7
therefore, it does not reflect the imortant sound changes that occurred in Early 1odern
English and even later.
C. Besides certain 3ld English selling conventions which have been reserved, others
have been adoted, esecially 6rench and to a certain e#tent, (atin and even Greek ones. That
is why there are different sellings for one and the same sound and, on the other hand, one
selling for different sounds.
4&*&"& Gra%%atica# tendencie!
The several factors already discussed as giving stability to English grammar Q the rinting
ress, oular education, imrovements in travel and communication, 2 have been articularly
effective in the century )ust assed.
Oery few changes in the grammatical forms are to be observed0
a" In collo;uial seech there is a certain tendency towards an even further #o!! o'
in'#ection!:
Q The use of who instead of whom in the function of 3b)ect in the interrogative0
e.g. Who do you want to seem !in collo;uial seech instead of0 Whom do you want to seeS
PC
2 This tendency is also seen in the fact that the Genitive !the %nalytical genitive, in
articular" is often relaced by the Imlicit Genitive !the meaning of the Genitive is e#ressed
)ust by word2order".
e.g. 3uts in Government expenditure2 <he ;nited
"ations &rgani6ation2 <he YZ
th
century
literature2 8 ten per cent wage increase, etc.
In informal collo;uial seech, the tendency to use me, him, her, us, them in emhatic
osition instead of -, he, she, we, they is even stronger than it was before. 3ne fre;uently
hears sentences like RWho0s thereS -t0s me. ' -t0s only us.00 <hat0s him all right.0 %ccording to
S. :obertson, the henomenon is due to the fact that *the sense of case has become so
weakened in 1odern English and the force of word order so dominant, that the latter
overrides the former. 4c5 The ob)ectives of the ersonal ronouns have been gaining at the
e#ense of the nominatives, which tend more and more to be used only when they are
immediately followed by a redicate.+ !,-.-0 C-="
b" %mong the ma)or changes in the grammar of English are those concerning the comarison
of ad)ectives. :eferring to these, &h. Barber writes *The tendency has been for more ' most to
encroach on Qer' ,est, and it is now normal to say -t0s more common than - thought, and He is
the most clever of the three. %mong the younger generation, it is even becoming normal to
use more' most with monosyllables, and you hear things like He was more rude than -
expected. The trend from Qer' ,est, to more' most is in line with the broad develoment of
English over the last thousand years0 it is a change from the synthetic to the analytic, from the
use of inflections to the use of grammatical words and word 2 order.+ !0 C/8 2 P"
c" %s far as the 3er. is concerned, the following tendencies can be mentioned0
i. The rocess of regulari<ing !tron 3er.!, which has been going on for centuries,
continues to relace FirregularA forms by more FregularA ones. The tendency of strong verbs to
develo weak forms is to be seen in such recent formations as thrived !instead of throve,
thriven"7 beseech has two forms in use now0 the irregular form besought and the regular one0
beseeched !1acmillan0 ,,?".
$ewly formed verbs !converted from nouns" have continued to )oin the weak con)ugation.
e.g. to welcomeD <hey welcomed us with open arms.
<he announcement will be widely welcomed.
The forms broadcast and broadcasted are to be found side by side in 1acmillan dictionary
!C>>C0 ,.>"7 also forecast and forecasted !op. cit.0 ==C"
ii. The Su.>uncti3e 6ood is not so e#tensively used as it was in 3ld English. The 9resent
Sub)unctive has been growing more and more obsolete, surviving only in oetry, high rose
and official documents0
-t was decided that the meeting be reconvened.
In many cases the 9resent Sub)unctive is relaced by the 9resent Indicative or by a
Sub)unctive e;uivalent !au#iliaries such as should, may, might, would".
-t was decided that the meeting should be reconvened.
There is an increasing tendency to relace the Sub)unctive form were by the form was in
the first and third erson singular, on the analogy of all other verbs in which The 9ast
Sub)unctive is homonymous with the 9ast Indicative0
e.g. -f - was not ill - should go to the concert. !instead of0 -f - were not illc"
- wish - was c!instead of - wish - were c"
Bhat was left of the Sub)unctive 1ood in occasional use has disaeared e#cet in
conditions contrary to fact0 -f - were youT
iii. There is a well2marked tendency to generali<e the use of will !in the 6uture Indicative"
and that of would !in the 9resent &onditional or 6uture in the 9ast" in the first erson singular
and lural, a tendency which is erhas artly due to %merican influence.
P8
e.g. - will ' shall stay.
-f - wanted your help - would ' should come to you at once.
iv. % wide e#tension of the use of prore!!i3e 'or%! is one of the most imortant
develoments of the English verb in the modern eriod. The chief factor in their growth is the
use of the Qing form as a noun governed by the reosition on, e.g. He burst out on laughing
2 This weakened to
He burst out a,laughing , and finally to He burst out laughing.
In the same way, He was on laughing became He was a,laughing and finally0 He was
laughing.
Today such forms are used in all tenses !is laughing, will be laughing+.
The e#tension of such forms to the assive *the house is being built+ was an even later
develoment. It belongs to the very end of the ,/
th
century. %t first, the hrase Fthe house is
being builtA for Fthe house is buildingA was condemned, being considered *an awkward
neologism+ !cf. %. Baugh a T. &able, ,-./0 C-8",
v. % very imortant tendency in (ate 1odern English is the e#tension of ;er. - ad3er.
co%.ination!&
%n imortant characteristic of the modern vocabulary is the large number of e#ressions
like set out, put off, bring in, made u of a common verb, often of one syllable combined with
an adverb.
Vnlike the 1iddle English Oerb 2 adverb combinations, whose meaning clearly reflected
both that of the verb and that of the adverb !e.g. climb up, fall down", many 1odern English
combinations have a meaning which cannot be derived from that of their comonent arts.
3ne of the most interesting features of such combinations in modern times is the large
number of figurative and idiomatic senses in which they have come to be used. 6or e#amle,
bring about !cause or accomlish", come round !recover normal state", catch on
!comrehend", give out !become e#hausted", keep on !continue", hold up !rob", lay off !cease
to emloy", turn over !surrender", si6e up !estimate", let up !cease", put up with !tolerate", etc.
It will be noticed that many Oerb 2 adverb combinations are substitutes for single verbs
such as comprehend, continue, surrender, etc., of more learned or formal character. They
often convey a shade of meaning that cannot be e#ressed in any other manner and they have
greatly increased the fle#ibility of the English language.
The interesting observation has been made that the vocabulary has thus been ursuing a
develoment similar to that which took lace in English grammar at an earlier eriod and
which changed the language from a synthetic to an analytic one !Baugh a &able, ,-./0 88/".
c" &ertain trends in the use of prepo!ition! have become aarent in the last century and a
half. The most imortant trend refers to the osition of the reosition in the sentence. In site
of the rotest of many ,-
th
century grammarians, reositions are more and more fre;uently
laced at the end of sentences in collo;uial seech in interrogative sentences and in attributive
clauses0
e.g. What are you speaking aboutS
<he man - spoke to ' about is a lawyer.
d" In the shere of !ynta: there are two imortant characteristics of (ate 1odern English0
i. % rather striking henomenon is the fact that, in the ress and, to a certain e#tent, in
collo;uial seech, the rules concerning the !e0uence o' ten!e! are not always observed.
There are certain situations in which, to the seakerAs mind, the main clause does not
e#ress the min idea, which Q in fact Q is to be found in the subordinate clause. Thus, in
He made it plain yesterday that he accepts the agreement.
what is essential is the accetance of the agreement, and not the fact that it was made lain.
%lso, in0
-t was not disclosed when the test will be conducted.
PP
the carrying out of the test is far more imortant than the disclosure of the time at which it
will take lace. Therefore, the seaker or the writer bears in mind, first and foremost, the main
idea, not the tense of the redicate in the main clause. Bhat is essential and significant is not
the fact of reorting somebodyAs words, but the contents of the latter !E. Iarovici, ,-.80 C==".
ii. %nother striking characteristic of the eriod we are dealing with is the growing
imortance of (ord order. It does away with the difficulties caused by the reduction of
infle#ions, by the raid develoment of conversion, and by the concentrated, often ellitical
way of e#ressing ideas both in everyday seech and in the ress !esecially in headlines".
In conclusion, resent2day grammatical trends seem to oint to certain new !ynthetic
features such as the fre;uent formation of comounds, but esecially to an accentuation of the
ana#ytica# character of the English language, and this tendency is e#ressed first of all by the
ever growing imortance of word order. There are certain factors which entitle us to seak
about the rogress achieved by the English language. This is reflected in the formation 2 by
internal means Q of many new words, including numerous general and abstract terms which
enable the seakers to e#ress even the most comle# ideas7 the strengthening of the
systematic character of the English language7 its tendency towards simlification and
economy of effort.
4&*&*& The enrich%ent o' the 3oca.u#ary
The events of the ,-
th
and C>
h
centuries !the two world wars, the growth in imortance
of some of EnglandAs larger colonies, their eventual indeendence, the raid develoment of
the Vnited States" have e#erted a certain influence uon the develoment of the English
language, esecially on its vocabulary. The vocabulary has been considerably enriched owing
to the modifications of the economic, social, olitical, cultural life. In the ast century and a
half, numberless new terms have aeared in every field of science and technology. 1ost of
the terms are known only to secialists, but a comaratively large number have assed into
general use and have gained a more general currency, like gene, oxygen, molecule,
metabolism, etc.
1ost of the new words coming into English since ,/>> have been derived from the same
sources or created by the same methods as those that have long been familiar. It should be
remembered that the rinciles are not new, that what has been going on in the last century
and a half could be aralleled from almost any eriod of the language.
Thus, the word stock has been e#anded by means of the inner resources of the language
and by means of .orro(in! from other the languages.
4&*&*&1& Inner re!ource! o' the #anuae
$ew words have been mainly formed by means of affi#ation, conversion, comosition
and changes of meaning !of e#isting words".
i& A''i:ation
Bord building by means of affi#ation !the making of words by the use of refi#es and
suffi#es" has been imortant throughout the history of English. It is still redominant in
coining new words in (ater 1odern English.
Some of the most active refi#es are anti,, de,, dis,, mis,, out,, over2 pre,, pro,, un,, :ecent
additions to the list include post,. super,, trans,. 6or e#amle, anti,hero, counter,attack,
decode, misprint, output, overact, preview, postgraduate, superstructure, transcontinental.
Some active suffi#es are0 2i6e, ,tion, ,er, ,eer, ,ee, ,ist, ,ism, 6or e#amle, industriali6e,
mechani6ation, cutter, profiteer, nominee, capitalism, etc.
ii& Con3er!ion
&onversion, the rocess of transferring a word from one grammatical category to
another, now seems to be the most fre;uently used method of forming new words. The most
fre;uent tyes of conversion are0
P=
2 6rom $oun to Oerb. ^uite a large number of nouns are converted into verbs0 to feature, to
audition, to park, to process, to service. (ittle by little, most arts of the body have come to
be used as verbs0 to head !a grou of eole, a list", to eye !a erson with dislike or
susicion", to elbow !oneAs way through a crowd", to finger !a knick2knack", to face !a
danger", etc.
2 6rom Oerb to $oun. % comaratively large number of verbs have been converted into
nouns. 9eole who are energetic and ac;uisitive are said to be Fon the goA and Fon the makeA.
Those who are well2informed are Fin the knowA. Oerbs of motion such as Eump, leap, run,
stroll, walk can be used as nouns. Some nouns converted from verbs have a rather collo;uial
colouring, e.g. catch, find, hit, kick, buy, must, etc. Thus, a bargain is a good buy2 articles of
food are eats2 technical skill is the know,how2 8 good dictionary is a must for a student.
There are more and more numerous the cases of conversion from verb U adverbial
article. These combinations are fre;uently used as nouns, esecially in collo;uial seech.
Thus, a lace of concealment is a hide,out2 an economic recession is a slow,down2 any
arrangement or establishment is a set,up2 a re2shuffle of staff is a shake,up2 a meeting of any
kind is a get,together2 a ;uick escae is a get,away.
Such cases of conversion are very numerous, robably because the nouns thus obtained are
concise and e#ressive.
iii& Co%po!ition
The ractice of making self2e#laining comounds is one of the oldest methods of word2
formation in the language. &omosition is, therefore, another widely used means of forming
new words in English, although the roortion of comounds to the mass of the vocabulary is
far smaller than it was in 3ld English.
$evertheless, there are certain tyes of comounds that are still very roductive0
The tye $oun U $ounD spaceman, season , ticket, identity , card, fingerprint, Eet lag,
life,style, fire,extinguisher, steam,roller, etc.
The tye of %d)ective formed of a $oun U %d)ective0 colour blind, snow white, pitch
black, life , long
The tye of %d)ective formed of a $oun E %d)ective U O2ing0 peace,loving, breath,taking,
skydiving, good2 looking, etc.
1any of these betray their newness by being written with a hyhen or as searate words.
They give unmistakable testimony to the fact that the ower to combine e#isting words into
new ones e#ressing a single concet, a ower that was so rominent a feature of 3ld
English, still remains in the language.
(ong, comound ad)ectives are e#tremely numerous now !&omosition U &onversion",
e.g. all,the,year,round programme, ban,the,bomb march.
i3& Chane! o' %eanin !see &hanges of 1eaning in 1iddle English"
%s a rule, the changes of meaning are due to the ever2growing need of denominations for
new ob)ects, henomena, abstract notions. Bhen words develo new meanings they
sometimes lose their old meaning. 6or instance, when the word wan came to mean FaleA it
did not retain its earlier meaning of FdarkA and the reason for this is obvious, since the co2
e#istence in one word of such contradictory meanings could lead to misunderstandings. In
other cases, however, the old meaning continues to co2e#ist with the new one and we get the
henomenon of multile meaning or olysemy.
It has been observed that in their sense develoment, words often ursue certain well2
marked tendencies. The chief trends of semantic change are e#tension of meaning, narrowing
of meaning, elevation E regeneration of meaning, degradation E degeneration of meaning.
a= E:ten!ion o' %eanin !or Genera#i@ation" refers to the henomenon when the meaning
is widened, generali<ed from some narrow field to a wider one0 e.g.
season first meant Fsowing timeA7 now it is used with the meaning of a eriod of the
P?
yearA.
Eourney0 The original meaning of )ourney was Fa dayAs walk or rideA, but now we can
seak without incongruity of Fa weekAs )ourneyA. It imlies a widening of the scoe of
reference.
.= Narro(in o' %eanin !or Specia#i@ation" refers to the case when the word ac;uires a
more restricted, seciali<ed sense. It imlies a narrowing of the scoe of reference. cf. meat in
1iddle English.
%lso0 to starve, like German sterben simly meant Fto dieA but in 1odern English
!E.1.E. Q ,?
th
century" it became seciali<ed in the sense of Fto die of hungerA. In 1odern
@orkshire dialect one can hear Fto starve of coldA.
5oom once meant FsaceA. This old meaning is reserved in hrases like0 to make room,
plenty of room, no room for, etc. Since the ,?
th
century this word has come to have the
modern narrow meaning Fsection of sace in a buildingA.
1eer used to mean Fanimal, wild beastA as its German cognate <ier still does. This
meaning is found in ShakeseareAs *mice and rats and such small deer+. (atin animal and
6rench beast have taken its lace as the general words and the meaning of deer has been
narrowed to denote a articular kind of animal Fwild ruminant of a articular !antlered"
secies F.
Similarly, the word hound used to be the general term for FdogA, like the German Hund.
Today hound means a secial kind of dog, one used for hunting.
1isease0 earlier FdiscomfortA, Fabsence of ease !dis2ease"A, later FmaladyA, Fmorbid hysical
conditionA.
owl, like German $ogel, denoted Fbird in generalA, as in biblical Ffowls of the airA. $ow
fowl normally means Fbarnyard fowlA.
Ghost0 earlier Fsoul, siritA, later Fsoul of a dead man as manifested to the livingA.
c= E#e3ation o' %eanin <a%e#ioration= imlies the rocess by which the new meaning of
a word ac;uires a higher status in comarison with the initial one. It imlies a raising of value
)udgements involved in the reference.
See knight in 1iddle English.
%lso0 minister once meant Fa servantA, Fan attendantA7 now it means Ferson at the head of a
deartment of StateA, Fgovernment officialA.
d= 7eradation o' %eanin <deeneration= refers to the rocess when a neutral word
becomes derecating, less favourable in meaning. It imlies a lowering of value )udgements
involved in the reference.
cf. knave !3E cnafe+ in 1iddle English.
3ther words which have undergone this tye of change0
$illain initially meant Fa farm labourerA7 later on it became a term of contemt in the
seech of the noblemen Fone who did not belong to the gentryA, and in later use Fa scoundrelA.
3hurl initially meant Fa easantA, Fa serfA7 today it means one who is rude in mannersA.
#oor !` G. #auer" originally meant Fa farmerA, and gradually came to mean Fan ill2
mannered, ill2 bred ersonA.
-mpertinent0 earlier Fnot ertinent, unrelatedA, later Fresumtuous, insolentA.
3rafty0 earlier Fskilful, cleverA, later Fcunning, wilyA.
4mirk0 earlier FsmileA, later FsimerA, Fsmile in a way that looks silly and is not sincereA.
"otoriousD earlier Fwidely knownA, later Fwidely and unfavourably knownA.
3& S#an
%ll the tyes of semantic change discussed in the receding aragrahs could be
illustrated from that art of the vocabulary which at any given time is considered slang.
Slang is an imortant source of the enrichment of the vocabulary. David &rystal defines
slang as follows0 *Informal, non2standard vocabulary, usually intelligible only to eole from
P.
a articular region or social grou7 also, the )argon of a secial grou, such as doctors,
cricketers, or sailors. Its chief function is to mark social identity Q to show that one belongs Q
but it may also be used )ust to be different, to make an effect, or to be informal. Such Fin2
grouA language is sub)ect to raid change.+ !,--P0 8==2?"
Bhile at an earlier eriod slang was very coarse and sometimes limited, being generally
confined to nicknames and to terms connected with stealing, the shere of the influence of
slang has been growing at an ever2increasing rate since the ,/
th
century.
$aturally, most slang words do not ass into the literary language. They are adoted by
the latter Q being taken over from collo;uial seech 2 only when they fill a real ga and when
they are more e#ressive than their synonym e#isting in it.
Thus, many slang words have lost their vulgar and disreutable character, gradually
becoming art of the literary language0 kid !child", fun !amusement", shabby
!much worn, oorly dressed", etc. %lso, words such as dwindle, freshman, glib and mob are
former slang words that in time overcame their FunsavouryA origin.
3n the other hand, some slang words seem to hang on and on in the language, never
changing their status from slang to FresectableA. Shakeseare used the e#ression beat it to
mean scram !or more olitely, FleaveA", and beat it would still be considered by most English
seakers to be a slang e#ression. Similarly, to use of the word pig for FolicemanA goes back
as far as the ,/
th
century !O. 6romkin, :. :odman, ,--/0 PC.".
There are two large grous of slangy words0
a" general slang, i.e. universally understood words and hrases, e.g. nuts !Fcra<yA, FinsaneA",
dough !FmoneyA", etc.
b" secial slang is reresented by0
2 words and hrases belonging to a certain rofessional vocabulary, e.g. the slang of sailors,
soldiers, students, etc.
2 words belonging to certain social grous, e.g. cockney !the seech characteristic of a native
of the East End of (ondon". :eferring to this tye of slang, Simeon 9otter oints out that *it is
sometimes confined to a articular geograhical community and thus ac;uires features which
are local and regional. That is why boundaries between slang and dialect are often uncertain
and vague. Slang and dialect meet and mingle in (ondon &ockney, that racy, sontaneous,
ictures;ue, witty, and friendly English soken not only by (ondoners Fborn within the sound
of Bow BellsA 4....5 but also by millions of (ondoners living within a forty2mile radius of Fthe
mother of citiesA. !,-->0 ,8P"+
Slang words are fre;uently based on metahor. Be shall illustrate the numerous
metahorical slang creations by means of several e#amles, most of them taken from S.
:obertson !,-=/0 C?,". Some of these e#amles belong to %merican slang which is even
more rolific than British slang.
6or the word head there are several slang creations0 block, upper storey, nut, as in0
-0ll knock your block off2 to be wrong in the upper storey !Fbe mentally disturbedA"7 to be
off one0s nut !Fbe insaneA"
6or money0 dough, bean*s", bread !old fashioned" e.g. not to have a bean !Fwithout any
moneyA".
6or nonsense0 bilge, tripe, stuff, bullshit !vulg.".
6or drunkD three sheets in the wind, stewed, tanked up, loaded !mainly %.E", pie,eyed,
tight, pickled.
Slang often consists of ascribing totally new meanings to old words. Grass and pot
widened their meaning to Fmari)uanaA7 pig is used as an insulting word for a Folice officerA.
3ther slang words 2 rap, cool, dig, stoned, bread, split Q have all e#tended their semantic
domain.
P/
Slang results from an instinctive desire for freshness and novelty of e#ression. <o
critici6e seems to the man in the street tame and colourless, if not stilted, so he substitutes to
bad,mouth. Since novelty is a ;uality which soon wears off, slang has to be constantly
renewed. $amoose, skedaddle, beat it, scram, bu66 off have all had their eriods of oularity
as e#ressions of roughly the same idea, usually in imerative form !6romkin a :odman,
,--/0 PC.".
1any slang words have been introduced by )ournalists, writers who want their style to be
interesting, racy, striking, vivid.
4&*&*&"& /orro(in!
Borrowing of words from other languages is still an imortant method of enriching the
vocabulary. %s is to be e#ected in the light of the English disosition to borrow words from
other languages in the ast, many of the new words have been taken over ready2made from
the eole from whom the idea or the thing designated has been obtained. Thus, a large
number of words have been borrowed without changing their sound and selling. There are
many loan words of 6rench, Italian, :ussian, German origin.
French has remained the most oular source for borrowings, esecially for words
connected with the following fields0 the arts !critiOue, connoisseur, montage", clothes and
fashion !rouge, blouse, chiffon, suede, haute couture", cooking !souffl!, consomm!, aperitif+,
social life !etiOuette, parvenu, elite", and more recently, motoring and aviation !garage,
hangar, chauffeur, fuselage".
6rom Ita#ian come words connected with the arts0 studio, replica, scenario, fiasco, etc.
Ru!!ian loan words are0 borsch, vodka, samovar, troika, steppe, tundra, sputnik,
intelligentsia, etc.
Ger%an has given the words rucksack, 6eppelin, 6ither, blit6, pret6el, etc.
In the resent2day technical and scientific language Latin and Gree) are the source of
numberless new coinages. %s Simeon 9otter rightly oints out, *The language of science and
technology is now being constantly e#tended and enriched by the creation of numerous
comounds and derivatives that soon become art of the so2called international scientific
vocabulary. 4c5 If you e#amine these words you will find that they are nearly all made u of
Greek and (atin comonents. 6ar from being dead or dying, the languages of Demosthenes
and &icero are thus romised immortality in this future world vocabulary of science.+ !0 ,.."
Thus, the loan words that English has borrowed from (atin can be conveniently divided
into four eriods0 ,. Bords borrowed during the :oman con;uest7 C. Bords borrowed during
the 3ld English eriod7 8. Bords borrowed in 1iddle English times7 P. Bords borrowed in
1odern English.
The cosmoolitan character of the English vocabulary, already ointed out, is thus being
maintained, and we shall see in the ne#t chater !&hater ?" that %merica has added many
other foreign words, articularly from Sanish and the languages of the %merican Indian.
In conclusion, the basic word2stock has remained Germanic, but the mass of the
vocabulary now contains only about 8= er cent Germanic elements, the :omance element
amounting to aro#imately == er cent and the rest of ,> er cent coming from various other
languages. 3f these, the 3ld English element is the most imortant !an Englishman can
e#ress most of what he wants to say by means of the 3ld English vocabulary". @et, the
vocabulary borrowed from the other languages has contributed to what might be termed
Fseciali<ationA, i.e. shades of meaning, synonymy, technical terms.
4&1& 7ia#ect!
4&1&1& Genera# characteri!tic!
%ll seakers of English can retty much understand each other7 yet no two seak e#actly
alike. Some differences are due to education, age, se#, ersonality and ersonal
idiosyncrasies. The uni;ue characteristics of the language of an individual seaker are
P-
referred to as the seakerAs idiolect. Beyond these individual differences, the language of one
grou of eole may show regular variations from that used by other grous of seakers of
that language. Bhen the language soken in different geograhical regions and social grous
shows systematic differences, the grous are said to seak different dialects of the same
language. The dialects of a single language may thus be defined as mutually intelligible forms
of a language that differ in systematic ways from each other !6romkin a :odman, ,--/0 P>>".
:egional dialects develo and are reinforced because languages change, and the changes
that occur in one grou or area may differ from those that occur in another.
4&1&"& En#i!h 7ia#ect!
In addition to the educated standard in each ma)or division of the English2seaking world
there are local forms of the language known as regional dialects.
In the newer countries where English has sread in modern times these are not so
numerous or so ronounced in their individuality as they are in the British Isles. The English
introduced into the colonies was a mi#ture of dialects in which the eculiarities of each were
fused in a common seech. E#cet erhas in the Vnited States, there has scarcely been time
for new regional differences to grow u, and although one region is sometimes searated from
another, the imrovements in transortation and communication have tended to kee down
differences which might otherwise have arisen.
But in Great Britain such differences are very great. They go back to the earliest eriod of
the language and reflect conditions which revailed at a time when travel was difficult and
communication was limited between districts.
There were four dialects in O#d En#i!h0 "orthumbrian, /ercian, :entish, West 4axon.
The same number of dialects was reserved in 6idd#e En#i!h0 "orthern !from the 3E
$orthumbrian dialect", East /idland, West /idland !both coming from the 3E 1ercian
dialect" and 4outhern !from the 3E Best Sa#on".
In the course of the 6odern En#i!h eriod local dialects have been gradually suerseded
by the literary language0 dialects are said to undergo raid changes under the ressure of
standard English taught at school and the seech habits cultivated by radio, television,
cinema. 'owever, dialects have not disaeared altogether and they still are a means of
communicating in the resective territories.
Dialect differences include honological or ronunciation differences !often called accents"
and vocabulary distinctions. The grammar differences between dialects are not as great as the
similarities that are shared, thus ermitting seakers of different dialects to communicate with
each other.
There are si# grous of dialects in 1odern English0 4cottish, "orthern, Western, 3entral,
Eastern and 4outhern. The 4cottish and the "orthern dialect corresond to the 1iddle English
$orthern dialects7 the Western, the 3entral and the Eastern dialects corresond to the 1iddle
English 1idland dialects7 the 4outhern dialect corresonds to the 1iddle English Southern
dialect.
Each grou has its eculiarities, mainly in the honetic and le#ical sheres.
A& The ,honetic characteri!tic! of English dialects0
i i. The Scottish dialect0
a" 1iddle English 4u05 has not been sub)ected to the Great Oowel Shift, i.e. it has remained
unchanged0 house 4hu0s5, now 4nu05.
b" (ong 405 develoed only before m and f !calm, half", but in all other cases 4Z5 is
ronounced0 chance, dance, glance.
c" The ostvocalic 4r5 is ronounced0 pour, sort, bird.
d" The guttural sirant 45 is reserved in the Scottish dialect0 sought, brought, loch.
ii. The Northern dialect0
=>
a" and b" The first two ronunciation characteristics of the Scottish dialect are also found in
the $orthern dialect
c" The consonant 4h5 is droed at the beginning of a word,
e. g. He helps her 4i lels r5
d" In $orthhumberland, (ancashire, @orkshire, short u has not become 45 but it has been
maintained in words such as cut, must, much.
iii. The Western, iv. 3entral, v. Eastern dialects
a" The consonant 4h5 is droed in initial osition
b" 1iddle English short a has not become 4Z5. Bords like hat, cat, hand are ronounced0
4ht5, 4kt5, 4hnd5.
c" Short u has not become 45 but it has been maintained in words such as cut, must, much.
!See d+ in the $orthern dialect"
vi. The Southern dialect0
The consonant 4h5 is droed in initial osition
/& The ;oca.u#ary o' En#i!h 7ia#ect!
The vocabulary of English dialects is e#tremely rich. The best roof of this is the fact that
Soseh BrightAs *English Dialects Dictionary+ !? volumes" contains ,>>,>>> entries. The
dialect vocabulary is remarkable for its conservatism0 many words that have become obsolete
in Standard English are still ket in dialects. ^uite a number of dialectal words and hrases
reflect the life and the activities of the resective laces0 thus, there are many names for
different kinds of animals, lants, clothing !spud, kilt, tartan, etc".
There is sometimes a difficulty in distinguishing dialectal words from collo;uial words.
Some dialectal words have become so familiar in collo;uial English that they are universally
acceted as recogni<ed words of standard collo;uial English. 6or e#amle, lass FgirlA or
Fbeloved girlA, lad Fa young manA, daft FsillyA, aye FyesA, nay FnoA, bonny FattractiveA, wee
Fvery smallA, bairn FchildA !dialectal words in the Scottish dialect".
Still, dialectal words have not lost their dialectal associations and are used in literary
English with the stylistic function of characteri<ation0 e.g. dialectal words are meant to
characteri<e a seaker as a erson of a certain locality, breeding, education.
Dialectal elements are to be found in certain well2known literary works. Thus, the
characteristics of the Scottish dialect are known to most eole through the novels written by
B. Scott and the oetry of :obert Burns.
The $orthern dialect is found in Emily BrontnAs Wuthering Heights !@orkshire" as well as
in Eli<abeth GaskellAs /ary #arton. The oet %lfred Tennyson wrote several oems in the
$orthern dialect, such as <he "orthern 3obbler.
Elements of the Southern dialect !that of Dorset" are to be found in the novels written by
Th. 'ardy. 3ne of the best known Southern dialects is &ockney, the regional dialect of
(ondon. G. B. ShawAs 7ygmalion renders some features of this dialect in oint of
ronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary.
4&1&*& 6u#ti#inua# /ritain $ +a#e!8 Scot#and and Ire#and
Britain !or The British Isles" is a multilingual society within which several indigenous
languages are in use today, and which, as we have seen have e#isted for many hundreds of
years. The living languages of The British Isles 2 Gaelic, Irish and Belsh 2 oerate as markers
of ethnic identity, surviving in the face of cometition from English. They are referred to as
Folder mother tonguesA because they re2date English. !$. Townson, ,--=0 =8"
In Ireland, the Iri!hQseaking communities are known as the Gaeltacht. The area
covered by the Gaeltacht is scattered over the Best coast of Ireland. (anguage comrehension
is more widesread because of school language rogrammes and the status of Irish as the first
official language of the country.
=,
Gae#ic is used to refer to the &eltic language soken in Scotland, more recisely in the
'ighlands and Bestern Isles !for instance, the Isle of 1an". 6igures show that Gaelic is
soken by only />,>>> out of a oulation of )ust over = million.
In Bales, figures are considerably higher0 in ,-/, there were still half a million seakers
of +e#!h8 reresenting almost C>W of the oulation. The highest concentration of
Belsh seakers is in the north of the country, although there are seakers of the language
sread throughout most of the regions. %fter having once declined, the seaking of Belsh is
now re2gaining ground !$. Townson, ,--=0 ==".

AUESTIONS FOR 7ISCUSSION:
,. 3ld English selling was a reasonably good reresentation of the sounds of the language
while 1odern English selling is notoriously bad in this resect. Bhat causes for the widened
ga between English sound and selling can you suggestm
C. Bhat is the basis for determining the FgenderA of a noun in 1odern English, and how
many genders are therem 'ow would you e#lain the gender relationshi between noun and
ronoun in these sentencesm
F<hat0s a lovely baby. What0s its namem
F4omebody telephoned you.0 RWhat did they wantmA
F- saw his new boat. 4he0s a beauty.A
8. Bhich of the rocesses of word making described in this chater seem to have been the
most roductive in Englishm
P. Bhat language has had an influence on the English vocabulary over the longest eriod
of timem Bhy has that language, more than any other, had such an influencem

Chapter 5: A6ERICAN ENGLISH

The English language was brought to %merica by masses of Englishmen !colonists from
England" who settled along the %tlantic coast in the ,.
th
century. Even earlier than that, the
%merican continent had begun to be invaded by Sanish, 9ortuguese, 6rench and other
immigrants, who were trying to escae from feudal e#loitation and religious ersecutions, as
well as by adventurers in search of riches !E. Iarovici, ,-.80 C.>"
The territory which now forms the V.S.%. witnessed three great eriods of immigration0
a" The first eriod began in ,?>. with the settlement of Samestown in Oirginia and ended in
,./. when the ,8 colonies ratified the 6ederal &onstitution after the war of Indeendence
!also known as the %merican :evolution". The ,8 colonies comrised four million English2
seaking eole, most of whom lived east of the %alachian 1ountains. During this eriod
-> er cent of the oulation came from Britain.
b" The second eriod, which closed with the &ivil Bar, in ,/?=, covered the e#ansion of
the ,8 colonies west of the %alachian 1ountains as far as the 9acific &oast. During this
eriod a great number of immigrants came from Ireland owing to the British oressive
olicy and to the otato famine of ,/P=. %bout the same number came from Germany, after
the Euroean :evolution of ,/P/ was crushed.
c" The third eriod, from the end of the &ivil Bar to the resent day, was marked
ethnograhically by the arrival of Scandinavians, Slavs, and Italians. They were soon
followed by immigrants from Eastern Euroe. %lso, &hinese and Saanese settled on the
9acific &oast, so that the cosmoolitan character of the Vnited States became more and more
accentuated. 6urther, $egroes from %frica have come to number over twelve million.
%t resent, the V.S.%. is a federal state consisting of => states.
=C
6rom the linguistic oint of view, the first eriod of immigration is the most imortant
because it brought to $orth %merica the language that is soken by the ma)ority of its
oulation. The colonists who came later from other countries were soon largely assimilated
and their language e#erted a rather unimortant influence.
In selling, in ronunciation, in vocabulary or le#is, and in the synta# of collo;uial seech,
divergences ersist between %merican English and British English, but they are unessential.
The 9reface to BebsterAs "ew World 1ictionary of the 8merican %anguage rightly oints out
that *cformal %merican English and formal British English, although they are searated by
8,>>> %tlantic miles vary far less than the local dialects of @orkshire+ !cited from Iarovici,
,-.80 C-?". The literary language of %merica, indeed, is not very different from that of
England.
&ertain divergences remain only in selling, ronunciation, vocabulary, and in the synta#
of the lower levels of seech.
5&1& Spe##in
%merican selling often differs in small ways from that customary in EnglandD.
a" The selling or has been introduced for the British our !without u" at the end of 6rench
and (atin words, e.g. honor, labor, color, favor, humor, odor, etc.
b" The selling er stands for the British re, e.g. center, theater, fiber, caliber, etc.
c" The selling se stands for the British ce, e.g. offense, defense, pretense, etc.
d" Simle l, is used instead of double ,ll, before Qing, ,ed or before ad)ectival suffi#es, e.g.
traveling, traveled, Eewelry, woolen, marvelous, etc.
e" 3ther %merican simlifications of sellings are ax !for British axe", plow !lough", tire
!tyre", story !storey", program !rogramme", catalog !catalogue", etc.
5&"& ,ronunciation
6rom the time when the early colonists came, divergence in ronunciation !distinguishing it
from the language of British English" began gradually to develo.
The ronunciation of %merican English as comared with that of British English is
somewhat old2fashioned. It has ;ualities that were characteristic of English seech in the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
The ronunciation of %merican English differs from that of British English in oint of
intonation and rhythm.
The main characteristics of %merican intonation are the following0
a" Both sentence stress and word stress is weaker, less forceful in %merican than in British
English and intonation is more level. &onse;uently, %merican seech is more monotonous,
but at the same time it is generally more distinct in its division of syllables. Vnstressed
syllables are ronounced with more measured detachment and therefore with greater clarity.
b" %mericans seak more slowly than Englishmen and with less variety of tone. *The
Southern drawl+ lengthens all stressed syllables, often turning vowels into dihthongs. 3n
account of this rolongation of the stressed vowels, final consonant grous are weakened
losing the last consonant.
c" %nother characteristic is the *nasal twang+ which is to be heard esecially in the 1iddle
Best.
d" %s far as word stress is concerned, the tendency to stress the first syllable is more marked
in %merican English than in British English0 address, research, locate, dictate, resource,
corollary, romance.
%mong the more outstanding features of %merican ronunciation a few may be noted.
a" 4Z5 in words such as fast, path, dance, grass, can0t, half corresonds in British English to
the broad 405 which develoed in the second half of the ,/
th
century and even later. It
therefore reresents the reservation of an older feature of the language.
b" In %merican English a sort of 45 is to be heard in words like hot, not, crop, frog.
=8
c" 4r5, which has disaeared in the :eceived 9ronunciation R of Britain e#cet before
vowels, is sounded in all ositions in the greatest art of the Vnited States, e.g. car 4k0r5,
farm, door, lord.
d" In %merican English l is always velar. In British English it is clear before a vowel and
velar before a consonant, e.g. large, help.
e" %nother secifically %merican develoment is the fre;uent change of t to a kind of d,
sometimes called Fthe voiced tC& It is generally to be heard between two vowels, e.g. better,
butter, water.
f" There are a few words with different ronunciation in %merican English0 !n+either
4!n"i0\r5, ate 4eit5, clerk 4kl0rk5, tomato 4tlmeitou5, schedule 4lsked)u0l5, laboratory
4llZbrto0ri5, etc.
5&*& ;oca.u#ary
The most numerous and striking differences belong to vocabulary. %s the English language
was sreading to %merica, it was but natural that local eculiarities should arise. %s soon as
the settlers landed in %merica, they found ob)ects, such as lants and animals which were
new to them. Even the landscae was different from the English countryside. The land was
inhabited by eole who soke a strange language and who lived by customs different from
anything the English had ever seen. $ames had to be rovided for all these asects of their
new life.
A%ericani!%!, i.e. words characteristic of the VS% can be divided into the following
categories0
5&*&1& +ord! .a!ed on chaned %eanin! !as comared to those of the resective
words in British English". Vnder new natural, economic and olitical conditions, it was rather
difficult for settlers to rovide names for the numerous formerly unknown ob)ects they came
across, so they used old words in order to name the new concets. That is why changes of
vocabulary occurred in their language from the very beginning0
a" The word corn was transferred to an entirely new cereal0 in British English it means cros
such as FwheatA and FbarleyA. In %merican English it means Fmai<eA.
b" 3lerk in British English is an official but in %merican English it has a wider meaning, that
of a sho 2 assistant !e#tension of meaning".
c" 5ock in British English means a large mass of stone. In %merican English it means Fa
small iece of stoneA, e.g. 7rotesters threw rocks at the police.
d" <o figure in %merican English means not only Fto calculateA, Fto comuteA, but also Fto
thinkA, Fto considerA, e.g. - figured you0d be late !_ I thought".
5&*&"& +ord! .orro(ed 'ro% the Indian! or 'ro% other !ett#er!
%nother means of naming the unknown ob)ects such as lants, animals, natural henomena
found in %merica, was to borrow their names from the Indians or, sometimes, from other
settlers.
&ontact with the Indian! brought into English a number of words having articular
reference to the Indian way of life. Thus, they borrowed wigwam !_ a hut of the %merican
Indians"7 sOuaw !Indian woman, wife", canoe, toboggan, moccasin, tomahawk, hominy
!ground mai<e reared as food by boiling with water, corresonding to the :omanian
FmomoligoA", to scalp, etc.
6rom the Indians the %merican settlers also borrowed names for certain animals such as0
moose, raccoon !a flesh2eating animal with a bushyQringed tail", skunk !a black and white
stried animal, which rotects itself with a foul2smelling srayp !fig. Fa desicable ersonA"7
opossum !a nocturnal marsuial animal that lives in trees and that carries its young in a
ouch"7, chipmunk, etc.
=P
&ertain Indian words and hrases were translated into English0 big chief, pale face !white
erson", pipe of peace !to smoke the ie of eace", to bury the hatchet !to settle a
disagreement, to become reconciled", medicine man.
6rom the very beginning of English coloni<ation in %merica, the settlers borrowed words
not only from the Indians, but also from colonists of various nationalities.
The English took a large number of words from the French colonists. Thus, they borrowed
the words bureau, prairie !an e#tension area of grassland", depot !railway station", cache !a
lace where things are hidden", crevasse !a dee crack slit or ga in the ice or a mountain",
levee !a wall of soil built along the side of a river", bayou qmarshy offshoot of river", etc.
% number of words were taken from the 7utch settlers0 boss, dope, cookie, coleslaw
!cabbage salad", Mankee !a native or inhabitant of the Vnited States", to snoop.
% large number of Spani!h words have been adoted esecially since the ,-
th
century0
canyon !valley with high stee cliffs on either side and through which a river usually runs"7
patio !inner courtyard"7 ranch !a very big farm"7 fiesta !a festival, celebration", adobe !unburnt
sun2dried brick", mustang !wild horse", etc.
% small number of words were taken from the Ger%an immigrants0 pret6el, noodle,
hamburger !mincedEground meat that is fried or grilled"7 frankfurter !kind of sausage",
sauerkraut !cabbage fermented in brine", delicatessen, etc.
%lso, the word dumb in the sense of FstuidA seems to come both from the German dumm
and the Dutch dom. The %merican use of fresh in the sense of FimudentA is robably to be
accounted for by the German frech FcheekyA. The well2known %mericanisms loafer !tram"
and bum !loiterer, loafer" seem to be of German origin.
5&*&*& Archaic 'eature! in A%erican En#i!h
%nother ;uality often attributed to %merican English is archaism, the reservation of old
features of the language which have gone out of use in the standard seech of England.
%n imortant number of %mericanisms are in fact words which have either become
obsolete in England Q e#cet in certain dialects Q or have lost in England a meaning which is
maintained in the Vnited States. 6rom the oint of view of British English, these
%mericanisms are therefore archaisms and rovincialisms.
Thus, what is called now <he Government in Britain, was known there as <he
8dministration, down to the middle of the ,-
th
century. The term 8dministration has been
reserved in %merica.
#aggage in the sense of FluggageA occurred in Britain in the ,.
th
and ,/
th
centuries. It is
still in current use in the Vnited States, whereas in Britain it refers only to ortable army
e;uiment, or to someoneAs emotional roblems.
The verb to guess in the meaning of Fto suoseA, Fto thinkA occurred in Britain in the ,P
th
and ,=
th
centuries. G. &haucer, describing the young s;uire writes *&f twenty years of age he
was, - gesse+. This sense is e#tremely fre;uent in the Vnited States0 e.g. I guess youAre right.
_ I suose youAre right.
<o Ouit is rarely used in England now. In the Vnited States it is in everyday use, in the
meaning of Fto give uA, Fto leaveA, Fto stoA0 to Ouit a Eob2 Nuit making that noisee
4ick underwent a change of sense in Britain !it is restricted to nausea" that was not carried
over to %merica. Shakeseare uses it in the modern %merican sense in his lay Henry $0 e.g.
He is very sick and would to bed+. !The British use ill"
The ictures;ue old word fall has been ket in %merica as the natural word for the season
FautumnA !used in England".
The fact that numerous %mericanisms are actually words which in Britain have become
archaisms in the meantime or are )ust rovincialisms has resulted in the assertion that
%merican English is more conservative than British English.
==
Indeed, %merican English has reserved certain older features of the language which have
disaeared from Standard English in England. But it has also introduced a large number of
innovations e;ually imortant, which we shall discuss in the following section.
5&*&1& +ord! 'or%ed in A%erica are another category of %mericanisms.
Besides resorting to borrowing from other languages and changing the meaning of e#isting
words, the settlers introduced a large number of innovations, resorting to co%po!ition8
a''i:ation or con3er!ion&
a= Co%po!ition
The first settlers often made u descritive comounds for naming the unknown lants,
animals and natural henomena they came across in their new homeland.
E.g. blue,grass !grass with bluish2green stems"
back,country !district not yet oulated"
(ittle by little, comosition was also resorted to for naming less concrete, abstract notions,
;ualities, etc. 1any of the later comounds are based on metaphor0
1isk , Eockey !an emloyee of a broadcasting station who conducts a rogramme of
recorded music"7 hard , boiled !_ callous, tough, shrewd0 a hard,boiled detective"7 drive in ,
movie !a cinema where you can see a film without getting out of your car"7 sky,scraper !a
very tall building"7 hot,dog !hot sausage in a long bread roll"7 horse,sense !common sense".
Bhereas early %merica comounds were often self2e#lanatory, recent ones are fre;uently
rather ellitical. Thus, soap opera is a television or radio series about the imaginary lives of a
grou of eole.
3ther terse metahors are0 wire pulling, to have an ax to grind, to be on the fence. The
%mericans early manifested the gift, which they continue to show, of the imaginative, slightly
humorous hrase0 to bark up the wrong tree, to face the music, fly off the handle, go the whole
hog, paint the town red, and many more.
.= A''i:ation has not been ;uite as roductive as comosition in %merican English.
9refi#es have been resorted to far less often than suffi#es, with a few e#cetions, such as0
anti,, de,, re,, semi,, up20 anti,federalist, to debunk, to revamp !to arrange things, to
imrove", semi,centennial, to update.
%s far as suffi#es are concerned, the most fre;uent are
,i6e, ,ate, ,ify, ,acy, ee, ,ery, ,teriaD to computeri6e, candidacy, trainee, cafeteria, etc.
c= Con3er!ion is another means of forming new words. It is very fre;uent in British English
too, but in England conversion is not carried to such e#tremes as in %merican English.
Bhile comosition and affi#ation have given %merican English numberless nouns,
conversion has rovided %merican English mostly with verbs derived from nouns. 9ractically
seaking any noun may be converted into a verb0 e.g. to boom !to increase in trade"7 to
contact, to style, to engineer !to act as an engineer, to arrange something skilfully, such as to
engineer a plot".
Even comounds have often been converted into verbs0
e.g. to weekend, to lobby,display !to influence members for or against a measure".
&:r !also selled okay" is the most grammatically versatile of words, able to serve as an
ad)ective, a noun or inter)ection0 e.g. %unch was &:. !ad)ective"7 - need your &: on this.
!noun"7 We seemed to manage okay !adverb"7 His doctor wouldn0t &: the trip !verb"7 &:, -0ll
help you. !inter)ection".
,hra!eo#oica# unit!: % large number of hraseological units or idioms have been coined
in the Vnited States. Some of them are bold, racy, vivid, full of imagination and 2 often 2 of
humour !E. Iarovici, ,-.80 C->". 6or e#amle, to look like a million dollars, to lose one0s
shirt !to lose oneAs temer7 to lose a lot of money that you have invested"7 canned music
!gramohone record", he0s so dumb you can sell him the #rooklin #ridge !heAs a erfect fool"
=?
There are a number of variations between the everyday vocabulary of Britain and that of
%merican English. This is due to certain differences between the economic, social, olitical,
cultural conditions in the Vnited States and those e#isting in Britain, as well as to certain
%merican linguistic eculiarities !such as the reservation of words now obsolete in Britain,
the ac;uiring of new meanings".
The main terms that differ are0
a" In the shere of home2life: apartment !flat", elevator !lift", first floor !ground2floor",
package !arcel", faucet !ta", waste2basket !wasteaer basket"
b" In the shere of food!stuffs"0 candy !sweets", broil !to grill or barbecue food", molasses
!treacle", rare !underdone meat", can !tin", pitcher !)ug"
c" In the shere of clothing0 pants !trousers", tuxedo !dinner )acket", vest !undershirt,
waistcoat", suspenders !braces", sneakers !trainers", derby hat !bowler hat"
d" In the shere of travelling0 baggage !luggage", railroad !railway", truck !lorry",
automobile !motor car", freight train !goods train", vacationer !holiday maker", baby carriage
!ram", gasoline !etrol", hood !of a car" !bonnet", muffler !on a car" !silencer"
e" In the shere of education0 faculty !staff", recess !break", grade !form, class", grade
school !rimary school"
f" In the shere of business, trades and occuations0 raise !in pay, salary" !rise", bill
!banknote", billfold !wallet", druggist !chemist", silent partner !sleeing artner"
g" 3ther variations0 fall !autumn", sidewalk !avement", vacation !holiday", movie !film",
mail !ost", mailbox !letterbo#, ostbo#", subway !underground"
The difference between British and %merican vocabulary today is lessened by the fact that
many %merican words have made their way into English use, and their number aears to be
increasing rather than diminishing.
5&1& Gra%%ar
%s far as grammar is concerned, the differences between %merican English and British
English are neither very imortant, nor very numerous.
Oery often a British form, which fell into disuse long ago or may still be heard in a dialect
or in substandard seech, is fully acceted as best %merican usage.
6or e#amle, the verb FhelA occurs without FtoA in informal British English and in a
number of dialects, whereas in %merican it is erfect literary standard. &omare the
use of the Short In'initi3e instead of the (ong Infinitive after the verb help0
<his syrup will help cure your cold. !%merican"
<his syrup will help to cure your cold. !British"
The Short Infinitive !the Infinitive without FtoA" is also common %merican usage in
sentences such as0
%ook at him run2 %isten to him talk.
where British English will more usually have Qing forms or other constructions0
%ook at him running2 %ook how he runs.
The inde'inite artic#e recedes half before hour, minute, do6en0
e.g. -0ll expect you back in a half hour. *B. Saroyan"
8 half do6en policemen emerged out of the darkness. !S. Thurber"
,ronoun! with indefinite reference0 %mericans use the imersonal ronoun one, and then
continue with he and his, as in -f one loses his temper, he should apologi6e, &ne should
always look after his money where the English would relace his and he by one0s and one. -f
one loses his temper, one should apologi6e. &ne should always look after one0s money.
In %merican English the ,a!t Si%p#e is often referred to the 9resent 9erfect in British
English with the adverbs Eust, yet, already0
e.g. %ucy Eust called. 1id your friends arrive yetS
1id you already finish those lettersS
=.
In %merican English the Synthetic Su.>uncti3e has been reserved to a greater e#tent than
in British English. %merican sources abound in Sub)unctive forms deending uon a main
clause e#ressing will, wish, suggestion, or order. e.g. -0m only demanding that you do your
duty. <he /inister insisted that he leave the country immediately.
In British English the forms would be Fcthat you should doA or Fcthat he should leave the
countryA.
The au#iliaries will and would are generali<ed, being also used in the first erson !singular
and lural"0
e.g. - will be back later.
Sometimes the ,a!t ,articip#e of a verb is maintained in a form that is obsolete in
England, e.g. gotten, proven.
e.g. When she had gotten safely into the street, she could scarcely restrain her tears.
!Th. Dreiser"
The following verbs0 burn, dream, lean, learn, smell, spell, spill, and spoil are all regular in
%merican English. In British English, they can be regular, but irregular ast tenses and
articiles with t are more common !burnt, dreamt, leant, learnt, smelt, spelt, spilt, spoilt+
%nother area of contrast is the use or non2use of the reosition FtoA before the indirect
ob)ect !The :etained Indirect 3b)ect" in assive sentences. The assive without to is standard
in %merican English0 8 letter was sent him *in British English0 8 letter was sent to him+.
The or, to construction, i.e. the Infinitival construction after nouns, ad)ectives, and verbs
which can be followed by the reosition for is used in a larger number of conte#ts in
%merican English than in British English. In addition to such constructions which occur both
in British and %merican English !4he waited for him to leave2 -t0s bad for her to smoke+, the
or, to construction is e#tended in %merican English to verbs and ad)ectives that do not
normally take for0
-0d like for you to go.
We0d be proud for you to be our guest.
% characteristic of %merican English is reresented by the fre;uency of Fly,less ad3er.!A.
That is to say, ad)ectives are often used as adverbs in collo;uial %merican English0
e.g. -f you can0t sleep any this pill will help you some. !_ somewhat, to some e#tent"
-t0s real good. !_ really"7 1rive slow.
-t sure will help.
,repo!ition! are not always used in the same way as in Britain.
2 The reosition on is droed before the names of days of the week.
e.g. 4ee you *on+ 4unday.
4undays we go into the country.
2 In British English fromTto are used to identify a eriod by its beginning and end0 from
9une to 1ecember7 In %merican English fromTthrough are used to make clear that the whole
eriod includes the second eriod named. Thus, from 9une through 1ecember means Fu to
and including DecemberA.
2 8bout and around in informal British English often have the vague meaning of Fin the
area ofA or Fin various ositions inA0 <here aren0t many shops about ' around here.
In %merican English about is rarer and more formal in this sense than around.
3ther reositions which differ in %merican English are0
-t0s ten after [ o0clock. !ast"7 out the window !out of"7 on the sky !_ in"
5&4& A%erican En#i!h dia#ect!
%merican English itself is not uniform. Dialect differences in %merica include
honological or ronunciation differences !often called accents", vocabulary distinctions, and
syntactic rule differences. The grammar differences between dialects are not as great as the
=/
similarities that are shared, thus ermitting seakers of different dialects to communicate with
each other.
%merican English is divided into three main dialects0
The most widely soken dialect !viewed as the standard" is known as Standard or Genera#
A%erican En#i!h. It includes the 1iddle %tlantic States !$ew Sersey, 9ennsylvania,
Delaware" and $ew @ork State, as well as the 1iddle and Bestern States. The General
%merican dialect thus comrises two thirds of the whole oulation and four fifths of the
land surface of the Vnited States reaching from the %tlantic 3cean in the east to the 9acific
3cean in the west.
The other two dialects, Ne( En#and and Southern8 are imortant and significant, but
they are more limited geograhically.
The Ne( En#and dialect is soken in 1aine, $ew 'amshire, Oermont, 1assachusetts,
:hode Island, &onnecticut. It is more like British English in many resects. 6or e#amle, the
rounded vowel is ket in dock, the long low back vowel is retained in dance, and the r is
comletely lost in dark. %t the same time this dialect is less homogeneous than General
%merican !S. 9otter, ,-->0 ,?.".
The Southern dialect includes 1aryland, Oirginia, $orth and South &arolina, Georgia,
6lorida, Xentucky, Tennessee, %labama, 1ississii, %rkansas, (ouisiana, 3klahoma, Te#as.
In site of countless smaller variations in ronunciation, vocabulary, and idiom, the three
%merican dialects do not greatly differ. S. 9otter oints out that *6or three centuries
%merican families have been constantly on the move and seech communities have seldom
remained isolated for more than one generation. It would be no e#aggeration to say that
greater differences in ronunciation are discernible in the north of England between Trent and
Tweed than in the whole of $orth %merica.+ !0 ,?/"
ssssss
$3TES0
D 6or an informative discussion of English and %merican sellings see. '.(.1encken, <he
8merican %anguage, ch../.
R There are three theories as to its origin0 ,. It comes from someoneAs initials7 C. It is
adoted from some dialect7 8. It is a contraction of the e#ression 8ll correct.
8. :eceived 9ronunciation !:9" Q the name given to the regionally neutral accent in British
English.
AUESTIONS FOR 7ISCUSSION:
,. In what resects is %merican English more conservative than British English and in what
resects is it less som
C. (ist the imortant differences between British English and %merican English. Bhich of
the differences is most significantm
8. Describe five of the most imortant general differences between %merican and British
ronunciation.
Chapter D: THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE S,O9EN IN CANA7A8 AUSTRALIA AN7
SOUTH AFRICA
In the various arts of the former British Emire, as in the Vnited States, the English
language has develoed differences which distinguish it from the language of England. In
%ustralasia, %frica, South %sia and &anada, eculiarities of ronunciation and vocabulary
have grown u which mark off national and areal varieties from the dialect of the mother
country and from one another. These eculiarities are artly such as arise in communities
searated by time and sace, and are artly due to the influence of a new environment. In
some countries the most striking changes are the result of imerfect learning and systematic
adatations by seakers of other languages.
=-
Differences of nature and material civili<ation, and generally contact with some foreign
tongue, are clearly reflected in the vocabulary.
D&1. CANA7A is officially a bilingual country, because aro#imately one2third of the
oulation is of 6rench descent. Seakers of 6rench are most numerous in ^uebec and the
English soken there contains many 6rench borrowings. The first big grou of English2
seaking settlers came during and after the Bar of Indeendence. During the century that
followed there was a constant flow of immigration into &anada, esecially from Britain,
including a high number of Scotsmen and Irishmen !the influence of Scottish English is to be
felt in 3ntario".
The densely oulated areas in &anada are very close to the border of the Vnited States and
that is why &anadian English resembles %merican English very much.
D&"& In the ,/
th
century English settlers aeared in %ustralia. During the ,-
th
century the
whole of AUSTRALIA and also NE+ EEALAN7 were coloni<ed. In %ustralian English
there are a number of words that have been borrowed from the native !aboriginal" languages
of %ustralia and $ew tealand !for e#amle, kangaroo, koala, boomerang, etc.".
Some of these are old words which have ac;uired new meanings by being alied to new
things. Thus, the word Eackass !shortened from laughing Eackass" means a bird whose cry is
like a donkeyAs bray. Bhere an Englishman talks of a farm, and an %merican of a ranch, the
%ustralian seaks of a station !and, he distinguishes between a sheep station and a cattle
station".
The English soken in %ustralia differs from that soken in England not only in
vocabulary, but also in ronunciation. %ustralian seech is remarkably uniform. The accent
of the ma)ority of %ustralians has characteristics often associated with &ockney, esecially in
the ;uality of certain vowels and dihthongs !e,g. the dihthong 4ei5 is ronounced 4ai50 say
4sai5".
The distinctive characteristics of general %ustralian ronunciation and the uniformity of
the dialect throughout the continent are attributed to the circumstance that the early settlers
were deorted risoners and adventurers drawn from the lower classes of England.
D&*& SOUTH AFRICA
The same thing is true in a somewhat different way of %frica, the most multilingual
continent on earth. The resent :eublic of South %frica had been occuied successively by
the Bushmen, 'ottentots, Bantus, 9ortuguese, and Dutch before the English settlers came.
6rom all these sources, but esecially from Dutch and its South %frican develoment,
8frikaans, the English language has ac;uired elements. % few words, which occurred earlier
in eculiarly South %frican conte#ts, have assed into the general English vocabulary. In
addition to apartheid and veldt !or veld", which retain their original associations, British and
%merican seakers use commando, commandeer, and trek in conte#ts that no longer reflect
their South %frican history.
In other arts of sub2Saharan %frica that were once British colonies and are now
indeendent countries, the English language has a comle# relationshi to the many %frican
languages. Vnlike South %frica, where English and %frikaans are the Euroean languages of
the ruling minorities, Ghana, $igeria, Sierra (eone, Xenya, Vganda, and other former
colonies have a choice of retaining their colonial linguistic inheritance or re)ecting it. In
$igeria, three main %frican languages and scores of languages soken by smaller grous e#ist
alongside English. %lthough only a tiny minority of the oulation seaks English, almost
always as a second language, it is the official language of the country. Ethnic )ealousies that
would arise from the selection of one of the %frican languages, and the advantages of English
for communication both internally and internationally, are sufficient to overcome the
reluctance towards using a colonial language.
D&1& Further a!pect! o' #anuae in !ociety
?>
In areas where many languages are soken, one language may become a #inua 'ranca to
ease communication among the eole.
English has been called Fthe lingua franca of the whole worldA. 6rench, at one time was Fthe
lingua franca of dilomacyA, and (atin and Greek were the lingua francas of &hristianity in
the Best and East, resectively, for a millennium.
In other cases, where traders or missionaries or travellers need to communicate with eole
who seak a language unknown to them, a pidin based on one language may develo, which
is simlified le#ically, honologically, and syntactically. There are a number of English2based
idgins. 3ne such idgin, called <ok 7isin, is widely used in 9aua $ew Guinea.
Bhen a idgin comes to be adoted by a community as its native tongue, and children
learn it as a first language, that language is called a creo#e. The idgin has become creo#i@ed.
&reoles often arose on slave lantations in certain areas where %fricans of many different
tribes could communicate only via the lantation idgin. 'aitian &reole, based on 6rench,
develoed in this way, as did the FEnglishA soken in arts of Samaica. Gullah is an English2
based creole soken by the descendants of %frican slaves on islands off the coast of Georgia
and South &arolina. (ouisiana &reole, related to 'aitian &reole, is soken by large numbers
of blacks and whites in (ouisiana.
&reoles become fully develoed languages, having more le#ical items and a broader array
of grammatical distinctions than idgins.

Chapter B& ENGLISH AS A TOOL OF INTERNATIONAL CO66UNICATION

%lthough the statement FEnglish is the worldAs most imortant languageA may be taken as a
truism, it answers some ob)ective criteria of FimortanceA. :. ^uirk !,-.C0 C" suggests four
such criteria.
3ne criterion is the number of native seakers that a language haens to have. 6rom this
oint of view, English comes second after &hinese, which has double the number of seakers.
% second criterion is the e#tent to which a language is geograhically disersed0 in how
many continents and countries is it usedm This criterion makes English a front runner.
% third is its Fvehicular loadA0 to what e#tent is it a medium for science or literature or other
highly regarded cultural manifestation Q including Fway of lifeAm English scores as being the
rimary medium for twentieth century science and technology.
% fourth is the economic and olitical influence of those who seak it as Ftheir ownA
language. English is the language of the Vnited States which has a larger FGross $ational
9roductA !both in total and in relation to the oulation" than any other country in the world.
Bhat emerges strikingly about English is that by any of the criteria it is rominent, by some
it is re2eminent, and by a combination of the four it is suerlatively outstanding.. %s ^uirk !0
8" oints out, no claim has been made of the imortance of English on the grounds of its
F;ualityA, such as the si<e of its vocabulary, the alleged fle#ibility of its synta#. It has been
rightly said that the choice of an international language, or lingua franca, is never based on
linguistic or aesthetic criteria but always on olitical, economic and demograhic ones.
English is the worldAs most widely used language. There are three rimary categories of
use0 It is used as a native language, as a second language, and as a foreign language.
English is soken as a native language, or mother tongue, by nearly three hundred million
eole in countries such as Britain, the Vnited States, &anada, %ustralia, $ew tealand, the
&aribbean and South %frica, without mentioning smaller countries or smaller ockets of
native English seakers !for e#amle in :hodesia and Xenya".
%s a second language, English is used chiefly for certain official, social, commercial or
educational activities within several countries0 within the 6rench2seaking ^uebec rovince
of &anada, within the %frikaans2seaking South %frica. This second language function is
?,
more noteworthy, however, in a long list of countries where only a small roortion of the
eole have English as their native language0 India, Ghana, 9akistan, $igeria, Xenya and
many other &ommonwealth countries and former British territories. Thus, several decades
after indeendence, India maintains English as a medium of instruction for aro#imately half
of its total higher education. English is one of the two FworkingA languages of the Vnited
$ations.
%s a foreign language, English is used for international communication, i.e. the medium of
communication with seakers from other countries.
But many more use it as an international means of communication, because English has
become a truly international language meeting more than )ust national needs. science, trade,
sort, and international relations of various kinds have given the English language the status
of one of the worldAs most imortant languages. 1any scientific and technical )ournals are
written in English although they are not necessarily ublished in England or other English2
seaking countries. %t numerous international meetings and conferences English is the main
language. The 3lymic Games and other multinational sorts events are resented in English.
The role English lays today is the result of historical rocesses which affected large arts
of the world and are, to some e#tent, reflected in the language itself. Thus, the English
language, in the course of its historical develoment, has met with so many influences from
abroad that its very structure, both le#ical and grammatical has come to reflect in many ways
its international use. Bhat we call English words are very largely, by more than two2thirds,
6rench, (atin, Greek and other words in origin. In effect, the ower of the English language to
take u elements from other languages has become almost limitless. This caacity of
assimilation is one of the key features of English as an international language.
The inflectional system of modern English, using analytical rather than synthetic means, is
e#tremely simle. There are no more than a handful of grammatical endings. The F2sA
denoting the lural and ossessive of nouns and the third erson singular 9resent Tense of
main verbs7 the F2erE 2estA used for the degrees of comarison of ad)ectives, the F2edA forming
the 9ast Tense and Qed articile of regular verbs, the F2ingA making u the 2ing articile and
the gerund, and finally the F2lyA of adverbs are the only endings left of the highly inflected
language soken a thousand years ago.
%long with this simlification of the grammatical form has come a much greater ease in
using the same word in more than one word2class. FanswerA, for e#amle, can occur as a verb
and a noun. FroundA may even be used in no fewer than five different word2classes. It can be
an ad)ective in F% round table will seat more eole than a s;uare oneA7 a reosition in FBe
travelled round the countryA7 an adverb in F'e turned round and ran back to the houseA7 a
noun in FThe ne#t round of eace talks will be held in :omeA7 a verb in FThe van had )ust
rounded the corner when it was hit by a lorryA. Thus, a very large number of English words
are used in at least two word2classes, usually as nouns and verbs or nouns and ad)ectives.
Thus, English words are very fle#ible and may be ut to a great variety of uses within the
sentence.
The structure of English sentences, in contrast to the relative uniformity of the word forms,
is very comle#, not to say comlicated, as is evident from its difficult hraseology, and its
comlicated syntactic structure. English synta# seems to be making u for what the language
has lost in morhological richness. Thus, English, by virtue of its vast stock of words and its
highly roductive grammatical structure, is indeed able to coe with the most diverse tasks of
international communication !D. Giering, ,-.-0 ,,".

/I/LIOGRA,HY

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?8