1. Linguistic features of Germanic languages: vowels.

Germanic languages also have some peculiarities in the sphere of vowel sounds, which distinguish them from other Indo-European
languages.
Their main characteristic feature in this sphere is the treatment of the Indo-European short vowels o and a and the long vowels o and a.
Indo-European short o and a appear as short a languages. E.g.:in
IE Germanic
Russ. !"! germ. #pfel
$at. %octem goth. %ahts
Russ.&!'( germ. %acht
Indo-European long o and a appear as long o in Germanic languages :
IE Germanic IE Germanic
$at. )rater goth. *roar lat. )los +E ,loma
Gree-. .hrator r+E ,ro
Thus, as a result of these changes, there was neither a short o nor a long a in Germanic languages. $ater on these sounds appeared from
different sources.
#nother phenomenon common for Germanic languages is gradation or a,laut- root vowel change in strong ver,s etc.
#nother common phenomenon is Germanic )racture that concerns / pairs of vowels: the pair E and I and the pair 0 and +.
2. Spelling changes in ME and NE. Rules of reading. The most conspicuous feature of $ate 1E te2ts in comparison with +E te2ts is
the difference in spelling. The written forms of the words in 1E te2ts resem,le their modern forms, though the pronunciation of the
words was different. In 1E man3 new devices were introduced into the s3stem of spelling4 some of them reflected the sound changes
which had ,een completed or were still in progress in 1E4 others were graphic replacements of +E letters ,3 new letters and digraphs.In
1E the runic letters passed out of use. Thorn 5 6 5 and the crossed d 5 7, 8 5 were replaced ,3 the digraph th, which retained the same
sound value: 9:; and 98;4 the rune <w3nn= was displaced ,3 <dou,le u= 5 w 5 4 the ligatures and fell into disuse. #fter the period of
#nglo-%orman dominance >??
th
5?@
th
c.A English regained its prestige as the language of writing. Though for a long time writing was in
the hands of those who had a good -nowledge of )rench. Therefore man3 innovations in 1E spelling reveal an influence of the )rench
scri,al tradition. The digraphs ou, ie, and ch which occurred in man3 )rench ,orrowings and were regularl3 used in #nglo-%orman te2ts
were adopted as new wa3s of indicating the sounds 9u:;, 9e:;, and 9tB;. other alterations in spelling cannot ,e traced directl3 to )rench
influence though the3 testif3 to a similar tendenc3: a wider use of digraphs. In addition to ch, ou, ie, and th $ate 1E notaries introduced
sh >also ssh and schA to indicate the new si,ilant 9B;, e.g. 1E ship >from +E scipA, dg to indicate 9d; alongside j and g4 the digraph wh
replaced the +E seCuence of letters hw as in +E hwt, 1E what 9hwat;. $ong sounds were shown ,3 dou,le letters, e.g. 1E book
9,o:-;, though long 9e:; could ,e indicated ,3 ie and ee, and also ,3 e. Dome replacements were pro,a,l3 made to avoid confusion of
resem,ling letters: thus o was emplo3ed not onl3 for 9o; ,ut also to indicate short 9u; alongside the letter u4 it happened when u stood
close to n, m, or v, e.g. +E lufu ,ecame 1E love 9luvE;. The letter y came to ,e used as an eCuivalent of i and was evidentl3 preferred
when i could ,e confused with the surrounding letters m, n and others. Dometimes, y, as well w, were put at the end of a word, so as to
finish the word with a curve, e.g. 1E very 9veri;, my 9mi:;4 w was interchangea,le with u in the digraphs ou, au, e.g. 1E doun, down
9du:n;, and was often preferred finall3, e.g. 1E how 9hu:;, now 9nu:;. )or letters indicating two sounds the rules of reading are as
follows. G and stand for 9d; and 9s; ,efore front vowels and for 9g; and 9-; ,efore ,ac- vowels respectivel3. Y stands for 9F; at the
,eginning of words, otherwise, it is an eCuivalent of the letter i, e.g. 1E yet 9Fet;, knyght 9-ni2Gt;. The letters th and s indicate voiced
sounds ,etween vowels, and voiceless sounds 5 initiall3, finall3 and ne2t to other voiceless consonants, e.g. 1E worthy 9wur8i;. To
determine the sound value of o one can loo- up the origin of the sound in +E or the pronunciation of the word in %E: the sound 9u; did
not change in the transition from +E to 1E >the +E for some was sumA4 in %E it changed to 9 H;. It follows that the letter o stood for 9u;
in those 1E words which contain 9H; toda3, otherwise it indicates 9o;.
@. $inguistic features of Germanic languages: consonants.
The consonants in Germanic languages are characteriIed ,3 a num,er of specific traits which constitute what is perhaps the most
remar-a,le feature of the group. #t first sight it ma3 appear that Germanic consonants are similar to those of other Indo-European
languages. Jet, comparison of Germanic and non-Germanic words going ,ac- to the same Indo-European root shows that Germanic
consonants do not correspond to the same consonants in other languages. Thus whenever we have the sound >pA in $atin or Russian, we
find >fA in its place in parallel words from Germanic languages. +n the other hand, wherever Germanic has >pA, non-Germanic have >,A
e2. Dleep and KLMN(.
It appears that Germanic languages displa3 regular correspondences of consonants with non-Germanic languages: voiceless consonants
occur instead of voiced, e2. >pA, >,A, fricatives instead of plosives >fA, >pA.
These correspondences appeared as a result of specificall3 Germanic tendencies in the development of consonants. Dometimes the
alterations were independent, at other times the3 were caused ,3 phonetics conditions and too- place onl3 in certain positions. The most
remar-a,le change, which affected the greatest num,er of consonants, refers to the Oommon Germanic period, its results are therefore to
,e found in all the languages of the group.
4. ME phonetics: vowel (reduction, shortening/lengthening, developent of !E onophthongs in ME".
In the 1E period a great change affected the entire s3stem of vowel phonemes. +E had ,oth short and long vowel phonemes, and each
of these could occur in an3 phonetics environment, that is, the3 were a,solutel3 independent phonemic units. *ut in the ?P
th
Q?/
th
centuries, the 1E vowel s3stem was ,asicall3 different.
Dhortening - a long vowel occurring ,efore / consonants >including a dou,led, i.e. long, consonantsA is shortened. The vowels are
shortened ,efore / consonants, ,ut remain long in other environments. Rowever, long vowels remain long ,efore the SlengtheningG
consonant groups ld, nd, m,, i.e. those consisting of / voiced consonants articulated ,3 the same organ speech. $ong consonants also
remained long ,efore such consonant clusters as ,elonged to the following s3lla,le. This mainl3 affects the group st.
$engthening 5 short vowels were lengthened in open s3lla,les. This was another item of the development which deprived Cuantit3 of its
status as a phonetic feature. It affected the short vowels a, e, o. The narrow vowels I and u remained as a rule unaffected ,3 this change,
and thus the difference ,etween short I and long and also that ,etween short u and long u retained its Cualit3 as a phonemicall3 relevant
feature.
1onophthongiIation of +E Tiphthongs 5 all +E diphthongs were monophthongiIed in 1E. +E short ea ,ecame a passing through the
stage of , as in eald 5 ald SoldG, healf 5 half.
5. The Earliest Period of Germanic History
The histor3 of the Germanic group ,egins with the appearance of what is -nown as the .roto-Germanic >.GA language. It is
supposed to have split from related IE tongues sometime ,etween the ?Uth and ?Pth K *.O. The would-,e Germanic tri,es
,elonged to the western division of the IE speech communit3.
#s the Indo-Europeans e2tended over a larger territor3, the ancient Germans or Teutons
2
moved further north than other tri,es and
settled on the southern coast of the *altic Dea in the region of the El,e. This place is regarded as the most pro,a,le original
home of the Teutons. It is here that the3 developed their first specificall3 Germanic linguistic features which made them a separate
group in the IE famil3.
.G was never recorded in written form.
It is ,elieved that at the earliest stages of histor3 .G was fundamentall3 one language, though dialectall3 coloured. In its later
stages dialectal differences grew, so that towards the ,eginning of our era Ger manic appears divided into dialectal groups and tri,al
dialects. Tialectal differentiation increased with the migrations and geographical e2pansion of the Teutons caused ,3
overpopulation, poor agricultural techniCue and scant3 natural resources in the areas of their original settlement.
Towards the ,eginning of our era the common period of Germanic histor3 came to an end. The Teutons had e2tended over a larger
territor3 and the .G language ,ro-e into parts. .G split into three ,ranches: East Germanic !indili in .lin3Vs classificationA,
%orth Germanic "illeviones# and West Germanic >which em,races $ngveones, $stsevones and "ermino%nes in .lin3Vs listA. In
due course these ,ranches split into separate Germanic languages.
The East Germanic su,group. was formed ,3 the tri,es who returned from Dcandinavia at the ,eginning of our era. The most numerous
and powerful of them were the Goths.
The Gothic language, now dead, has ,een preserved in written records of the XthQYth K The Goths were the first of the Teutons to
,ecome Ohristian.
The other East Germanic languages, all of which are now dead, have left no written traces. Dome of their tri,al names have survived in
placenames, which reveal the directions of their migrations: &ornholm and &urgundy go ,ac- to the East Germanic tri,e of
&urgundians' (ndalusia is derived from the tri,al name !andals' )ombardy got its name from the )angobards, who made part of the
population of the +strogothic -ingdom in %orth Ital3.
orth Germanic
The Teutons who sta3ed in Dcandinavia after the departure of the Goths gave rise to the %orth Germanic su,group of languages. The
speech of the %orth Germanic tri,es showed little dialectal variation until the Zth c. and is regarded as a sort of common %orth Germanic
parent-language called *ld +orse or *ld ,candinavian- It has come down to us in runic inscriptions dated from the @rd to the Zth c.
Runic inscriptions were carved on o,Fects made of hard material in an original Germanic alpha,et -nown as the runic alphabet or the
runes- The runes were used ,3 %orth and West Germanic tri,es. The disintegration of +ld %orse into separate dialects and languages
,egan after the Zth c., when the Dcandinavians started out on their sea vo3ages.
The earliest written records in +ld Tanish, +ld %orwegian and +ld Dwedish date from the ?@th c. In the later 1iddle #ges Tanish and
then Dwedish developed into national literar3 languages. %owada3s Dwedish is spo-en not onl3 ,3 the population of Dweden4 the
language has e2tended over )innish territor3 and is the second state language in )inland.
%orwegian was the last to develop into an independent national language. Turing the period of Tanish dominance %orwegian
intermi2ed with Tanish. #s a result in the ?Zth K there emerged two varieties of the %orwegian tongue: the state or ,oo-ish
tongue riksmal >later called bokmalAand landsmal- #t the present time the two varieties tend to fuse into a single form of language
nynorsk >[%ew %orwegian[A.
In addition to the three languages on the mainland, the %orth Germanic su,group includes two more languages: Icelandic and )aroese,
whose origin goes ,ac- to the \i-ing #ge.
)aroese is spo-en nowada3s ,3 a,out @P,PPP people. )or man3 centuries all writing was done in Tanish4 it was not until the ?]th K
that the first )aroese records were made.
#t present Icelandic is spo-en ,3 over /PP PPP people.
+ld Icelandic written records date from the ?/th and ?@th c, an age of literar3 flourishing. The most important records are: the
E$TER ETT# >also called the .+ETIO ETT#A Q a collection of heroic songs of the ?/th c, the J+0%GER >.R+DEA ETT#
>a te2t-,oo- for poets compiled ,3 Dnorri Dturluson in the earl3 ?@th c.A and the +ld Icelandic sagas.
!est Germanic
The dialectal differentiation of West Germanic was Cuite distinct even at the ,eginning of our era since .lin3 and Tacitus
descri,ed them under three tri,al names +n the eve of their [great migrations[ of the Xth and Uth c. the West Germans included
several tri,es. The )ranconians >or )ran-sA su,divided into $ow, 1iddle and Righ )ranconians. The #ngles and the )risians >-nown as
the #nglo-)risian groupA, the ^utes and the Da2ons inha,ited the coastal area of the modern %etherlands, the )ederal Repu,lic of
German3 and the southern part of Tenmar-. # group of tri,es -nown as Righ Germans lived in the mountai nous southern regions
of the )ederal Repu,lic of German3 >"igh Germans , )ow Germans A The Righ Germans included a num,er of tri,es whose
names are -nown since the earl3 1iddle #ges: the #lemanians, the Dwa,ians, the *avarians, the Thuringians and others.
The )ranconian dialects were spo-en in the e2treme %orth of the Empire4 in the later 1iddle #ges the3 developed into
Tutch - the language of the $ow Oountries >the %etherlandsA and )lemish - the language of )landers. The earliest te2ts in
$ow )ranconian date from the ?Pth c4 ?/th K records represent the earliest +ld Tutch.
The modern language of the %etherlands, formerl3 called .utch, and Its variant m *elgium, -nown as the )lemish dialect, are now
treated as a single languuge, %etherlandish. %etherlandish is spo-en ,3 almost /P million people.
#,out three hundred 3ears ago the Tutch $anguage was ,rought to Douth #frica. Their dialects in #frica eventuall3 grew into a separate
West Germanic language, #fri-aans. Toda3 #fri-aans is the mother-tongue of over four million #fri-aners and coloured people and one
of the state languages in the Douth #frican Repu,lic
The Righ German dialects consolidated into a common language -nown as +ld Righ German >+RGA. The first written records in +RG
date from the ]th and Zth c. >glosses to $atin te2ts, translations from $atin. and religious poemsA. Towards the ?/th c. Righ German
>-nown as 1iddle Righ Germarn had intermi2ed with neigh,ouring tongues, especiall3 1iddle and Righ )ranconian, and eventuall3
developed into the $iterar3 German language. The total num,er of German-spea-ing people approaches ?PP million.
The first English written records have come down from the _th c., which is the earliest date in the histor3 of writing in the West
Germanic su,group >see relevant chapters ,elowA. The )risians and the Da2ons who did not ta-e part in the invasion of *ritain sta3ed on
the continent. )risian has survived as a local dialect in )riesland >in the %etherlandsA and +stfriesland >the )ederal Repu,lic of
German3A. It has ,oth an oral and written form, the earliest records dating from the ?@th c. In the Earl3 1iddle #ges the continental
Da2ons formed a powerful tri,e. Together with Righ German tri,es the3 too- part in the eastward drive and the coloniIation of the
former Dlavonic territories. +ld Da2on -nown in written form from the records of the Zth c. has survived as one of the $ow German
dialects.
". #evelo$ment of %ld English di$hthongs in&.English
+ne of the most important sound changes of the Earl3 1E period was the loss of +E diphthongs and the growth of new diphthongs, with
new Cualitative and Cuantitative distinctions. +E possessed a well developed s3stem of diphthongs: falling diphthopgs with a closer
nucleus and more open glide arranged in two s3mmetrical sets long and short: 9ea:, eo:, ie:; and 9ea, eo, ie;. Towards the end of the +E
period some of the diphthongs merged with monophthongs: all diphthongs were monophthongised. In Earl3 1E the remaining
diphthongs were also contracted to monophthongs: the long 9ea:; coalesced with the refle2 of +E 9 `:; 1E9 ;4 the short 9ea; ceased to ,e
distinguished from +E 9`; and ,ecame 9a; in 1E4 the diphthongs 9eo:, eo; -- as well as their dialectal variants 9io:, io; - fell together
with the monophthongs 9e:, e, i:, i ;. $ater the3 shared in the development of respective monophthongs. #s a result of these changes e
vowel s3stem lost two sets of diphthongs, long and short. In the meantime a new set of diphthongs developed from some seCuences of
vowels and consonants due to the vocalisation of +E 9F; and 93;, that is to their change into vowels.
In Earl3 1E the sounds 9F; and 93; ,etween and after vowels changed into 9i; and 9u ? and formed diphthongs together with the
preceding vowels. These changes gave rise to two sets of diphthongs: with i-glides and u-glides.
The formation of new diphthongs in 1E was an important event in the histor3 of the language.
'.(asic grammatical features of Germanic languages
Dtrong evidence for the unit3 of all the modern Germanic languages can ,e found in the phenomenon -nown as the first Germanic sound
shift or consonant shift >also called GrimmVs lawA, which set the Germanic su,famil3 apart from the other mem,ers of the Indo-
European famil3. Oonsisting of a regular shifting of consonants in groups, the sound shift had alread3 occurred ,3 the time adeCuate
records of the various Germanic languages ,egan to ,e made in the _th to Zth cent. #ccording to GrimmVs law, certain consonant sounds
found in the ancient Indo-European languages >such as $atin, Gree-, and Dans-ritA underwent a change in the Germanic tongue. )or
e2ample, the sounds p, d, t, and - in the former ,ecame f, t, th, and h respectivel3 in the latter, as in $atin pater, English father4 $atin
dent, English tooth4 and $atin cornu, English horn>a!bA.
*efore the ]th cent. a second shift of consonants too- place in some of the West German dialects. )or instance, under certain
circumstances, d ,ecame t, and t ,ecame ss or I, as in English ,read, Tutch ,rood, ,ut German *rot4 English foot, Tutch voet, ,ut
German )uss4 and English ten, Tutch tien, ,ut German Iehn. The dialects in which this second consonant shift too- place were the Righ
German dialects, so called ,ecause the3 were spo-en in more mountainous areas. Dtandard modern German arose from these dialects.
The West Germanic dialects not affected ,3 the second shift were the $ow German dialects of the lowlands, from which Tutch and
English evolved.
#lso peculiar to the Germanic languages is the recessive accent, where,3 the stress usuall3 falls on the first or root s3lla,le of a word,
especiall3 a word of Germanic origin. #nother distinctive characteristic shared ,3 the Germanic languages is the umlaut, which is a t3pe
of vowel change in the root of a word. It is demonstrated in the pairs foot >singularA, feet >pluralA in English4 fot >singularA, fctter >pluralA
in Dwedish4 and dampf >singularA, dempfe >pluralA in German.
#ll Germanic languages have strong and wea- ver,s4 that is, the3 form the past tense and past participle either ,3 changing the root
vowel in the case of strong ver,s >as in English lie, la3, lain or ring, rang, rung4 German ringen, rang, gerungenA or ,3 adding as an
ending -d >or -tA or -ed in the case of wea- ver,s >as in English care, cared, cared or loo-, loo-ed, loo-ed4 German fragen, fragte,
gefragtA. #lso t3picall3 Germanic is the formation of the genitive singular ,3 the addition of -s or -es. E2amples are English man, manVs4
Dwedish hund, hunds4 German $ehrer, $ehrers or 1ann, 1annes. 1oreover, the comparison of adFectives in the Germanic languages
follows a parallel pattern, as in English: rich, richer, richest4 German reich, reicher, reichst4 and Dwedish ri-, ri-are, ri-ast. $astl3,
voca,ular3 furnished evidence of a common origin for the Germanic languages in that a num,er of the ,asic words in these languages
are similar in form4 however, while word similarit3 ma3 indicate the same original source for a group of languages, it can also ,e a sign
of ,orrowing.
The Germanic languages have two adFective declensions, a strong and a wea-. The wea- forms are used generall3 after articles,
demonstrative pronouns, and possessive adFectives4 the strong are used independentl3. The num,er of these forms is reduced greatl3 in
Tanish, Dwedish, and %etherlandic. The comparison of adFectives and adver,s in Germanic differs from that in the Romance languages.
Generall3, -r and -st endings are added: long, longer, longest4 Dwedish, lang, langre, langst.
The eight cases of Indo-European nouns, adFectives, and pronouns were reduced to four, and sometimes even fewer, in Germanic. )ree
stress >accentA ,ecame recessive, and precise accent rules ,ecame dominant, with the first root s3lla,le in Germanic carr3ing the stress.
0mlauting, a process of modif3ing vowel sounds, too- place e2tensivel3 >man, men4 foot, feetA. # s3stem of strong ver,s developed as
the result of vowel alternation >a,lautA, as in sing, sang, sung, and a uniCue wa3 of forming the past tense using wea- ver,s >Fump,
FumpedA was created, pro,a,l3 ,3 adding a form of did to the ver, >I Fump - did f I FumpedA. The num,er of strong ver,s in Germanic is
steadil3 ,eing reduced, and the s3stem does not seem to permit the creation of new strong ver,s. Oonversel3, the num,er of wea- ver,s
is increasing.
The runic al$ha)et
The runic alpha,et is a specificall3 Germanic alpha,et, not to ,e found in languages of other groups. The word rune originall3 meant
GsecretG, Sm3ster3G and hence came to denote inscriptions ,elieved to ,e magic. The runes were used as letters, each s3m,ol to indicate
separate sound. This alpha,et is called futhar- after the first si2 letters. Runic letters are angular4 straight lines are preferred, curved lines
avoided4 this is due to the fact that runic inscriptions were cut in hard material: stone, ,one or wood. The shapes of some letters resem,le
those of Gree- or $atin, other have not ,een traced to an3 -nown alpha,et, and the order of the runes in the alpha,et is certainl3 original.
The num,er of runes in different +G languages varied. #s compared to continental, the num,er of runes in England was larger: new
runes were added as new sounds appeared in English >from /] to @@ runes in *ritain against ?Y or /X on the continentA. The main use of
runes was to ma-e short inscriptions on o,Fects, often to ,estow on them some special power or magic. The two ,est -nown runic
inscriptions in England are the earliest e2tant +E written records. +ne of them is and inscription on a ,o2 called the <)ran-s Oas-et=,
the other is a short te2t on a stone cross near the village of Ruthwell -nown as the <Ruthwell Oross=.
*. The Great vowel shift
\owel Dhift was a maFor change in the pronunciation of Germanic languages, generall3 accomplished in the ?Uth centur3 and earl3 ?Yth
centur3, ,oth in Europe and England. It represented a change in the long vowels >i.e. a vowel shiftA. In English, the shift ,egan toward
the end of the ?Uth centur3 and was mostl3 completed in the ?Yth centur3, although it continued for some time after that, spreading
toward the non-metropolitan and non-port areas.
The values of the long vowels form the main difference ,etween the pronunciation of 1iddle English and 1odern English, and the
Great \owel Dhift is one of the historical events mar-ing the separation of 1iddle and 1odern English. +riginall3, these vowels had
[continental[ values much li-e those remaining in liturgical $atin. Rowever, during the Great \owel Dhift, the two highest long vowels
,ecame diphthongs, and the other five underwent an increase in tongue height and one of them came to the front.
The principal changes are roughl3 the following Q though e2ceptions occur, the transitions were not alwa3s complete, and there were
sometimes accompan3ing changes in orthograph3:
ga:g -h ge:g >in e.g. ma-eA
gE:g -h ge:g or gi:g >in e.g. ,rea-, ,ea-A
ge:g -h gi:g >in e.g. feetA
gi:g -h gaig >in e.g. miceA
g+:g -h go:g >in e.g. ,oatA
go:g -h gu:g >in e.g. ,ootA
gu:g -h gaug >in e.g. mouseA
This means that the vowel in the English word ma-e was originall3 pronounced as in modern English father, ,ut has now ,ecome a
diphthong, as it is toda3 in standard pronunciations of *ritish English >see Received .ronunciationA4 the vowel in feet was originall3
pronounced as a long $atin-li-e e sound4 the vowel in mice was originall3 what the vowel in feet is now4 the vowel in ,oot was
originall3 a long $atin-li-e o sound4 and the vowel in mouse was originall3 what the vowel in moose is now, ,ut has now ,ecome a
diphthong.
The Great \owel Dhift was first studied ,3 the Tanish linguist +tto ^espersen >?]YP - ?ZX@A, who coined the term.
The shift was remar-a,le for how widespread it was >going through most of Europe and then Great *ritainA, as well as its rapidit3. The
effects of the shift were not entirel3 uniform, and differences in degree of vowel shifting can sometimes ,e detected in regional dialects,
,oth in written and spo-en English. The surprising speed and the e2act cause of the shift are continuing m3steries in linguistics and
cultural histor3
. *ecause English spelling was ,ecoming standardiIed in the ?Uth and ?Yth centuries, the Great \owel Dhift is responsi,le for man3 of
the peculiarities of English spelling. Dpellings that made sense according to 1iddle English pronunciation were retained in 1odern
English.
#. $hronological division in the histor% of English. Short surve% of periods. The histor3 of the English language reall3 started with the
arrival of three Germanic tri,es who invaded *ritain during the Uth centur3 #T. These tri,es, the #ngles, the Da2ons and the ^utes,
crossed the %orth Dea from what toda3 is Tenmar- and northern German3. #t that time the inha,itants of *ritain spo-e a Oeltic
language. *ut most of the Oeltic spea-ers were pushed west and north ,3 the invaders - mainl3 into what is now Wales, Dcotland and
Ireland. The #ngles came from England and their language was called English - from which the words England and English are derived.
%ld English >XUP-??PP #TA The invading Germanic tri,es spo-e similar languages, which in *ritain developed into what we now call
+ld English. +ld English did not sound or loo- li-e English toda3. %ative English spea-ers now would have great difficult3
understanding +ld English. %evertheless, a,out half of the most commonl3 used words in 1odern English have +ld English roots. The
words be, strong and water, for e2ample, derive from +ld English. +ld English was spo-en until around ??PP.
+iddle English >??PP-?UPPA In ?PYY William the OonCueror, the Tu-e of %ormand3 conCuered England The new conCuerors >called
the %ormansA ,rought with them a -ind of )rench, which ,ecame the language of the Ro3al Oourt, and the ruling and ,usiness classes.
)or a period there was a -ind of linguistic class division, where the lower classes spo-e English and the upper classes spo-e )rench. In
the ?Xth centur3 English ,ecame dominant in *ritain again, ,ut with man3 )rench words added. This language is called 1iddle English.
It was the language of the great poet Ohaucer >c?@XP-?XPPA, ,ut it would still ,e difficult for native English spea-ers to understand
toda3.
Earl3 1odern English >?UPP-?]PPA Towards the end of 1iddle English, a sudden and distinct change in pronunciation >the Great \owel
DhiftA started, with vowels ,eing pronounced shorter and shorter. )rom the ?Yth centur3 the *ritish had contact with man3 people from
around the world. This, and the Renaissance of Olassical learning, meant that man3 new words and phrases entered the language. The
invention of printing also meant that there was now a common language in print. *oo-s ,ecame cheaper and more people learned to
read. .rinting also ,rought standardiIation to English. Dpelling and grammar ,ecame fi2ed, and the dialect of $ondon, where most
pu,lishing houses were, ,ecame the standard. In ?YPX the first English dictionar3 was pu,lished.
$ate 1odern English >?]PP-.resentA The main difference ,etween Earl3 1odern English and $ate 1odern English is voca,ular3. $ate
1odern English has man3 more words, arising from two principal factors: firstl3, the Industrial Revolution and technolog3 created a
need for new words4 secondl3, the *ritish Empire at its height covered one Cuarter of the earthVs surface, and the English language
adopted foreign words from man3 countries.
# ,rief chronolog3 of English
*O UU
Roman invasion of *ritain ,3
^ulius Oaesar.
X@Y
Roman withdrawal from
*ritain complete.
XXZ
Dettlement of *ritain ,3
Germanic invaders ,egins
XUP-X]P
Earliest -nown +ld English
inscriptions.
?PYY
William the OonCueror, Tu-e
of %ormand3, invades and
conCuers England.
?@X]
English replaces $atin as the
language of instruction in
most schools.
?@Y/
English replaces )rench as the
language of law. English is
used in .arliament for the
first time.
c?@]]
Ohaucer starts writing /he
0anterbury /ales.
c?XPP The Great \owel Dhift ,egins.
?X_U
William Oa2ton esta,lishes
the first English printing
press.
?YPX
/able (lphabeticall, the first
English dictionar3, is
pu,lished.
$ate 1odern English >?]PP-.resentA The main difference ,etween Earl3 1odern English and $ate 1odern English is voca,ular3. $ate
1odern English has man3 more words, arising from two principal factors: firstl3, the Industrial Revolution and technolog3 created a
need for new words4 secondl3, the *ritish Empire at its height covered one Cuarter of the earthVs surface, and the English language
adopted foreign words from man3 countries.
# ,rief chronolog3 of English
*O UU
Roman invasion of *ritain ,3
^ulius Oaesar.
X@Y
Roman withdrawal from
*ritain complete.
XXZ
Dettlement of *ritain ,3
Germanic invaders ,egins
XUP-X]P
Earliest -nown +ld English
inscriptions.
?PYY
William the OonCueror, Tu-e
of %ormand3, invades and
conCuers England.
?@X]
English replaces $atin as the
language of instruction in
most schools.
?@Y/
English replaces )rench as the
language of law. English is
used in .arliament for the
first time.
c?@]]
Ohaucer starts writing /he
0anterbury /ales.
c?XPP The Great \owel Dhift ,egins.
?X_U
William Oa2ton esta,lishes
the first English printing
press.
?YPX
/able (lphabeticall, the first
English dictionar3, is
pu,lished.
&'. New English (honetics: loss of unstressed )e, the change of )er into )ar, a into *. Rise of new phonees.
#t the outset of of the 1nE period the vowel eof unstressed endings was lost. This vowel was on the verge of loss in th ?X
th
c alread3, in
the ?U
th
c it disappeared. The vowel e was lost when it was final and also when it was followed ,3 a consonant, as in the plural forms of
su,stantitives>tables, hats, booksA, in the @d person sing present indicative>likes, sits, begsA, and in the past tense /d participle in 5
ed>lived, filledA. *ut the e was preserved and later changed in3o I in some adFectives and adFectiviIed participle in 5ed > learned, wicked,
raggedA.The letter e was also preserved in words with long root-vowel, in this wa3 the so-called SmuteG e arose, which denotes length of
the preseding vowel> house, stone, wroteA.
The change 5er into -ar ,egan in the ?X
th
c and was completed in the ?U
th
. Dpelling in most cases reflected the change. ,teorra% sterra%
star, heorte 1 herte 1 heart. In some cases the spelling doesnGt reflects the change>clerk, sergeant, .erbyA. The 1E su,stantive person
has 3ielded / variants in 1nE2 parson and person. In some words -er didnGt developed in 5ar>certain, 3niversityA.
The change a into i affected all words containing 9a;e2cept those where it was preceded ,3 w>4t% that 1 thatA.
The rise of new phonemes j:, o:, k: too- place in the ?Y
th
c. ?A9 j: ih i: hj: ; ,efore fricatives and th Z9;:father, rather, aftermath4 9s;:
glass, gruss, ,ut lass, mass9i;4 9st;: last, cast, ,ut elastic, plastic9i;4 9s-;: ask, mask ,ut masculine9i;. /A from 9al; m lmconsonant: calm,
palm-
*ut in the ?Y
th
c 9alh o; ,ut the spelling remained unchanged 5 au, aw: cause, p draw-
In tthe ?Y
th
c a new vowel appears 9k:;. It rises in the following cases: imr 5 sir, umr 5 fur, emr 5lern, omr after w 5 word, worse
&&. !ld English. +istorical ,ac-ground.
+ld English >also called #nglo-Da2on,9?; Englisc ,3 its spea-ersA is an earl3 form of the English language that was spo-en and written
in parts of what are now England and south-eastern Dcotland ,etween the mid-Uth centur3 and the mid-?/th centur3. What survives
through writing represents primaril3 the literar3 register of #nglo-Da2on. It is a West Germanic language and is closel3 related to +ld
)risian. It also e2perienced heav3 influence from +ld %orse, a mem,er of the related %orth Germanic group of languages.
+ld English was not static, and its usage covered a period of appro2imatel3 _PP 3ears9/; 5 from the #nglo-Da2on migrations that created
England in the Uth centur3 to some time after the %orman OonCuest of ?PYY, when the language underwent a dramatic transition. Turing
this earl3 period it assimilated some aspects of the languages with which it came in contact, such as the Oeltic languages and the two
dialects of +ld %orse from the invading \i-ings, who occupied and controlled large tracts of land in northern and eastern England,
which came to ,e -nown as the Tanelaw.
The most important force in shaping +ld English was its Germanic heritage in its voca,ular3, sentence structure and grammar, which it
shared with its sister languages in continental Europe. Dome of these features are shared with the other West Germanic languages with
which +ld English is grouped, while some other features are tracea,le to the reconstructed .roto-Germanic language from which all
Germanic languages are ,elieved to have derived.
$i-e other Germanic languages of the period, +ld English was full3 inflected with five grammatical cases >nominative, accusative,
genitive, dative, and instrumental, though the instrumental was ver3 rareA, which had dual plural forms for referring to groups of two
o,Fects >,ut onl3 in the personal pronounsA in addition to the usual singular and plural forms. It also assigned gender to all nouns,
including those that descri,e inanimate o,Fects: for e2ample, sno sunne >the DunA was feminine, while se mona >the 1oonA was
masculine >cf. modern German die Donne and der 1ondA.
+ne of the wa3s the influence of $atin can ,e seen is that man3 $atin words for activities came to also ,e used to refer to the people
engaged in those activities, an idiom carried over from #nglo-Da2on ,ut using $atin words. This can ,e seen in words li-e militia,
assem,l3, movement, and service.
The language was further altered ,3 the transition awa3 from the runic alpha,et >also -nown as futhorc or fu6orcA to the $atin alpha,et,
which was also a significant factor in the developmental pressures ,rought to ,ear on the language. +ld English words were spelt as the3
were pronounced. The [silent[ letters in man3 1odern English words were pronounced in +ld English: for e2ample, the c in cniht, the
+ld English ancestor of the modern -night, was pronounced. #nother side-effect of spelling words phoneticall3 was that spelling was
e2tremel3 varia,le 5 the spelling of a word would reflect differences in the phonetics of the writerVs regional dialect, and also
idios3ncratic spelling choices which varied from author to author, and even from wor- to wor- ,3 the same author. Thus, for e2ample,
the word and could ,e spelt either and or ond.
The second maFor source of loanwords to +ld English was the Dcandinavian words introduced during the \i-ing invasions of the Zth and
?Pth centuries. In addition to a great man3 place names, these consist mainl3 of items of ,asic voca,ular3, and words concerned with
particular administrative aspects of the Tanelaw >that is, the area of land under \i-ing control, which included e2tensive holdings all
along the eastern coast of England and DcotlandA. The \i-ings spo-e +ld %orse, a language related to +ld English in that ,oth derived
from the same ancestral .roto-Germanic language. It is ver3 common for the intermi2ing of spea-ers of different dialects, such as those
that occur during times of political unrest, to result in a mi2ed language, and one theor3 holds that e2actl3 such a mi2ture of +ld %orse
and +ld English helped accelerate the decline of case endings in +ld English. #pparent confirmation of this is the fact that simplification
of the case endings occurred earliest in the %orth and latest in the Douthwest, the area farthest awa3 from \i-ing influence. Regardless
of the truth of this theor3, the influence of +ld %orse on the English language has ,een profound: responsi,le for such ,asic voca,ular3
items as s-3, leg, the pronoun the3, the ver, form are, and hundreds of other words.
+ld English should not ,e regarded as a single monolithic entit3 Fust as 1odern English is also not monolithic. Within +ld English, there
was language variation. Thus, it is misleading, for e2ample, to consider +ld English as having a single sound s3stem. Rather, there were
multiple +ld English sound s3stems. +ld English has variation along regional lines as well as variation across different times. )or
e2ample, the language attested in Wesse2 during the time of pthelwold of Winchester, which is named $ate West Da2on >or
pthelwoldian Da2onA, is considera,l3 different from the language attested in Wesse2 during the time of #lfred the GreatVs court, which
is named Earl3 West Da2on >or Olassical West Da2on or #lfredian Da2onA. )urthermore, the difference ,etween Earl3 West Da2on and
$ate West Da2on is of such a nature that $ate West Da2on is not directl3 descended from Earl3 West Da2on >despite what the similarit3
in name impliesA.
The four main dialectal forms of +ld English were 1ercian, %orthum,rian, dentish, and West Da2on. Each of those dialects was
associated with an independent -ingdom on the island. +f these, all of %orthum,ria and most of 1ercia were overrun ,3 the \i-ings
during the Zth centur3. The portion of 1ercia and all of dent that were successfull3 defended were then integrated into Wesse2.
+ld English was first written in runes >futhorcA ,ut shifted to a >minusculeA half-uncial script of the $atin alpha,et introduced ,3 Irish
Ohristian missionaries. This was replaced ,3 insular script, a cursive and pointed version of the half-uncial script. This was used until the
end of the ?/th centur3 when continental Oarolingian minuscule >also -nown as OarolineA replaced the insular.
The letter 3ogh was adapted from Irish ecclesiastical forms of $atin q g h 4 the letter 8`t q 8 h >called eth or edh in modern EnglishA was
an alteration of $atin q d h, and the runic letters thorn and w3nn are ,orrowings from futhorc. #lso used was a s3m,ol for the
conFunction and, a character similar to the num,er seven >q r h, called a Tironian noteA, and a s3m,ol for the relative pronoun 6`t, a
thorn with a cross,ar through the ascender >q r hA. 1acrons q s h over vowels were rarel3 used to indicate long vowels. #lso used
occasionall3 were a,,reviations for following mGs or nGs. #ll of the sound descriptions ,elow are given using I.# s3m,ols.
,-./-0 11 maFor vowel changes in %E. great vowel shift. \ocaliIation of 9r;.
%ew English
Great \owel Dhift 5 the change that happened in the ?X
th
5 ?Y
th
c. and affected all long monophthongs m diphthong 9au;. #s a result these
vowels were:
diphthongiIed4
narrowed >,ecame more closedA4
,oth diphthongiIed and narrowed.
1E Dounds %E Dounds 1E %E
9i:; 9ai; time 9Sti:mE; time 9teim;
9e:; 9i:; kepen 9S-e:pEn; keep 9-i:p;
9a:; 9ei; maken 9Sma:-En; make 9mei-;
9o:;

9ou;
9u:;
stone 9Ssto:nE;
moon 9mo:n;
stone 9stoun;
moon 9mu:n;
9u:; 9au; mous 9mu:s; mouse 9maus;
9au; 9o:; cause 9S-auIE; cause 9-o:I;
This shift was not followed ,3 spelling changes, i.e. it was not reflected in written form. Thus the Great \owel Dhift e2plains man3
modern rules of reading.
Dhort \owels
1E Dounds %E Dounds 1E %E
9a;

9`;
9o; after 9w;tt
that 9at;
man 9man;
was 9was;
water 9SwatE;
that 98`t;
man 9m`n;
was 9woI;
water 9SwotE;
9u; 9H; hut 9hut;
comen 9cumen;
hut 9hHt;
come 9cHm;
There were e2ceptions though, e.g. put, pull, etc.
\ocalisation of 9r;
It occurred in the ?Y
th
5 ?_
th
c. Dound 9r; ,ecame vocalised >changed to 9E; >schwaAA when stood after vowels at the end of the word.
OonseCuences:
new diphthongs appeared: 9uE;, 9iE;, 9uE;4
the vowels ,efore 9r; were lengthened >e.g. arm 9a:m;, for 9fo:;, etc.A4
triphthongs appeared: 9aiE;, 9auE; >e.g. shower 9SBauE;, shire 9SBaiE;A.
&.. !ld and Modern /eranic languages.
%ld English >also called 2nglo34a5on,
9?;
5nglisc ,3 its spea-ersA is an earl3 form of the English language that was spo-en and written
in parts of what are now England and south-eastern Dcotland ,etween the mid-Uth centur3 and the mid-?/th centur3. What survives
through writing represents primaril3 the literar3 register of #nglo-Da2on. It is a West Germanic language and is closel3 related to +ld
)risian. It also e2perienced heav3 influence from +ld %orse, a mem,er of the related %orth Germanic group of languages.
The Germanic languages toda3 are conventionall3 divided into three linguistic groups: East Germanic, %orth Germanic, and West
Germanic. This division had ,egun ,3 the Xth cent. #.T. The East Germanic group, to which such dead languages as *urgundian,
Gothic, and \andalic ,elong, is now e2tinct. Rowever, the oldest surviving literar3 te2t of an3 Germanic language is in Gothic >see
Gothic languageA.
The %orth Germanic languages, also called Dcandinavian languages or %orse, include Tanish, )aeroese, Icelandic, %orwegian, and
Dwedish. The3 are spo-en ,3 a,out /P million people, chiefl3 in Tenmar-, the )aeroe Islands, Iceland, %orwa3, and Dweden.
The West Germanic languages are English, )risian, Tutch, )lemish, #fri-aans, German, and Jiddish. The3 are spo-en as a primar3
language ,3 a,out XUP million people throughout the world. #mong the dead West Germanic languages are +ld )ranconian, +ld Righ
German, and +ld English >or #nglo-Da2onA from which Tutch, German, and English respectivel3 developed.
+odern Germanic languages Geneticall3, English ,elongs to the Germanic or Teutonic group of languages, which is one of the twelve
groups of the I-E linguistic famil3. The Germanic languages in the modern world are as follows:
English 5 in Great *ritain, Ireland, the 0D#, Oanada, #ustralia, %ew vealand, the Douth #frican Repu,lic, and man3 other former
*ritish colonies4
German 5 in the German3, #ustria, $u2em,urg, part of DwitIerland4
%etherlandish 5 in the %etherlands and *elgium >-nown also as Tutch and )lemish respectivel3A4
#fri-aans 5 in the Douth #frican Repu,lic4
Tanish 5 in Tenmar-4
Dwedish 5 in Dweden and )inland4
%orwegian 5 in %orwa34
Icelandic 5 in Iceland4
)risian 5 in some regions of the %etherlands and German34
)aroese 5 in the )aroe Islands4
Jiddish 5 in different countries.
&4. Middle and New English noun: orphological classification, graatical categories.
The +E noun had the gr. cat. of %um,er and Oase. The Douthern dialects simplified and rearranged the noun declensions on the ,asis of
stem and gender distinctions. In Earl3 1E the3 emplo3ed onl3 four mar-ers - -es, -en, -e, and the root-vowel interchange 5 plus the ,are
stem > the Iero- inflectionA - ,ut distinguished several paradigms. 1asc and %euter nouns had two declensions, wea- and strong, with
certain differences ,etween the genders. 1asc nouns too- the ending -es in the %om., #cc pl, while %euter nouns had variant forms:
e.g. 1asc fishes 5%eut land6lande6landes
1ost )em nouns ,elonged to the wea- declensions and were declined li-e wea- 1asc and %euter nouns. The root-stem declention had
mutated vowels in some forms and that vowel interchange was ,ecoming a mar-er of num,er rather than case.
In the 1idlands and %orthern dialects the s3stem of declension was much simplier. There was onl3 one maFor t3pe of declension and a
few traces of other t3pes. The maForit3 of nouns too- the endings of +emasc a-stems: %e#s in the gen sg, %e#s in the pl irrespective of
case.
1ost nouns distinguished two forms: the ,asic form with the Iero ending and the form in 1e#s -
The +E Gender disappeared together with other distinctive features of the noun declensions
The gr categor3 of 0ase was preserved ,ut underwent profound changes in Earl3 1E. The num,er of cases in the noun paradigm was
reduced from four to two in $ate 1E. In the ?X
th
centur3 the ending 1es of the Gen sg had ,ecome almost universal. In the pl the Gen
case had no special mar-er- it was not distinguished from the common case. Deveral nouns with a wea- plural form in 5en or a vowel
interchange >o7en, menA added the mar-er of the Gen case to these forms.
Nu,er is the ost sta,le of all the noinal categories. 0he nu,er preserved the foral distinction of two nu,ers. )es was the
prevalent ar-er of nouns in the plural.
$onstruction 1ith its siplified case2ending s%ste, Middle English is uch closer to odern English than its pre2$on3uest
e3uivalent.
Nouns 4espite losing the slightl% ore cople5 s%ste of inflectional endings, Middle English retains two separate noun2ending
patterns fro !ld English. $opare, for e5aple, the earl% Modern English words 6engel6 (angel" and 6noe6 (nae":
7irst and second pronouns survive largel% unchanged, with onl% inor spelling variations. 8n the third person, the asculine
accusative singular ,ecae 9hi9. 0he feinine for was replaced ,% a for of the deonstrative that developed into 9she9, ,ut
unsteadil%:9ho9 reains in soe areas for a long tie. 0he lac- of a strong standard written for ,etween the eleventh and the
fifteenth centur% a-es these changes hard to ap.
Dimplification of noun morpholog3 affected the grammatical categories of the noun in different wa3s and to a var3ing degree.
The grammatical categor3 of Oase was preserved ,ut underwent profound changes.
/A after a voiceless consonant, e.g. 1E ,oo-es 9w,o:-Es; h 9,u:-s; h 9,u-s;, %E ,oo-s4
@A after si,ilants and affricates 9s, I, B, tB, dx; 1E dishes 9wdiBEs; h 9wdiBiI;, %E dishes.
The 1E pl ending 5en, used as a variant mar-er with some nouns lost its former productivit3, so that in Dtandard 1od E it is found onl3
in o2en, ,rethren, and children. The small group of 1E nouns with homon3mous forms of num,er has ,een further reduced to three
e2ceptions in 1od E: deer, sheep, and swine. The group of former root-stems has survived also onl3 as e2ceptions: man, tooth and the
li-e.
&. !ld English 4ialects and 1ritten Records.
6uthwell 7ross8 a religions poem on a tall stone cross near the village of Ruthwell in Douth-East Dcotland.
6unic 7as9et8 made of whale,one, and found in )rance near the town Olermond-)errand, now in the *ritish 1uscum in $ondon. The
Runic te2t is a short poem a,out whale,one> of the Z
th
centur3.A
#fter the #nglo-Da2on came into contact with the Roman culture the Runic alpha,et was superseded ,3 the $atin. Dince the ver3 earliest
times there were four dialects in +E:
ourthum)rian >?A , spo-en ,3 #ngles living north of the Rum,er. +ercian !est34a5on>/A, spo-en ,3 #ngles ,etween the Rum,er
and Thames. The 1ercian dialect: Translation of the .salter >Z
th
c.A and h3mns.The Runic te2ts of the Ruthwell Oross and )ran-Gs
Oas-et >RunicA, translation of the gospels, OaedmonGs Humn and *edeGs #ying 4ong.
:entish8 the language of the ^utes and )risians. The West dialect is represented ,3 the wor-s of -ind #lfred >lived ]XZ-ZPPA, ,oth
original compositions of translations of $atin te2ts, also ,3 the 2nglo34a5on 7hronicle >till ]Z?A, wor-s of the a,,ot #elfric >?P
centur3A and sermons of Wultstan >earl3 ??
th
centur3A.: Translations of .salms $-$yy and old charters .>zKL{L,
The superiorit3 of the West - Da2on dialect ,oth in Cuantit3 and importance of the documents using it contirms its dominating position as
the literar3 language of the period.
The epic poems of the +E period: (eowulf8 Genesis8 E5odus8 ;udith8 and poems ,3 the mon- G3newulf: Eleng 2ndreas8 ;uliana and
other were written in #nglian dialect ,ut have ,een -ept in West-Da2on dialect.
#ll over the countr3 in the dingdoms of England, all -inds of legal documents were written and copied. #t first the3 were made in $atin,
with English names and place names spelt ,3 means of $atin letters, later the3 were also written in the local dialects.
There is a great variet3 of prose te2ts, part of them translations from the $atin. #mong the prose wor-s we should first of all note the
2nglo34a5on 7hronicle8 >\II-Iy centuriesA, the 3ear ,oo- of the events in English histor3, starting at _]_, writtenlater in West- Da2on.
:ing 2lfred<s %rosius is a long te2t ,ased on the Ristoria adversus paganos >a Ristor3 against the Reathens ,3 the Dpanish mon-
.aulus +rosius, U
th
centur3A.
Translation made either ,3 #lfred himself or on his orders is that of (ede<s Ecclesiastical History of the English Peo$le. We mention
among #lfredGs translations that of the Pastoral 7are ,3 .ope Gregor3 I.>a,.UXP-YPXA and others.
#s we -now +E scri,es used two -inds of letters: the runes and the letters of the $atin alpha,et. $i-e an3 alpha,etic writing, +E writing
was ,ased on a phonetic principle: ever3 letter indicated a separate sound. Dome of +E letters indicated two or more sounds, according
to their positional variants in the word.
&;. !riging of odern irregular noun fors
2ll modern irregular noun forms can ,e su,devided into several groups according to their origin:
%oun going ,ac- to the original a-stem declension, neuter gender which had no ending in the nominative and accusative plural even in
+E.
Dheep 5 sheep4
Ding. .lur.
%om: sceap sceap
#cc. Teor deor
In +E the forms of this nouns were homonimous ,outh in the sing. and plur. %om. and #cc. case.
some nouns of n 5stem declension preserving the pluralforms.
+2 5o2en. Dg. .l.
+E: o2a o2an
The original s-stem declension
+E cild -cildre
1E childchildren
%E childchildren
In 1E the final vowel was neutraliIed>or levelledA0E and the ending % added on analog3 with the nouns of the original %-stem
declinsion.It shows that the power of the %-stem declinsion still relativel3 strong. >cildms > sIr >5 the result of rotasism Af cildru.
remnants of the original root-stem declension.
)oot-feet, tooth-teeth, mouse-mice> the result of mutation in +E.
The structure of the +enoun consists of @ elements: the rootmstem-,uilding suffi2mthe ending4
Root-stem nouns never had an3 stem-,uilding suffi2, thatGs wh3 the ending was added on immediatel3 to the root of the noun and caused
mutation of the root-vowel.
)ootfot m iI fet. W
Words ,orrowed in earl3 %E from $atin.These words were ,orrowed ,3 learning people from sintific ,oo-s, who used them, tr3ing to
preserve the original form. >detum 5 detaA. When in the course of further histor3 these words entered the language of the whole people
the3 tended to add regular plural endings which gave rise to such dou,lets.>molecula, moleculal, moleculasA.
,-./-0 1' The %E vowel
The development of vowels in Earl3 +E consisted of the modification of separate vowels, and also of the modification of entire sets of
vowels. The change ,egins with growing variation in pronunciation, which manifests itself in the appearance of numerous allophones:
after the stage of increased variation, some allophones prevail over the others and a replacement ta-es place. It ma3 result in the splitting
of phonemes and their numerical growth, which fills in the <empt3 ,o2es= of the s3stem or introduces new distinctive features. It ma3
also lead to the merging of old phonemes, as their new prevailing allophones can fall together.
The vocalic s3stem in +E included / su,s3stems: monophthongs, diphthongs. #ll vowels e2isted in the pairs: ==>-?@8 a A8 e B8 o C8 i
D 8 u E8 y y >-?@ FG @-HH-I JK LM?- A8 ==>-?@8 CN | }~M zLa KMKN}!}L~ ~ ~N!&b~: ea ea>-?@8 eo eo>-?@8 ie ie>-?@. The
maFor factor in +E was a categor3 of Cuantit3 vowels. It means, that all +E vowels, including diphthongs, could ,e ,oth long and short.
It it the s3stem of vowels on the ,eginning of +E. The new s3stem came with #nglo-Da2on tri,es >!L&&LA: In most cases these new
processes represent result of influence of the ne2t sounds and called the O+1*I%#T+RJ OR#%GED.
1.Onfluence of the ne5t consonant(rea9ing Fdiph thongiIationA Dhort vowel were diphthong-sed ,efore consonant. The short vowels
= ~ K8 a. Dhort vowels = and K were diph-niIed: = turn into ea )efore com)inations r P 0-@?8 l P 0-@?8 h P 0-@?8 and )efore h on the
end of a word: wear6,healp,eahta,seah e.g.: 9e; h 9eo; in +E deorc, %E dark.
e turn into eo )efore com)inations r P 0-@?8 l P velar concordant c and h8 )efore h on the end of a word: weor6an,meolcan,feoh
The essence of ,rea-ing consists that front vowel assimilates with the su,seCuent firm consonants ,3 development of a sound of glide,
which forms a diphthong. The glide, together with the original monophthong formed a diphthong.
PalataliQation
#fter the palatal consonants 9-G;, 9s-G; and 9F; short and long 9e; and 9`; turned into diphthongs with a more front close vowel as their
first element, e.g. +E sc`mu h sceamu >%E shameA. In the resulting diphthong the initial 9i; or 9e; must have ,een unstressed ,ut later
the stress shifted to the first element, which turned into the nucleus of the diphthong, to conform with the structure of +E diphthongs.
This process is -nown as Rdi$hthongisation after $alatal consonantsS. It o,serves in Wesse2 dialect. = - ea sceal , cearu. =>-?@ - ea
>-?@ scnwian, xnfon. a - ea scacan- sceacan. o - eo sceort, ceort. e - ie scield, x iefan
7ontraction F0HTUKJVKN The vowels contracted into ? when the3 were separated ,3 h and H disappeared. ePaWeo Fsehan seon.
iPaWeo Ftihan3 teonN. aPaWea Fslehan sleanN. oPaWo >-?@ Ffohan fonN
+utation 3.K/K@?X0-IYX
1utation is the change of one vowel to another through the influence of a vowel in the succeeding s3lla,le. / t3pes: i-0mlaut mutation
>palatal mutationA and *ac- mutation >gutturalA-b!aNL&&.
1N i3Zmlaut 3 under its influence vowel moves ahead or narrowed.
= e s`tFan 5 settan8 a3e talu 5 tellan8 o3e ofost efstan8 C B dom 5 dnman8 u 3 y fullian - f3llan 8 u 3 y cu6- c66an. Ohanges in
diphthongs: ea ie8 ea >-?@ ie >-?@8 eo ie8 eo >-?@ ie >-?@.
(ac9 mutation Z3Zmlaut it is caused )y )ac9 vowels Fa8 o8 uN. In Wesse2 dialect ta-e place onl3 ,efore consonants r, l, p, f, m. a-ea
saru 5 searu, i- io hira 5 hioru, e-eo herot 5 heorot. The words which ,egin with wi 5 mutation occurred without dependence from the
su,seCuent concordant: widu 5 wiodu
0-umlaut was optiona>facultativeA and i-umlaut was the main >K~KNM{!!aLxA.
Tevelopment of monophthongs
The .G short 9a; and the long 9a:;, which had arisen in West and %orth Germanic, underwent similar alterations in Earl3 +E: the3 were
fronted, and in the process of fronting, the3 split into several sounds. The principal regular direction of the change 5 9a; h 9`; and 9a:; h
9`:; 5 is often referred to as the fronting or palatalisation of 9a, a:;. The other directions can ,e interpreted as positional deviations or
restrictions to this trend: short 9a; could change to 9o; or 9; and long 9a:; ,ecame 9o:; ,efore a nasal4 the preservation of the short 9a; was
caused ,3 a ,ac- vowel in the ne2t s3lla,le.
Tevelopment of diphthongs
The .G diphthongs 5 9ei, ai, iu, eu, au; 5 underwent regular independent changes in Earl3 +E4 the3 too- place in all phonetic conditions
irrespective of environment. The diphthongs with the i-glide were monophthongised into 9i:; and 9a:;, respectivel34 the diphthongs in 1u
were reflected as long diphthongs 9io:;, 9eo:; and 9ea:;.
Phonetic $rocesses in %ld English Fthe system of vowelsN
7hanges of stressed vowels in Early %ld English
The development of vowels in Earl3 +E consisted of the modification of separate vowels, and also of the modification of entire sets of
vowels. The change ,egins with growing variation in pronunciation, which manifests itself in the appearance of numerous allophones:
after the stage of increased variation, some allophones prevail over the others and a replacement ta-es place. It ma3 result in the splitting
of phonemes and their numerical growth, which fills in the <empt3 ,o2es= of the s3stem or introduces new distinctive features. It ma3
also lead to the merging of old phonemes, as their new prevailing allophones can fall together.
Onde$endent changes.#evelo$ment of mono$hthongs
The .G short 9a; and the long 9a:;, which had arisen in West and %orth Germanic, underwent similar alterations in Earl3 +E: the3 were
fronted, and in the process of fronting, the3 split into several sounds. The principal regular direction of the change 5 9a; h 9`; and 9a:; h
9`:; 5 is often referred to as the fronting or palatalisation of 9a, a:;. The other directions can ,e interpreted as positional deviations or
restrictions to this trend: short 9a; could change to 9o; or 9; and long 9a:; ,ecame 9o:; ,efore a nasal4 the preservation of the short 9a; was
caused ,3 a ,ac- vowel in the ne2t s3lla,le.
#evelo$ment of di$hthongs
The .G diphthongs 5 9ei, ai, iu, eu, au; 5 underwent regular independent changes in Earl3 +E4 the3 too- place in all phonetic conditions
irrespective of environment. The diphthongs with the i-glide were monophthongised into 9i:; and 9a:;, respectivel34 the diphthongs in 5u
were reflected as long diphthongs 9io:;, 9eo:; and 9ea:;.
2ssimilative vowel changes: (rea9ing and #i$hthongiQation
The tendenc3 to assimilative vowel change, characteristic of later .G and of the +G languages, accounts for man3 modifications of
vowels in Earl3 +E. 0nder the influence of succeeding and preceding consonants some Earl3 +E monophthongs developed into
diphthongs. If a front vowel stood ,efore a velar consonant there developed a short glide ,etween them, as the organs of speech prepared
themselves for the transition from one sound to the other. The glide, together with the original monophthong formed a diphthong. The
front vowels 9i;, 9e; and the newl3 developed 9`;, changed into diphthongs with a ,ac- glide when the3 stood ,efore 9h;, ,efore long
>dou,ledA 9ll; or 9l; plus another consonant, and ,efore 9r; plus other consonants, e.g.: 9e; h 9eo; in +E deorc, %E dar-. The change is
-nown as ,rea-ing or fracture. *rea-ing produced a new set of vowels in +E 5 the short diphthongs 9ea; and 9eo;4 the3 could enter the
s3stem as counterparts of the long 9ea:;, 9eo:;, which had developed from .G protot3pes. *rea-ing was unevenl3 spread among the +E
dialects: it was more characteristic of West Da2on than of the #nglian dialects. Tiphthongisation of vowels could also ,e caused ,3
preceding consonants: a glide arose after palatal consonants as a sort of transition to the succeeding vowel. #fter the palatal consonants
9-G;, 9s-G; and 9F; short and long 9e; and 9`; turned into diphthongs with a more front close vowel as their first element, e.g. +E sc`mu h
sceamu >%E shameA. In the resulting diphthong the initial 9i; or 9e; must have ,een unstressed ,ut later the stress shifted to the first
element, which turned into the nucleus of the diphthong, to conform with the structure of +E diphthongs. This process is -nown as
<diphthongisation after palatal consonants=.
Palatal mutation
1utation is the change of one vowel to another through the influence of a vowel in the succeeding s3lla,le. The most important series of
vowel mutations, shared in var3ing degrees ,3 all +E languages >e2cept GothicA, is -nown as <i-0mlaut= or <palatal mutation=. .alatal
mutation is the fronting and raising of vowels through the influence of 9i; or 9F; in the immediatel3 following s3lla,le. The vowel was
fronted and made narrower so as to approach the articulation of 9i;. Tue to the reduction of final s3lla,les the conditions which caused
palatal mutation, that is 9i; or 9F;, had disappeared in most words ,3 the age of writing4 these sounds were wea-ened to 9e; or were
altogether lost. The la,ialiIed front vowels 93; and 93:; arose through palatal mutation from 9u; and 9u:;, respectivel3, and turned into
new phonemes, when the conditions that caused them had disappeared >cf. ms and msA. The diphthongs 9ie, ie:; were largel3 due to
palatal mutation and ,ecame phonemic in the same wa3, though soon the3 were confused with 93, 3:;. .alatal mutation led to the growth
of new vowel interchanges and to the increased varia,ilit3 of the root-morphemes: owing to palatal mutation man3 related words and
grammatical forms acCuired new root-vowel interchanges. We find variants of morphemes with an interchange of root-vowels in the
grammatical forms ms, ms >%E mouse, miceA, ,oc, ,nc >%E ,oo-, ,oo-sA, since the plural was originall3 ,uilt ,3 adding 5iI. >Traces
of palatal mutation are preserved in man3 modern words and forms, e.g. mouse 5 mice, foot 5 feet, ,lood 5 ,leed4 despite later phonetic
changes, the original cause of the inner change is i-umlautA.
1[. Phonetic $rocesses in %ld English Fthe system of consonantsN
Treatment of fricatives. Hardening. 6hotacism. \oicing and #evoicing.
#fter the changes under GrimmGs $aw and \ernerGs $aw had .G had the following two sets of fricative consonants: voiceless 9f, :, 2, s;
and voiced 9v, 8, , I;. In WG and in Earl3 +E the difference ,etween two groups was supported ,3 new features. .G voiced fricatives
tended to ,e hardened to corresponding plosives while voiceless fricatives, ,eing contrasted to them primaril3 as fricatives to plosives,
developed new voiced allophones. The .G voiced 98; >due to \ernerGs $awA was alwa3s hardened to 9d; in +E and other WG languages,
e.g. Icel, go8r and +E xod. The two other fricatives, 9v; and 9; were hardened to 9,; and 9g; initiall3 and after nasals, otherwise the3
remained fricatives. .G 9I; underwent a phonetic modification through the stage of 9x; into 9r; and thus ,ecame a sonorant, which
ultimatel3 merged with the older IE 9r;. This process is termed rhotacism. In the meantime or somewhat later the .G set of voiceless
fricatives 9f, :, 2, s; and also those of the voiced fricaties which had not turned into plosives, that is, 9v; and 9;, were su,Fected to a new
process of voicing and devoicing. In Earl3 +E the3 ,ecame or remained voiced intervocall3 and ,etween vowels, sonorants and voiced
consonants4 the3 remained or ,ecame voiceless in other environments, namel3, initiall3, finall3 and ne2t to other voiceless consonants.
In all WG languages, at an earl3 stage of their independent histor3, most consonants were lengthened after a short vowel ,efore 9l;. This
process is -nown as <geminantion= or <dou,ling= of consonants, e.g. fulFan h f3llan >%E fillA. The change did not affect the sonorant 9r;,
e.g +E werian >%E wearA4 nor did it operate if the consonant was preceded ,3 a long vowel, e.g. +E dnman, mntan >%E deem, meetA.
\elar consonants in Early %ld English. Growth of ew Phonemes
The velar consonants 9-, g, 2, ; were palataliIed ,efore a front vowel, and sometimes also after a front vowel, unless followed ,3 a
,ac- vowel. Thus in +E cild >%E childA the velar consonant 9-; was softened to 9-G; as it stood ,efore the front vowel 9i; 5 9-ild; h
9-Gild;4 similarl3 9-; ,ecame 9-G; in +E spric >%E speechA after a front vowel ,ut not in +E sprecan >%E spea-A.
Loss of consonants in some $ositions
%asal sonorants were regularl3 lost ,efore fricative consonants4 in the process the preceding vowel was proa,l3 nasaliIed and
lengthened, e.g. +RG fimf 5 +E ff >%E fiveA. It should ,e also mentioned the loss of consonants in unstressed final s3lla,les. 9F; was
regularl3 dropped in suffi2es after producing various changes in the root.
11. %E \er). Grammatical categories and mor$hologiacal classification.
In ]inite ]orms the3 were: mood >@A, tense >/A, num,er >/A, person>@A.
8# /here were 9 moods2 8nd, Su,<, 8p- /hey had appro7imately the same meanings which they have today with the e7ception of the
,ubj :ood, which was fre;uently used to e7press a problematic action and was found in indirect speech- $t was much more often than in
the <resent-
/A The +E ver,s had 1 tenses: the .resent and the .ast. The present form was used to denote ,oth tenses present and future >..to denote
.r and )uture actions as in other Germanic langeagesA. There were no analytical forms, onl3 infle2ion. )uturit3 was shown le2icall3
with the help of adver,ial modifiers and the conte2t. It is true that in +E there were com)inations with the ver)s: sculan >shallA, willan
>willA, ,ut the3 had there own le2ical meaning. The3 were not au2iliar3 ver,s. )rom these constructions the future forms >the future
tense wasA were formed later.
@A The categor3 of $erson was represented onl3 in the Indicative sg and in the Imperative in +E. There was no indication of person in
the Ind pl or in the Du,F forms. >+ne form for all persons.A Three persons were distinguished onl3 in the present tense of the Ind 1ood.
XA The Ind and Du,F had 1 num)ers in ,oth tenses. The Imp 1ood also distinguished / num,ers. %o dual num,er. #t that time the3
were homon3mous forms. In the Du,F 1 the past and the present pl were the same and also in the sg present and past. In the Indicative
the3 were homon3mous forms in the sing and plural. $ocian >loo-A wv/ >wea- ver, class /A.
Tense
+nl3 two tenses are distinguished ,3 infle2ion, present and past >sometimes called preterite in the grammarsA4 ,oth cover a wider range
of meanings than the3 would in 1odern English. Do he cymeth >present tenseA could mean She comesV, She is comingV, or She will comeV4
he com >past tenseA could mean She cameV, She has comeV, She was comingV, or She had comeV. Rowever, the periphrastic tense-forms >i.e.
forms with ShaveV, SwillV, S,eV, etc., plus infinitive or participleA illustrated in the translations here are alread3 ,eginning to develop in +ld
English.
+ood
+E ver,s, li-e 1nE ver,s, have three moods, indicative >for statements and CuestionsA, imperative >for commandsA, and subjunctive >for
wishes, h3pothetical conditions, etc.A. The main point of difference here is that in 1nE we use the su,Functive mood much less
freCuentl3, and have few distinctive su,Functive forms >see 3our /raditional Grammar ,oo-let, /.Y.iiiA cA, and 1itchell Ro,inson,
Inde2 of Du,Fects, under [1oods[A4 +E regularl3 indicates the su,Functive ,3 infle2ion, and 3ou should learn to recognise su,Functive
forms.
4trong and wea9 ver)s
#s in 1nE, ver,s ma3 ,e SstrongV >forming their past tense ,3 vowel-changeA or Swea-V >forming their past tense ,3 adding -d-A4 ,ut in
+E, the proportion of strong ver,s is higher. Jou should concentrate particularl3 on the endings of these forms.
OO. \er)al Paradigms: #s in ever3 other Gmc. language, the +ld English ver,al s3stem had two principle divisions: the strong ver,s
>whose past-tense forms were formed via vowel gradationA and the wea- ver,s >whose past-tense forms were ,uilt ,3 means of a suffi2A.
In the +ld English ver,al s3stem, moreover, there are onl3 two tenses: past and non-past >i.e. present and futureA, there was no inflected
passive voice >e2cept the past passive hatte Vwas calledV q h=tanA, three moods >indicative, imperative, and su,Functive. \er,s are
inflected for person >?st, /nd, @rdA and num,er >singular and pluralA in addition to tense. Tual su,Fects are treated as plurals. There are
two participles, a present and a past.
X.[Wea-[ \er, classes: In contrast to the strong ver,s and their a,laut, the wea- ver,s are primaril3 identified ,3 the fact that the3 form
the past tense ,3 means of a suffi2. The wea- ver,s, however, are further divided into three classes, depending on the relation ship
,etween the infinitive and the past tense forms. In W-. Olass I, the infinitive ends in either - an or -ian, and alwa3s has an umlauted stem
vowel, and the preterite suffi2 is either -ed- or -d-. W-. Olass II ver,s, on the other hand, have infinitives which alwa3s end in -ian, ,ut
do not have umlauted stem vowels, and the preterite suffi2 is alwa3s -od-. The third class of wea- ver,s contains onl3 four ver,s:
habban Vto haveV, libban Vto liveV, secgan Vto sa3V, and hycgan Vto thin-V.
U. The ver, Vto ,eV in +ld English. #mong all the anomolous ver,s in +E, the most necessar3, and most anomolous is Vto ,eV, owing to the
fact that it reflects three different .IE roots: es- Vto ,eV, ,hm- Vto ,ecomeV, and wes- Vto remain, dwellV. The forms from es- and the
forms from ,hm- are distinguished from one another in that the ,- forms can have a sense of futurit3 to them.
Dtrong ver,s
\er,s are -nown as [strong[ which form their preterite tenses ,3 means of a change in the stem-vowel, i.e. ,3 [ a,laut[. 1an3 of these
changes still e2ist in modern English, reflected in ver,s such as sing >past tense sang, past participle sungA.
There are seven classes of strong ver, in +ld English, denoted on Wi-tionar3 with Roman numerals. Each class has a different a,laut-
series >though confusingl3, there are three t3pes of Olass IIIA.
Olass I
D A i i eg scnan, 8st pret scn, pret pl scinon, past ppl scinen
Olass II
Bo Ba u o eg nosan, 8st pret nas, pret pl curon, past ppl coren
Olass III
IIIa: i a u u eg ,indan, 8st pret ,and, pret pl ,undon, past ppl ,unden
III,: e^eo ea u o eg helpan, 8st pret healp, pret pl hulpon, past ppl holpen
IIIc: e = u o eg ,regdan, 8st pret ,r`gd, pret pl ,rugdon, past ppl ,rogden
Olass I\
e = o eg ,eran, 8st pret ,`r, pret pl , ron, past ppl ,oren
Olass \
e = e eg cwe6an, 8st pret cw`6, pret pl cw don, past ppl cweden
Olass \I
a C C a eg standan, 8st pret stod, pret pl stodon, past ppl standen
Olass \II
ea Bo Bo ea eg healdan, 8st pret hnold, pret pl hnoldon, past ppl healden
Wea- ver,s
!ea9 ver)s are more $redicta)le. They form their $reterite tense )y adding 3de in the singular and 3don in the $lural. This is the
root of the common English $ast3tense suffi5 3ed. !ea9 ver)s are often formed from nouns8 or are in general _newer_ words.
There are three classes of wea- ver,, denoted on Wi-tionar3 with #ra,ic numerals.
7lass 1 are wea9 ver)s have an infinitive ending in 3an or 3rian. Third3$erson singular $resent ends in 3e`8 and $resent $lural
ends in 3a`.
7lass 1 are wea9 ver)s have an infinitive ending in 3ian Fe5ce$t 2rian8 a)oveN. Their third3$erson $resent singular ending is 3a`8
li9e 7lass 1 $lurals. 7lass 1 $resent $lurals end in 3ia`.
Olass @ are wea- ver,s are more unpredicta,le, and often com,ine features of the first two wea- classes. There are four Olass @ ver,s:
ha))an, li))an, secgan and hycgan.
,-./-0 1a %E 4trong ver)s
The maForit3 of +E ver,s fell into two great divisions: the strong ver)s and the wea9 ver)s. *esides these two main groups there
were a few ver,s which could ,e put together as <minor= groups. The main difference ,etween the strong and wea- ver,s la3 in the
means of forming the principal parts, or <stems= of the ver,. The strong ver,s formed their stems ,3 means of a,laut and ,3 adding
certain suffi2es4 in some ver,s a,laut was accompanied ,3 consonant interchanges. The strong ver,s had four stems, as the3
distinguished two stems in the .ast Tense 5 one for the ?st and @rd p. sg Ind. 1ood, the other 5 for the other .ast tense forms, Ind. and
Du,F. the wea- ver,s derived their .ast tense stem and the stem of .articiple II from the .resent tense stem with the help of the dental
suffi2 -d- or -t-4 normall3 the3 did not interchange their root vowel, ,ut in some ver,s suffi2ation was accompanied ,3 a vowel
interchange. 1inor groups of ver,s differed from the wea- and strong ver,s. Dome of them com,ined certain features of the strong and
wea- ver,s in a peculiar wa3 ><preterite-present= ver,sA4 others were suppletive or altogether anomalous.
Dtrong \er,s The strong ver,s in +E are usuall3 divided into seven classes. Olasses from 1 to " use vowel gradation which goes ,ac-
to the OE a)laut3series modified in different phonetic conditions in accordance with .G and Earl3 +E sound changes. Olass ' includes
redu$licating ver,s, which originall3 ,uilt their past forms ,3 means of repeating the root-morpheme4 this dou,led root gave rise to a
specific -ind of root-vowel interchange. The principal forms of all the strong ver,s have the same endings irrespective of class: -an for
the Infinitive, no ending in the .ast sg stem, -on in the form of .ast pl, -en for .articiple II.
Dtrong ver, indicate tense ,3 a change in the Cualit3 of a vowel. The3 are original>germ. EuropA. Restrictive group of ver,. +e 5 over
@PPDv. ? class 5i class, a. / class-u-classumrootfdiphthong,. Root consonant changed>rotasismA. @,X class- the gradation was caused ,3
consonant.>,rea-ingA, Y- Cualitative-Cuantities a,laut _ class 5reduplication of the root-morpheme. The3 use form of conFugation -nown
as a,laut. #nd this form of conFugation the stem of the word change to indicate the tense.
,-./-0 1bthe origin of 1odern English irregural ver,s.
Dtrong \er,s and their Tevelopment
#s far as the strong ver,s were a non-productive class, some strong ver,s turned into wea- with time, i.e. started to emplo3 -tg-d suffi2
in their form-,uilding >e.g. to climb, to help, to swallow, to wash, etc.A. Thus in %E onl3 _P strong ver,s out of @PP in +E remained.
The strong ver,s were su,divided into _ classes according to the t3pe of vowel gradationga,laut.
The classes that survived ,est through different periods of the histor3 were classes ?, @, Y:
Olass ? Infinitive .ast Dg .ast .l .articiple /
+E wr>tan wr?t writon writen
1E writen wrot writen writen
%E write wrote written
Olass @ Infinitive .ast Dg .ast .l .articiple /
+E findan fand fundon funden
1E finden fand founden founden
%E find found found
Olass Y Infinitive .ast Dg .ast .l .articiple /
+E scacan scoc sc@con scacen
1E shaken shook shoken shaken
%E shake shook shaken
#nal3sing the ta,les a,ove, we can see that the following changes occurred:
In 1E the inflections -an, %on, %en were all reduced to Fust one inflection -en-
In %E the ending %n was lost in the Infinitive and preserved in the .articiple / in order to distinguish these two forms.
In %E .ast Dingular and .ast .lural forms were unified, usuall3 with the Dingular form preferred as a unified form ,ecause .ast .lural
and .articiple / often had similar forms and it was hard to distinguish them >e.g. 1E writen >.ast .lA 5 writen >.art. /AA the categor3
of %um,er disappeared in the \er,.
In 1odE the su,division into classes was lost though we still can trace some peculiarities of this or that class in the forms of the
irregular ver,s.
15 . !ea9 ver)s
Wea- ver,s are relativel3 stronger than strong ver,s. The3 reflect a later stage in the development of the Germ.languages. There were an
open class in +E as new ver,s that entered the language generall3 formed their forms on analogie with the wea- ver,s. Whereas, the
strong ver,s used vowel interchange as means of differentiation among the principal ver, tense, the wea- ver,s used for that purpose
suffi2ation>suffi2es 5t,-dA : cnpan, cepte, cept. The wea- ver,s had a stem-forming suffi2, that followed the root the grammatical
endings. In accordance of the character of the stem-suffi2 the wea- ver,s are classified into @ classes:
The stem suffi2 <i=, the class includes man3 words from other nouns, adFectives and ver,s. #ll of them have a front- root vowel 5 the
result of the palatal mutation due to the <i= element of the stem suffi2.> don-deman4 ful-f3llanA. In the cause of time this palatal suffi2
was lost. It was preserved onl3 in some participles in the form of <e=: dnman, demd, demed.
The stem-suffi2 <oi=.The <o= element of the suffi2 is preserved in the past tense in the .articiple II. The root vowel of this class
remained unchanged ,ecause of the preceding o >lufo-ianA in all forms.
+nl3 @ ver,s: -ha,,an 5have4-li,,an-live4 seeIan-sa3.
1". Grammatical categories of the English ver): growth of the future tense and continuous forms in English language.
In the +E language there was no form of the future tense. The categor3 of tense consisted of two mem,ers: past and present. The present
tense could indicate ,oth present and future actions, depending on the conte2t. #longside this form there e2isted other wa3s of
presenting future happenings: modal phrases and the infinitive of the notional ver,. In these phrases the meaning of futurit3 was
com,ined with strong modal meanings of volition, o,ligation and possi,ilit3.
In 1E the use of modal phrases, especiall3 with the ver, shall, ,ecame increasingl3 common. Dhall m inf. was now the principal means
of indicating future actions in an3 conte2t. +ne of the earl3 instances of shall with a wea-ened modal meaning is found in the earl3 1E
poem +R10$01.
In late 1E te2ts shall was used ,oth as a modal ver, and as a future tense au2iliar3, though discrimination ,etween them is not alwa3s
possi,le. In the age of Dha-espeare the phrases with shall and will, as well as the present tense of notional ver,s occurred in free
variation4 the3 can e2press <pure= futurit3 and add different shades of modal meanings.
The development of aspect is lin-ed up with the growth of the continuous forms. In the +E ver, s3stem there was no categor3 of aspect4
ver,al prefi2es especiall3 xe-, which could e2press an aspective meaning of perfectivit3 in the opinion of most scholars, were primaril3
word-,uilding prefi2es. The growth of continuous forms was slow and uneven.
\er, phrases consisting of ,non >%E ,eA m .art.I are not infreCuentl3 found in +E prose. The3 denoted a Cualit3, or a lasting state,
characteriIing the person or thing indicated ,3 the su,Fect of the sentence.
In earl3 1E ,en m .art.I fell into disuse4 it occurs occasionall3 in some dialectal areas.
In the ?U
th
and ?Y
th
c. ,e m .art.I was often confused with a s3non3mous phrase 5 ,e m the preposition on m a ver,al noun.
It was not until the ?]
th
c. that the cont. forms acCuired a specific meaning of their own4 to use modern definitions, that of incomplete
concrete process of limited duration. +nl3 at the stage the cont. and non-cont. made up a new gram. categor3 5 aspect.
1' . +inor grou$s of ver)s in %E.
#mong them the most important group:
?A.reterite 5 present ver,s.
+riginall3 the .resent Tense forms of these ver,s were .ast tense forms. $ater these forms acCuired a present meaning ,ut preserved
man3 formal features of the .ast tense. 1ost of these ver,s had new .ast tense forms ,uilt with the help of the dental suffi2. Dome of
them also acCuired the forms of the ver,als: .articiples and infinitives. 1ost ver,s didnGt have a full paradigm and were in this sense
<defective=.
The ver,s were inflected in the .resent li-e the .ast tense of strong ver,s: the forms of the ?
st
and @
rd
person sing. 0nli-e strong ver,s
had the same root-vowel in all the persons4 the plural had a different grade of a,laut similarl3 with strong ver,s. In the .ast the preterite-
presents were inflected li-e wea- ver,s: the denta- suffi2 m the endings 5e, -est,-e. In +E there were ?/ preterite-present ver,s. Y of
them have survived in modern E. >cunnun, sceal, maIan:ought, ma3, mustA. 1ost of the .reterite-presents did not indicate actions, ,ut
e2pressed a -ind of attitude to an action, denoted ,3 another ver,-an infinitive which followed the preterit-present. The3 were used li-e
modal ver,s and eventuall3 developed into modern modal ver,s.
#mong the ver,s of the minor groups:
-anomalous ver,s with irregular forms>willan 5 the meaning of volition and desire, indicated an attitude to an action and was often
followed ,3 an infinitive.
/ +E ver,s were suppletive >+E In, ,nonf,eA
1*. Grammatical categories of the English ver): growth of the $assive voice and $erfect forms in English language.
In +E the finite ver, had no categor3 of voice.
The anal3tical passive forms developed from +E ver, phrases consisting of +E ,non >%E ,eA and weor8an >,ecomeA and .art.II of
transitive ver,s.
+E ,non was used as a lin--ver, with a predicative e2pressed ,3 .art.II to denote a state resulting from a preveous action, while the
construction with +E weor8an <,ecome= indicated the transition into the state e2pressed ,3 the .art. The .art. in +E agreed with the
su,Fect in num,er and gender.
In 1E ,en m .ast .art. developed into an anal3tical form. %ow it could e2press not onl3 a state ,ut also an action.
The new passive forms had a regular means of indicating the doer of the action or the instrument with the help of which it was
performed.
$ate 1E saw the appearance of new t3pes of passive constructions. .assive forms ,egan to ,e ,uilt from intransitive ver,s associated
with different -inds of o,Fects. The passive voice continued to spread to new parts the ver, paradigm: the gerund and the continuous
forms.
The perfect forms have developed from +E ver, phrases.
The main source of the perf. form was the +E <possessive= construction, consisting of the ver, ha,,an >%E haveA, a direct o,Fect and
.art.II of a transitive ver,, which served as an attri,ute to the o,Fect.
The .art. agreed with the noun-o,Fect in numver, gender, case.
+riginall3 the ver, ha,,an was used onl3 with .articiples of transitive ver,s4 than it came to ,e used with ver,s ta-ing genitival, datival
and prepositional o,Fects and even with intransitive ver,s, which shows that it was developing into a -ind of au2iliar3.
Towards 1E the two ver, phrases turned into anal3tical forms and made up a single set of forms termed <perfect=. The .articiples had
lost their forms of agreement with the noun. The .art. usuall3 stood close to the ver, have and was followed ,3 the o,Fect which referred
now to the anal3tical form as a whole 5 instead of ,eing governed ,3 have.
In the perf.form from the au2iliar3 have had lost the meaning of possession and was used with all -inds of ver,s, without restrictions.
*3 the age of the $iterar3 Renaissance the perf.forms had spread to all the parts of the ver, s3stem, so that ultimatel3 the categor3 of
time correlation ,ecame the most universal of ver,al categories.
1[. %E noun8 its grammatical categories. !ea9 declension.
%ouns in +E had the categories of num,er, gender and case. Gender is actuall3 not a gram. Oategor3 in a strict sense of the word, for
ever3 noun with all its forms ,elongs to onl3 one gender4 ,ut case and num,er had a set of endings. %ouns used to denote males are
normall3 masculine 5 mann, `der >man, fatherA. %aturall3, those denoting females should ,e all feminine, - modor, sweostor >mother,
sisterA.
There are two num,ers 5 sing. and pl., and X cases 5 nominative, genitive, dative, accusative. The num,er proved to ,e a sta,le categor3,
relevant for rendering the meanings and e2pressing the true state of things in realit3. Oase is supplanted ,3 other means to e2press the
relations ,etween words in an utterance, whereas gender disappeared altogether.
#ll the nouns can ,e classified according to the different principles. In traditional historical studies the nouns are divided into classes
according to the former stem-forming suffi2es. These stem-forming suffi2es determined what inflections were ta-en ,3 the nouns.
The nouns in +E are commonl3 classified as ,elonging to strong and wea- declension, within each of these groups there are several
su,groups.
This class of nouns consists of a rather numerous group of nouns originall3 having 5 n-stems4 the suffi2 is well-preserved in declension
of nouns in +E, ,ut disappeared in the nom. Oase n-stem nouns ma3 ,e of all three genders. *ut actuall3 no difference in declension of
nouns of different genders can ,e found.
e.g.: masculine: wita >wise manA, steorra >starA,
neuter: cofa >cham,erA
feminine: heorte >heartA, sunne >sunA.
Root stems. This group comprises the nouns that never had a stem suffi2.
e.g.: wimman >womanA, to8 >toothA, ms >mouseA.
The nouns ,elonging to r-stems were of masculine and feminine gender, the group is a closed s3stem. It included onl3 the terms of
-inship. The endings here are scarce, a distinctive feature is that the dative case sing. had a mutated vowel.
e.g.: dohtor >daughterA, sweostor >sisterA.
$ess numerous and less significant for the development of the present-da3 nominal s3stem are the nouns that had other consonants as a
stem-forming suffi2. D-stems had this suffi2 in older times, the3 changed it into occasional appearance of r-sound in indirect cases. The3
are all neuter.
e.g. lam, >lam,A, cealf >calfA, cild >childA.
-nd-stems are all masculine and their declension com,ines the peculiarities of the declension of a-stems and, to some e2tent, r-stems as
the3 all denote persons.
e.g. frnond >friendA, fnond >accuserA.
ac. Growth of the interrogative and negative forms with RdoS in the English language.
The earl3 %E period witnessed the development of a new set of anal3tical forms which entered the paradigms of the present and past
tense of the indicative mood: interrogative and negative forms with the au2iliar3 ver, do.
It first the do 5 periphrasis was more freCuent in poetr3, which ma3 ,e attri,uted to the reCuirements of the rh3thm. Then it spread to all
-inds of te2ts. In the ?Y
th
and ?_
th
c. the periphrasis with do was used in all t3pes of sentences 5 negative, affirmative and interrogative.
The growth of new interrogative and negative forms with do ,e accounted for ,3 s3ntactic conditions. *3 that time the word order in the
sentence had ,ecome fi2ed: the predicate of the sentence normall3 followed the su,Fect. The use of do made it possi,le to adhere to this
order in Cuestions, for at least the notional part of the predicate could thus preserve its position after the su,Fect.
$i-ewise, the place of negative particle not in negative sentences with modal phrases and anal3tical forms set up a pattern for the similar
use of not with the do-periphrasis.
In the ?]
th
c. the periphrasis with the do as an eCuivalent for the simple form in affirmative statements fall into disuse.
a1. %E noun. 4trong declension.
The strong declension includes nouns that had had a vocalic stem-forming suffi2.
a-stems ma3 ,e either masculine >earm 5 arm, ,iscop 5 ,ishop, hm - homeA or neuter >dor 5 door, ,earn 5 child, hs - houseA.
There are some peculiarities of declension of the nouns that had originall3 5F- or 5w- in the stem >the3 are called 5Fa- and 5wa-
stemsA4the3 ma3 preserve this sound in declension4 ,ut otherwise the differences are minor. #lso, some nouns might have ,ecome still
clumsier when an inflection was added. Do we ma3 see the omission of such sound >the second root vowel in such words as heafod 5
heafdes >headAA.
e.g. of 5Fa-stems are: fiscere >fishermanA, net >netA,
-wa-stems: trno >treeA, cnno >-neeA.
%ouns ,elonging to o-stems are all feminine. In the form of the nom. case monos3lla,ic nouns with a short root vowel of this class have
ending 5u4 if there are two and more s3lla,les or the root vowel is long, there is no ending at all.
e.g. caru >careA, scamu >shameA, lufu >loveA.
In this group of nouns the suffi2 5o- ma3 also ,e accompanied ,3 additional i and w, that is 5Fo- and 5wo-stems will give variants of
declension: hild >,attleA, sceadu >shadeA.
The nouns formerl3 having 5i-suffi2, now called 5i-stems might ,elong to all the three genders, and the case endings are different for
different genders 5 masculine and neuter have the same endings as masc. and neuter nouns of the a-stems, and feminine noun endings
repeated the endings of the o-endings.
e.g. masc.: mere >seaA, mete >foodA
neuter: sife >sieveA, m3nster >monaster3A
feminine: wiht >thingA, h3de >hideA.
%ouns ,elonging to u-stems ma3 ,e of masculine >wudu 5 wood, medu - hone3A or feminine gender >nosu 5 nose, flor - floorA.
aa.The %E %Z The +E noun had two grammatical or morphological
categories :num,er and case. In addition, nouns distinguished three genders, ,ut this distinction was not a grammatical categor3.The
categor3 of num,er consisted of two mem,ers, singular and plural.The noun had four cases: %ominative, Genitive, Tative and
#ccusative. The ,most remar-a,le feature of +E nouns was their ela,orate s3stem of declensions, which was a sort of morphological
classification. The total num,er of declensions, including ,oth the maFor and minor t3pes, e2ceeded twent3-five. The +E s3stem of
declensions was ,ased on a num,er of distinctions: the stem-suffi2, the gender of nouns, the phonetic structure of the word, phonetic
changes in the final s3lla,les.
The morphological classification of +E nouns rested upon the most ancient >IEA grouping of nouns according to the stem-suffi2es.
The morphological classification +E nouns rested upon the most ancient grouping of nouns according to the stem-suffi2es. Dome
groups Ff nouns had no stem-forming suffi2 or had a <Iero-suffi2=4 the3 are usuall3 termed <root-stems= and are grouped together with
consonantal stems, as their roots ended in consonants, e.g. +E man, ,oc >%E man, ,oo-A.These su,stantives seem to represent the oldest
t3pe, stemmingfrom the period when there were no stem-forming suffi2es and the root was used as a stem without addition of an3
special stem-forming element.
This t3pe of stem is represented in various Indo-European languages. Thus in $atin we find su,stantives of the @rd declension re7 V-ingV,
gen. sing, reg%is, etc. In Gothic we find a clear e2ample of a root stem in the su,stantive baurgs V,oroughV, whose declension is onl3
complicated ,3 the adoption of the -im ending in the dative plural on the analog3 of i-stems baurgim#-
In +E there are a num,er of su,stantives of all three genders which wholl3 or partl3 ,elong to the root-stem declension.
The fact that the case endings were Foined on immediatel3 to the root in words of this t3pe led to a change in the root vowel.
OonseCuences of this change ma-e themselves felt in several English su,stantives down to the present time.
The masculine su,stantives hselep VheroV >cp. German "eld# and monap VmonthV are close to this t3pe in so far as the3 often have in the
nominative and accusative plural forms without endings: haslep, tnonap-
)eminine root stems with a short s3lla,le in the nominative singular has the ending -u4 those with a long root s3lla,le have no ending at
all in this case.
The su,stantive wifman, wimman VwomanV is declined in the same wa3 as mann- +ther e2amples of root stems are: feminine ac Voa-V, sat
VgoatV.
The +E root stems correspond to $atin @rd declension su,stantives, as pes, pedis VfootV4 pa7, pads VpeaceV.
ab .Historical grammar.
+E was a s3nthetic or inflected t3pe of lang.4 it showed the relations ,etween words and e2pressed other gram. 1eanings mainl3 with
the help of simple gram. )orms. In ,uilding garm.forms +E emplo3ed gram.endings, sound interchanges in the root, gram prefi2es and
suppletive formation.
Gram.endings were certainl3 the principal form-,uilding means used:the3 were found in all the parts of speech that could change their
form. Dound interchanges were emplo3ed on a more limited scale and were often com,ined with other form-,uilding means, especiall3
endings.
The use of prefi2es in gram.forms was rare was confined to ver,s.
The parts of speech: nouns, adFect., pronouns, numerals, ver,s, adver,s, prepositions, conFunctions, interFections. Inflected parts of
speech possessed certain gram. Oategories, which are usuall3 su,divided into nominal categories>found in nominal parts of speechA
ver,al categories>found chiefl3 in the finite ver,sA. There were U nominal gram.categories : num,er, case, gender, degrees of comparison
the categor3 of definitenessindefiniteness.
a5 . %E $ersonal $ronouns.
+E personal pronouns had @ persons, @ num,ers>sing, dual, pluralA in the ?
st
and /
nd
persons4 @ genders>masculine, feminine, neutralA in
the @
rd
person. The pronouns of the ?
st
and /
nd
had suppletive forms4 the pronouns of the @
rd
person had man3 affinities with the
demonstrative pronouns.
In +E personal pronouns ,egan to lose some of their case distinctions: the forms of the Tat. Oase were freCuentl3 used instead of the
#cc.: in fact the fusion of these / cases in the plural was completed in the West Da2on dialect alread3 in Earl3 +E: #cc. nowic sic
were replaced ,3 Tat. now s. In the singular, usage was varia,le ,ut variant forms revealed the same tendenc3 to generaliIe the
form of the Tat. for ,oth cases.
The Gen. Oase of personal pronouns had / main applications: li-e other o,liCue cases of noun-pronouns it could ,e an o,Fect, ,ut far
more freCuentl3 it was used as an attri,ute or a noun determiner.: e.g. sunu mn, %E m3 son4 his f`der>his fatherA. The grammatical
characteristics of the forms of the Gen.case, that were emplo3ed as possessive pronouns, were not homogeneous. The forms of the ?
st
and /
nd
persons: mn, re and others 5 were declined li-e adFectives to show agreement with the nouns the3 modified, while the forms of
the @
rd
person ,ehaved li-e nouns: the3 remained uninflected and didnGt agree with the nouns the3 modified.
1
st
$ers. 7ase sing dual $lural
%om. Ic wit wn
Gen. 1n uncer re, ser
Tat. mn unc s
#cc. 1ec, mn uncit sic, s
1
nd
$ers. 7ase sing dual $lural
%om Iit In
Gen n incer nower
Tat n inc now
#cc nc, n incit, inc nowic, now
a
rd
$ers. 7ase sing $lural
1 ) % all genders
%om hn hno, ho hit he, h, h, hno
Gen his hire, hiere his hira, heora, hiera
Tat him hire, hiere him him, heom
#cc hine h, h, h hit h, h, h
a" F%ld English PhoneticsN Historical Phonetics
+Eis no far removed from 1E that one ma3 ta-e it for an entirel3 different language, this is largel3 due to the peculiarities of its
pronunciation.
The surve3 of +E phonetics deals with word accention the s3stems of vowe-s and consonants and their origins. The +E sound s3stem
developed from the .G s3stem. It underwent changes in the pre-written periods of histor3, especiall3 in Earl3 +E. The diachronic
description of phonetics in those earl3 perods will show the specificall3 English tendencies of development and the immediate source of
the sounds in the age of writing.
The s3stem of word accentuation inherited from .G underwent no changes in Earl3 +E.
In +E a s3lla,le was made pronominent ,3 an increase in the force of articulation, in other words, a d3namic or a force stress was
emplo3ed. In Tis3lla,ic and pol3s3lla,icwords the accent fell on the root 5 morpheme or on the first s3lla,le. Word stress was fi2ed, it
remained on the same s3lla,le in defferent grammatical forms of the word and, as a rule,did not shift in word-,uilding either.
.ol3s3lla,ic words, espaciall3 compounds, ma3 have had two stresses, chief and secondar3, the chief stress ,eing fi2ed on the first root-
morpheme e, g, the compound noun %or8monna fromsame e2tract, received the chief stress upon its first component and the secondar3
stress on the second component , the grammatical ending 5a was unaccented. In words with prefi2es the position of the stress varied
ver, prefi2es were unaccented, while in nouns and adFectives the stress was commonl3 thrown on to the prefi2
risan >%E arise A
to-weard > %E towardA
If the words were deived from the same roor, word stress, together with other means, served tF distinguish the noun from ver,
)orw3rd n 5 for-weoran v > destruction,perishA
a' . %E $ronouns.
+E pronouns fell roughl3 under the same main classes as modern pronouns: personal, demonstrative, interrogative, definiteindefinite.
Personal: +E pers. .ronouns had @ persons, @ num,ers in the ?
st
/
nd
persons, @ genders in the @
rd
p. The pronouns of the ?
st
and /
nd
p.
had suppletive forms, the pronouns of the @
rd
p. had man3 affinities with the demonstrative pronouns. E.g. ic, wn, wit.
#emonstrative: There were / demonstr.pronouns in +E: the protot3pe of %E <That= which destinguished @ genders in the sing. ahd ?
form for all the genders in the plural the protot3pe of <This= with the same su,divisions: es>masc.A, nos> fem.A, is>neutr.A,
s>pluralA. The3 were declined li-e adFectives accordimg to a U-case s3stem. #lso, the3 were ver3 important, as the3 were freCuentl3
used as a noun determiners through agreement with the noun, indicated its num,er, gender case: e.g. on `m lande>on that landA,
to `re heorde >to that herdA->to define the forms of the nounsA.
Onterrogative: hw>masc, fem.A hw`t>neutrA had a X-case
.aradigm>%E who, whatA. The Instrumental case of hw`t was used as a separate interrogative word hw>%E wh3A. Dome interr.
.ronouns were used as adFective pronouns, e.g. hwelc, hw`er.
Ondefinite pronouns were a numerous class em,racing several simple pronouns a large num,er of compounds: n its derivative
`niI>%E one, an3A4 nn made up of n the negative particle ne>%E noneA4 nninI, made up of the preceding the noun ing>%E
nothingA4 nwihtnowihtnoht>%E notA4 hw`t-hwuIu>somethingA etc.
a*. Latin )orrowings in the e$och of 6enaissance
The mi2ed character of the English voca,ular3 facilitated an eas3 adoption of words from $atin. 1an3 of these ,elong to certain
derivational t3pes. The most easil3 recogniIa,le are the following:
ver,s in 5ate, derived from the past participle of $atin ver,s of the ?st conFugation in -are: aggravate, irritate, a,,reviate, narrate.
ver,s in 5ute, derived from the past participle of a group of $atin ver,s of the @rd conFugation in 5uere: attri,ute, constitute, pollute, and
from the $atin deponent ver, seCui with various prefi2es: persecute, e2ecute, prosecute.
ver,s derived from the past participle of other $atin ver,s of the @rd conFugation: dismiss, collect, affect, correct, collapse, contradict.
ver,s derived from the infinitive of $atin ver,s of the @rd conFugation: permit, admit, compel, e2pel, produce, also introduce, reproduce,
conclude, also include, e2clude.
adFectives derived from $atin present participles in 5ant and 5ent. ver,s of the /
nd
, @
rd
, X
th
conFugation: arrogant, evident, patient.
adFectives derived from the comparative degree of $atin adF. with the 5ior suffi2: superior, Funior, minor.
It is often hard or even impossi,le to tell whether a word was adopted into English from $atin or from )rench. Thus, man3 su,stantives
in 5tion are dou,tful in this respect.
a[.%ld English addective8 adver)8 numeral .
2ddectives
)orms of the +E adFective e2press the categories of gender >masculine, feminine, and neuterA, num,er >sing. and plur.A, and case
>nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, and, partl3, instrumentalA.
Ever3 adFective can ,e declined according to the strong and to the wea- declension. The strong declension of adFectives as a whole is a
com,ination of su,stantival and pronominal forms. The pronominal forms are o,viousl3 element of the s3stem.
The wea- declension of adFectives does not differ from that of nouns, e2cept in the genitive plural of all genders, which often ta-es the
ending 5ra. *l`cra.
The comparatives are declined as strong adFectives, the superlatives rarel3 ta-e the forms of the strong declension and mostl3 follow the
wea- declension.
Earm >poorA earmra earmost
Deveral adFectives have suppletive forms of comparative and superlative:
vod >goodA ,etera ,ets
3fel >,adA wiersa wierest
umerals cardinal
%umerals from ? to @ are declined. %umerals from X to ?Z are usuall3 invaria,le, if used as attri,utes to a su,stantive, ,ut the3 are
declined if used without a su,stantive. %umerals denoting tens have their genitive in 5es or 5a, -ra, their dative in 5um. %um,ers
consisting of tens and units are denoting in the following wa3: // twa and twentiI, X] eahta and feowertiI.
*rdinal
The ordinal numerals are declined as wea- adFectives. %umerals containing ,oth tens and units are a2pressed in the following wa3: //
twa and twentiIo8a or o8er eac twentiIum, X]
th
-eahta and feortiIo8a or eahto8a eac feowertiIum.
2dver)
Dome +E adver,s are primar3, that is, the3 have not ,een derived from an3 other part of speech, while others are secondar3, derived
from some other part of speech. #mong the primar3 adver,s there are man3 pronominal words, such as hwonne >whenA, hw`" >whereA.
1uch more numerous are the secondar3 adver,s, derived from su,stantives or adFectives. Dometimes some case form of a su,stantive or
an adFective ,ecomes isolated from the declension s3stem and ,ecomes a separate word.
Tegrees of comparison.
#dver,s whose meaning admits of degrees of comparison derive them ,3 means of the same suffi2es that are used as degrees of
comparison of adFectives 5r for the comparative, and 5st for the superlative. These suffi2es are preceded ,3 the vowel 5o: wide >widel3A
widor widost
Dome adver,s derive their comparative without an3 suffi2, ,3 means of mutation of the root vowel: lonI >longA lenI, feorr >farA fierr.
bc. ]rench Loan3word
$oanwords are words adopted ,3 the spea-ers of one language from a different language.
)rench. $aw and government :attorne3, ,ailiff, chancellor, chattel, countr3, court, crime,defendent, evidence, government, Fail, Fudge,
Fur3, larcen3, no,le,parliament, plaintiff, plea, prison, revenue, state, ta2, verdict.Ohurch :a,,ot, chaplain, chapter, clerg3, friar, pra3er,
preach, priest,religion, sacrament, saint, sermon
%o,ilit3: ,aron, ,aroness4 count, countess4 du-e, duchess4 marCuis, marCuess4prince, princess4 viscount, viscountess4 no,le, ro3al
>contrast native words: -ing, Cueen, earl, lord, lad3, -night, -ingl3,
Cueenl3A1ilitar3:arm3, artiller3, ,attle, captain, compan3, corporal,
defense,enem3,marine, nav3, sergeant, soldier, volunteer
Ooo-ing :,eef, ,oil, ,roil, ,utcher, dine, fr3, mutton, por-, poultr3, roast,salmon, stew, veal.Oulture and lu2ur3 goods:art, ,racelet, claret,
clarinet, dance, diamond, fashion, fur, Fewel,o,oe, painting, pendant, satin, ru,3, sculpture.+ther:adventure, change, charge, chart,
courage, devout, dignit3, enamor,feign, fruit, letter, literature, magic, male, female, mirror,pilgrimage, proud, Cuestion, regard, special
#lso 1iddle English )rench loans: a huge num,er of words in age, -anceg-ence, -antg-ent, -it3, -ment, -tion, con-, de-, and pre-.
Dometimes itVs hard to tell whether a given word came from )rench or whether it was ta-en straight from $atin. Words for which this
difficult3 occurs are those in which there were no special sound andgor spelling changes of the sort that distinguished )rench from $atin.
I\. Earl3 1odern English .eriod >?UPP-?YUPA
The effects of the renaissance ,egin to ,e seriousl3 felt in England. We see the ,eginnings of a huge influ2 of $atin, Gree- )rench
words, man3 of them learned words imported ,3 scholars well versed in those languages. \. 1odern English >?YUP-presentA
.eriod of maFor colonial e2pansion, industrialgtechnological revolution, and #merican immigration.
Words from European languages.)rench: )rench continues to ,e the largest single source of new words outside of ver3 specialiIed
voca,ular3 domains >scientificgtechnical voca,ular3, still dominated ,3 classical ,orrowingsA.Righ culture :,allet, ,ouilla,aise, ca,ernet,
cachet, chaise longue, champagne,chic, cognac, corsage, fau2 pas, nom de plume, Cuiche, rouge, roulet,sachet, salon, saloon, sang froid,
savoir faire.War and 1ilitar3 :,astion, ,rigade, ,attalion, cavalr3, grenade, infantr3, pallisade, re,uff, ,a3onet+ther :,igot, chassis,
cliCue, denim, garage, grotesCue, Fean>sA, niche, shoc-.)rench Oanadian: chowder
$ouisiana )rench >OaFunA :Fam,ala3a
b1. %E voca)ulary. Etymological survey.
1odern estimates of the total +E voca,ular3 range from a,out @P.PPP-?PP.PPP words. The last digit is pro,a,l3 too high, ,ut it depends
on the treatment of pol3sem3 and homon3m3. Word et3molog3 throws light on the histor3 of the spea-ing communit3. The +E voca,.
was almost purel3 Germanic4 e2cept for a small num,er of ,orrowings, it consisted of native words, inherited from .roto-Germanic or
formed from native roots and affi2es.
%ative words can ,e su,divided into some et3mological la3ers coming from different historical periods: @ main la3ers in the native
words:?Acommon Indo-European words. The3 constitute the oldest part of the +E voca,. #mong these words:natural phenomena, plants,
animals, agricultural terms, ver,s denoting menGs activities, pronouns, numerals. E.g. `t, ,non, mona, modor, ic.
/A Oommon Germanic words include words, which are shared ,3 most Germanic languages, ,ut do not occur outside the group. These
words constitute an important distinctive mar- of the Germanic lang. at the le2ical level. Demanticall3 these words are connected with
nature, sea and ever3da3 life. E.g. +E sand, +RG sant, + Icel sandr, %E sand. +E findan, +RG findan, GT finan, + Icel finna, %E
find.+E fo2, +RG fuhs, GT -, + Icel -, %E fo2.@A Dpecificall3 +E words do not occur in other Germanic or non-Germanic languages.
These words are few, if we include here onl3 the words whose roots have not ,een found outside English: +E clipian><call=A,
,rid><,ird=A, swapian><swathe=A.*ut we can also put into consideration +E compounds and derived words formed from Germanic roots
in England. E.g.hlford, made of hlf>%E loaf, R MA.+ Icel deigFa <-nead= 5 lit. <,read--neading=, %E lad3.
b1 . 4candinavian influence.
The greater part of le2ical ,orrowings from + Dcand were not recorded until the ?@
th
c. The presence of the Dcandinavians in the English
population is indicated ,3 a large num,er of place-names in the northern and eastern areas: more freCuent are with such
components:thorp-qvillageh e.g.Woodthorp4 toft qpiece of landhe.g.*rimtoft4 nessqcapehe.g.Inverness.
The total num,er of Dcandinavian ,orrowings in E. is estimated at a,out ZPP words. It is difficult to define the spheres of Dcand.
,orrowings: the3 mostl3 pertain to ever3da3 life and donGt differ from native words.+nl3 the earliest loan-words deal with militar3 and
legal matters: $ate +E ,arda, cnearr,>different t3pes if shipsA, cnif>%E -nifeA, orrest>,attleA, laIu 5law, hs,onda-hus,and, the ver, tacan
5 ta-e. Ever3da3 words: nouns: ,ag, ,and, ca-e, egg, seat, s-3, window.adFect.: happ3, ill, odd, ugl3, wea-.ver,s: call, die, hit, lift, ta-e,
want.
It is difficult to distinguish Dcand. loans from native words, the onl3 criteria-phonetic features: the consonant cluster 9s-;:s-3, s-ill4
9-;9g;: ,efore front-vowels:-id, girth. *ut,still, these criteria are not alwa3s relia,le. The intimate relations of the languages resulted
also in phonetic modification of native words: give, gift.
ba. %E voca)ulary. !ays of word3formation.
1odern estimates of the total +E voca,ular3 range from a,out @P.PPP-?PP.PPP words. The last digit is pro,a,l3 too high, ,ut it depends
on the treatment of pol3sem3 and homon3m3.The ,ul- of the +E voca,. were native words. In the course of the +E period it grew4it
was mainl3 replenished from native sources, ,3 means of word-formation.#ccording to their morphological structure +E words fell into
@ main t3pes:?A simple words ><root-words=A, containing a root-morpheme and no derivational affi2es:e.g.land, sinIan, Iod.>%E land,
sing, goodA./A derived words consisting of one root-morpheme and one or more affi2es:e.g. ,e-Iinnan, un-sc3ld-iI>%E ,egin,
innocentA@A compound words, whose stems were made up of more than one root-morpheme:e.g.mann-c3nn, scir-Ie-refa>%E man-ind,
sheriffA.
The s3stem of +E word-formation is Cuite similar to the 1odern one. +ne of the most unusual e2amples of the +E w-f was the a,ilit3
of a single root to ,e either among simple, derived and compound words. E.g. +E mod>%E moodA produced a,out UP words: derived:
modiI>proudA, compound: mod-caru>careA
+E emplo3ed / wa3s of word-formation: derivation word-composition.Terived words in +E were ,uilt with the help of affi2es:
prefi2es suffi2es4 ,ut also words were distinguished with the help of sound interchanges and word stress.
Dound interchanges in the roots of related words were freCuent, and nevertheless the3 were used more as an additional feature which
helped to distinguish ,etween words ,uilt from the same root. Dound interchanges were never used alone4 the3 were com,ined with
suffi2ation:
\owel gradation was used in +E as a distinctive feature ,etween ver,s and nouns, ,etween ver,s derived from a single root:rdan v 5 rd
n 9i: - a:;- %E ride, raid.
The use of consonant interchanges was far more restricted. The3 arose due to phonetic changes:rhotacism, \erner4s $aw..
e.g.Talu-tellan >%E tale, tellA 5 gemination of the consonants.
The shifting of word stress also helped to differentiate ,etween 4parts of speech. The ver, had unaccented prefi2es while the
corresponding nouns had stressed prefi2es: e.g. ond-Sswarian v 5 Sond-swaru n.
.refi2ation was a productive wa3 of ,uilding new words. The3 were used widel3 with ver,s4e.g. In 5 go4 -In 5 go awa3.
The most productive: -, ,e-, for-, Ie-, ofer-, un-.
Duffi2ation-the most productive. Duffi2es not onl3 modified the le2ical meaning of the word, ,ut could refer it to another part of speech.
1ostl3 applied in forming nouns, adFectives, rarel3 with ver,s: Iod-nis >%E goodnessA, Ir`d-iI>%E greed3A.
Word composition: nouns, adFectives: e.g. hm-c3me>%E home-comingA.
bb . (orrowings from contem$orary lang. in E.
The influ2 of ]rench words reached new pea-s in the late ?U
th
and ?_
th
c. The3 mainl3 pertain to diplomatic relations, social life, art,
fashions:e.g. attach, dossier4 hotel, restaurant, cortege4 ,allet, genre4 manoeuvre, police, ,rigade4 cravat, menu, soup, ,louse4 detail,
machine, tic-et, progress. 1ost of them have not ,een completel3 assimilated and have retained a foreign appearance to the present da3.
*esides Gree-, $atin, )rench, English spea-ers of the %E period ,orrowed freel3 from no less than UP foreign tongues:
?. Otalian >art, music, literatureA:?X
th
c. ducato, million, florin, pistol, cartridge, aria, ,ass, cello, concerto, duet, piano, sonata,
violin.Dome retained their Italian appearance, others assumed a )rench shape:intrigue, campaign./ 4$anish came as a result of contacts
with Dpain in the militar3, commercial and polit. fields.: armada, ,arricade, canni,al, em,argo, cargo.1an3 loan-words indicated new
o,Fects and concepts encountered in the colonies: ,anana, canoe, coli,ri, potato, to,acco, mosCuito.
@. #utch made a,undant contri,ution to E., particularl3 in the ?U
th
, ?Y
th
c., when the commercial relations ,etween England and the
%etherlands were at their pea-. Trade, wool-weaving: pac-, spool, stripe, tu,. %autical terminolog3: cruise, dec-, -eel, s-ipper.
X. German loan-words reflect the scientific and cultural achievements of German3. 1ineralogical terms: co,alt, nic-el. .hilosophical:
d3namics, transcendental. 1ore4 -indergarten, halt, stroll, plunder. The most peculiar feature of German influence is the creation of
translation-loans on German models from native English components: superman was naturaliIed ,3 *.Dhaw as a translation of
%ietIscheGs ,ermensch4 masterpiece from 1eisterstc-.
U. 6ussian. The earliest entered in the ?Y
th
c., when the English trade compan3 esta,lished the ?
st
trade relations with Russia. The3
indicate articles of trade and specific features of life in Russia: ,eluga, muIhi-, samovar, tsar, vod-a. #fter ?Z?_: -omsomol, *olshevi-
b5.Historycal )ac9ground of +E.
The Dcandinavian OonCuest of England was a great militar3 and political event, which also influenced the English language.
Dcandinavian inroads into England had ,egan as earl3 as the ]
th
centur3. The #nglo-Da2ons offered the invaders a stu,,orn resistance,
which is seen in the narrations of Ohronicle. In the late Z
th
centur3 the Dcandinavian had occupied the whole of English territor3 north of
Thames. In ]_] -ing #lfred made peace with the invaders. The territor3 occupied ,3 the Dcandinavian was to remain in their power. The
northern and eastern parts of England were most thic-l3 settled ,3 Dcandinavians. In the late ?P
th
centur3 war in England was resumed,
and in ?P?@ the whole countr3 fell to the invaders. England ,ecame part of a vast Dcandinavian empire in %orthern Europe. The
Dcandinavian conCuest had far-reaching conseCuences for the English language. The Dcandinavian dialects spo-en ,3 the invaders
,elonged to the %orth Germanic languages and their phonetic and grammatical structure was similar to that of +E. The3 had the same
morphological categories, strong and wea- declension of su,stantives, of adFectives, of ver,es. Olose relationship ,etween English and
Dcandinavian dialects made mutual understanding without translation Cuite possi,le.
The %orman conCuest of England ,egan in ?PYY. It proved to ,e the turning-point in English histor3 and had a considera,le influence on
the English language. The %ormans were ,3 origin a Dcandinavian tri,e. In Z
th
centur3 the3 ,egan inroads on the northern coast of
)rance and occupied the territor3 on ,oth shores of the Deine estuar3. 1i2ing with the local population and adopting the )rench
language and in the mid-?? centur3, in spite of their Dcandinavian origin, the3 were ,earers of )rench feudal culture and of the )rench
language. In ?PYY -ing Edward the Oonfessor died. William, Tu-e of %ormand3, who had long claimed the English throne, assem,led
an arm3 with the help of %orman ,arons, landed in England, and rooted the English troops. William confiscated the estates of the #nglo-
Da2on no,ilit3 and distri,uted them among the %orman ,arons. #ll posts in the church, from a,,ots upwards, were giving to persons of
)rench culture. )renchmen arrived in England in great num,ers. Turing the reign of William the OonCueror a,out /PP PPP )renchmen
settled in England.
Turing several centuries the ruling language in England was )rench. It was the language of the court, the Government, the courts of
laws, the English language was reduced to a lower social sphere. The relation ,etween )rench and English was different from that
,etween Dcandinavian and English: )rench was the language of the ruling class. 0nder the circumstances, with two languages spo-en in
the countr3, the3 were ,ound to struggle with each other, and also influenced each other. This process lasted for three centuries the ?/
th
5
?X
th
. Its results were twofold: the struggle for supremac3 ,etween )rench and English ended in favour of English, ,ut its voca,ular3 was
enriched ,3 a great num,er of )rench words.
b". History of word3formation8 15
th
31'
th
c.
The growth of the E. voca,ular3 from internal sources 5 through word-formation and semantic change 5 can ,e o,served in all periods
of histor3. In the ?U-?_
th
c. its role ,ecame more important though the influ2 of ,orrowings from other languages continued. Word
formation fell into / t3pes:
Word derivation and word composition.
The means of derivation used in +E continued to ,e emplo3ed in later periods: Duffi2ation, the most productive wa3: most of the +E
product. Duffi2es have survived, man3 5 added from internal and e2ternal sources.
.refi2ation was less productive in 1E, ,ut later, in Earl3 %E its productivit3 grew again.
1an3 +E prefi2es dropped out of use: a-,to-,on-,of-,Ie-,or-. In some words the prefi2 fused with the root:+E on-Iinna h 1E ginnen h
%E ,egin. The negative prefi2es mis- un- produced a great num,er of new words:1E misla3en, misdemen>%E misla3, misFudgeA. +E
un- was mainl3 used with nouns and adFectives: Earl3 %E: unhoo-, unload.
#lso, foreign prefi2es were adopted ,3 the English lang. as component parts of loan-words:re-, de-, dis-. Dound interchanges and the
shifting of word stress were mainl3 emplo3ed as a means of word differentiation, rather than as a word-,uilding means.
b' . 4$elling changes in +E and E. 6ules of reading.
The most conspicuous feature of $ate 1E te2ts in comparison with +E te2ts is the difference in spelling. The written forms in 1E
resem,le modern forms, though the pronunciation was different.
- In 1E the runic letters passed out of use. Thorn <= and the crossed d: <7= were replaced ,3 the digraph 5th-, which retained the same
sound value: 9:; 98;4 the rune <w3nn= was displaced ,3 <dou,le u=: -w-4the ligatures ` fell into disuse.
- 1an3 innovations reveal an influence of the )rench scri,al tradition. The digraphs ou, ie ch were adopted as new wa3s of indicating
the sounds 9u:;, 9e:; 9tB; : e.g. +E t, 1E out 9u:t;4 + )r dou,le, 1E dou,le 9du,le;.
- The letters F,-,v,C were first used in imitation of )rench manuscripts.
- The two-fold use of 5g- -c- owes its origin to )rench: these letters usuall3 stood for 9dI; 9s; ,efore front vowels for 9g;9-;
,efore ,ac- vowels: 1E gentil 9dIenGtil;, merc3 9merGsi; good9go:d;.
- # wider use of digraphs: -sh- is introduced to indicate the new si,ilant 9B;: 1E ship>from +E scipA4 -dI- to indicate 9dI;: 1E edge
9SedIe;, Fo3e 9SdIoiE;4 the digraph 5wh- replaced 5hw-: +E hw`t, 1E what 9hwat;.
- $ong sounds were shown ,3 dou,le letters: 1E ,oo- 9,o:-;
- The introduction of the digraph 5gh- for 92; 92G;: 1E -night 9-ni2Gt; 1E he 9he:;.
- Dome replacements were made to avoid confusion of resem,ling letters: <o= was emplo3ed to indicate <u=: +E munuc h 1E mon-4
lufu h love. The letter <3= 5 an eCuivalent og <i= : ver3, m3 9mi:;.
b*.#evelo$ment of the syntactic system in +E and early E.
The evolution of English s3nta2 was tied up with profound changes in morpholog3: the decline of the inflectional s3stem was
accompanied ,3 the growth of the functional load of s3ntactic means of word connection. The most o,vious difference ,etween +E
s3nta2 and the s3nta2 of 1E and %E periods is that the word order ,ecame more strict and the use of prepositions more e2tensive. The
growth of the literar3 forms of the language, the literar3 flourishing in $ate 1E and especiall3 in the age of the Renaissance the
differentiation of literar3 st3les and the efforts made ,3 ?]
th
c. scholars to develop a logical, elegant st3le - all contri,uted to the
improvement and perfection of English s3nta2. The structure of the sentence and word phrase, on the one hand, ,ecame more
complicated , on the other hand- were sta,iliIed and standardiIed.