AN INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY

OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

LINGUISTICS

- the scientific study of all forms of language

manifestation
- other related fields of science = applied
linguistics

= basic means of human communication

the most widely used and most convenient

means

Man = homo loquens rather than homo sapiens

LANGUAGE

Convention generally accepted in a speech

community
= chain of sounds acoustic realization to a notion

LINGUISTIC SIGN
The dual nature of linguistic sign:
- notion = non-linguistic world
- its phonetic realization = language
phenomenon
Phonetic realization varies from language to
language:
dog, Hund, chien, sobaka, kutya, perro, cachorro,
pes

SPEECH COMMUNITY
= society (a group of people) using the same
language
= agreed to use the same convention
Linguistic signs
- arranged in a grammatical system
- used as a convention in the speech community
The ability to create a system out of signs =
a unique capacity of human beings.

LANGUAGE FAMILIES
More than 4000 languages spoken in the world
today:

- classified into several language families

- 2 to 100 or more separate but related
languages
Languages diverged from a single ancestoral
tongue
= protolanguage

BASIC ENGLISH
British American Scientific International
Commercial
English
= reduced and deliberately simplified natural
language
In 1927, Charles Kay OGDEN invented BASIC
English
as an:
international auxiliary language
-

aid for teaching/learning E. as a second language

BASIC ENGLISH
- limited number of words
- extensive use of paraphrases

850
600
150
100

words:
names of things
names of qualities
operators (Vs + names of acts and

directions)

BASIC ENGLISH
Grammatical rules
= cut down to the smallest number necessary
for:
-

the clear statements of ideas

saying anything for purposes of
everyday existence

BASIC ENGLISH
GRAMMAR:

plural s
degrees of comparison more, most
adverbs ly
endings -er, -ing, -ed
negative prefix un-

The core words=theoretically enough for

everyday life

BASIC ENGLISH
VOCABULARY
Instead of:
to disembark = to get off a ship,
difficult
weapons
weeping
beloved
to enter the room
to precede

BASIC ENGLISH
OGDEN prescribed additional:
300 words
for general fields of trade, economics, science
350 international words
= general vocabulary of 1500 words.
This core vocabulary extended to a 2000 word
list
= any learner should know

BASIC ENGLISH
However, 2 important language facts:
- lexicon = CNs + derivatives not only basic words
- language learning is not only about words
It is about:
- the relations of words to one another
- the relation of signs to meanings.
Language learning is more than rote memory.

COMPOUND WORDS
= 2 words joined together referring to a single
object
Each part = used as a separate word but:
the meaning of a compound often differs
from the meaning of its elements.

COMPOUND WORDS
N stem +
Adj stem +
V stem +
Adj stem +
-ing form:

N stem:
N stem:
N stem:
V stem:

COMPOUNDS
with a linking element:
-

vowel/consonant
preposition
conjunction

Lexicalized phrases

COMPOUNDS

a solid yellow stuff made from milk or

cream
+
a small insect with two wings

=
an insect with large brightly coloured
wings

COMPOUNDS

the planet Earth

+
not narrow
=

spread over all parts

IDIOMS
= a number of words which, when taken
together,
have a different meaning from the individual
meanings
of each word:
to give someone the green lights
to kick the bucket
a hard / tough nut to crack

IDIOMS
NOUN PHRASES:
the calm before the storm

ADJECTIVE + NOUN:
a fair weather friend

IDIOMS
IDIOMATIC PAIRS
-

of adjectives: spick and span

of nouns: ifs and buts

of verbs: do or die

IDIOMS
IDENTICAL PAIRS:
step by step

PHRASAL VERBS:
to look sth up
to look up to sb
to look after sb

IDIOMS connected with:

-

parts of the body

to lose ones head

Achilles heel
-

colours:

a black list
white lie

IDIOMS connected with:

- numbers:
ten to one

- time:
at the eleventh hour

- animals:
a busy bee
the lions share (of something)

TYPES OF SPEECH
Leonard Bloomfield,
the founder of American structural linguistics:
1) LITERARY STANDARD
= the most formal language manifestation of
highly
educated people (unnatural in everyday
conversation)

TYPES OF SPEECH
2) COLLOQUIAL STANDARD
= educated people speak / write in informal
situation
- not one but different standards for English in
Britain:
- colloquial standard spoken with RP
- the Southern type of grammar

TYPES OF SPEECH
2) COLLOQUIAL STANDARD
USA: several standards - according to what is
the most common variety in one or another
part of the country
Australia and a few other countries:
= a colloquial standard of their own

TYPES OF SPEECH
3) PROVINCIAL STANDARD
= compared with colloquial standard it shows
only slight phonetic and lexical differences
(something of a kind of funny accent)

TYPES OF SPEECH
4) SUBSTANDARD
= sounds uneducated
= the language of the lower middle class
= less prestigious than either colloquial or
provincial

TYPES OF SPEECH
5) LOCAL DIALECT
= used in small parts of the country
= often difficult to understand
It shows:
- phonetic and lexical diversions from other types
- morphological and syntactical differences
= incomprehensible to persons not familiar with
it

SLANG
= below the level of educated standard
speech
= new words or current words in special sense
= people look down on it but cant avoid using it

SLANG
Reasons for using it:
to be different
to escape from clichs
to be brief and concise
to enrich the language
to soften a tragedy
to amuse public
to show that one belongs to a certain school
to be secret, not understood by those around

SLANG EXPRESSIONS

donkeys years
Bugger off!
knick-knack
fishy

SOCIAL VARIANTS OF LANGUAGE

Slang + diminutives + nicknames
= emotional tinge
= manifestations of social closeness and
intimacy

SPOKEN LANGUAGE WRITTEN

LANGUAGE
The spoken and written forms a number
changes
Development of the spoken quicker than
written form

English pronunciation =different from

spelling

SPOKEN LANGUAGE WRITTEN

LANGUAGE
Phonetic transcription= learning correct
pronunciation
The spoken form is based on speech sounds
- more sounds than letters
- no diacritical marks
= to use different means to represent sounds in
writing
DIGRAPH= combination of letters represents a sound

SPOKEN ENGLISH WRITTEN ENGLISH

Sound [ i ] = by different letters or digraphs:

e
ee
ea
ie
ei
ey

i
eo
oe
ae
uay

SPOKEN ENGLISH WRITTEN ENGLISH

One letter a = different sounds:
[]
[e]
[]
[a:]
[o:]
[ei]
[i]

SPOKEN ENGLISH WRITTEN ENGLISH

Homophones:
write right rite wright
Homographs:
(the) wind (to) wind
Homonyms:
Dont lie in bed all day. Dont lie to me.

HINTS ON PRONUNCIATION FOR

FOREIGNERS
I take it you already know
Of tough and bough and cough and
dough
Others may stumble but not you
On hiccough, thorough, lough and
through
Well done! And now you wish, perhaps,
To learn of less familiar traps?

HINTS ON PRONUNCIATION FOR

FOREIGNERS
Beware of heard, a dreadful word,
That looks like beard and sounds like bird.
And dead: its like bed, not bead
For goodness sake dont call it deed.
Watch out for meat and great and threat
(They rhyme with suite and straight and
debt)

THE PROPERTIES OF HUMAN LANGUAGE

LANGUAGE = convention used for communication
among speakers belonging to a speech
community.
All creatures = communicate - members of their
species
Properties differentiating human language and
make it a unique type of communication system:

THE PROPERTIES OF HUMAN LANGUAGE

1) DUALITY = the dual nature of linguistic
structure
LINGUISTIC FORMS:
significant units of sounds (phonemes)
+ significant units of forms (morphemes)
The arrangement of phonemes
= meaningful in a linguistic form

THE PROPERTIES OF HUMAN LANGUAGE

SPEECH PRODUCTION:
- the physical level = individual sounds:
n, b, i = distinct sounds
- another level = meaning, i.e. sounds in
combinations:
bin, or nib = distinct meanings

THE PROPERTIES OF HUMAN LANGUAGE

DUALITY OF LEVELS (double articulation)
= one of the most economical features of
language:
limited set of distinct sounds = sound
combinations
distinct in meaning (words)

THE PROPERTIES OF HUMAN LANGUAGE

2) PRODUCTIVITY (creativity, open-endedness)
= to combine structural elements of the language
into combinations - understood by other members:
child learning language; adults describing new objects
= create new expressions, sentences,novel utterances
The productivity of human language = infinite

THE PROPERTIES OF HUMAN LANGUAGE

3) ARBITRARINESS
= no direct relation or natural connection
between a notion and its phonetic shape
The phonetic realization of a notion = arbitrary,
a matter of convention.
Property of linguistic signs = their arbitrary
relationship
with the objects they are used to indicate

THE PROPERTIES OF HUMAN LANGUAGE

4) INTERCHANGEABILITY
= in communication members of a speech
community both send and receive messages
Any speaker / sender of a linguistic sign =
a listener / receiver

THE PROPERTIES OF HUMAN LANGUAGE

5) SPECIALIZATION
Every human language = a special system
made up for communication in a speech
community.
Linguistic signals = special, not for breathing or
feeding

THE PROPERTIES OF HUMAN LANGUAGE

6) DISPLACEMENT
- to speak in a direct context = of things
present
+ things not existing at all
- to refer to past or future time,
- to other locations

THE PROPERTIES OF HUMAN LANGUAGE

DISPLACEMENT
allows the human-language user:
-

to create fiction

to describe possible future world

= understood by persons familiar with these

notions

THE PROPERTIES OF HUMAN LANGUAGE

7) DISCRETENESS
Sounds used in language = meaningfully distinct,
e.g. a slight difference between b + p sound
The pronunciation of forms: back and pack
leads to a distinction in meaning
= due to the difference between b and p sound
Each sound in the language is treated as
discrete.

THE PROPERTIES OF HUMAN LANGUAGE

8) CULTURAL TRANSMISSION
Every human being = ability to use language
= to learn mother tongue + other languages
A language = also the speech community,
its members, its history, its culture
Development of language - influenced human
culture,
and vice versa.

THE PROPERTIES OF HUMAN LANGUAGE

Non-linguistic culture + language exist side by side,
depend upon each other = interdependent
You may:
inherit brown eyes and dark hair from your parents
(but not language)
You will:
acquire a language in a culture with other speakers
(not from parental genes)

SPEECH ACTS
A SPEECH ACT
a manifestation of speakers
communicative activity
an act of verbal (spoken or written)
behaviour.
Its realization makes up the utterance
which has certain illocutionary force.

SPEECH ACTS
In spoken English:
tendency to free the borders between speech
acts of:

stating
inquiring
directing of the addressee.

SPEECH ACTS
question = polite request; command = good
advice;

Can you help me, please?

= Please, help me immediately. (urgent demand)

Ithink he understands what Imean.

= Does he really understand what Imean? (uncertainty)

Dont worry he will be all right in acouple

of days.

= You should not be upset about his illness (good advice)

SPEECH ACTS
Declarative questions and polite requests =
aspecific function in English conversation:
- express: uncertainty, hesitation, non-imposition

You seem to realize how difficult it is to

study medicine. (declarative question)
Do you realize how difficult it is to study medicine?

Iwould be very pleased to meet you

again. (polite request)
Will it be possible to meet you again?

POLITE REQUESTS
- according to their syntactic structure = questions
- according to their meaning = polite requests
= more polite and acceptable than the imperative:

SHOW ME THE WAY TO THE MUSEUM

(PLEASE)
- rarely used to issue requests

PLEASE SHOW ME THE WAY TO THE MUSEUM

- adirect speech act (too urgent)

POLITE REQUESTS
Sentences indirectly doing requests with:

Would Will Could Can

Short questions (pre-requests)

= apreparatory phase for expressing the full
request:

MAY IASK YOU FOR SOMETHING?

COULD YOU DO ME AFAVOUR?

FORMALITY vs. INFORMALITY

The character and choice of language
expressions
depend on the relation between:
asender and areceiver of amessage.
- it differs according to: whom we communicate

FORMALITY vs. INFORMALITY

The opposition of formality and informality
= acontinuum with several interphases:

posh talk
distance
familiar tone
spontaneous, informal chat
relaxed conversation

FORMALITY vs. INFORMALITY

The relation expressed between asender and
areceiver
of amessage, e.g.:

Iappreciate your kind offer and support.

Its very kind of you to give me the

backing.

Nice of you to back me up.

FACTORS OF FORMALITY
FORMAL:
complex sentences
polysylabic, classical vocabulary:
investigate, extinguish
POLITE:
respectful terms of address: Sir
indirect requests: Would you be so kind as
to ...
IMPERSONAL:
passive voice: the terrorists were shot
third person noun phrases:the reader,
customers

FACTORS OF INFORMALITY
INFORMAL:
simple sentences
monosyllabic, native vocabulary, esp. phrasal
verbs: look into, put out
FAMILIAR:
intimate terms of address: John, love,
direct imperatives: Give me ...
PERSONAL:
active voice: police shot the terrorists
1st and 2nd person pronouns: I, you,

FORMAL EXPRESSION:
Ahigh percentage of those who claim that
public schools are an anachronism have
an
ideological objection to schooling that is
funded
by private individuals rather than the
state.

INFORMAL EXPRESSION:

VARIETIES OF ENGLISH
Every language = more than 1 variety
STANDARD (correct, pure) ENGLISH = used in:
books and newspapers
mass media
schools
Social point of view: THE STANDARD LANGUAGE =
socially prestigious dialect originally connected with
a political or cultural center (London for BE; Paris for
Fr)

VARIETIES OF ENGLISH
Every language-user speaks with an accent.

The term ACCENT:

= description of aspects of pronunciation
= identification of where aspeaker is from,
socially or regionally

VARIETIES OF ENGLISH
The term DIALECT:
= pronunciation + grammar + vocabulary

You dont know what youre talking about.

= in StandE with a Scottish accent
(generally understood)

Ye dinnae ken whit yer haverinaboot.

= in Scottish dialect
(not generally understood - differences in P, V,
Gr)

1 VARIETIES ACCORDING TO
REGIONS

- realized mostly in phonology:

first aspeakers pronunciation is recognized
then his distinctive vocabulary and grammar
Geographical dispersion = basis for linguistic
variation:

THE BRITISH ISLES

NORTH AMERICA

1 VARIETIES ACCORDING TO
REGIONS

THE BRITISH ISLES:

Irish, Scots, Northern, Midland, Southwestern, Welsh, London varieties of
English
NORTH AMERICA:
Canadian, New England, Midland,
Southern varieties of English

1 VARIETIES ACCORDING TO
REGIONS
INVESTIGATION of regional dialects:

the identification of consistent features of speech

found in one geographical area rather than
another

The aim of DIALECT SURVEYS:

to find significant differences in the speech

of those living in different areas

to be able to chart the boundaries between the

areas

1 VARIETIES ACCORDING TO
REGIONS
ISOGLOSS
= the line representing aboundary between the
areas
with regard to particular linguistic items
= the limit of an area - a linguistic feature is used

Northern dialect area: Minnesota, N./S. Dakota, Northern

Iowa:

taught [o]/; paper bag; get sick;

Midland dialect area: Iowa, Nebraska:

taught [a];

paper sack; take sick;

1 VARIETIES ACCORDING TO
REGIONS
Drawing isoglosses and dialect boundaries =
useful but:
in most areas one variety merges into another
Regional variations exist along adialect
continuum
= not sharp breaks from one region to the next
When - countries, e.g.:
SCANDINAVIAN dialect continuum

1 VARIETIES ACCORDING TO
REGIONS
The SCANDINAVIAN dialect continuum:
= across different languages - different countries
Speakers of Norwegian and Swedish:
- use different dialects of a single language
- bidialectal speakers (speaking two dialects)
The speaker speaking two languages =
bilingual

1 VARIETIES ACCORDING TO
REGIONS
In CANADA, an officially bilingual country:
official languages:
ENGLISH (essentially an English-speaking country) +
FRENCH = a French-speaking minority group
(Quebec)
Individual bilingualism:
- mother speaking English, father French
- child = both languages not noticing disctinctions
- 1 language = dominant, the other = subordinate
role

2 VARIETIES ACCORDING TO EDUCATION

Educated speech (Standard English)

spoken by government, the learned professions,

the law court, political parties, the press,

RECEIVED PRONUNCIATION (RP)

standard, non-regional, of considerable prestige

Uneducated speech (substandard form)

identified with regional dialect (Idont want no

cake)

3 VARIETIES ACCORDING TO SUBJECT

A speaker may choose to speak:
- in a national standard
- in a regional dialect
The switch = turn to particular set of lexical items
for handling the subject in question, e.g.:
law, cookery, engineering, football
Aparticular subject matter roughly constant
for the type of language, e.g.:
legal sentence = educated variety of English

4 VARIETIES ACCORDING TO
MEDIUM

spoken:
stress, rhythm, intonation, tempo,
gestures

written:
- the absence of the person addressed
- careful and precise completion of
sentences

5 VARIETIES ACCORDING TO
ATTITUDE
= stylistic varieties
Linguistic form depends on our attitude to:
the hearer (reader)
the subject matter
the purpose of our communication
Sentences:
informal (friendly)
formal (impersonal)

6 VARIETIES ACCORDING TO
INTERFERENCE
refer to the trace left by someones native language
upon the foreign language he has acquired, e.g.:
Iam here since Monday.
= the Frenchman / the Slovak imposes aFrench /
Slovak grammatical usage on English
INTERFERENCE
= linguistic disturbance which results from two
languages coming into contact in a specific
situation

VARIETIES OF ENGLISH
From alinguistic point of view:
no variety is better than another, they are simply
different.

The varieties involved on the common core of

English:
- American and British English
- speech and writing
- formal and informal

LANGUAGE PLANNING
Government, legal and educational
bodies:
- plan which language varieties spoken in the
country
are to be used for official business
- do some type of language planning

LANGUAGE PLANNING
THE LANGUAGE PLANNING:
- selection: chosen official language
- codification: basic grammar, dictionaries, written
models are used to establish the Standard variety
- elaboration: Standard use in all aspects of social
life
- implementation: government encourages its use
- acceptance: population - use the Standard as the
national language
= plays a part in social as well as in national identity

LANGUAGE INDIVIDUAL SOCIETY

LANGUAGE
= both an individual and social phenomenon
= most important link between an individual and
society
An individual uses language as a functioning
member
of a social group a speech community
If not a language - no thorough communication
among individuals

LANGUAGE INDIVIDUAL SOCIETY

ENGLISH LANGUAGE is composed of dialects
DIALECTS
- develop because language is constantly changing
- defined by geographical barriers (mountains, rivers) =
difficult communication
The Atlantic Ocean prevented easy and frequent communication.

Based on the speech of England in 17 ct. two distinct

dialects BE and AE were developed

LANGUAGE INDIVIDUAL SOCIETY

Each person = his own way of expressing
himself,
- slight differences enable to communicate freely
with other members of the same speech
community
IDIOLECT:
- an individuals total set of language habits;
the personal dialect of each individual language
speaker

LANGUAGE INDIVIDUAL SOCIETY

IDIOLECT
- determined by the social factors + other factors
(voice quality, physical state)
YOU ARE WHAT YOU SAY
Every idiolect differs from others.
The idiolects of individuals in close contact = similar,
but never identical
The greater density of communication = the more similar idiolects

LANGUAGE INDIVIDUAL SOCIETY

Members of social groups:
- share the same interest
- work in the same field
= influence each other, e.g. idiolect of a teacher
Every job = a certain amount of jargon difficult to
understand,
e.g. the waiters call at a lunch counter:

Bucket of mud, draw one, hold the cow.

= a variation on the customers order for: ...

LANGUAGE INDIVIDUAL SOCIETY

The same social class but differences acc. to age / sex:
- teenagers: fridge;
grandparents: icebox
- female: I did, he isnt;
male: I done, he aint
At present, the factor influencing the idiolect:
= language manifestation in the means of mass media
- sounds educated
- more prestigious and respected
IDIOLECTS = becoming more and more similar

IDE FAMILY OF LANGUAGES

= historically related groups of languages
= a closer kinship to one another
Most languages = hypothetical speech ancestor:

INDO-EUROPEAN
- its descendent lg-s = half of the worlds
population
The original form of the language (PROTO) =
source of modern lg-s in Indian sub-continent +
Europe

DIVISION OF IDE FAMILY

The different pronunciation of the initial velar or
guttural k sound in the word meaning
hundred:

CENTUM (western)
(eastern)
= a hard sound:
Hundert, ...

SATEM
= a softer sound:
sto, ...

IDE FAMILY OF LANGUAGES

CENTUM (western)
SATEM (eastern)
GERMANIC
BALTO-SLAVIC:
NORTH G.:
BALTIC: Latvian, Lithuanian
Norwegian
SLAVIC: East: Russian, Byelorussian, Ukrainian
Swedish
West: Slovak, Czech, Polish
Icelandic
South: Bulgarian, Slovenian, Croatian, Serbian
Danish
ARMENIAN: Armenian
EAST G. Gothic
ALBANIAN: Albanian
WEST G.: English, German, Dutch
INDO-IRANIAN:
HELLENIC: Ancient Gr. Mod. Greek
Indic Sanskrit: Bengali, Panjabi, Hindi,
CELTIC: Welsh, Irish, Gaelic
Nepali, Urdu
ITALIC - Latin:
Iranian Old Persian Persian, Kurdish,
Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguesse,
Romanian

IDE FAMILY OF LANGUAGES

The proto-language reconstructed by
comparison
of sounds + forms of lg-s in written documents
DIACHRONIC STUDY
= study of the history of language development
SYNCHRONIC STUDY
= study of the description of contemporary
language

IDE FAMILY OF LANGUAGES

Old Norse:
einn, steinn
Gothic:
ains, stains
Old High German: ein, stein
Old English:
n, stn
Conclusion: Proto-Germanic forms of English

one < *ainaz

stone < *stainaz
These forms prove the mutual relationship of the
compared
Germanic languages in the given point of their system.

IDE FAMILY OF LANGUAGES

Comparative research = comparing Germanic lg-s
+ Slavonic, Baltic, Celtic, Indo-Iranian, Latin, etc.
- similarities in phonic and grammatical structures
=
hypothesis:
All the languages originated from a common
source,
a proto-language = INDOEUROPEAN, e.g.:
*mter, *dwo, * trjes

IDE FAMILY OF LANGUAGES

CENTUM (western)
NORTH GERMANIC
Icelandic: tvo, ri
Swedish: tva, tre
WEST GERMANIC
German: zwei, drei
Dutch: twee, drie
English: two, three
EAST GERMANIC
Gothic: twai, reis

SATEM (eastern)
INDIC
Sanskrit: dvau, trayas
BALTIC
Lithuanian: du, trs
SLAVONIC
Russian:
Polish:
Croatian:
Slovak:

IDE FAMILY OF LANGUAGES

Germanic branch = TEUTONIC
GOTHIC = extinct language;
- known mostly from a 4th ct edition of the Bible
- very important as a linguistic tool for
understanding
early developments in the entire language branch
ENGLISH developed from the western Germanic
tribes
Saxons, Jutes, Angles the name EN derived from

IDE LANGUAGES
The two main common features:
- they are inflectional in structure
syntactic distinctions (C, G, Nr, mood, tense) are
indicated
by varying the form of the word, e.g -s (pl); -ed (past
tense)

- they have a common word-stock

NON-IDE LANGUAGES not inflectional

system
ISOLATING, e.g. Chinese:
mostly monosyllabic words, relation indicated - by
WO
AGLUTINATIVE, e.g. Hungarian, Turkish
affixes attached to bases (Bart-om-nak = to a
friend)
INCORPORATING / POLYSYNTHETIC, e.g. Eskimo
(lg of Greenland) a single word expresses S, V, Od, Oi
= a sentence of 5-6 words = incorporated as a single
word

NON-IDE FAMILIES OF LANGUAGES

FINNO-UGRIAN:
Finnish, Hungarian, Lappish
ALTAIC:
Turkish, Mongolian, Manchu
HAMITIC:
African languages (Egyptian)
SEMITIC:
Hebrew, Arabic

NON-IDE FAMILIES OF LANGUAGES

INDO-CHINESE:
in Tibet, Burma, China
MALAY-POLYNESIAN:
in Philippines, Malay Peninsula,
Madagaskar
AMERICAN INDIAN FAMILIES largest groups:
Iroquoian, Siouan, Uto-Aztecan

IDE FAMILY TREE

- covers a small number of languages
30 language families
4000 languages spoken
Number of speakers:
Mandarin Chinese (more than 400 million)
English (300 million)
Russian, Spanish (200 million each)

COGNATES
Close similarities in sets of terms =
within groups of related languages
COGNATES:
two words in different languages which are
similar
in form and meaning

COGNATES
English: mother, father, friend = cognates of
German: Mutter, Vater, Freund
= common ancestor in the GERMANIC BRANCH
of IDE

COGNATES
Spanish: madre, padre, amigo = cognates of
Italian: madre, padre, amico
= common ancestor in the ITALIC BRANCH of IDE

MAIN ASPECTS OF THE HISTORY OF

ENGLISH
- linguistic influences on English

CELTIC BRANCH OF LANGUAGES

Britonnic/British:
WELSH
BRETON
CORNISH of Cornwall (died out)

Gaelic:
IRISH GAELIC by country folk in the NW of Ireland
SCOTTISH GAELIC in the Highlands in Scotland
MANX (died out)

Gaulish died out

1) CELTIC LANGUAGE INFLUENCE

CELTIC = 1st IDE language spoken in
England
Celtic tribes, the BRITONS (btw 6th 3rd ct.
B.C.)
invaded the islands and overcame the Iberians
The southern part of the island named after
them:

BRITAIN

1) CELTIC LANGUAGE INFLUENCE

Words of CELTIC origin in ModE:
- geographical names:
Avon (in Celtic: river)
Derwent (clear water)
the Downs (the chalk highlands in the S and SE)
the river Thames

- town names: London, Leeds, Dover

2) LATIN LANGUAGE INFLUENCE

LATIN
when Britain (ex. Scotland) a province of Roman
Empire
1st -5th ct A.D.: establishment of Latin as the
language
of administration, law, the Church
LATIN did not replace the CELTIC language in Britain.
Roman legions left Britain in 407 A.D.

2) LATIN LANGUAGE INFLUENCE

Words of LATIN origin in ModE:
street (strata), port (portus), wall (vallum),
wine (vinum), market (mercatus)
Roman towns strongly fortified, called castra (camp)
English town names ending in: chester, cester, caster:
Chester, Winchester, Manchester, Colchester
Leicester, Gloucester, Doncaster, Lancaster;
Lincoln = from Latin colonia (colony)

3) GERMANIC LANGUAGE INFLUENCE

Germanic tribes of SAXONS, ANGLES and JUTES
(now: the Netherlands, Denmark and Germany)
attacked the country in the middle of 5th ct (449)
-

closely akin in speech and customs

merged into one people: the ANGLO-SAXONS
made up the majority of the population
their customs and language = predominant
called the Celts wealas (welsh) = foreigners

3) GERMANIC LANGUAGE INFLUENCE

The CELTS (the minority):
merged with the conquerors
learned to speak their language
The CELTS in W. Scotland + Ireland = native
language
CELTIC = Gaelic = Scottish Gaelic, Irish Gaelic

3) GERMANIC LANGUAGE INFLUENCE

The conversion of the Anglo-Saxons to
Christianity =
a revival of learning:
Greek: arithmetics, maths, theatre,
geography
Latin: school, paper, candle, devil, mental,
monk,
cap, spade, mill, tile, mortar, marble,
chalk

3) GERMANIC LANGUAGE INFLUENCE

Seven (Germanic) kingdoms: the HEPTARCHY
Northumbria, Mercia, East Anglia, Kent, Essex,
Sussex, Wessex
Kingdom of Wessex and its capital Winchester in 9 ct
=
centre of learning the reign of King Alfred (the
Great)
- translations of books on religion, history, philosophy from
Latin
into ANGLO-SAXON (hand written copies in monasteries)

3) GERMANIC LANGUAGE INFLUENCE

The main dialects:
Northumbrian, West Saxon, Kentish, Mercian,
= direct ancestor of ModE
Mercian + Northumbrian grouped: Anglian dialect
Most of the literary documents (10th 11th ct)
survived
in later West-Saxon versions - some Anglian
features

3) GERMANIC LANGUAGE INFLUENCE

6 ct. Latin writers began to refer to Anglo-Saxons as
ANGLI/ENGLI (the Angles)
7 ct. Latin name ANGLI/ANGLIA for the country around 1000
ENGLALAND (= land of the Angles)
the nation: ANGELCYNN (= nation of the Angles)
the language: ENGLISC (= English)
Some references = ANGLO-SAXON LANGUAGE

OLD ENGLISH (language period 600/700

1100)

4) SCANDINAVIAN INFLUENCE
- in 787: invasion of the VIKINGS / Scandinavian
(ancestor of contemporary DANES and NORWEGIANS)

- the period: the VIKINGAGE

- Danish rule 1017 1042
Words of Scandinavian origin:

both, cloud, die, egg, fellow, give,

husband, kettle, root, take, them,
shirt, sky, skirt, scale, score, steak,

5) FRENCH LANGUAGE INFLUENCE

The 5th and the last invasion of England = in 11 ct.
Norman duke William the Conqueror defeated the W-S king
Harold
in the battle of Hastings (1066) = King of England William I.

Norman conquest
= important landmark in political and linguistic
history
Linguistic changes = 2nd period in E. language
history
MIDDLE ENGLISH (1100 1500)

5) FRENCH LANGUAGE INFLUENCE

Linguistically:
the Norman Conquest = dissemination of a nonGermanic language in England
The peasantry (80%) = English, didnt adopt French
Words of French origin:
appartment, artist, aristocrat, ballet, brochure,
blouse, democrat, essay, envelope, champagne,
menu, pilot, restaurant, society

ORIGINS OF ENGLISH
OLD ENGLISH: 600/700 1100
MIDDLE ENGLISH: 1100 1500
EARLY MODERN ENGLISH: 1500 1750
LATE MODERN ENGLISH: 1750
today

OLD ENGLISH
700 = 1st coherent literary documents
= beginning of the documented history of
English
OLD ENGLISH:
known from translations of the Bible, old
chronicles
-

more similar to German than to present-day

English

OLD ENGLISH
-

synthetic type of language rather than analytic

morphosyntactic relations expressed by

inflections

weak and strong declensions of Ns, Adj

grammatical gender (on formal linguistic criteria)

weak and strong conjugations of Vs

WO not as rigid as in present-day English syntax

vocabulary = Germanic, not many borrowings

word formation by compounding and affixation

OUR FATHER

Fder ure u e eart on heofonum

[fder u:re u: e eart on heovonum]
Our Father in heaven:

Sie in nama gehalgod

[si:e i:n nama jeha:lvod]
May your name be kept holy

OUR FATHER

to becume in rce

[to: bekume i:n ri:tje]

May your kingdom come

geweore in willa on eoran swa swa

on heofonum

[jeweore i:n wila on eoran swa:

swa: on heovonum]
May your will be done
heaven.

on earth as in

OUR FATHER

Urne gedghwamlican hlaf sele us to dg

[u:rne jed:jhva:mlikan hla:f sele us to:dj]

Give us today the food we need.

and forgief us ure gyltas

[and forjief us u:re gyltas]

Forgive us the wrongs

that we have done.

OUR FATHER

Swa swa we forgiefa urum gyltendum

[swa: swa: we forjieva u:rum

gyltendum]
As we forgive the wrongs
others have done us

and ne gelaed u us on costnunge

[and ne jelaed u: us on kostnunge ]

Do not bring us to temptation

OUR FATHER

ac alies us of yfele
[ak alies us of yvele]
But keep us safe from the
Evil .

MIDDLE ENGLISH
French words:
- administration, law, medicine, art, fashion
Latin words:
- religion, medicine, law, literature
Borrowings did not change the structure of English.
Simplification of E. inflectional system was caused
by
an inner development of E. morphology and
syntax.

MIDDLE ENGLISH
Major changes from OE to ME:
- loss of inflections in Ns (only in plural + G sg.)
- no distinction between strong and weak Adj.
- no dual number in Pron.
- loss of final e in Adv., instead -ly
Geoffrey CHAUCER = most important literary
figure:
the Canterbury Tales = famous collection of
stories

MIDDLE ENGLISH
Whan that Aprille with hise shoures soote
The droghte of March hath perced to the
roote
And bathed euery veyne in swich licour
of which vertu engendred is the flour.
ModE translation:

EARLY MODERN ENGLISH

-

not so difficult to understand today

grammar was more simplified

numerous changes in pronunciation

= the spelling could not follow them:
written English quite different from its spoken
form

- many dialects during OE and ME

= difficult to achieve a uniform pronunciation

EARLY MODERN ENGLISH

Samuel JOHNSON completed:
Dictionary of the English language (40 000 words)
Words of W. Shakespeare + the King James Bible
= 2 most important influences on the development of
English

William CAXTON, English writer and 1st bookprinter,

introduced printing in England in 1476
= it was easier to standardize the literary language

EARLY MODERN ENGLISH

SHAKESPEARIAN EXPRESSIONS:
its Greek to me (Julius Caesar),
in my minds eye (Hamlet),
a tower of strength (Richard III),
make a virtue of necessity (Pericles),
brevity is the soul of wit (Hamlet)
I must be cruel only to be kind (Hamlet)

EARLY MODERN ENGLISH

SOME BIBLICAL EXPRESSIONS:
the salt of the earth
the root of the matter
an eye for an eye
in sheeps clothing
new wine into old bottles
if the blind leads the blind

LATE MODERN ENGLISH

Anglo-Saxon words
comprise a small part of the total modern
lexicon
-

most frequently used in the language:

mother, father, love, name, in, be, that

Since 1950:
a new wave of borrowings
-

position of English: a world language

LATE MODERN ENGLISH

Some loan-words into English in 20th ct.:
paparazzi, dolce vita (Italian)
macho, salsa (Spanish)
limousine, dja vu (French)
karaoke, origami (Japanese)
Luftwaffe, blitz (German)
kalashnikov, perestroika (Russian)

LATE MODERN ENGLISH

Some NEOLOGISMS in 20th ct.:
Euroskeptic (Europe + skeptic)
alcopop (alcohol + pop)
Schwarzeneggerian (refers to a film star)
mickey (unit of computer mouse distance, cca 0.005
inch)

netrepreneur (Internet entrepreneur)

LATE MODERN ENGLISH

At present:
some differences btw different standards +
dialects,
but English speaking persons have no serious
problem
in understanding one another
(American, Australian or British-born persons)

STRUCTURALISM

a new era in the development of linguistics

a new approach into linguistic research focusing on:
- language as a system of signs with their internal
structural interrelations + function of linguistic
units
- language as a social phenomenon main
function
the communicative function
- synchronic evaluation of facts

SIGNIFICANT STRUCTURALIST SCHOOLS:

GENEVA SCHOOL
F. de Saussure, Ch. Bally, A. Sechehaye

PRAGUE LINGUISTIC SCHOOL

V. Mathesius, R. Jakobson, N. Trubetzkoy

COPENHAGEN SCHOOL
L. Hjelmslev, V. Brondall, K. Togeby

AMERICAN STRUCTURALISM:
E. Sapir, L. Bloomfield, F. Boas

THE GENEVA SCHOOL

Ferdinand de SAUSSURE - founder of
structuralism
In 1916: Charles BALLY + Albert SECHEHAYE:
Cours de linguistic gnerale
- new terms and concepts introduced into
linguistics

THEORY OF SEMIOLOGY (SEMIOTICS)

= a science that studies signs in human
society
LANGUAGE
= the most important system of signs used by
people

LINGUISTICS
= a component part of semiology
= belongs to humanities (not to natural
sciences)

LINGUISTIC SIGN
De Saussure:
- language is a system of mutually related signs
- the value of each sign is determined by:
- its meaning
- its relationship to other signs within the
system
The system of signs:
based upon the oppositions among the signs

LINGUISTIC SIGN
= connection of:
- signifi (the concept)
- signifiant (the phonic substance)
S + S = inseparable abstract notions mutually
related
in human consciousness by association
The relationship between S + S = obligatory, once
established as a convention in a speech community

ARBITRARINESS
3 MAIN FEATURES OF LINGUISTIC SIGN:
- arbitrariness
- linearity
- discreteness
ARBITRARENESS:
signifi is determined by various signifiants =
arbitrary
based on convention in the speech comunity

LINEARITY
The theory of linear character of linguistic signs =
two signs cannot occur concurrently,
they must be ordered in sequence,
because utterances are realized in time
(opposed to visual signals that are set in space).

This theory = important within the word order:

-rules of WO determine the order of separate signs in the
utterance
-value of each sign by its position to other members of
utterance

DISCRETENESS
The theory of the discreteness of linguistics
signs
= phonic substance by itself is amorphous
A linguistic sign created under condition
when:
a concrete number of phonemes of a given
language
in a certain order starts to be connected with
others.

SYNTAGMATIC/PARADIGMATIC RELATIONS
De Saussure:
The value of each linguistic sign by its
relationship:
- to other signs within an utterance
= syntagmatic relationship
- to other signs that could replace it in its position
= paradigmatic relationship

SYNTAGMATIC RELATIONSHIP
The notion mouse:
a) We caught a mouse in our cellar yesterday
b) I have got a wireless mouse.
The concrete meaning by syntagmatic
relations:
Ad a) We dont catch a PC mouse in a cellar.
Ad b) Home mouse doesnt have wires.
SYNTAGMATIC RELATIONS sth common / opposite
that can be imagined by association

PARADIGMATIC RELATIONSHIP
The meaning of sign mouse determined by
PARADIGMATIC RELATIONSHIPS, i.e.
by various associations in both sentences, e.g.:
a) We caught a mouse in our cellar yesterday
b) I have got a wireless mouse.

ad a) home mouse, rodent, it bites

ad b) a computer mouse, accessory, click on the
mouse
= a sign mouse is polysemantic

DICHOTOMY SYNCHRONY DIACHRONY

Linguistic situation in particular historical period
= different and closed
= not possible to completely reconstruct previous
states
= distinction between diachrony as nongrammatical, and synchrony as grammatical
Mixing up facts of various periods, i.e. various idiosynchronies, or diachronic and synchronic facts =
the mixing of facts of different systems.

THEORY OF THE OPPOSITION

LANGUE/PAROLE
LANGUE
- system of all rules that are obligatory for all
speakers of the community
- a property of the society = a social
phenomenon
PAROLE
- concrete manifestation of langue uttered by an
individual
- an individual phenomenon, the use of language

LANGAGE
F. de Saussure distinguishes a third term:
LANGAGE
general ability to create in language a system of
signs
that is not inherited but arbitrary and serves the
purpose of communication
Noam CHOMSKY proposed opposition between:
competence = the language system
performance = the use of the system

THE PRAGUE SCHOOL OF

LINGUISTICS
In 1926,
a group of Czech linguists:

Vilm Mathesius, Bohuslav Havrnek, Jan

Mukaovsk, Bohumil Trnka, Josef Vachek
a group of Russian linguists:

Roman Jakobson, Nikolaj Trubetzkoy,

Stanislav Karcevskij, A. V. Isaenko
established:

Cercle Linguistic de Prague

The Prague School of Linguistics

THESES (1929)
= the basic principles:
LANGUAGE = a system of expressive means
= serves for communication
= to investigate the particular functions of
language
The functions of language phenomena
emphasized =
the term: functional linguistics
= functional approach to the language

THESES
LANGUAGE = a concrete physical phenomenon
depending on external (non-linguistic) factors:
- language of particular culture in general + of
literature
- language of science + of newspapers
- language of street + of administration
LINGUISTICS:
- pecularities of the spoken + written forms
- synchronic approach + diachronic (in development)

MORPHONOLOGY
MORPHOPHONEMICS / MORPHONEMICS
= a new branch of linguistics
= deals with phonological structure of
morphemes
Morphological phenomena:
= treated in relation to the phonological ones
COMPARATIVE METHOD = a language typology
describing various types of language structure

THE PRAGUE SCHOOL OF LINGUISTICS

the theories influenced:
- the development of Czecho-Slovak linguistics
- other linguistic schools and directions in Europe
In the USA Roman Jakobson founded so-called
Harvard
school based on the theories of Prague
structuralism

PHONOLOGY OF THE PRAGUE SCHOOL

N. TRUBETZKOY: Zklady fonolgie
His theory is based on:
- distinctive features of phonemes (dot, pot, hot, lot)
- a binary principle (voiced vs. voiceless)
Binary features have only 2 values:
one is regarded as the absence of the other.
The contrast between the presence or absence of
a feature between 2 distinctive features = opposition

SYSTEM OF PHONEMES
1.Unidimensional oppositions
the base is common for both phonemes: t - d = alveolar plosives

2. Multidimensional oppositions
common base - in more than 2: p t k = voiceless oral
plosives

3. Proportional oppositions
the relation between 2 phonemes in several pairs: p-b, t-d, kg

4. Isolated oppositions
the relation between 2 phonemes does not occur elsewhere: r - l

MORPHOLOGY OF THE PRAGUE SCHOOL

B. TRNKA: Studies in functional linguistics
- the term morphological exponents (4):
1)
2)
3)
4)

phonological (sing sang sung)

synthetic (re-work, day-s, rob-m, dom-y)
analytic (I have written, napsal som)
composite (groups of words)

MORPHOLOGY OF THE PRAGUE SCHOOL

R. JAKOBSON: Zur Struktur des russischen Verbums
a theory of privative morphological oppositions =
theory of binary opposition, binarism:
the marked member implies the unmarked one, but
the unmarked is neutral - to the marked member.
Grammatical category of gender in Slovak (English),
the feminine = marked, it denotes females only,
the masculine = unmarked member of the opposition

SYNTAX OF THE PRAGUE SCHOOL

The theory of functional sentence perspective
V. MATHESIUS: the fundamental terms of FSP, i.e.
the theme = the basis, part about which sth is
stated,
it represents a link to the previous part of the text
the rheme = the nucleus of the utterance,
the actual new information

FUNCTIONAL SENTENCE
PERSPECTIVE
- is affected by several factors:
CONTEXT

linguistic and situational

SEMANTICS = individual sentence elements

contribute
to the communicative dynamism, e.g.
English verb = relatively low degree of communicative
dynamism,
it requires to be semantically completed:
- by an object
- by the adverbial phrase

FSP
SENTENCE LINEARITY
- grammatical principle: SVOMPT
- emotive principle, or emphasis, e.g.:
Where is John? HOME went John.
- rhythmical principle, e.g.:
He took off the hat. He took the hat off.
He took it off.

FSP
Who will visit you?
- the ordering of theme + rheme = objective
We will be visited by our relatives. = focuses on
hearer
- the ordering of rheme + theme = subjective
Our relatives will visit us. = is important for
speaker

FSP
PROSODIC FEATURES
= help to correctly interpret an utterance

INTONATION = 2 basic functions:

1) formal specifying the mood of the utterance
2) content function containing:

sentence layer (statement, question, command,)

modal function (possibility, probability, validity,)
attitudinal function (politeness, emphasis,)
informatory (dichotomy: known vs. unknown)