The following course helps to trace the modification and historical development of English Language from its origin till our days including its phonetic structure and spelling, grammatical system and the growth of vocabulary.
2 What are the aims of studying the history of the English language?
II A variety of aims, both practical and theoretical, is being achieved through learning the History of the English Language. The course presents the general conception of English Language origin, development and modern usage, but one of the most important aims is to provide the students with the knowledge of linguistic history sufficient to account for the principal features of present day English.
The aims set before a student of the history of the English language are as following:
1 to speak of the characteristics of the language at the earlier stages of its development;
2 to trace the language from the Old English period up to modern times;
3 to explain the principal features in the development of modern language historically.
The main purpose of studying the course is to account for the present-day stage of the language to enable a student of English to read books and speak the language with understanding. The history of any language
is an unbroken chain of o changes more or less rapid
V Another important aim of the course is of a more theoretical nature. While tracing the evolution of the English language through time, the student will be confronted with a number of theoretical questions such as the relationship between statics and dynamics in language, the role of linguistic factors, the interdependence of different processes in language history.
VI One more aim of this course is to provide the student of English with a wider philological outlook. The history of the English language shows the place of English in the linguistic world; it reveals its ties and contacts with other related and unrelated tongues.
3 What approaches are used in studying Modern English?
1 Synchronic approach - is used in studying modern English, when we regard the language as fixed in time taking no account of the origin of present day features or their tendencies to change.
2 Diachronic approach interprets every linguistic fact as a stage or step in the never-ending evolution of language.
4 What are the periods of the English language subdivision?
The history of the English language is generally subdivided into Old English (5th-11th centuries), Middle English (11th-15th centuries) and Modern English (15 th century till now)
5 Give examples of illustrations showing how modern linguistic features can be explained by resorting to history.
III Here are few illustrations showing how modern linguistic features can be explained by resorting to history.
Any student of English is aware of the difficulties of reading and spelling English. The written form of the English word is conventional rather than phonetic. For example, the values of Latin letters in English are different in comparison with other languages French, German.
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bit- [bit]
three letters three sounds full correspondence between Latin letters
and English sounds
bite -[bait]
four letters three sounds no correspondence between the vowels and
their graphic representation: the final e is not
pronounced but serves to show that the letter i
has its English alphabetical value which is [ai]
not [i] as in other languages
knight [nait]
six letters three sounds the letters k and gh do not stand for any sound
but gh evidently shows that i stands for [ai]
Without going into details it will suffice to say that the time when Latin characters were first used in Britain writing was phonetic: the letters stood, roughly, for the same sounds as in Latin.
root [ ro:t]
tale [ta:l]
IV As far as grammar is concerned, it can be noted at this stage that the history of the language will supply explanation both for general features and its specific peculiarities, and exceptions, for example, why modal verbs, unlike other verbs, take no ending s in the third p.sg; why some nouns add en or change the root-vowel in the plural instead of adding s (e.g. oxen, feet) and so on and so forth.
6 Speak on:
-Theoretical Aspects of Language History
-Concept of Linguistic Change
Theoretical Aspects of Language History The description of internal linguistic history is presented in accordance with the division of language into linguistic levels: the phonetic level, the morphological level, the syntactic level, and the lexical level. Accordingly, the history of the language subdivides into historical phonetics, historical morphology, historical syntax and historical lexicology.
The evolution of language includes also many facts pertain to the functioning of language in the speech community. These functional aspects constitute what is known as the (external) history of the language and embrace a large number of diverse matters: the spread of language in geographical and social space, the differentiation of
language into functional varieties (geographical variants, dialects, etc) contacts with other languages.
Concept of Linguistic Change
One can distinguish three main types of difference in language: geographical, social and temporal. Linguistic changes imply temporal differences, which become apparent if the same elements or parts of the language are compared at successive historical stages; they are transformations of the same units in time, which can be registered as distinct steps in their evolution. For instance, OE form of the past tense pl Ind.Mood of the verb to find fundon [fundon] became founden [fu:ndn] in the 12th-13th c. and found [faund] in Modern English. The continuity of the item was not broken, though we can register several changes:
a) - phonetic and spelling changes as the root vowel [u] became [u:] and then [au] and the letter u was replaced by the digraph ou;
b) - phonetic and morphological changes in the inflection:on>en>
c) - morphological changes in the place of the form in the verb paradigm and its grammatical meaning: fundon was the Past tense pl of Ind. Mood: its descendant founden- was also the form of Past pl.Subj. and Part.II, as these three forms fallen together; the modern found has further extended its functions it stands now for both the singular and plural since these forms are not distinguished in the Past Tense.
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All these can be defined as structural or intralinguistic as they belong to the language system.
The concept of linguistic change is not limited to internal, structural changes. It also includes temporal differences in the position of the given unit in language space, what is the extent of its spread in the functional varieties of the language.
Work in groups:
1 Draw a map of the Great Britain
2 What parts the United Kingdom consists of?
3 What languages do the inhabitants of GB speak?
4 Where else the English language is spoken?
English is the native Language for
England
Scotland
North Ireland
Canada
Australia
New Zealand
USA
Besides EL is used as an official one in the South-Africa, India and Pakistan
