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HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND. V- VI cent. A.D. Penetration of various uncoordinated bands of adventurers in different parts of the country Britain => “A/Engla Land” 7 kingdoms ( Heptarchy) and dialect differentiation (Germanic origin languages)

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HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

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  1. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

  2. V- VI cent. A.D. • Penetration of various uncoordinated bands of adventurers in different parts of the country • Britain => “A/Engla Land” • 7 kingdoms ( Heptarchy) and dialect differentiation (Germanic origin languages) • TRIBE/CLAN system (Thane): fishing, hunting, agriculture, art -beauty • gambling, fighting, drinking (mead) + courage, loyalty, generosity The Seven Kingdoms Old English dialects

  3. Political union comes slowly • Shift southwards of the centres of power and civilization: Viking Raids (750-1050) CENTURY 7th 8th 9th 10th Northumbria Mercia Wessex .King Alfred saved the southwest of England from the invasion of the DANES Unification of England under the west saxon kings till 1066 • The unification of England under the west saxon kings leads to the recognition of the WEST SAXON dialect as a literary standard language

  4. Viking raids: Invasion and settlement 9th century Old Norse Vikings were: Swedes, Norwegians and Danes

  5. Danish Invasion: The second wave after 980 AD

  6. The Normans • 1066 : Battle of Hastings • William the Conqueror from Northern France • => Norman French

  7. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE • OLD ENGLISH • MIDDLE ENGLISH • MODERN ENGLISH

  8. Language • Old English surviving texts are in 4 dialects: • West Saxon, Kentish, Mercian, Northumbrian • Writing began after conversion (600-700AD) and Clerics used a Celtic version of the Latin alphabet called the FUTHORC. • E.g. they used the letter “þ” for the phoneme /δ/ • Earlier manuscripts were destroyed during the Viking conquest (9th, 10th) • Most records are in West Saxon, which was the literary standard language Old English dialects

  9. Ex. Of OE PRONUNCIATION and PHONOLOGY • 7 vowels: a, e, i, o, u, y, æ (“ash”) • Consonants: no letter <V> only <F>; sound /f/ before voiced sounds ex: wulf/ wulfas, hlaf/hlafas • no letter <Z> only <S>; sound /f/ before voiced sounds ex: nosu/hus • <đ>, <Þ> for sounds /θ, δ/; sound /δ/before voiced sounds ex: baÞian/ Þes • …. • Palatization of velar consonants /k, g/ near /i, æ/ vowels and /J/ half-vowel: E.g. • germ./k/ ags./ts/ ex. Kirike kirche • germ./g/ ags./dξ/ ex. Bryggjabrycg

  10. Ex. Of OE MORPHOLOGY • 4 cases declension: Nominative, genitive, accusative, dative • Ex. –um for dat. Plu • -e for dat. Sing. • verbal system with present and past: Imperative • Indicative • Subjunctive • Present perfect: verb HABBAN for transitive verbs • verb BEON/WESAN for intransitive verbs

  11. Ex. Of OE SYNTAX • Freedom of sentence order but often used:SOV in subordinate clauses; VSO in questions • Negation: particle NE before the verb • No auxiliary Do/Does

  12. Scandinavian influences on OE • Scandinavian influx left its mark on place names ending in: • -by; -thorp • No palatization: • Ex. Old Norse form Old English form Lancaster /k/ egges /g/ Winchester /ts/ æyren /ej/ (See: Chaucher) N.B. Most Scandinavian influences in lexis (loans), morphology, syntax first appeared in writing in the ME period because there was no literary tradition in the Danelaw area

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