Forms
of English Past and Present 5.3.2009
History started in the 5th
century and is still going on today
New words: to google, gossip, to facebook, to handbag (to convince somebody
with a little bit of force)
Periods of the
History of English:
Old English (450-1150)
Middle Engl. (1150-1500) Geoffrey Chaucer
Early Modern Engl. (1500-1700)
Shakespeare English (double negations, similar to Rap)
Modern Engl. (1700-present)
(Dates are not very important for the exam)
Old English
5th century (449): Britain was invaded by Germanic tribes (Angles, Saxons, Jutes)
they brought along their own dialects
from their arrival in Britain their language is called Old English (O.E.)
“stanas”: means
stones
“daeg” (Sing.): Tag “dagas”
(Pl.): Tage
very different from Modern English but
similar to German
Nouns have masculine, feminine or neuter
gender as in German
Nouns take case endings: nominative,
genitive, dative, accusative (4 Fälle)
Verbs have more endings than in Modern
English (3rd Person “s”, ing-Form, Past “ed”)
O.E. is an inflected language
Word order in sentences is freer à
inflection in words indicates the function in the sentence
Vocabulary of O.E. is mostly of Germanic
origin
“oxan”: menas Ochsen
We find some Latin and Celtic loan words
Middle English
1066: Britain was invaded by some Norman
troops and William the Conqueror (à he won, King
Harold the 2nd was on the Engl. Side)
almost the entire British nobility died
in the battle of Hastings
British lost because they didn’t have
horses (Infantry), France (Cavalry, with horses)
Normans took over as the ruling class in
Britain
Normans brought
their dialects
Time of strong influence on English
Many French loan words (= words taken
from an other language) were adopted
O.E. case endings were produced less
clearly and eventually lost
Word order became more important
Is the time of levelled infelections
M.E. texts written shortly after the
Norman conquest (1066) did not differ significantly from earlier texts
1150: dividing line between O.E. and M.E.
(less endings, French words)
Early Modern
English
Beginning marked by introduction of the
printing press by William Caxton in 1476
Printing had an effect on the
standardisation of the language
Before: books had to be copied by hand à every
single book was unique (written by monks) à mistakes!
The Reformation in the early 16th
century and the Renaissance (=rebirth; rebirth of art, science,…) had
great influence on the English language
Many Latin and Greek loan words were
adopted à influential on science
The levelling of inflections continued
Modern English
·
17th and 18th centuries: codification of
Standard English (=Sprachkodex)
·
Many dictionaries and Grammars were published
·
Books on right spelling, right pronunciation and
right use on words were published
·
English developed into a World Language
·
Lingua franca: language of science, technology,
tourism, commerce
·
Official language in about 60 countries
·
Has more speakers than any other language (if
you count native and non native speakers)
Future of Modern
English
·
Internet and international communication:
different varieties (American English, Indian English, Australian Englisch…)
influence each other
·
Dominance of American Entertainment industry:
influence on non American varieties of English
·
Changes of pronunciation, word and sentence
structure will be unavoidable
Diachronic
Linguistics
Is the study of language from the
perspective of its development through time (change: meaning of a word;
“Idiot”: was a rich man who is a bit weird, now: it means just a weird man
à pejorations: Verschlechterung der Bedeutung)
E.g. studies on the development of
pronunciation or changes in the meaning of words over time
Synchronic
Linguistics
Looks at the English language at a given
time
E.g. studies on the pronunciation of a word
at a given time
Distinction between synchronic and
diachronic linguistics goes back to Saussure (1857-1913)
Since old and new forms always co-existed
for a certain time a purely diachronic description isn’t possible
Forms
of English Past and Present 12.3.2009
Internal and
external history of language
Internal history: All aspects of structure and
how they change over time
External history: political events, social and economic developments, language
contacts that have an influence on language development
Sources: Early
Manuscripts
Written documents
We know little about the spoken language
of earlier periods
Early Manuscripts
5th century: Anglo-Saxons did
not bring a writing system with them
Had a runic alphabet which survived in a
number of stone inscriptions
Sign rune: “S” used
during Nazi-time: SS
elk (Elch) means
giant or sth. big
End of the 6th century: a
writing system was introduced by the monks who Christianised England
Language of the church was Latin
First no need to produce texts in English
(according to the monks)
A written form of English was developed
on the basis of the Latin mode
Texts were first annotated with comments
in English or glosses i.e. word-for-word translations that were inserted
between the lines
From the 8th century onward we
find legal texts in English, oral poetry and translations of religions and
philosophical texts in Latin (Alfred the Great was responsible for these
translations)
After 1066: French and Latin were the
official languages and used for most official documents as well as for
scientific writing (many French words came into the English language)
English continued to be used for poetry
and religious literature
Until the 15th century texts
were handwritten ; monks wrote on parchment ( = skin of sheeps) with a
feather = quill
Difficult to determine when a manuscript
was written
Texts could have been copies of much
older texts
Scribes (monks) made mistakes and treated
sources rather liberally
After 1476 (introduction of printing):
attempts as standardisation of the English language (Caxton introduced
printing)
17th and 18th
century: dictionaries and grammars were published
written sources tell us less about
dialects differences
Old English:
Germanic dialects
O.E. period: 450-1150
Earliest texts date from around 700
They are glossaries of Latin words
translated into English and some are early inscriptions and poems
Most extant O.E. manuscripts date from
the late 9th and the 10th centuries
Roman Britain
55 and 54 BC Julius Caesar attacked Britain
met with fierce resistance form
predominantly Celtic Britons
Caesars expedition were failures
43 A.D. Roman legions were more
successful
Romans built forts e.g. at Chester and York
Built a network of paved roads
Great defensive wall across the north of England: Hadrians Wall
Roman occupation was largely peaceful
Brought prosperity and an orderly
government
Occupying soldiers and civil servants
were mostly romanised Gauls (Gallier) from France and Celts rather than
Romans
It can be assumed that Latin never
replaced the local Celtic languages
There was widespread bilingualism
367 A.D.: Britain was attacked by two
Celtic Tribes form the north: the Picts and Scots and by Saxon pirates who
landed in the east
Romans managed to restore peace
Romans had serious problems on the
continent and withdrew (beginning of the 5th century)
Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle
Is an account of important events in
English history
Was stared under King Alfred at the end
of the 9th century
States that the invasion of Angles,
Saxons and Jutes took place in the year 449
Britons asked the Angles for help against
attacking tribes from the north, in particular the Picts
Angles successfully helped the Britons
(won against Pics)
Decided to stay and settle down
Brought their kinsmen from their old home
Were primarily farmers
Anglo-Saxons were pagans ( dt. = Heiden)
Anglo-Saxon
Heptarchy (7 kings, 7 kingdoms)
Until the 10th century there
was no one monarchy for the whole of English
The invaders founded several small
kingdoms
Northumbria, Mercia, East Anglia, Essex, Kent, Sussex and Wessex (map in the handout)
Christianisation
End of 6th century: pope
Gregory sent a mission of monks under Augustine to convert the English
597: Augustinve landed in Kent, converted and became first Archbishop of Canterbury
end of 7th century: all of Britain was Christianised
not all of England was converted by Roman
missionaries
parts of Norhumbria were converted by
missionaries from Ireland with Celtic form of Christianity
664: Synod of Whitby: decision taken in
favour of Roman Christianity
monks brought literacy and learning (more
people were able to read)
scholarly monasteries were founded e.g.
in Canterbury, Jarrow and York
northern kingdom of Northumbria: Lindis farne Gospels: a manuscript written in Latin: was illuminated by a monk
called Eadfrith who alter became the bishop of the island monastery of Lindisfarne
The venerable (ehrenwerte) BEDE, a
Benedictine monk, who lived from about 673-735 wrote “The Ecclesiastical
(kirchliche) History of the English People” (completed in 731)
This important document was written in
Latin ( Alfred the Great translated)
Viking Raids ( Überfälle,
Raubzüge, Plünderungen)
9th century: golden age of Anglo-Saxon
church came to an end
attacks from peoples from Scandinavia mainly from Norway, Sweden and Denmark
fearless seafarers searching for plunder
England’s rich
culture was not protected by an efficient army and not organised under a
central government
First raids took place in spring
Places not too far from the shore were
plundered
Eventually Vikings decided to stay over
the winter and settled in the country
King Alfred of Wessex (the Great)
Came to power in 871 and reigned almost
30 years until 899
Successfully opposed the Vikings
drove them back north
great military leader
recognized the importance of learning
rebuilt churches
set up schools for his noblemen
set out to translate important Latin
manuscripts into O.E.
initiated a record of historical events
of the Anglo Saxons, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
Danelaw
The territory to the north of a line that
extended from Chester to London remained under Danish rule and came to be
known as Danelaw
Today: place names with Danish endings:
-by: farm, town,
- thorpe (village), - thwaite (an isolated piece of land) and –toft (house,
grounds)
·
Alfred’s successors re-conquered much of the
Danelaw
·
Number of Scandinavian settlers must have been
very considerable
·
Over 1400 place names of Scandinavian origin
·
It is generally assumed that Anglo-Saxons and
Scandinavians lived together peacefully and that there was a great deal of
cultural assimilation
Youtube: Story of English Mother Tongue
Forms
of English Past and Present 19.3.2009
Renewed Viking
Attacks
End of the 10th century: Danes
renewed their attacks
1016 England submitted to the Danish king
Canute and became part of a large Danish empire that included both Denmark and Norway
26 years later, the empire collapsed and
an English king (Edward the Confessor) was restored to an independent England
Earliest
Linguistic Traces: Place Names
Latin place names
-chester, after Latin castra (camp, town)
Chester, Chichester, Colchester, Manchester, Winchester
Portchester (Lat. Portus = harbour and
Lat. Castra)
Portsmouth (Lat.
Portus and O.E. muða =(estuary)
Portsmouth (Hafen
und Flussmündung)
Celtic Place Names
Celts and Anglo-Saxons used Latin
elements when they created new names for new towns
Place names that go back to Celtic:
Winchester, Salisbury, Exeter, Gloucester, Worcester, Lichfield
Kent and London were most probably originally Celtic (Londinium?)
London goes back
to a Celtic name and means: “the wild one”
Handout: pages 11-14
Forms
of English Past and Present 26.3.2009
Anglo-Saxon Poetry
30 000 lines of O.E. poetry have survived
Heroic subjects, historic poems, lives of
saints, lyrics, riddles and gnomic verse (short poems to aid memory à they
put it in rime)
Poems are composed in alliterative
measures (inherited from Germanic ancestors)
Originally many of the poems have been
passed on orally form one generation to the next
Two traditions: pagan, oral
Christian tradition (poems about the
saints)
Sometimes two traditions are interwoven
(a mixture)
Most famous O.E. poem: Beowulf
3183 lines alliteration ( = Stabreim:
first two letters of a line in a rime have to be the same e.g.: Good
God)
Alliteration: Stabreime im Deutschen: Kind und
Kegel, Adam und Eva
Beowulf (written
down at about 800) Handout: page 51
Tells the story of dragon slayer Beowulf,
who goes to help the Danish king Hrothgar
Hrothgar’s meat hall has been ravaged by
the male monster Grendel
Beowulf defeats Grendel
Grendels mother seeks revenge
Beowulf fights her in an underwater
cavern in a lake and slays her
As an aged warrior who had ruled the
Geates for 50 peaceful years he fights a fire breathing dragon (Geates =
Gauten: old Germanic tribe)
He slays the dragon but dies
Story plays at 600 A.C; “Beowulf” was
probably written in 800 A.C.
O.E. Vocabulary
Most of O.E. vocabulary has not survived
into Modern English
Basis of O.E. formed by dialects of
Germanic tribes
Contact with Celts, Roman missionaries
and Viking raiders also influenced the language
O.E. Vocabulary:
Celtic Traces
Celtic place names: Devonshire
Contains the
tribal name Dumnonir
Scir à Middle
English = shire = Grafschaft
Cornwall means
‘Cornubian Welsh’ (Küste von Welsh)
Cumberland
contains the name Cymry and means ‘land of the Cymry or Britons’
O.E. Vocabulary:
Latin Traces
Anglo-Saxons had already had contact with
roman Culture before they invaded Britain
Words such as church and bishop
were adopted at that time
After their arrival in Britain the Anglo-Saxons picked up some Latin words through the Celts, which the Celts had
learned during the Roman occupation
Most important Latin influence came
through Christianisation
New ideas, objects and concepts had to be
named
Abbot ( = Abt), altar (= Altar), candle
(= Candela), cleric (= Klerus), epistle (= Epistula = Brief,
Apostelbrief), hymn (= Hymne), martyr (= Märtyrer) mass, priest, psalm,
relic, rule, shrine
Words that concern clothing and
household: Beet (= rote Beete), lentil (= Linse), pear (= Birne), radish
(= Radi, Rettich, Kren)
Names of trees, plants and herbs that
were important for medical purposes: Fennel (= Fenchel), lily (= Lilie,
Seerose), mallow (= Malve), marshmallow (= Eibisch), myrrh (= Myrrhe)
Words from education: School, master
O.E. Vocabulary:
Viking Traces
Danes and Norwegians spoke slightly
different dialects
Both were similar to those of the
Anglo-Saxons
Considerable Scandinavian influence on
the English language in all areas of daily life
Examples: band, bank, birth, dirt, egg,
fellow, guess, kid, leg, race, seat, sister, slaughter, steak, tidings,
trust, want, window
In many cases it is difficult to say
whether a word is originally Scandinavian or Anglo-Saxon
The sound sk changed to sh (written
as sc) in early O.E.
In Scandinavian dialects it did not
change
Thus, words with sh (ship, shall,
fish) must be original Germanic words
Words with sk were borrowed later
Sky, skin, scrape, bask, skirt are
Scandinavian words
O.E. scyrte à Modern English =
shirt
O.N. skyrte à
Modern English = skirt
O.E. Vowels
Distinction between short and long vowels
was important
Fōr
means journey, for is a preposition
Gōd
(good), god (God)
dāel (portion), dæl (dell, valley)
Frīo (beautiful),
frio (tranquillity)
O.E. changes
·
The long vowels have undergone considerable
modification
·
E.g.: O.E. stan > M.E. stone
·
O.E. gan > M.E. go
·
O.E. halig > M.E. holy
Forms
of English Past and Present 2.4.2009
The Indo -
European Family of Languages
If a separation of one from another
community takes place over time differences grow up between them
Local dialects develop
Ultimately separate languages may develop
Proto – Indo –
European
Hypothesis: languages of a large part of Europe and Asia were a tone time identical – Proto – Indo – European
Close kinship between English, German and
Latin
Milch – milk,
Fleisch – flesh, Wasser- water, Pater –father, Prates – brother
Proto – Indo European
2 branches:
Eastern: Satem
Western: Centum
Centum languages are named after the word
for „hundred“= Kmtom.
Centum languages include Hellenic, Italic,
Germanic and Celtic branches
Satem languages came from the word for „hundred“=
sto.
Indian, Iranian, Armenian, Albanian
Centum – Satem division of languages:
Result of a sound change in the eastern section of the Indo – European
speech community:
K à S / SCH (Satem)
K à C (Centum)
Grimm’s law
Grimm was a Germanic philologist
1882: formulated an explanation that
explained correspondences between certain consonants in the Germanic
languages and those found e.g. in Sanskrit, Latin and Greek
P in Indo – European was presented in
Latin and Greek and changed to F in Germanic Languages
Lat.: opiscis –fish
Pes – foot
PTK changed into F D H
Tres – three
Centum – hundred
The reasons for this change are unknown
Verner’s law
1875: when the Indo – European accent was
not on the vowel immediately preceding, such voiceless fricatives became
voiced in Germanic
Đ became d
Past participles of verbs in O. E. showed
a d e.g. cweden (to say) – cweðan
Germanic
Proto Germanic: common from that Germanic
languages had before they became separated
Gothic: principle language of East
Germanic
Missionary Ulfila also known as Wulfila
translated the gospels and other parts of the New Testaments into Gothic
North Germanic: found in Scandinavia, Denmark, Iceland, and the Faroe Islands
Scandinavian languages fall into 2
groups:
Eastern
Group: Swedish and Danish
Western
Group: Norwegian and Icelandic
Old Icelandic: The Elder or poetic Edda:
collection of poems from the 10th and 11th century
West Germanic
Divided into 2 branches:
High German
Low German
600 A.D. second sound shift: p, t, k, d
where changed into other sounds
Low German
Old Saxon, Old low Franconian
(Fränkisch), Old Frisian, Old English, Old Saxon (basis of modern low
German)
Old low
Franconian (basis of Modern Dutch)
Frisian survived
in the Netherland province of Friesland
High German
Old high German: before 1100
Middle high German: 1100 – 1500
Modern high German: since 1500
High German: popularized by Luther’s translation of the bible
Celtic
At the beginning Celtic languages were
widely spread
Celts were found in Gaul, Spain, Great Britain, western Germany and northern Italy
Steady retreat of Celtic: surprising
phenomenon
Today: Celtic languages only found in far
corners of France and the British Isles
Gallic: Languages of the Celts that were
conquered by Caesar
Goidelic and Gaelic: Celts who were the
first who came to England; they have been driven to Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man
Their language is represented in the
modern languages, like Scottish, Irish, Gaelic and Manx (Gaelic spoken on
the Isle of Man)
Brythonic Celts: were driven westward by
Germanic invaders in the 5th century
Their language was the basis for modern
Welsh, Cornish and Breton
Hittite and
Tocharian
Hittites: References in the Old Testament
(“Children of Heth”)
1907: discovery of Hittite capital in Asia Minor
Clay tablets (Tontafeln) were found
Texts were written in Babylonian
cuneiform characters (=Keilschrift)
Tocharian; fragmentary texts discovered
in western China
The Verb
There are three main kinds of Modern
English verbs
All three can be traced back to Old
English
1. those who form their past tense with –
ed: jump – jumped
2. those who form their past tense by
changing a vowel: give – gave
3. Wholly irregular forms: can, will, go,
be
Modern verbs: few inflectional endings
left: - ed; third person – s ; - ing
Old English present tense:
Ic lufie (I
love)
Þu lufast
He / heo /
hit lufað
We / ge /
hi lufiað
Ic lufode (I
loved)
Some of the present tense endings
weakened and disappeared short after the Old English period
2nd and 3rd person
singular stayed on à
Developed into -est and -eth forms of
Middle English (lovest, loveth)
The Infinitive
-an, -ian added
Singan, lufian
Suffixes were lost during the Middle
English Period and “to” came into existence as a marker of the infinitive
(to sing, to love)
The –ing Form
Equivalent form in O.E. was –ende
Gongende : going
Sprecende: speaking
This form hardly survived the beginning
of the Middle English Period
Was replaced by –inge endings which in
O.E. had been restricted to nouns
The –ed Form
Shows the same kind of vowel changes and
endings we still see today
Had a special prefix: ge- (as in all
other Germanic languages)
Gested (settled)
Gelernade (learned)
The Subjunctive
Was systematically used in O.E.
In subordinate clauses expressing a
subjective attitude
E.g. sceolden: should
In the subjunctive mood, there is only a
singular and a plural form
They are formed by taking the ic-form for
the singular, and adding –n in plural
Ic / Þu / he fremme; we / ge / hie
fremmen
Forms
of English Past and Present 23.4.2009
Two expressions for “to be” = beon, wesan
Middle English (Handout: page 28 – 35)
1150 – 1500
The Influence of
French
Middle English
English language turned from an infected language
into a language with reduced inflection and a more rigid word order
Started out with a mainly Germanic
vocabulary
Ended with a highly mixed vocabulary
Strong influence of French and Latin
Norman Conquest
14th of October 1066: Battle of Hasting
William of Normandy conquers England
Most of English nobility killed
From now on: 3 languages in active use: Latin,
French (new thing that came with the Normans), and English
Norman French became the language of the
aristocracy for the next 200 years
Area often referred to as the dark age in
the history of the English language
Page 23 (Robert of Gloucester)
Reassertion of
English
1204: English king John came into
conflict with French king Philip of France
King John was obliged to give up control
of Normandy
The ruling classes in Britain were now cut off from their linguistic homeland
High rate of intermarriages: bilingualism
was widespread
1250: document: treatise on teaching
English as a foreign language à shows that not all children of
nobility learned French natively
1258: King Henry 3rd issued
the first official document in English
His barons forced him to issue a
declaration in which he promised to observe reforms
Declaration of Henry 3rd was
written in French and Latin but was also translated into English
English orthography: party relies on O.E.
tradition, partly acquires Latin and French usages
Every scribe uses his own orthography
The Decline of
French
13th and 14th
centuries: many new towns developed
Influential English- speaking middle-
class developed
End of the 14th century:
French had lost its position in England
1362: first opening of parliament in
English (King Edward 3rd)
From 1423 onwards: parliamentary records
were kept in English
Official documents of town and guilds
were also kept in English
Early Middle
English Genres
Pelerborough Chronicle: continuation of
Anglo- Saxon Chronicle started by King Alfred of Wessex
Was written at about 1155 by a
Benedicline monk
Covers the years 1132-1154
Medical handbooks (interested in
herbs,...)
Biographies of saints
Homilies (=Predigten, how to interpret
bible texts)
Religious treatises
Most literature was religious in nature
Ancrene Wisse (= ein Buch)
Wisse = Wissen
The Guide or Rule for Anchoresses
(religiöse Einsiedlerinnen) (Wie man sich benehmen muss)
Composed not long after 1215
Author was probably an Augustinian canon
(Stiftsherr)
Wrote a treatise for three sisters who
had adopted the live of recluses (Einsiedlerinnen)
Five 13th century manuscripts
of this text and translation into French and Latin have survived (Schweigegelübte,...)
Instructs nuncs (Nonnen) how they should
lead their lives
Deals with prayers, control of the
senses, regulation of feelings, confession, temptation, etc.
(punishments,..)
Language: South-West Midland dialect
Anmerkung:
Vogt = Gutsverwalter
Canterbury Tales (Handout p.
54-55)
Most famous Middle English text
By Geoffrey Chaucer (1340-1400) (one of
the most important poets and writers) (made fun of the French)
The Story of a group of pilgrims who set
out for Canterbury (Chaucer is also with them)
Pilgrims take turns in telling stories
Reward for the best story: a meal
23 pilgrims represent all walks of life
(social classes). We find:
A knight and his son ( a squire =
Knappe), a student from Oxford, a prioress, a nun, a monk, a parson, a
friar, a priest, a pardoner, who sells indulgencies (Schulderlassscheine,
if you committed a sin)
There are also manual labourers: a
miller, a reeve, a cook and a shipman
Pilgrims are introduced in the prologue
by the narrator Chaucer, who is himself of them
Most famous female character: Wife of Bath:
She is well travelled (3 pilgrimages to Jerusalem), has visited important places of Europe (Rome, Boulogne, St. James of
Compostella in Spain = Jakobsweg)
Has had 5 husbands
New Genres in the
Middle English Period
14th century: legal documents
became more numerous
proclamations, petitions, testaments and
wills (=letzter Wille) were all written in English
minutes of council meetings
increasing number of scientific texts
large collection of letters from the
Paston family has survived
was influential family of merchants
Middle English
dialects and standardisation
VERBS
In O.E. the ending for verbs in the
plural present indicative (Mod.E. we, you they) is always –th
In northern Middle E. it is –es,
in the Midland –en and in the sout –eth
North: lovande
Midland: lovende (in late Mi.E.: loving)
South: lovinde (in late Mi.E.: loving)
–ing Form
Forms of the south and the Midlands fell together and became –ing in M.E. times – this form survived into
Modern English
PRONOUNS
North: they, their, them
South: hi, here (hire, hure), hem
Northern forms survived into Modern
English
Loss of unstressed (unbetont) vowels (got
lost)
To lose a sound: syncope to
lose a sound at the end: apocopy
SOUNDS
Initial f and s often voiced in the south
à v, z
North: for, from, fox
South: vor, vrom, vox
Northern standard survived
Modern English word for a female fox
vixen goes back to southern form
Ch in the
south often corresponds to k in the north:
North: benk, kirk
South: bench, chirch à
southern forms are used in Modern English
15th century: beginning of
standardisation process
Still controversial what started this
process and which M.E. dialect formed the basis of Modern Standard English
Some scholars see Chaucer as the fore
father of Modern English
Chaucer used a conservative, poetic
language
It is rather unlikely that it alone
formed the basis of Modern English
Chancery clerks: the scribes in the
king’s employment have played a role – however, they only produced
official documents
Forms
of English Past and Present 30.4.2009
Note: London, Cambridge, Oxford à famous triangle
Middle English
dialects and standardisation
William Caxton: fist printer in London, int roduced the printing press in 1476
Standardisation process has started
earlier
London as a
political and economic centre had a strong impact
London dialect in
itself was not coherent
Many influential merchants from the East Midlands settled in London
Their dialect is more directly behind
Modern Standard English
Lexical inventory: French influence
·
During the first years after the conquest few
words were borrowed
·
After 1250 those who had spoken French
increasingly spoke English
·
A large number of French words were adopted
·
Most designations of high social ranks are
French: noble, nobility, peer, prince, princess, duke, duchess, count,
countess, squire, page (Page, Diener)
·
Queen, king lord, lady and earl were English
·
Words form government and administration: (French
origins)
·
Crown, sate, empire, reign, royal, sovereign,
majesty, tyrant, court, council, parliament
·
High offices and titles in administration:
·
Chancellor, treasurer (Schatzmeister), governor,
councillor (Stadtrat), minister, mayor, constable (Beamter im öffentl. Dienst)
·
Terms for offices in the church: French origins
·
Clergy (Klerus), clerk (Geistlicher), prelate
(Höherer Geistlicher), cardinal, dean (Dechant), chaplain, parson (priest),
pastor (priest), vicar, abbess (Klostervorständin)
Note: dean:
at university = Dekan
Fundamental religious or theological
concepts:
Saviour, trinity, virgin, saint, miracle,
mystery, faith, heresy (Irrglaube), reverence, devotion, temptation,
damnation, penitence, salvation
Law
Normans
introduced French as the language of the courts
Justice, judgment, plaintiff, defendant,
judge, advocate, attorney (Staatsanwalt), verdict (Rechtsspruch, Urteil),
sentence, jury fine, punishment, prison
Fashion, food and social life
Apparel (Kleidung), garment (Kleidung),
lace (Schnürsenkel), embroidery (Stickerei), cloak (Umhang), coat frock
(Gehrock, Kleid), collar (Kragen)
Culinary words
Dinner, supper, feast, appetite, taste,
venison (deer), beef, veal, mutton, pork, bacon, sausage, poultry
(Geflügel), biscuit, cream, sugar, spice, clove (Gewürznelke), thyme, herb
and mustard
Domestic and
social life
Curtain, couch, chair, crushion,
wardrobe, closet, recreation, leisure, dance, carol, melody, music,
cheese, conversation
Medicine and
Science
Treatise (Wissenschaftl. Abhandlungen),
study, logic, geometry, noun, clause, gender, medicine, physician,
surgeon, plague, anatomie, remedy (Heilmittel)
Grammar of Middle English does not show
any direct French influence
Inflections (Endungen) had undergone much
simplification
Most frequent words were still English:
Eat, drink, sleep, work, play, sing,
walk, rum, ride, drink, break, butter, fish, milk, cheese, wine, beer,
leg, foot, hand, eye, ear, nose
Middle English
Syntax and Morphology
Decay of inflectional endings
Case endings of nouns and adjective were
less clearly pronounced
No longer indicated the relation between
words in a sentence
Language began to rely on a fixed word
order and on the use of prepositions
Examples from Chaucer’s language:
Endings: Gode,
on hode, in lande
Note: identify Middle E. texts by prepositions, -e at the plural, weak and
strong adj.
Only distinction that is marked on nouns
is the plural: -es, -ys, -is, -en
And the possessive: -s, -es
ADJECTIVES (strong and weak)
Monosyllabic adjectives ending in a consonant
show the O.E. distinction between strong and weak declension
The strong form does not inflect,
the weak form adds –e
The weak form is used when the adjective
is preceded by a definite article or a possessive:
The younge sonne, this odde man, his owene
good à zu seinem eigenem Besten
-e is also
added to monosyllabic adjectives ending in a consonant that qualify a
plural noun
olde books
The difference between strong and weak
declension still exist in Modern German
Der alte Man, ein alter Mann
Comparison adj. In Chaucerian grammar:
Depe – depere – depest
God (e) - bettere – best(e)
I, IK, Ich. Due to dialectical variation which Chaucer imitates in the
Canterbury Tales à he shows dialects in there
Thow, thou are mere spelling variants
Chaucer already uses a system in which
the plural forms ye, yow and youre can be used to a
single addresser to express politeness and respect
As in Modern English there is a
distinction between strong and weak verbs
Strong verb:
Knowe(n) knew knowe(n)
Breake(n) brak broke(n)
Weak verbs:
Daunce(n) daunced daunce
(Handout page 40)
Past participles are sometimes preceded
by y-/i- (a reduced form of the O.E. prefix ge)
Ycleped (getratscht), ycome(n)
(gekommen) à sign for Middle English texts
The infinitive often ends –en, n but
also accurs without ending
The third person of the verb ends in –eth
(Sg.) and –en (Pl.)
Verbs ending in –d or –t
often shows simplifaction
E.g. wente instead of wenteth,
rit instead of rideth, sit instead of siteth, writ
instead of writeth
Subjunctive report hypothetical facts,
wished for circumstances or possibilities
They also express the speaker attitude
(wishes, possibilities)
Subjunctives end in –e:
And though that he were worthy, he was wys
(wise=weise)
And although that he was wealthy, he was
wise
The subjunctive is often used in clauses
beginning with though and lest and the verb hopen
Lest: ,damit nicht; ,dass nicht etwas passiert
Forms
of English Past and Present 7.5.2009
Personal Pronouns
The Personal
Pronouns in Old English
Distinctive forms for all genders and
persons
O.E. had a dual form, which disappeared
in the 13th century (wit we two, yit ye to)
Duals were rarely used
Duals formed in Pidgin languages:
Youmi (you and me)
The Personal
Pronoun
I had the sound value of Latin [i]
Why do we use capital I for [ai]: ?
Possible explanation: in manuscripts
letters were crammed together
capital I was used to make the pronoun
visible
French influence on the development of
personal pronouns
After the Norman conquest: French
official prestigious language
Polite form of addressing people was
introduced:
tu – vous distinction
Middle English:
thou [u:]
ye [je] = polite form
King was addressed with ye (pluralis
majestatis)
Chaucer used both forms
O.E.
Þ- Þē (Sg.) Dat./Acc.
gē- ēow (Pl.) Dat./Acc.
M.E.
Thou – thee (Sg.) Dat./Acc.
Ye – you (Pl.) Dat./Acc.
Higher ranking people addressed lower
ranks in the singular
Cromwell (1560-1617): thou undemocratic
Polite form for everybody was introduced
in 17th century: you
Ye – you: simplification: only one plural
form
The Great Vowel
Shift
i à ai (as in “find”)
e à i (as in “feel”)
U à au (as in “mouse”)
O à u ( as in “moon”)
Short vowels were similar in Middle and
Modern English
Sounds of the long stressed vowels
changed their place of articulation
originally vowels had contental values
(sounded like in Latin)
During the Great vowels shift the two
highest vowels became diphthongs and the other five underwent an increate
in tongue height (p. 39)
oo was
shortened from [u:] to [u] in many cases before k, d and less
commonly t, e.g. book, good, foot, took
shortening occurred for some instances of
ou: country, could
Not all words underwent certain phases of
the Great Vowel Shift
ea did not
take the step to [i:] in great, break, steak, swear,
bear
father failed to become [: ]
Sound Changes
Changes that made English different from
German
Some changes took place when the English
were still on the continent (5th century)
Other changes happened in England
There are 2 types of changes:
- spontaneous changes: form of the word
does not give away the reason e.g ei à oa Stein > stõa,
Geiß > Goaß > goat
- combinatorial changes: systematic: e.g.
first and second century AD
lengthening of vowels after loss of
nasals
Proto German uns > Ang. F. *us >
O.E. us
Schwyzerdütsch: unsrig (“unsriger”)
Gans > gãs > O.E. gōs >
M.E. goose
a > o in front of a nasal
mann > mon (Mensch, Mann = O.E. guma)
wifmon: Frauenmensch à
used for women in general
a > æ no nasal
(Aufhellung)
dag > dæg
Verdumpfung: in front of West Germanic nasals:
a / ā > o
TauÞ> Zanth (hochdeutsch Lautverschiebung t – z) > tāÞ
> tōÞ > tooth
Aufhellung of diphthongs: e.g. Gothic
(East Germanic) augo > O.E. eage > M.E. eye
i-Umlaut
term coined by Grimm
Became a German loan word in the English
language:
Back vowels became front vowels
Front vowels were raised one step forward
Irregular plurals through the change
in the i-Umlaut (parallels in German)
Germanic *musi > mysi > mice
(German: i-Umlaut: Maus – Mäuse)
*fot > foti > foeti > feti >
feet (Fuß – Füße)
Mann > manni > meni > men
The Renaissance
(1500-1650)
1500-1700 Early Modern English period
printing press led to spread of popular
education
by 1640: 20 000 titles had appeared
at Shakespeare’s time (1564-1616) half of
the people could at least read
17th and 18th
centuries: number of schools increased
Rise of the literary genre of novel
(Defoe)
English faced three great problems:
- recognition in the field of science and
learning
- establishment of a more uniform
orthography
- necessary enrichment of vocabulary to
meet the new demands
Orthography
letters inserted in words that were not
pronounced because the corresponding Latin words was spelled that way:
e.g. b in debt, doubt, or gh
in delight, light
optional letters inserted in extra spaces
to justify a line
attempts to bring about agreement;
1568: Thomas Smith: The correct and
Emended Writing of the English language
Smith increased the alphabet to 34
letters (marked long vowels)
1570: John Hart A Method or Comfortable
Beginning for All Unlearned, Whereby They May Bee Taught to Read English
1580: William Bullokar: Booke at Large,
for the Amendment of Orthography for English Speech
1582: Richard Mulcaster: Elemntarie
General table for the spelling of 7000
most common words
1755: publication of Dr. Johnson’s
Dictionary
Note:
English crash course: 2000 -3000 words (you need to survive)
Language Purism
Opposition against inkhorn terms (i.e.
terms which were only understood by those who could read and write and had
an inkhorn (=Tintenfass at home)
Thomas Wilson: Arte Rhetorique (1533)
Sir John Cheke: [..] our tung should be
written clean and pure, unmixed and unmanaged with borrowings from
Forms
of English Past and Present 14.5.2009
Renaissance
(1500-1650)
(Da Vinci, Galileo)
Adaptions from
Latin
Cutting of the Latin ending: e.g.: consult-
consultare
nouns ending –tas à -ty
L. Brevitas – brevity
(=Kürze)
Nouns ending –antia, mentia à ancy,
ency: e.g. constancy, emergency
Adjective ending –ibilis à ble
Considerable
-ate verbs: formed from L. Past
participle: creat, consolidate
Borrwings
Some words were borrowed more than once:
Episopus, discus: O.E. bishop and dish (kommt von
“Scheibe”)
Borrowed later: episcopal, disc
Some words were popular and then
disappeared e.g to deruncinate (=to weet) (=Wurzel ausreißen)
It is not always possible to say whether
a word was taken over diretly from Latin or indirectly form French
E.g. verbs consist or explore
could be both, Latin or French
Grammatical
Features
(1500-1650)
Handout p. 41
17th century: certain
survivals of old weak plural form –n
e.g. Shakespeare: eyen (=eyes), shoon
(=shoes)
His genitive: ‘s written seperately
The group possessive: the king of
England’s nose
The writer of the book’s ambition
3 changes concerning personal pronouns
Disuse of thou, thy, thee
Substitution of you for ye
Introduction of its as the
possessive of it
15th century: which
begins to alternate with that –survives in Our father, which art
in heaven
16th century: development of
the pronoun who as a relative
Elizabethan English: Common to use
interrogative form without an auxiliary:
Macbeth: Goes the king hence today?
(Right would be: Is the king going hence today?)
Progressive forms are rarely used:
Polonius: What do you read my Lord? (Right would be: What are you
reading?)
Impersonal uses of verbs are very common.
It yearns me not, it dislikes me. (Shakespeare)
By the end of 16th century. –s
predominant ending for verbs (3rd person Sg.)
Many strong verbs became weak
Sometimes strong forms altrnative with
weak forms:
Holp
beside helped
Sew beside
sowed
Omission of the article:
Shakespeare: creeping like snail (article
“the” is left out), with this mile and half (“a” is left out)
Use of double negation permitted: I can’t
get no satisfaction, I can’t get no sleep
Thou hast
spoken no word all this while – nor understood none either (Handout p. 56)
Sonnet
Ital. Sonetto = little son
Shakespeare wrote 154 sonnets
Shakespear’s first sonnet was dedicated
to Willhelm Herbert (W.H.), who paid for his life, 19 years old, beautiful
Sonnet: 14 lines
4 QUATRAIN
iambic pentameter
The 19th
century and after
Influences
affecting the English language
1805: Napoleonic war: Nelson’s victory
over Napoleon Bonaparte at Trafalgar à England gained naval supremacy and control over most of the world’s commerce
Rise of British Empire: empirial holdings
The Decling of the
British Empire
Independence of larger colonies
Rapid development of the United States
Forms of English spoken in these
territories became important varietes:
American English
Canadian English
Indian English
New Words from
Science
Medicine
·
EKG (electrocardiogram) (misst Herzfrequenz)
·
CAT scan (computerized axial tomography)
·
AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome)
(Acronym, LASER as well)
Electricity: dynamo, alternating current, direct current
Chemistry: alkali, formaldehyde
Psychology: schizophrenia, introvert, extrovert, behaviourism
World War 1st: no man’s land
World War 2nd: black out
Automobile
industry:
·
Verb to park no used for cars only
·
Parking space, A.E. truck, B.E. lorry, clutch
(=Kupplung), gearshift, cruise, control
Film, radio,
television: cinema, moving, picture, screen,
projector, close up, 3D
Computer: PC, byte, cursor, modem, software, download
New meanings
of: mouse, terminal, chip, network, workstation
Sources for new
Words
Borrowings from other language:
French:
perfume, aperitif, chauffeur
Italian:
ciao, confetti, vendetta
Spanish: bonanza,
rodeo, machismo, tortilla, tacco
German: schadenfreude, weltanschauung, festschrift,
gestalt, kindergarten, rucksack, doppelgänger, abseilen, zeitgeist, third
reich
Russian: vodka, glasnost, perestroika
Hungarian: goulash
Czech: robot (=arbeiten)
Compounding: (you put two words together)
Fire extinguisher, housewife,
lipstick, life-style
Compounds
with Greek and Latin elements:
Greek: eu-
meaning well e.g. euphemism
-scope meaning
watcher: telescope, stethoscope, bronchoscope
Greek + Latin: automobile (auto = Greek, means self, selbstverantwortlich),
(mobile = Latin, means movable, beweglich)
Latin prefixes: trans-, post-, pre-,
sub-
Transcontinental, transsexual,
transform, transcription, postgraduate, preschool, subway
Coinage: Words
are result of deliberate invention: most of them were brands
Kodak: cameras
(originally trademark)
Kleenex (Taschentücher),
xerox (copy)
Hoover (Staubsauger)
Words from proper names:
Tabasco: river in Mexico
Camembert:
village in France
Sandwich: Earl of Sandwich
Colt: name
of its inventor (Revolver)
To boycott: Captain Boycott (agent of Irish landowner who refersed to
accept rents)
Old Words with new meanings
Skyline:
formerly horizon, now: skyline of New York
To broadcast: originally had reference to seed, now: to transmitt
Cabaret:
is an old word for shed and later meant small drinking place. Today: type
of nightclub
Forms
of English Past and Present 28.5.2009
The influence of Journalism
·
Informal and colloquial style
·
E.g.: to back a candidate, a go-between, these
were all expressions that became popular because journalists used them in their
articles
·
Expressions from sports: crestfallen (entmutigt,
geknickt), neck on neck (Kopf an Kopf), out of the running (aus dem Spiel),
down and out (pleite)
Changes of meaning
·
Extension: Lovely: originally meant “worth to be
loved”
Great: originally meant “large in size”
Today you also
say a lovely building, a great movie...
·
Narrowing of meaning: a word gradually acquires
a more restricted sense:
Doctor:
originally referred to a learned man in theology, law and many other fields,
today the word doctor is only used to refer to a person who is working in a
medical field
· Degeneration of
meaning: smug (selbstzufrieden)- was originally a good word meaning “neat”
(gepflegt)
· Regeneration of
meaning: words like: coax, shabby, stingy, touchy, wobbly that are not accepted
as Standard English but do belong to Slang
Slang
· Webster defines it as
“low” and “vulgar” and unmeaning language
· Many words that were
once considered as slang words now belong to standard language, e.g.: what on
earth? a row (Auseinandersetzung)
· Also: boom, slump, crank
(Spinner, Griesgram), fad (Modetorheit)
Cultural levels and functional varieties
· Different Englishes and
language levels
· Local dialects
· Class dialect
· Technical and
occupational vocabularies
· Slang
· Spoken standard:
language heard in the speech of educated people
· Literary standard
· Popular speech
Accents and dialects in English
· Accent: refers to
pronunciation only!
· Dialect: refers to
variation in grammar and vocabulary
· Regional variation:
differences between one place and another
· Social variation:
differences between different social groups
· Basilects: dialects
associated with working class occupations and persons who are less privileged
· Acrolects: prestigious
forms of speech spoken by people with higher education and social status
Received
Pronunciation RP
· Has often been referred to
as Oxford English, BBC English and the Queen’s English
· Linguists coined the
expression: non-regional pronunciation NRP
· Traditional received
pronunciation
· Modern non-regional
pronunciation
World Englishes
· Categorization of World
Englishes:
Inner Circle-
Outer Circle- Expanding Circle
· Inner Circle: The States,
Britain, Canada, Australia, Ireland- all places were English is a mother
tongue
· Outer Circle: India, Sri
Lanka, South East Asia, parts of Africa, the Caribbean, the Pacific- countries
which were former colonies of Britain
· Expanding Circle: China,
Japan, Europe... –countries were Ebglish is spoken and taught as a foreign
language
Variation: Classification System
· Prof. Wells: Systemic
variation: one accent possesses more or fewer phonemes than another accent in a
particular part of the sound system, e.g.: Northern English lacks the contrast
between /a/ and /o/; such varieties have no phoneme /a/ as found in other
types of English
· Distributional variation:
two accents may have the same system, but environments, in which a particular
phoneme may occur, differ from another.
E.g.: in rhotic
accents the /r/ is pronounced wherever it occurs
In non-
rhotic accents the /r/ is only pronounced before a vowel
· Lexical variation: where a
phoneme chosen for a word or a specific set of words is different in one accent
as compared with another; e.g: in the BATH words (bath, pass, dance) the /a/ is
pronounced as in BATH, in Northern English or in the Midlands the /a/ is
pronounced like in TRAP
· Realisational Variation:
all variations that have not been mentioned in any of the categories so far,
e.g.: initials /p,t,k/ are pronounced and aspirated in most accents but are
unaspirated in Lancashire, South Africa and most Indian English
English Dialects
· English Dialect regions
from North to South: (how do they pronounce “Come Down”?)
· kɅm du:n - area : Kam
Duhn
· kum du:n – area: Kum Duhn
· kum dɘun – area: Kum
Daun
· kɅm dɘun – area:
Kam Daun
Cockney
· Cockney uses rhyming slang
· Uncle Bert = shirt
· Uncle Fred = bread
· Uncle Ned = bed
· Trouble and Strife = wife
· Cockney is a broad accent
of London
· Term “Cockney” comes from
a tale of a fool who believed in a “cocken ey”, i.e: the egg of a cock (das Ei
eines Hahnes)
· Speakers come from the
East End of London
· Pronunciation associated
with the sound of Bow Bells from the St. Mary-le Bow Church
Features of Cockney:
· Non rhotic
· H-dropping
· The /t/ is replaced by a
glottal stop
· Postvocalic /l/ is very
dark sounding, like /u/
· j- dropping
· rhyming
Forms of English Past and Present 4.6.2009
West Country
· it is consistently rhotic
· there is variable h-
dropping and extensive glottalization
· initial /ð/ is often
replaced by a /d/
· shows great deal of
consonant assimilation and elision
· STRUT vowel is close (kurz
ausgesprochen)
· A number of BATH words are
pronounced with the TRAP vowel
The Midlands- Birmingham
· It is non-rhotic
· Has variable h-dropping
· /r/ is frequently
realized as an alveolar tap
· Medial and final /ng/
sounds like only /g/
· BATH words generally have
the TRAP vowel
· The LOT rather than the
STRUT vowel is used for /one/ and /none/
· There are wide glides like
in Cockney in words like /always/days/over/ (-> they sound more like awaii,
daiis…)
· You find extended
intonation patterns with sudden sharp falls
Northern Accent
· Spoken in
Lancaster and Yorkshire
· Variable h-
dropping
· The definite article
is replaced by /t/ which is often glottalized or elided, e.g.: in t’toilet
· /p,t,k/ tend to
have weak aspiration, = lenis fortis problem ( if words like k,t,p aren’t
pronounced in the proper way)
· PPRICE vowels
have a narrow glide and sound rather like a long /a/ vowel, e.g.: motorbike,
Hyde
· TRAP is
retracted (zürückgenommen), e.g.: Ashton, back
· Lack of a STRUT
vowel, FOOT being used where other varieties have STRUT, e.g.: coming, bus, up
· TRAP vowel is
used with most BATH words, e.g.: asked
· Southerner’s
often accuse Northerner’s of having a flat intonation
Geordie (Newcastle)
· No h- dropping
· Non-rhotic
· Medial /p,t,k/
are reinforced with a glottal stop, e.g.: paper, better
· /l/ is clear in
all contexts, e.g.: still, little
· /r/ is
sometimes realized as uvular fricative, e.g.: grain, green, very
· The STRUT vowel
doesn’t exist, e.g.: crumbs, run
· An extra vowel
/a/ is used for THOUGHT words spelled with –al; e.g.: walk (wa:k), talk (ta:k),
yawn (ja:n)
· MOUTH may be
replaced by /u/, e.g.: house (hus)
· FACE and GOAT
are steady vowels
· Lilting
intonation with many final rising patterns
American English
· Consonants:
· General
American GA is rhotic, e.g.: worker (wɜrkɘr)
· /t/ is voiced
in medial position
· /t/ is
neutralized in writer and rider
· Most Americans
have /j/ dropping following the dental and alveolar consonants, e.g.: studio,
nude (nud), duke (duk)
· Some American
speakers have dark /l/ in all contexts, e.g.: level (ɫevɫ)
· Vowels:
· r-colouring
· The GOAT vowel
is usually more back and rounded, e.g.: solo (soulou)
· TRAP is used in
all the BATH words except for father, e.g.: bath, laugh, chance, ask
· No difference
between: merry- Mary- marry
· Words ending in
–ile have /ɘl/ or /l/ in GA compaired to /ail/ in NRP, e.g.: fertile,
messile
· Stress:
· Words ending in
–ary, -ory take a secondary stress, e.g.: military, arbitrary
· Words from
French: final syllable stress: ballet (bælei), perfume (prfjum)
· Stress
Shift:
· Address (‘ædres)
– NRP (ɘ’dres)
· Cigarette (
sigɘret) – NRP (sigɘ’ret)
· Consonant
variance:
· Figure
(‘figjer) – NRP (‘figɘ)
· Erase (i’reis)
– NRP (i’reiz)
· Vowel
variance:
· Anti (‘æntai) –
NRP (‘ænti)
· Clerk
(‘klɜrk) – NRP (kla:k)
· Setting:
· R-colouring of
adjacent consonants: the /r/ in partner also influences the pronunciation of
the /t/ and the /n/
· Intonation:
· Fewer rapid
pitch changes (Americans don’t go up and down with their voice like the
British)
· Rises and falls
more spread out
Celtic influenced varieties
Scottish
· Rhotic, e.g.:
burst, dinner hall
· /r/ is realized
with a strong tap
· Systemic
variation: an extra consonant: the phoneme /x/ (ch) is used, e.g.: Loch Ness
· A dark variety
of /l/ is realized in all contexts, e.g.: absolutely, looked
· Words like wood
and took are pronounced with the GOOSE vowel
· Scottish FACE
and GOAT words are steady, e.g.: dayroom, chased, going
· The KIT vowel
is very open and similar to /ɘ/, e.g.: think, big
· Radically
different from the norm are:
good = KID (gid)
home = FACE
(hem)
dead = FLEECE
(did)
Forms
of English Past and Present 18.06.2009
Handout page 87-91
Irish English
· Divided into:
· Southern Irish
English: spoken in the Republic of Ireland
· Northern Irish
English: spoken in the British province of Northern Ireland and also in the
adjacent parts of the Irish Republic
· Ireland has its
own Celtic language called Irish
· Irish has had
an influence on Irish English
· No h-dropping
· Ɵ/ð are
replaced by t/d, e.g.: think, third, fourth
· Word final /t/
may be pronounced as a weak fricative, e.g.: that- thað
· Sequences such
as /rm/ or /lm/ may be realized with an /ɘ/ insertion, e.g.:
film-filɘm
· The FLEECE
vowel is used in happy words rather than KIT, e.g.: holy family (familie)
· GOOSE is a wide
glide, e.g.: two
· Rural southern
Irish has an extended lilting intonation range
Northern Irish
English
· Similar to
Scots
· No h-dropping
· Rhotic
· Some speakers
have dental /t/ before /r/, e.g.: country
· Many speakers
have clear /l/
· Characteristic
intonation: more rising than falling tunes
Welsh
· Liveliest of
the Celtic languages
· H-dropping
· Non rhotic
· /r/ is realized
as a tap
· /l/ is clear in
all contexts
· Vowels in words
like came, amazed, home, spoke are pronounced with hardly any glide
· Abrupt falls
and rise-falls
· The rhythm of
Welsh gives the impression of the lengthening of consonants
Scouse (Liverpool)
· Lobscouse = a
stew made of cheap meat, potatoes and ship’s biscuit gave the inhabitants of
Liverpool the nickname “Scousers”
· Variable
h-dropping
· /r/ is realized
as a tap
· Medial /t/
often shows t-voicing
· Many speakers frequently
replace Ɵ/ð by t/d
· The intonation
is characterized by rise-fall intonation patterns
World Accent
Varieties
· Southern Texas
· Southern
States: poorer and more backward parts of USA
· Stereotypes:
amusing, uneducated language
· Southerners try
to modify their speech and make it sound close to the Northern variety
· Variable
non-rhotic
· “horn”
pronounced without /r/
· “far”
pronounced with /r/
· /z/ replaced by
/d/: wasn’t – wadn’t
· Breaking:
inserting an /ɘ/ between a vowel and the following consonant
· They wouldn’t
say “don’t” but “do not”: That we do not have over here
· Drawling: slow
and long drawn, extended intonation tunes
· Colloquial American English
Simple past tense used as past
participle:
· Me and Bob have
swam in that pond lotsa times
· She’d sang that
song (instead of: she had sung)
Participle used as simple past:
· I seen
somethin’ real strange last night
· Everybody knows
he done it
· Ain’t, gonna,
wanna- often used
No third person “s”
· He swim
in that river every day of his life
Plural subject and singular be
· Them kittens is
really startin’ to aggravate me
· They was
there all night
Singular subject and plural
· Well it sure don’t
help things none
· That meatloaf don’t
look too healthy
Multiple negation
· He didn’t do
nothin’ all day
· Don’t be
sitting there telling me no lies or nothing
Ain’t:
· Be+not: They
ain’t gonna be there = they aren’t gonna be there
· Have+not: we
ain’t gone to that church for a long time = We haven’t gone to that church
Comparison:
· -er/more and
–est/ most
· Ain’t nobody
around here more cheaper that Bill
· That was the
bestest chocolate I’ve ever ate
Absence of adverbial –ly
· This pie is awful
good
· He treated her wrong
Good and descriptive adjective
· If you don’t
get out of that draft, you’re gonna get good and sick
· I’m sure by now
everybody is good and hungry
· Canadian English
· Population: 33
million people
· Official
languages: 67% English, 21% French
· Minority
languages: Chinese, Punjabi, Spanish, Italian
· Widespread
English- French bilingualism (especially in Quebec)
· H- pronouncing
· Rhotic
· T-voicing
· BATH words have
TRAP vowels
· Terminal rise
intonation patterns
· Close to
General American
· Australian
· Young variety
· Becoming one of
the main standard forms of English
· Most of the
population came from the British Isles
· Varieties sound
very similar all over the country
· Non- rhotic
· Broad accents
show h-dropping
· Regular medial
/t/ voicing
· /l/ is very
dark
· Vowels are
similar to British English
· Wide glides in
“break”, “go home”
· Indian English
· One of the
major world varieties (30 million speakers)
· Term refers to
English spoken in all the southern Asia area: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri
Lanka
· Other
languages: Hindu, Urdu, Bengali, Punjabi
· English had to
be introduced as an official language because of the many other languages
spoken
· Indian English
refers to second language English –ESL
· Rhotic
· Many consonants
are retroflex, i.e.: the tongue is placed behind the alveolar ridge and may
even be curled back to touch the palate
· /th/ replaced
by /t/ and /d/
· Initial and
medial /v/ are strong taps
· /ptk/ are
unaspirated
· /bdg/ are
always voiced
· Unexpected
intonation patterns- syllable timed rhythm
· Pidgin and Creoles
· Pidgin:
language that developed for some practical purpose such as trading among groups
who did not know each other’s languages
· Term comes from
the Chinese word for “business”
· English Pidgin:
Pidgin draws its vocabularies from the English language
· E.g.: “gras” –
from English “grass”
· In Tok Pisin it
means “hair”
· Mousgras= >
mous = mouth + gras = grass (moustache)
· Gras bilong
head = hair
· Characteristics:
· Simple grammar
· Inflectional
suffixes and nouns are rare
· Plural: tu buk
= two books
· Syntax: Your
head will get well again = Baimbai hed bilongyu i-arait gain. (By and by the
head bilong to you will be alright again)
· Creole
· If Pidgin
becomes first language and is taught to children at school, Pidgin turns into a
Creole language
· Vocabulary:
· Agreement: yesa
· Annoy: hamback
· Baby: pikinini
· Theft: house
piksa
· Thing: samting
· Wet season:
taim bilong ren
· Wife: meri
· Tok Pisin
(spoken in Hawaii)
· Well: is tap
gut
· What for:
bilong wanem?
· Dress: klos
meri
· During: long
taim bilong