Middle English Phonology. Quantitative and Qualitative Changes of Stressed and Unstressed Vowels. Changes within the System of Consonants.

Part 1: Get ready for a test on the theme: “Middle English Period in the

History of the English Language. The Scandinavian and the Norman

Conquests (to be mastered independently).

 

Points to be covered:

1. British society during the ME period.

2. Main historical events of the ME period.

3. Scandinavion invasion.

4. Linquistic consequences of Scandinavian invasion.

5. The Norman conquest.

6. The struggle between the French and the English languages.

7. Linquistic consequences of the Norman conquest.

8. Major ME dialects.

 

See also questions for self-testing.

 

Recommended Literature

Obligatory 1. Lectures on the theme.

2. Verba L. History of the English Language.-Nova Knyha,

2004.

P.102-108.

3. B. Ilyish. History of the English Language.-Л.,1973.

P.134-142; 148-155.

Additional: 1. T. A. Rastorguyeva. History of English.-M.,1983.

P.149-163.

2. G. I. Stoudenets. History of the English Language in

Tables.-K.,1998.

Tables 61-64.

3. Baugh A & Cable T. A History of the English Language.-

London,1978.

 

A sample of the test:

Answer the following questions:

1. What centuries does ME period embrace?

2. How long did the Danelaw exist?

3. Try to find in the following sentence linquistic units borrowed during the ME period:

a) from French;

b) from Scandinavian dialects.

Questions for Self-testing:

1. What centuries does ME period embrace?

2. When did the Scandinavian invasion take place?

3. What were the main stages of the Scandinavian invasion?

4. When did the Scandinavians destroy the Lindisfarne Abbey?

5. When did the Scandinavians burn London?

6. When did the Scandinavians conquer East Anglia?

7. When did the Scandinavians conquer Mercia?

8. When did the battle of Wedmore take place?

9. What is "Danelaw"?

10. How long did Danelaw exist?

11. How long did the Scandinavian invasion last?

12. Why are the consequences of the Scandinavian invasion referred

to ME period (not OE)?

13. What language did the Scandinavians speak? What group of

languages did it belong to?

14. What factors promoted close contacts between the Scandinavian

and the Anglo-Saxon dialects?

15. What stages can be discerned within the period of the Norman

reign in England?

16. What language did the Normans speak? What group of languages

did it belong to?

17. How long did the Norman conquest last?

18. What languages existed in England after the Norman conquest?

In what spheres did each of them function?

19. What were the semantic spheres to which the borrowings from

French belonged?

20. What is the difference between the Scandinavian and the Norman

in influence upon English?

21. What main dialects existed in England in ME?

22. Name the linguistic units borrowed into English as a result of the

Scandinavian invasion.

 

23. What phonetic features characterize the words of Scandinavian

origin in English?

24. What geographical names are considered to be Scandinavian

borrowings in English?

25. How can you prove that the following geographical names are of

Scandinavian origin: Whitby, Appleby, Brintoft, Lowestoft,

Norwich, Totnes, Warwick, Wandsbeck, etc.?

26. What letters and digraphs were introduced into English by the

Norman scribes?

27. What semantic sphere does each of the following borrowings

belong to: autumn, harvest, table, chair, money, dinner, supper,

air, river, large, terrible, stupid, tender, enter, consent, travel?

28. Try to find in the following extract the words which were

borrowed into English during the ME period:

Between 1600 and the present, in armies, navies, companies, and expeditions, the speakers of English - including Scots, Irish, Welsh, American, and many more - traveled into every corner of the globe, carrying their language and culture with them. Today, English is used by at least 750 million people, and barely half of those speak it as a mother tongue. Some estimates have put that figure closer to 1 billion. Whatever the total, English at the end of the twentieth century is more widely scattered, more than any other language has ever been. It has become the language of the planet, the first truly global language.

(Mc Crum and others. The Story of English.)

 

29. Were any formal grammatical elements borrowed into English as

a result of the Scandinavian invasion? of the Norman conquest?