History of English

Language families and Indo-

European



language family - a group of closely
related languages



cognate languages - members of a
language family

Origin based classification
of words



native - in a language since its
beginnings as a discrete language



borrowed/loanwords - introduced
at some time from another
language, either from a related or
an unrelated language

Language vs. dialect



dialects - mutually intelligible
versions of one language



language – no mutual intelligibility

European language families



Indo-European



Finno-Ugric



Altaic



Basque



Northern and Southern Caucasian

Indo-European family
groups



lndo-Iranian



Tocharian



Armenian



Anatolian



Balto-Slavic



Hellenic



Albanian



Celtic



Italic



Germanic

Language typology based on
morpheme classification



inflectional - in which inseparable inflections are fused
with lexical stems to carry much of the grammatical
information



agglutinative - combine grammatical morphemes with
lexical stems, but the grammatical morphemes are
discrete, relatively unchanged from word to word, and
strung onto the lexical stem one after the other



isolating - every morpheme forms a separate word, and
individual particles (such as prepositions, articles, and

conjunctions) are used to convey grammatical information

Indo-European family
subdivision



satem - (from Avestan satem '100')
- languages to the east (lndo-
Iranian, Albanian, Armenian, Balto-
Slavic)



centum - (from Latin centum '100')
- languages to the west (Tocharian,
Indo-European easternmost
language, is centum)

Germanic



East Germanic - Gothic, Burgundian,
Vandalic, Gepidic, Rugian



West Germanic - High German, Low
German: Plattdeutsch, Dutch, Afrikaans,
Luxemburgian, Flemish, Frisian, English



North Germanic - Swedish, Danish,
Norwegian, Icelandic, Faroese

Written accounts of the Anglo-

Saxon invasion of Britain



Brittanic



English



Continental

Brittanic sources



548 - Gildas - Liber querulus de
excidio Britanniae



Nennius - Historia Britonum
(includes the story of Hengest and
Horsa invited by Vortigern)

English sources



Bede (c. 673 - 735) wrote his
Historia ecclesiastica gentis
Anglorum in 731



Anglo-Saxon Chronicle



Poems: Widsith, Beowulf, The Fight
at Finnsburg

Continental sources



Prosper Tiro, account of the visit of
the bishop Germanus to Britain in
429 A.D.



anonymous Gaullish chronicler 441/2
A.D.



Zosimus, Byzantine historian c. 500
A.D.



Procopius of Caesarea after 550 A.D.

Settlement of Anglo-Saxons in
Britain



Jutes: Kent, Isle of Wight



Saxons: west of Kent, south of
Thames



Angles: north of Thames to the
northern border of contemporary
England

Old English stress
assignment



always stress the first syllable of the root



stress is assigned on a left‑to‑right basis



only heavy syllables can be stressed,
unless in the initial position



the leftmost stressed syllable receives
primary stress

Stress in prefixed words



nouns, adjectives, and adverbs receive
primary stress on the prefix



verbs with unseparable prefixes are
stressed on the first syllable of the root
(e.g., a-, be-, for-, ge-, mis-, of-, on-, to-)



verbs with separable prefixes are
stressed on the first syllable of the prefix
(e.g., æfter-, bi-, fore-, in(n)-, up-, ut-)

Old English nominal system



OE nouns: masculine, neuter, and feminine



OE gender is grammatical - assigned to nouns on the

basis of the grammatical structure of the words and not on

its actual, natural gender (engel “angel” masculine, wif

“woman” neuter, þeod “nation” feminine)



OE noun declensions: major and minor/productive vs.

unproductive (productive paradigm is accepted by all new

words entering the language)



Major: strong/weak (PIE vowel stems - endings added to

a stem ending in a vowel or diphthong /n-stems -

endings to a stem formed with a vowel plus /n/)



Minor: consonantal stems, case-endings added to a stem

ending in a consonant other than /n/



OE nouns two numbers, singular and plural, five cases:

nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, and instrumental

(narzędnik)

OE concord



Concord is agreement in gender, case, number or

person between different words that share a reference



The subject must agree with its verb in person and

number



The pronoun must agree with its antecedent in gender

and number



Adjectives and demonstrative pronouns must agree in

gender, case and number with the nouns they modify



The subject must agree with the complement in case



The subject may agree with the participles in

periphrastic verb forms in gender, case and number

Weak verbs>classes

Class 1 (WV1)
-infinitive: -ian, -an
-preterite 1sg.: -ede, -de, -te
-passive: -ed, -d, -t
Class II (WV2)
-infinitive: -ian
-preterite 1sg.: -ode
-passive: -od
Class III (WV3): secgan, habban, libban,

hycgan

OE weak verbs



Class I/II present paradigm

1.sg.

lufie

2.sg.

lufast

3.sg.

lufaþ

1-3 pl.

lufiaþ

Weak verbs



Class I/II preterite paradigms

1.sg.

lufode

2.sg.

lufodest

3.sg.

lufode

1-3 pl. lufodon

Weak verbs: class III



habban



secgan



hycgan



libban

Verb ‘beon’



Suppletive paradigm (conjugational forms from different

stems: *es- “to be”, *bheu- “to become, to come into

existence”; *wes- “to dwell, to inhabit”



*bheu- future forms, *es- present forms, and *wes- past

forms

Present

Future Past

1.sg. eom

beo

wæs

2.sg. eart

bist

wære

3.sg. is

bit

wæs

1-3 pl. sindon beot

wæron



Negative forms by adding <n-> to the initial vowel or by

replacing the initial <w-> with <n->

Weak –n- declension

masculine

neuter feminine

singular

gum-a

eag-e

sunn-e

gum-an eag-an sunn-an

gum-an eag-e

sunn-an

gum-an eag-an sunn-an

plural

gum-an eag-an sunn-an

gum-ena

eag-ena sunn-ena

gum-um eag-um sunn-um

gum-an eag-an sunn-an

gum-um eag-um sunn-um

OE pronoun types



demonstrative: þæs ofereode; þisses swa mæg “That has

passed; so

may this”;



relative: most frequent is the invariable relative particle

te;



reflexive: performed by personal pronouns: se cyning hine

wende “the

king went”;



personal: much more freely omitted than in ModE: hæfdon

swurd

nacod, þa wit on sund reowon “(we) held bare

swords, when we two swam to sea”;



impersonal: impersonal verbs with regularly take no

subject or use hit:

hine nanes þinges ne lyste “(it)

desired him of nothing = he

desired nothing”; swa hit

þincan mæg “as it may seem”;



indefinite: commonly take the genitive: uhtna gehwylce

“every dawn”; Frysna hwylc “any Frisian”; on mægta

gehw1m “in every tribe”;

OE personal pronouns

1st person

Singular Dual Plural

īc

wit wē

mīn uncer

ūre

mē unc ūs

mēc unc ūsic

OE personal pronouns

2nd person

Singular Dual Plural

þū

git

gē

þīn incer

ēower

þē

inc ēow

þēc inc ēowic

OE personal pronouns

3rd person

Singular

Plural

Masculine

Feminine Neuter

All

N. hēhēo hit

hī

G. his

hire his hira

D. him

hire him him

A. hine

hī

hit

hī

Strong vs. weak adjectives:
usage



strong: not preceded by a
demonstrative or a possessive pronoun

sēoce beornas “sick warriors”

sēoc hlāford “sick lord”



weak: preceded by a demonstrative or
a possessive pronoun

þā godan beornas “the good warriors”
mīn goda hlāford “my good lord”

Weak adjectives

Masculine Feminine Neuter

Singular

N. blind-a

blind-e blind-e

G. blind-an

blind-an

D. blind-an

blind-an

A. blind-an

blind-an

blind-e

Plural

N. blind-an

blind-an

G. blind-ra

blind-rablind-ra

D. blind-um

blind-um

A. blind-an

blind-an

Strong adjectives

Masculine

Feminine

Neuter

Singular

blind

blind-es

blind-re

blind-es

blind-um

blind-re

blind-um

blind-ne

blind-e

blind

Plural

blind-e

blind-a

blind

blind-ra

blind-um

blind-e

blind-a

blind

OE minor declensions

- RCS (Root Consonant Stems): i-umlaut of the
root vowel in dat.sg. and nom./acc.pl.;

•

-nd- nouns: only masculine, affected by weak
adjectival

declension (gen.pl. –ra); i-

mutated vowels in dat.sg. and nom./acc.pl.;

•

- nouns of relationship (-r stems) no inflection in
singular, various

plural forms

-ru nouns: -r- of the plural, singular as strong
neuter nouns

Preterite Present verbs



past forms with new present
meaning and new weak past forms



in Modern English as modal verbs
(auxiliaries)

Preterite Present verbs
conjugations

Class I

witan “know”, ah “possess”

present

past

wat

wiste

ahte

wast

ahst

wistest

ahtest

wat

wiste

ahte

pl.

witon

agon

wiston

ahton

Preterite Present verbs
conjugations

Class III

unnan “grant”, cunnan “can, know”,

þurfan “need”

present

past

can

þearf

cude

þorfte

canst

þearft

cudest

þorftest

can

þearf

cude

þorfte

pl.

cunnon

þurfon

cudon

þorfton

Preterite Present verbs
conjugations

Class IV

sculan “shall”

present

past

sceal

sceolde

scealt

sceoldest

sceal

sceolde

pl.

sculon

sceoldon

Preterite Present verbs
conjugations

Class VI

motan “must”

present

past

mot

moste

most

mostest

mot

moste

pl.

moton

moston

Preterite Present verbs
conjugations

Unknown magan “may”

present

past

mæg

meahte

meaht

meahtest

mæg

meahte

pl.

magon

meahton

Anomalous verbs

don “do”

gan “go”

present
1.

dest

g1st

ded

g1d

pl.

dod

gad

preterite
1.

dyde

eode

dydest

eodest

dyde

eode

pl.

dydon

eodon

OE subjunctive



non-dependent clauses expressing wishes and

commands

God ure helpe “may God help us”



adverb clauses of concession introduced with þeah
þ

eah man swa ne wene “although people do not think so”



hypothetical adverb clauses of condition,

gyf se

egen

æne

ræl afylle “if a thane kills a serf”



adverbial clauses of purpose
þ

i l1s we ætgædere ealle forweordan “lest we all perish together”



temporal clauses relating to future or conjectural

events

æt he cunne gearwe “until he knows well”

OE subjunctive



Present subjunctive

endings -e (singular) and -en (plural) to
the present stem

deman ~ deme ~ demen



Preterite subjunctive

endings -e (singular) and -en (plural) to
the preterite stem

deman ~ demde ~ demden

Revision questions



What inflectional endings are
characteristic of the weak -n-
declension in OE?



What grammatical category is
represented by the personal pronoun
form 'ġit'?



What features are shared by the
declension of adjectives and pronouns
in OE?

Revision questions



What principal forms of strong
verbs can be distinguished for OE?



What is ablaut and how is this
phenomenon reflected in the
typology of strong verbs in OE?



What were the present indicative
endings of strong verbs?

ME graphics



variation in spelling, handwriting (in
time, dialects, a single scribe)



dialectal graphemic differences

ß in Scots vs. –s, -ss in other dialects

Middle English dialects



Northern



West Midland



East Midland



South-western



Kentish

ME morphology



Consequences of the loss of
inflections:

loss of grammatical gender

two cases in nouns (possessive/non-possessive)

loss of adjectival strong~weak distinction

reduction of verbal endings

confusion in mood distinctions

loss of dual in personal pronouns

ME morphology



Causes of the shift from synthetic to
analytic

possible creolization (English, French,
Scandinavian)

reduction of unstressed vowels

increased use of prepositions

more rigid word order (already in OE)

ME morphology



Dialectal distribution of
morphological simplification

North earliest (but not in phonology)

Midlands next

South the latest

ME nouns>inflectional

losses>consequences



two cases: possessive/non-
possessive



loss of grammatical gender



loss of noun class distinctions
(generalization to SM)



merger of weak nouns with strong
nouns

N-plurals in ME and PDE
relics



N-plurals in ME

eye, ear, shoe, foe, hand



N-plurals in PDE

children, brethren, oxen

S-less genitives in ME



former feminines

his lady grace



kinship terms

thi brother wif



nouns ending in sibilants

for peace sake

Uninflected plurals in ME



former OE neuter nouns (SN)

year, thing, wood



a few names of animals

deor, sheep



uninflected by analogy

fish



measure words

mile, thousand



former genitive plurals in –a with numerals

two-hour walk



mutated plurals

geese, teeth

ME adjectives



loss of case, gender, weak~strong
distinction



causes

reduction/loss of unstressed endings

increased use of definite/indefinite articles



inflection in EME

final –e with monosyllabics ending in a consonant

strong final –e only in the plural

high degree of confusion

ME>adjectives>compariso
n



OE –ra > ME –re > -er (metathesis)



OE –ost, -est > ME –est



analogical levelling of i-mutation (except
elder)



beginnings of the periphrastic
comparison (ma, more, most)



double comparison (more swetter)

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