Introduction to Linguistics, Session 4, Thursday, 2006-11-09

Introduction to Linguistics, Session 4, Thursday, 2006-11-09


History of English

Focus on the CELTS

Celtic languages are one special branch of the Indo-European language family. Celtic was first spoken in what is today the south of Germany, Austria and east Russia. Many Celtic expressions and even town names are still recognisable or even in use today.
Traditional German town names like Halle or Badreichenhall (Welsh: /hali:/) or street names like Hellweg (meaning: salt trading root) are kept from Celtic and are still very common today.

Example of common Celtic vocabulary:

bannuc: "a bit" bannock
binn: "basket, crib" bin
brocc: "badger" Brock the Badger
clugge: "bell" clock
dry: "magician" druid
luh: "lake" loch, lough




History of English (Influences of foreign languages on English)

...................................Anglo- Saxon
..........................................↓
Old Norse → ...............Old English
.........................................↓
Norman French → .....Middle English
.........................................↓
Latin →........................ Early Modern English ← Greek
.........................................↓
Foreign Languages → Late Modern English








ENGLISH: Stages of Development

1.) OLD ENGLISH
Old English was spoken from about 600 to 1000 AD.
One of the most popular documents written in Old English is the poem Beowulf.


What is BEOWULF???

Hwæt!
What can be known about a unique poem in a unique manuscript, dated around the year 1000 ad.? What do we know about the circumstances of its composition? Is it literary, oral, or something in-between? What can we never know? Beowulf is both strange and familiar: it has some links with ancient classical poems like Homer's; 19thc ideas of it have been received and reworked in the course of the 20thc in academe, children's literature and adult popular culture; and yet it remains an ancient artifact of a culture whose world we can never share.
The manuscript and its editions always present us with a linguistic obstacle: Old English has a different kind of grammar from Modern. Old English is like Latin or Russian, or many other languages whose grammar is expressed by inflection: that is, affixes on a root word can stand in for function words like pronouns, so that a noun like "stow" will indicate its grammatical place in a sentence or clause by a series of endings: "... nis Þaet heoru stow!" (That is not a pleasant place!); or "He het þa þa stowe Dominus videt" (He named that place Dominus videt; or "on manegum stowum" (in many places). In an Old English sentence, especially in the poetry, syntax (the order of words) much more fluid than in Modern. Spelling will seem inconsistent, even random, in our terms; the alphabet contains some unfamiliar letters derived from runes.
Translation of a language removed in kind and in time is a process of exploration, not a neat matching of word and idiom to sense, or the grammar of one language to the grammar of another. We will use translation as our primary means of reading Beowulf.
What kind of overlap can be found between our written, literary experience of the poem, and its earlier oral delivery, which may have been memorized, reconstituted anew each time, and was always designed for being heard? Memory functions in different and often enhanced modes in oral rather than written cultures, especially when supported by verbal patterns evolved through centuries in a poetic or sung medium. Written literature may produce an intense impact, but rarely through its delivery; in Beowulf and other Old English poems, impact was always made through oral performance. When such poetry is written down, it is neither strictly oral nor graphic.
Within the poem, no distinction is made between myth and history, although it is now read as though it were 'history with fabulous elements' or 'myth with some correspondence to fact.' Beowulf cannot accurately be described as fiction or fact. It is a kind of narrative comprised of analogical episodes, people, creatures more or less human, praise, blame, lyrical moments, grim comedy and even grimmer tragedy.
The poem makes an icon of a former age, constructed as such very consciously by a maker of poems, literate, somewhat literate or not at all literate, from familiar elements in this particular way. Analogies are built which bridge the preChristian and Christian Germanic worlds, by making the characters in the poem noble, monotheistic preChristians, for an audience of Christian Germanic people; the poem is not anachronistic, and is, even in our terms, accurately placed according to 'history.' It is a story about 'those others who were ourselves'.
(Quoted from: http://www.humanities.mcmaster.ca/~beowulf/main.html)



BEOWULF; Old English Text; First Chapter

Ða wæs on burgum Beowulf Scyldinga, leof leodcyning, longe þrage
55
folcum gefræge (fæder ellor hwearf, aldor of earde), oþþæt him eft onwoc heah Healfdene; heold þenden lifde, gamol ond guðreouw, glæde Scyldingas. ðæm feower bearn forð gerimed
60
in worold wocun, weoroda ræswan, Heorogar ond Hroðgar ond Halga til; hyrde ic þæt wæs Onelan cwen, Heaðoscilfingas healsgebedda. þa wæs Hroðgare heresped gyfen,
65
wiges weorðmynd, þæt him his winemagas georne hyrdon, oðð þæt seo geogoð geweox, magodriht micel. Him on mod bearn þæt healreced hatan wolde, medoærn micel, men gewyrcean
70
þonne yldo bearn æfre gefrunon, ond þær on innan eall gedælan geongum ond ealdum, swylc him god sealde, buton folcscare ond feorum gumena. ða ic wide gefrægn weorc gebannan
75
manigre mægþe geond þisne middangeard, folcstede frætwan. Him on fyrste gelomp, ædre mid yldum, þæt hit wearð ealgearo, healærna mæst; scop him Heort naman se þe his wordes geweald wide hæfde.
80
He beot ne aleh, beagas dælde, sinc æt symle. Sele hlifade, heah ond horngeap, heaðowylma bad, laðan liges; ne wæs hit lenge þa gen þæt se ecghete aþumsweorum
85
æfter wælniðe wæcnan scolde. ða se ellengæst earfoðlice þrage geþolode, se þe in þystrum bad, þæt he dogora gehwam dream gehyrde hludne in healle; þær wæs hearpan sweg,
90
swutol sang scopes. Sægde se þe cuþe frumsceaft fira feorran reccan, cwæð þæt se ælmihtiga eorðan worhte, wlitebeorhtne wang, swa wæter bebugeð, gesette sigehreþig sunnan ond monan
95
leoman to leohte landbuendum ond gefrætwade foldan sceatas leomum ond leafum, lif eac gesceop cynna gehwylcum þara ðe cwice hwyrfaþ. Swa ða drihtguman dreamum lifdon
100
eadiglice, oððæt an ongan fyrene fremman feond on helle. Wæs se grimma gæst Grendel haten, mære mearcstapa, se þe moras heold, fen ond fæsten; fifelcynnes eard
105
wonsæli wer weardode hwile, siþðan him scyppend forscrifen hæfde in Caines cynne. þone cwealm gewræc ece drihten, þæs þe he Abel slog; ne gefeah he þære fæhðe, ac he hine feor forwræc,
110
metod for þy mane, mancynne fram. þanon untydras ealle onwocon, eotenas ond ylfe ond orcneas, swylce gigantas, þa wið gode wunnon lange þrage; he him ðæs lean forgeald.




BEOWULF; Translation into Modern English; First Chapter


NOW Beowulf bode in the burg of the Scyldings,
leader beloved, and long he ruled
in fame with all folk, since his father had gone
away from the world, till awoke an heir,
haughty Healfdene, who held through life,
sage and sturdy, the Scyldings glad.
Then, one after one, there woke to him,
to the chieftain of clansmen, children four:
Heorogar, then Hrothgar, then Halga brave;
and I heard that -- was --'s queen,
the Heathoscylfing's helpmate dear.
To Hrothgar was given such glory of war,
such honor of combat, that all his kin
obeyed him gladly till great grew his band
of youthful comrades. It came in his mind
to bid his henchmen a hall uprear,
a master mead-house, mightier far
than ever was seen by the sons of earth,
and within it, then, to old and young
he would all allot that the Lord had sent him,
save only the land and the lives of his men.
Wide, I heard, was the work commanded,
for many a tribe this mid-earth round,
to fashion the folkstead. It fell, as he ordered,
in rapid achievement that ready it stood there,
of halls the noblest: Heorot1 he named it
whose message had might in many a land.
Not reckless of promise, the rings he dealt,
treasure at banquet: there towered the hall,
high, gabled wide, the hot surge waiting
of furious flame.2 Nor far was that day
when father and son-in-law stood in feud
for warfare and hatred that woke again.3
With envy and anger an evil spirit
endured the dole in his dark abode,
that he heard each day the din of revel
high in the hall: there harps rang out,
clear song of the singer. He sang who knew4
tales of the early time of man,
how the Almighty made the earth,
fairest fields enfolded by water,
set, triumphant, sun and moon
for a light to lighten the land-dwellers,
and braided bright the breast of earth
with limbs and leaves, made life for all
of mortal beings that breathe and move.
So lived the clansmen in cheer and revel
a winsome life, till one began
to fashion evils, that field of hell.
Grendel this monster grim was called,
march-riever5 mighty, in moorland living,
in fen and fastness; fief of the giants
the hapless wight a while had kept
since the Creator his exile doomed.
On kin of Cain was the killing avenged
by sovran God for slaughtered Abel.
Ill fared his feud,6 and far was he driven,
for the slaughter's sake, from sight of men.
Of Cain awoke all that woful breed,
Ettins7 and elves and evil-spirits,
as well as the giants that warred with God
weary while: but their wage was paid them!



Notes :
1 That is, "The Hart," or "Stag," so called from decorations in the gables that resembled the antlers of a deer. This hall has been carefully described in a pamphlet by Heyne. The building was rectangular, with opposite doors -- mainly west and east -- and a hearth in the middle of the single room. A row of pillars down each side, at some distance from the walls, made a space which was raised a little above the main floor, and was furnished with two rows of seats. On one side, usually south, was the high-seat midway between the doors. Opposite this, on the other raised space, was another seat of honor. At the banquet soon to be described, Hrothgar sat in the south or chief high-seat, and Beowulf oppo- site to him. The scene for a flying (see below, v.499) was thus very effectively set. Planks on trestles -- the "board" of later English litera- ture -- formed the tables just in front of the long rows of seats, and were taken away after banquets, when the retainers were ready to stretch them- selves out for sleep on the benches.
2 Fire was the usual end of these halls. See v. 781 below. One thinks of the splendid scene at the end of the Nibelungen, of the Nialssaga, of Saxo's story of Amlethus, and many a less famous instance.
3 It is to be supposed that all hearers of this poem knew how Hrothgar's hall was burnt, -- perhaps in the unsuccessful attack made on him by his son-in-law Ingeld.
4 A skilled minstrel. The Danes are heathens, as one is told presently; but this lay of beginnings is taken from Genesis.
5 A disturber of the border, one who sallies from his haunt in the fen and roams over the country near by. This probably pagan nuisance is now furnished with biblical credentials as a fiend or devil in good standing, so that all Christian Englishmen might read about him. "Grendel" may mean one who grinds and crushes.
6 Cain's.
7 Giants.



2.) MIDDLE ENGLISH

About The Canterbury Tales:
Geoffrey Chaucer wrote The Canterbury Tales, a collection of stories in a frame story, between 1387 and 1400. It is the story of a group of thirty people who travel as pilgrims to Canterbury (England). The pilgrims, who come from all layers of society, tell stories to each other to kill time while they travel to Canterbury.If we trust the General Prologue, Chaucer intended that each pilgrim should tell two tales on the way to Canterbury and two tales on the way back. He never finished his enormous project and even the completed tales were not finally revised. Scholars are uncertain about the order of the tales. As the printing press had yet to be invented when Chaucer wrote his works, The Canterbury Tales has been passed down in several hand written manuscripts.
(Quoted from: http://www.librarius.com/cantales.htm)






From The Canterbury Tales:
General Prologue

Here bygynneth the Book of the Tales of Caunterbury

Whan that Aprill, with his shoures scoote*

The droghte* of March hath perced to the roote

And bathed every veyne* in swich* licour,

Of which vertu engendred is the flour;
5
Whan Zephirus* eek* with his sweete breeth

Inspired hath in every holt and heeth

The tendre croppes*, and the yonge sonne*

Hath in the Ram his halfe cours yronne,

And smale* foweles* maken melodye,
10
That slepen al the nyght with open eye-

(So priketh* hem* Nature in hir corages*);

Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages

And palmeres* for to seken straunge strondes*

To ferne halwes*, kowthe* in sondry londes*;
15
And specially from every shires ende

Of Engelond, to Caunterbury they wende,

The hooly* blisful* martir for to seke*

That hem* hath holpen, whan that they were seeke*.


Vocabulary
shoures soote sweet showers, rain
droghte noun dryness
veyne noun vein (of the plant)
swich pro. such
Zephirus noun the west wind that blows in Spring
eek, eke adv. also
croppes noun shoots, new leaves
sonne noun sun
smale adj. small
foweles noun, pl. birds
priketh verb, 3rd prs. sg. pierces
hem pro. them
corages noun, pl. spirits, feelings
palmeres noun professional pilgrims who had been to the Holy Land
straunge strondes foreign shores
ferne halwes noun distant shrines
kowthe verb known
sondry londes noun various countries
hooly verb blessed
blisful adj. blessed
seke verb 1. visit; 2. examine, look for
hem pro. them
seeke, sike adj. sick





Image: ChaucerPortraitEllesmereMs. (from: www.wikipedia.com)





The Canterbury Tales:

Interlinear Translation from Middle English into Modern English:

1 Whan that Aprill with his shoures soote
When April with its sweet-smelling showers
2 The droghte of March hath perced to the roote,
Has pierced the drought of March to the root,
3 And bathed every veyne in swich licour
And bathed every vein (of the plants) in such liquid
4 Of which vertu engendred is the flour;
By which power the flower is created;
5 Whan Zephirus eek with his sweete breeth
When the West Wind also with its sweet breath,
6 Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
In every wood and field has breathed life into
7 The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne
The tender new leaves, and the young sun
8 Hath in the Ram his half cours yronne,
Has run half its course in Aries,
9 And smale foweles maken melodye,
And small fowls make melody,
10 That slepen al the nyght with open ye
Those that sleep all the night with open eyes
11 (So priketh hem Nature in hir corages),
(So Nature incites them in their hearts),
12 Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages,
Then folk long to go on pilgrimages,
13 And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes,
And professional pilgrims to seek foreign shores,
14 To ferne halwes, kowthe in sondry londes;
To distant shrines, known in various lands;
15 And specially from every shires ende
And specially from every shire's end
16 Of Engelond to Caunterbury they wende,
Of England to Canterbury they travel,
17 The hooly blisful martir for to seke,
To seek the holy blessed martyr,
18 That hem hath holpen whan that they were seeke.
Who helped them when they were sick.





England and its Dialects



OLD ENGLISH DIALECTS



MIDDLE ENGLISH DIALECTS



MODERN ENGLISH DIALECTS






THE SPREAD OF MODERN ENGLISH AND OTHER EUROPEAN LANGUAGES:

COLONAL LANGUAGE SPREAD
The main colonial periods of:
-PORTUGUESE:
-SPANISH
-DUTCH
-FRENCH
-ENGLISH

Spread to:
-NORTH AMERICA
-AUSTRALIA
-WEST/ EAST/ SOUTH AFRICA
-INDIA


MIGRATION

1.) "Vertical" development and spread of English:
Indo-European
Celtic
→ West to Britain
Germanic
→ Saxon
→ Viking
→ Norman
Colonial
→ North America
→ Africa
→ Asia
→ Australia

2.) "Lateral" development
Antiquity
→ Celtic
→ Latin
Middle Ages
→ Norman French
Renaissance
→ Latin
→ Greek
Colonial period
→ Arabic
→ Hindi
→ ...



The Development of English

The most important stages of the development of the English language

-1000 BC: Celtic tribes settled on the British island (CELTIC)
-1st century: The Romans invaded Great Britain, most of all what is England today (LATIN)
-5th century: Invasion of the Anglo- Saxons (ANGLO-SAXON, a West Germanic language): Begin of the development of OLD ENGLISH
-The invasion of the Vikings who spoke NORSE in the 11th had consequences on the
development of OLD ENGLISH (Influences)
-Norman Invasion in 1066: The high influence of French (language of prestige) led to the development from
OLD ENGLISH to MIDDLE ENGLISH
-The high influence of the high status (educated) languages Latin and Greek led to the
development of EARLY MODERN ENGLISH during the Renaissance.
-LATE MODERN ENGLISH has differentiated into different accents spoken all over the
world. Colonialisation and immigration led to the spread of the English language and
increased its world wide status as "Lingua Franca". Late Modern English is therefore
influenced by many foreign languages, today.



The significance of Celtic and Latin

Both, Celtic and Latin had a very high influence on the development of the English language. Whereas Celtic was spoken on the Islands before the settlement of the first Anglo- Saxons, Latin "invaded" the country later on, during the 15th century and served for a long time as the Lingua Franca of the church and the well educated people (upper classes). Access to the Latin language was linked to the access of books, information and education. Latin had a very high influence on the further development of the English language. Educated people borrowed Latin language material and adjusted English spelling to the Latin ideal. This led to an increase of status of the English language facing a very dominant But the Romans did not invade the whole British island. Until today, the west (what is Wales today) and the North (Scotland) have always been able to maintain and disperse their native Celtic language. They were able to keep their language and their old traditions, although the rest of Great Britain (most of all England) has been constantly invaded by foreign tribes and their foreign languages.



The major language changes that happened between:
Old English and Middle English:
The main changes between Old and Middle English were due to the invasion of the Norman French speaking Normans. French was the first Roman based language that influenced the evolution of the West Germanic based English language extremely. The high prestige of French and its use by the nobility influenced its later development extremely. New lexicon has been borrowed and adjusted to English speaking habits. Even morphemes like the suffix of "bakery" have been derived from the prestigious French language material (comp.: "boulangerie") (The borrowing of morphemes is very rare in the evolution of natural languages; it is more common to copy lexical words).
The lexicon of the English language changed forever. There is still today a high percentage of lexical items that originally come from French vocabulary (f. ex.: veil (Engl.) : le voile (French).



Middle English and Modern English
The development from Middle English to Early Modern English was also highly influenced by the intervention of a Roman language: LATIN. In England and in other European countries, Latin was used by they educated and the noble people. Due to the overwhelming success of the Romans (Romanization of many European countries like Italy, France, Spain, Portugal and even Romania) Latin was for a long time the only lingua franca available in many different European countries with very different national languages. Educated lecturers travelled through Europe and taught in Latin. The knowledge of Latin represented the only possibility to access "the world of the educated people" and to join international discussions.
The high prestige and the high dominance of Latin led to an inclusion of new Latin vocabulary. This lexical borrowing was highly selective and well directed by the "educated classes". In contrast to the lexical borrowing of French vocabulary in the 11th century, the inclusion of Latin did not have anything to do with "natural" borrowing. Already at this stage of the development of Latin, nobody spoke Latin as a native language anymore, but had to learn Latin as a foreign language that did not develop in a natural way anymore.