History of English Language Study Notes

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Questions and Answers

What's the periodisation of English?

  • Primitive English, Middle English, Contemporary English
  • Old English, Middle English, Modern English, Present Day English
  • Primitive English, Old English, Middle English, Today's English
  • Primitive Old English, Early Old English, Late Old English, Middle English, Modern English. (correct)

Why should we study the history of English?

  • To be able to create new words.
  • To improve your grammar and spelling skills.
  • To understand present-day English and other languages better through etymology (origins and evolution) of the language. (correct)
  • To pass this module.

Why do we have different words for animals when it is on a plate or when it is alive?

  • Due to religious beliefs.
  • Due to language contact and the hierarchical relationship of those.
  • To differentiate between living and dead states.
  • To maintain language diversity. (correct)

Which of these words has experienced a 'semantic change'?

<p>villain (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

In what order did these people live in England?

<p>The Romans, Vikings, Normans (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What marked for centuries the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire in Britain?

<p>Hadrian's Wall (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

Which of these words didn't make its way into English directly from Latin?

<p>street (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

Grimm's Law is an example of internal forces in linguistic change.

<p>True (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

Which of these place-names has a Celtic origin?

<p>Nottingham (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

Which group of words is not of Old-Norse origin?

<p>Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

The loss of case markings due to contact between the English and the invaders is an example of external forces in linguistic change.

<p>True (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

The word 'tsunami' is an example of innovations by speakers representing an external force in linguistic change.

<p>True (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

Words going out of fashion are an example of external forces in linguistic change.

<p>True (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What's the story of letter C?

<p>The Greeks borrowed the alphabet from the Phoenicians, although their third letter was 'gamma' /g/. The Romans later adopted the alphabet indirectly from the Etruscans, where the sound /g/ had shifted to a /k/ sound. Apparently, the Etruscans didn't distinguish these sounds. The Greeks often wrote with chisels, whereas the Romans could write with ink, where 'gamma' adopted a curvy shape (C). The Anglo-Saxons adopted the Roman alphabet into OE, but C was still /k/. After the fall of the Roman Empire, the process of 'assibilation' was introduced in languages in Western Europe. (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

How many sound changes did Jacob Grim recorded?

<p>5 (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is the sound change of 'assibilation'?

<p>The process by which a sound shifts into a hissing or hushing sound /s, z, ∫, ts, 3, d3/. (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

When was the 'ch' spelling introduced in English?

<p>During Old English. (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

Who said: "The Sanskrit language, whatever be its antiquity, is of a wonderful structure, more perfect than the Greek, more copious than the Latin, and more exquisitely refined than either, yet bearing to both of them a stronger affinity, both in the roots of the verbs an in the forms of grammar, than could possibly have been produced by accident; so strong, indeed, that no philologer could examine them all three, without believing them to have sprung from the same common source, which perhaps, no longer exists."

<p>William Jones (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

Which of these statements is NOT true about Jones.

<p>He was one of the leading Orientalists in Britain. (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

When did the Battle of Hastings happen?

<p>1066 CE (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

Which group of languages is NOT of IE origin?

<p>Hungarian, Finnish, Estonian, Maltese (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

How many branches does the IE family tree can have?

<p>20, 21, 22 (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

IE languages have reached as far as Xinjiang region in northwestern China.

<p>True (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

Who conquered England after The Battle of Hastings?

<p>William I, Duke of Normandy (aka William the Conqueror) (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What was the initial name given to Proto-IE?

<p>Proto-European (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What's the best definition for the term 'comparative linguistics'?

<p>It is the study of the relationships or correspondences between two or more languages and the techniques used to discover whether the languages have a common ancestor. (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

German folk-tales were initially compiled as a result of French invasion of Germanic territories as part of a resistance movement which sought to unify the historic German peoples.

<p>False (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

German folk-tales were initially compiled to write down the common Germanic language in order to analyse it better.

<p>True (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

How many patterns/rules did Jacob Grimm document in what we know today as "Grimm's Law"?

<p>7 (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

"Assibilation' in English occurred with back vowels (a, o, u).

<p>False (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What linguists completed Grimm's Law?

<p>Frank Bopp and Wilhelm Grimm (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

Choose the correct statement.

<p>Karl Verner realised that Grimm's Law was not always applicable. Some voiceless consonants /p, t, k/ became voiced /ẞ or v, ð, γ/. (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

'Hundred' (En.) is cognate with 'cien' (Sp.)

<p>True (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

Which are polysynthetic languages?

<p>Arctic language families (Inuit, Yupik, Aleut), aboriginal Australian languages (Gunbarlang) (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

Which statement is FALSE?

<p>The OE word 'rice' has not changed over time and it is still 'rice' today, with different pronunciation. (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

There are no inflections left in English but there used to be.

<p>True (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

Which is an example of agglutinating language?

<p>Chinese (Mandarin), Vietnamese (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

Which is an example of isolating/analytic language?

<p>Arctic language families (Inuit, Yupik, Aleut), aboriginal Australian languages(Gunbarlang) (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

The interrogative pronouns 'what' and 'who' are cognates with 'qué' and 'quién' in Spanish.

<p>True (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

Which are fusional/inflectional languages?

<p>Catalan, Italian, French, Portuguese, Russian (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

How many cases did IE have?

<p>Eight: nominative, vocative, accusative, genitive, dative, ablative, locative, instrumental (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

English no longer has cases but it relies on word order, unlike IE in which word order was not so important because cases indicated the function of the word within the sentence.

<p>True (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

The modern-day English words pyre and fire are cognates.

<p>True (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

The modern-day English words frail and fragile are etymological twins (or doublets).

<p>True (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

Which OE dialect was dominant before the Viking invasion?

<p>Mercian (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

Which OE dialect became the standard?

<p>West Saxon (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

Which of these was written by Bede?

<p>Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum (Ecclesiastical History of the English people) (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

Which kingdoms formed the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy?

<p>Mercia, Kent, Wessex, Sussex, Essex, Northumbria, East Anglia (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What was the Danelaw?

<p>The region established in England under Viking (Norsemen) rule in England. (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

The Treaty of Wedmore involved

<p>Guthrum and Alfred (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

The Treaty of Wedmore consisted in

<p>establishing peace through intermarriage. (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

After King Cnut, who was Alfred the Great's descendant to be restored to the throne?

<p>King Aethelstan (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

Who was the last Anglo-Saxon king?

<p>Edward the Confessor (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

Which option includes the most famous English runic inscription(s)?

<p>Franks Casket and the Ruthwell Cross (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

OE had long and short vowels and consonants.

<p>False (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

OE long consonants were marked with a macron.

<p>False (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

Letter W is an OE invention that the Romans adopted within their alphabet.

<p>False (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

Some runic symbols were inspired by or borrowed from the Roman alphabet.

<p>True (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

The runes contained 12 symbols for vowel sounds.

<p>False (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

When were the runes abandoned as a writing method?

<p>With the Christianisation of England. (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

How many stages can be identified in the Viking invasion?

<p>Four: visiting stage, plundering stage, settlement and conquest. (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

Flashcards

Middle English

A period in the history of the English language that lasted from approximately 1160 to 1500, marked by significant changes in pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary due to the Norman Conquest.

Bayeux Tapestry

A famous needlework tapestry that depicts the events leading up to the Battle of Hastings, including the Norman Conquest of England in 1066.

Norman French

The language spoken by the Normans, a group of people from Normandy in northern France who conquered England in 1066. It was a dialect of Old French.

Standardization of English

The process of a language becoming standardized, involving several stages: selection, acceptance, diffusion, maintenance, elaboration of function, and codification.

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Great Vowel Shift (GVS)

A systematic sound change that occurred in English between the 14th and 18th centuries, affecting the pronunciation of long vowels. It resulted in shifts in vowel positions and the creation of new vowel sounds.

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East Midlands English

A dialect of English spoken in the East Midlands region of England during the Middle English period. It was known for its distinctive features and became influential in the standardization of English.

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Spelling Convention

A set of rules that regulate the spelling of words in a language. It aims to provide consistent and standard written patterns.

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Case Syncretism

The grammatical process where the forms of different cases come to be similar to each other, leading to a reduction in case distinctions.

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Analogical Extension

The process by which a grammatical pattern or feature that is associated with one word or group of words is extended to other words that previously did not follow that pattern.

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Genitive Case

The grammatical feature in English that marks possession or ownership, typically indicated by an apostrophe followed by 's' for singular nouns or an apostrophe for plural nouns.

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Tense

A linguistic feature of language that distinguishes between past, present, and future time. It affects the form of verbs.

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Word order

A linguistic feature that indicates the relationship between a verb and its subject. In English, subjects come before verbs.

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Etymological Twins (doublets)

Words that have the same origin and share a similar form but have different meanings. They arise from a single source word but undergo different semantic developments.

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Language Contact

The influence of one language on another, resulting in the borrowing of words, grammatical structures, or pronunciation features from one language to another.

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Comparative Linguistics

The study of the historical development of languages, focusing on how languages change over time, including their origins, evolution, and diversification.

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Polysynthetic Language

A type of language structure where words are composed of many morphemes, often expressing complex grammatical relations within a single word.

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Analytic (Isolating) Language

A language that relies heavily on word order to convey grammatical relations, with few inflections.

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Fusional (Inflectional) Language

A language that expresses grammatical relations primarily through inflections, where suffixes or prefixes are attached to words to indicate grammatical function.

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Agglutinating Language

A language that uses a combination of agglutination and fusion to express grammatical relations.

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Assimilation

A process of change in language where a sound becomes more similar to its neighboring sounds, either in terms of place of articulation or manner of articulation.

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Fronting

The process of change in language where a vowel sound is shifted further forward in the mouth, becoming more like the front vowels.

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Assibilation

The process of change in language where a sound becomes more similar to a neighboring sound, becoming a hissing or hushing sound.

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Analyticalization

The process by which a language becomes more analytical, relying less on inflectional endings and more on word order to convey grammatical meaning.

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Loss of Case Marking

The process whereby a language loses its case system and relies on word order.

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Semantic Change

A systematic process of change in language where a word takes on a new form, function, or meaning through a process of grammaticalization, relexification, or other mechanisms.

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Weakening

A type of semantic change where a word loses its original meaning and takes on a more general or figurative meaning.

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Affixation

The addition of prefixes or suffixes to a word to create a new word or modify the meaning of the existing word.

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Compounding

The process of creating new words by combining two or more existing words.

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Borrowing

The borrowing of words from other languages.

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Study Notes

History of English Language - Study Notes

  • Periodisation of English: Old English, Middle English, Early Modern English, Modern English
  • Why study English history?: To understand present-day English and other languages better through etymology (origins and evolution) of the language, to improve grammar and spelling skills, to maintain language diversity, due to language contact and the hierarchical relationship of those.
  • Semantic change: A change in the meaning of a word over time. Examples include words like "walk," "tooth," "angry," and "villain."
  • Internal forces in linguistic change: Changes within a language (e.g., Grimm's Law)
  • External forces in linguistic change: Changes due to contact with other languages or cultures(e.g., loss of case marking).
  • Proto-IE: The ancestral language from which Indo-European languages are descended.
  • Battle of Hastings: A significant event that contributed to the evolution of English
  • Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy: The seven Anglo-Saxon kingdoms (Mercia, Kent, Wessex, Sussex, Essex, Northumbria, East Anglia).
  • Danelaw: The region in England under Viking (Norsemen) rule.
  • Grimm's Law: A set of sound changes that occurred In the Proto-Germanic languages.
  • The Norman Conquest: A pivotal point in the history of English, leading to significant language changes.
  • Runes: An early writing system used in England
  • Case system: A system in which nouns and pronouns change form based on their role in a sentence (e.g. nominative, genitive).
  • The Great Vowel Shift: A significant sound change in English that impacted the pronunciation of long vowels.
  • Borrowing: Taking words from other languages.
  • Compounding: Combining two or more words to create a new word (e.g., 'fireplace').
  • Affixation: Adding prefixes or suffixes to words (e.g., 'unhappy').
  • Conversion: Changing a word from one part of speech to another.

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