(no subject)
Dear flist, ignore this one. These are my notes for History of English exam that I want to share with other people from my group, and LJ is quite accessible and easy to update, duh.
So, ignore this. (well, unless you are *really* interested, then whatever. And I know some people on my flist are indeed studying English Philology, or are going to, so, if you find this helpful in some way, even better)
sources: notes and Fisiak.
Latin
angel, candle, deacon, disciple, hymn, nun, pope, priest, son, relic, cap, sock, silk, purple, beaf, hair, raddish, lobster, cook, school, master, latin, allusion, disability, disrespect, extortion, expectation, appropriate, expensive, habitual, impersonal, adapt, benefit, apostle, monk, abbot, mass, verse, teacher, patriarch, gospel, saviour, heaven, spirit, holy, accent, commensurable, capsule, denunciation, dexterity, drama, excursion, transept, elegy, fiction, invisibility, jurisprudence, phrase, transalpine, abject, agile, external, frequentative, hereditary, insane, jocular, malignant, alienate, assassinate, consolidate, disregard, eradicate, extinguish, harass, medicate, allegory, conspiracy, contempt, custody, history, incarnate, infancy, magnify, nervous, promote, pulpit, prosody, script, solar, tract, ulcer, zephyr
Greek
anachronism, chaos, chronology, climax, crisis, emphasis, enthusiasm, system, anonymous, criterion, lexicon, polemic, thermometre, tonic, atmosphere, antithesis, autograph, dogma, parasite, pathetic, scheme, skeleton, acme, catastrophe, ephemereal, heterodox, ostracize,
French
challenge ,champion ,convoy, warden, guardian, religion, homily, cardinal, pralate, abbey, government, crown, treason, baron, duke, army, navy, peace, battle, sergeant, justice, crime, bill, petition, bail, dress, robe, veil, button, fur, dinner, supper, feast, taste, plate, pain, stomach, pulse, remedy, plague, art, painting, music, tone, palace, mansion, poet, title, paper, pen, logic, study, plenty of,because of, to take leave, to hold one's peace, to do justice, to make believe, according to, subject to, in vain, by heart, at large, alloy, anatomy, baluster, bigot, bizarre, bombast, bayonet, counterpoint, comrade, docility, defail, duel, entrance, entrap, equip, essay, explore, genteel, judge, invoice, mustache, naturalize, probability, progress, shock, surpass, vogue, volunteer, ticket, forest, catch, chase, fist, dame, majesty, subject, traitor, prince, advocat, punishment, prison, to accuse, to blame, to arrest, to pardon, lieutenant, coat, boots, blue, brown, scarlet, diamond, cathedral, medicine, surgeon, poison, ruby, pearl, coral, mutton, pork, sausage, science, beauty, scuplture, learning, lemon, orange, peach, dance, conversation, frustrate, genius, conspiracy, individual, intelect, polite, populer, project
Scandinavian
band, bank, bull, egg, fellow, gap, keel, law, loan, root, scab, sister, skill, skirt, sky, steak, window, ill, low, meek, weak, wrong, call, cast, get, give, take, want, alike, dirt, guess, kid, leg, link, race, flat, loose, rotten, tighy, dye, fit, raise, scatter, scrape, skull, both, same, though, they, cut, bark, till
Low Countries
nap, deck, bowsprit, dote, dock, dotard, freight, rover, luff, bounce, mast, groat, kit, boose, guilder, hobble, splint, huckster, yacht, smuggler, brandy, landscape, sketch, rove, freebooter, uproar, smack, sloop, brandwine, knapsack, furlough, tap-too(tatoo), manikin, easel, foist, revel, drill, burgomaster, burgher, onslaught
Italian
algebra, argosy, artisan, balcony, cameo, caprice, cupola, citadel, design, granite, grotto, carnival, gondola, fresco, bandit, contraband, piazza, portico, stanza, stucco, trill, violin, vulcano, squadron, parapet, battalion, bankrupt, bastion, brusque, brigade, carat, cavalcade, charlatan, frigate, gala, gazette, grotesque, infantry, paeakeet, rebuff
Spanish & Portugese
anchovy, alligator, apricot, armada, banana, bastiment, bastinado, bilbo, bravado, brocade, barricade, casque, cedilla, cocoa, corral, desperado, embargo, galleon, maize, mestizo, mosquito, mulatto, negro, pecadillo, renegade, rusk, peon, sombrero, yam
via Spanish and Portugese
potato, tobacco, cacique (from Haitian), ananas (from Peruvian language), hammock, hurricane, papaw, cannibal (from Carib language), chocolate, tomato (from Aztec)
various dialects of India
bandana, bangle, bungalow, cadico, cashmere, cheroot, china, chintz, coolie, cot, currie, dinghy, juggernaut, jungle, jute, loot, mandarin, nirvana, pariah, polo, punch, pundit, rajah, rani, sepoy, verandah.
American Indian languages
caribou, hickory, moccasin, moose, opossum, pecan, racoon, sequoia, skunk, squash, squaw, terrapin, toboggan, tepee, tomahawk, totem, wampun, wigwam.
African languages
boorish, chimpanzee, gorilla, guinea, gumbo, voodoo, zebra
Australia
boomerang, kangaroo
Time Line
up to 5000 B.C. --> Paleolithic Man
2000 B.C. - 1500 B.C. --> Neolithic Man (may have been the Basques)
1500 B.C. - 500 B.C. --> Bronze Age (Celts are the first Indo European speakers in England that we know of).
55 B.C. --> Julius Caesar attacks England after conquering the Celts in Gaul. He doesn't succeed in conquering the Celts in England.
43 A.D. --> Emperor Claudius gradually conquers the Celts in England.
61 A.D. --> Celtic uprising led by Bodicae, widow of a Celtic chief.
75-85 A.D. --> Conquest was said to have been completed under the Roman governor Agricola.
410 A.D. --> Approximate date of Roman withdrawal.
449 A.D. --> Approximate date of the Germanic invasions coming from continental Denmark and the low countries. The tribes included the Angles, Jutes, Saxons and Frisians. We have this date and know a little about their culture through Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People, completed in 731. The entries in the Chronicle indicate only in a general way the succession of settlements which extended over a century. We know that the nature of the Germanic invasion was different from the Roman one, as the former displaced the Celts, while the latter ruled them.
Anglo-Saxon Civilization
This civilization was founded on comitatus relationship between lord and theign, and it was organized according to earls and ceorls. In times, various tribes combined and allied in small kingdoms, seven of which were eventually recognized as the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. The Heptarchy included Mercia, East Anglia, Northumbria, Kent, Essex, Sussex and Wessex. Of these, Wessex became the dominant, first under the Egbert (800-839) and more prominently under King Alfred (871-889).
Language
The various dialects spoken by the Germanic tribes are known as Pre-Old English. The term England developed later from the tribal name Angles, possibly because this kingdom was dominant. The term Anglo-Saxon referred to the West Germanic tribes generally. Old English was not entirely uniform and four main dialects were predominant: Northumbrian, Mercian, West Saxon, and Kentish. Nearly all of Old English literature is preserved in the West Saxon dialect.
Periods in History of English
Old English: 449-1066
Middle English: 1100-1500
Modern English: 1500 on
Characteristics of Old English
Spelling and Pronunciation:
1. the long vowels have undergone extensive change due to the Great Vowel Shift.
2. different letters.
3. there were no unstressed syllables; primary stress usually occurred on the first
Influences on English
I. Celtic
Very meager. Celtic words are preserved primarily in place names. There are two main groups of words:
1. Popular words that the Anglo-Saxons learned through everyday contact with Celtic natives, and
2. those that were introduced through Irish missionaries in the North.
II. Latin Influence (three main period in Old English)
Influence of the 0 Period: occurred on the continent before Germanic tribes penetrated into England. Borrowing reflect early contact between Germanic tribes and Roman Empire.
Influence of the First Period: acquired via the Celts after invading England.
Influence of the Second Period: when Roman missionaries introduced Christianity. Can be broken into two periods: early and late.
EARLY: 597, St. Augustine sent to Christianize the Anglo-Saxons. The conversion was gradual and lots of churches and monasteries were built.
LATE: Benedictine Reform because of Danish invasions at the end of the 8th century.
How do linguists determine when a Latin word entered the language?
1. Frequency in Old English texts.
2. the character of the word.
3. phonetic form of the word:
A. i-umlaut
B. palatal diphthongization
C. sound changes of vulgar Latin
D. breaking
III. Scandinavian Influence
Three main attack periods:
1. The period of the early raids: recorded by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in 787 and continuing intermittently until 850.
2. The work of large armies; widespread plundering. In 850, a Danish fleet arrives, captures Canterbury and London, and ravages the countryside. A West Saxon army defeats them, but soon they resume attacks. Short after Alfred's accession to throne, Wessex is attacked. At one point, Alfred has to hide in the marshes. He regathers troops and later attacks and defeats Guthrum and the Danish army. After this defeat, the Danes agree to sign the Treaty of Wedmore (878), which defined the line to the east of which the foreigners were to remain. Their designated land was known as the Danelaw.
3. The period of political adjustment and assimilation from 878-1042. Guthrum frequently broke faith, but situations improved under the reign of Alfred's son, Edgar (900-25) and grandson Athelstan (925-39).
Toward the end of the century, new invasions begin. A Viking fleet arrives in 991 and is recorded in the Battle of Maldon. In 994, Olaf became King of Norway and was joined by the Danish King Svein in a new attack on London. Svein succeeds in conquering England, as they can no longer buy him off. In 1014, he seizes the English throne and becomes king, driving off Aethelred the Unready. The OE period ends with Svein's son, Cnut, as King of England.
The blending of the Danish and the English was not so difficult because:
1. The Danish were adaptable,
2. The Danish were not really foreigners, and
3. Many of them accepted Christianity early and readily.
We must infer the relation of the two languages because we don't know much. Their similarity makes it difficult to date many words.
1. OE [sh]>Danish [sk] shirt > skirt
2. Scandinavian had hard pronunciation of [k] and [g]
3. Vowels may be a sign of borrowing [o] OE > [e] Danish
4.We can look to meanings of words.
5. Scandinavian place names.
Words were borrowed gradually. During the first attacks, borrowings were meager and were associated with sea-roving people. Later, after Danelaw, words relate to law and government.
Scandinavian and English coexisted. Which words survived?
1. where words coexisted and were similar, the modern word stands for both the OE and the Scandinavian.
2. where there are differences, the OE most often survives.
3. sometimes the Scandinavian word replaces the OE.
4. occasionally, both words survive but with different meaning or use.
5. a native word not in common use was sometimes reinforced by Scandinavian.
6. An OE word might be modified, taking on some character of the corresponding Scandinavian word.
THE MIDDLE ENGLISH PERIOD
I. Historical Background of Normandy
A. Origins of Normandy and etmology of name
B. 912 pact between Rollo and Charles the Simple
C. Adaptability of Scandinavians
II. Events Leading up to the Battle of Hastings
A. Danish line of Cnut dies out in 1042
B. Edward restored to throne
C. Edward dies childless
D. Harold, son of Godwin, is elected King of England
E. William's claim to the throne
III. The Battle of Hastings
A. Harold fights King of Norway
B. Harold's and William's battle strategies
C. Harold's death
D. Depiction in Bayeux Tapestry
E. William takes England by force
IV. Effects on the English Language
A. Attitude towards English
1. a matter of social distinction
2. the fate of England at William's death
3. division of England with William's successors and continued foreign influence
4. attitude of indifference for church and nobility
5. ultimate fusion
6. French as language of court; English as language of masses
V. The loss of Normandy in 1204
A. King John Lackland angers King Phillip of France
B. King John loses title as Duke of Normandy
VI. Repurcussions for aristocrats with landholdings in England and France
A. voluntary relinquishment and divisions as two options
B. King Louis' decree of 1244
C. consequences: after 1250, nobility of England consider themselves "English"
VII.. Continued French influence under Henry III
1. under Peter des Roches
2. Henry III's marriage to Eleanor of Provence
3. death of Henry III's mother
VIII. English reaction to foreigners:
A. Provisions of Oxford (1258) and Baron's War (1258-65)
IX. The Thirteenth Century:
A. Shifting emphasis of French and English
B. French becomes cultivated tongue:
1. used in law courts and parliaments
2. used by educated and in universities
3. used by polite society as second language
C. many French words enter the language during this time
X. The Fourteenth Century:
French is in decline because
A. Anglo-French is seen as inferior
B. the Hundred Year's War
C. Rise of the Middle Class
1. the Black Death
2. the Peasant's Revolt
3. rise of the bourgeois class
4. Statute of Pleading-- 1362
5. the Wycliffite Bible
6. English in schools
7. English as choice in writing
Middle English Language
I. Leveling of Inflections
II. Effects of the Norman Conquest
A. Grammatical: the Conquest allows the language to evolve as spoken by the lower classes.
B. Vocabulary
English is trilingual (Latin, French, and English)
III. Influence from the Low Countries
IV. Middle English Dialects
A. four principal dialects
B. rise of Standard English
1. location
2. population
3. Oxford and Cambridge
4. imporance of London English
5. Caxton
The Early Modern English Period
I. Important historical events that distinguish Early Modern English
A. printing press
B. the Tudor dynasty (1485)
C. exploration
D. separation of church and state
E. education (especially under reign of Elizabeth I)
F. exploration, trade, and British expansion
G. scientific endeavors (The Royal Society founded in 1660)
H. the first daily newspaper established in London (1702)
I. Defoe's Robinson Crusoe (sometimes labeled the first English novel)
J. Johnson's dictionary 1755
K. The American Revolution (1755-83) (first independent nation of English speakers)
II. problems of vernacular languages throughout Europe
A. recognition over Latin
1. Revival of Learning
2. translations
3. Ciceronianisms
4. Protestant Reformation
B. orthography (The Great Vowel Shift)
C. enrichment of vocabulary
III. sixteenth-century purists object to three classes of words
A. inkhorn terms
B. overseas language
C. Chaucerisms
Early Modern Forms, Syntax, Usage
Forms and Usage
I. Eighteenth-Century PUrism
A. Standardize (ascertain): According to Johnson, ascertain means "a settled matter, an established rule." The term is used in this sense in Swifts's Proposal for Correcting, Improving, and Ascertaining the English Tongue.
B. Refine: fallacious notion that contemporary language was corrupt and must by rid of "imperfections," such as the following noted by Swift:
1. recent innovations, especially shortened words
2. tendency to contract verbs
3. words in vogue, especially those used by fops
C. Fix: establish a permanent form
II. Attempts to form an Academy:
A. Examples of French and Italian Academies
B. earliest suggestions for an English Academy
C. Important Voices for the Academy
1. Dryden, 1664
2. Defoe, 1697
3. Swift's Proposal
4. Robert Lowth (and purism)
D. Increasing scepticism in the 18th century
E. Substituions for an Academy
1. dictionary
2. grammar
III. Johnson's Dictionary
IV. 18th Century Grammarians and Rhetoricians
A. Grammarians (Cooke, Murray, Sheridan, Priestley, Lowth)
B. Rhetoricians (Sheridan, Campbell, Baker)
C. The aims and goals of grammarians and rhetoricians attempting to ascertain English
1. Codified principles of language
2. Reduced language to rule
3. Settled disputed points and decided on usage
4. Pointed out and corrected common errors
D. How did they settle rules?
1. reason
2. etymology
3. example of the Classics
4. doctrine of usage (late 18th century, Priestley and Campbell)
LATE MODERN ENGLISH
I. Three Periods of European Immigration
A. Jamestown in 1607 to the end of Colonal times (@1787)
B. Expansion of 13 colonies west of Appalachains to Civil War (1860)
C. post Civil War
II. Hispanic and Aisan Immigration
III. English Immigration from the time of the 13 colonies
IV. Characteristics of American English
A. high degree of uniformity
B. archaism
C. distinct vocabulary
V. National Consciousness (Webster, Cooper, Franklin)
VI. Controversy over Americanisms
VII. American Dialects
A. Hans Kurath's World Geography (1949)
B. the Linguistic Atlas of the United States and Canada
VIII. American Contributions to Linguistics
A. H. L. Mencken's 1919 American Language
B. Leonard Bloomfield's 1933 Language
C. Noam Chomsky's 1957 Grammar
D. recent contributions
I was thinking of retyping my notes, but there's no real need and I don't have the phonetic symbols to give you all pretty 'th' sounds, so...
Grimm's Law
Verner's Law
I-umlaut
Great Vowel Shift
All phonological changes in English
If you have anything to add, please, do so in comments.
And good luck :D
So, ignore this. (well, unless you are *really* interested, then whatever. And I know some people on my flist are indeed studying English Philology, or are going to, so, if you find this helpful in some way, even better)
sources: notes and Fisiak.
Latin
angel, candle, deacon, disciple, hymn, nun, pope, priest, son, relic, cap, sock, silk, purple, beaf, hair, raddish, lobster, cook, school, master, latin, allusion, disability, disrespect, extortion, expectation, appropriate, expensive, habitual, impersonal, adapt, benefit, apostle, monk, abbot, mass, verse, teacher, patriarch, gospel, saviour, heaven, spirit, holy, accent, commensurable, capsule, denunciation, dexterity, drama, excursion, transept, elegy, fiction, invisibility, jurisprudence, phrase, transalpine, abject, agile, external, frequentative, hereditary, insane, jocular, malignant, alienate, assassinate, consolidate, disregard, eradicate, extinguish, harass, medicate, allegory, conspiracy, contempt, custody, history, incarnate, infancy, magnify, nervous, promote, pulpit, prosody, script, solar, tract, ulcer, zephyr
Greek
anachronism, chaos, chronology, climax, crisis, emphasis, enthusiasm, system, anonymous, criterion, lexicon, polemic, thermometre, tonic, atmosphere, antithesis, autograph, dogma, parasite, pathetic, scheme, skeleton, acme, catastrophe, ephemereal, heterodox, ostracize,
French
challenge ,champion ,convoy, warden, guardian, religion, homily, cardinal, pralate, abbey, government, crown, treason, baron, duke, army, navy, peace, battle, sergeant, justice, crime, bill, petition, bail, dress, robe, veil, button, fur, dinner, supper, feast, taste, plate, pain, stomach, pulse, remedy, plague, art, painting, music, tone, palace, mansion, poet, title, paper, pen, logic, study, plenty of,because of, to take leave, to hold one's peace, to do justice, to make believe, according to, subject to, in vain, by heart, at large, alloy, anatomy, baluster, bigot, bizarre, bombast, bayonet, counterpoint, comrade, docility, defail, duel, entrance, entrap, equip, essay, explore, genteel, judge, invoice, mustache, naturalize, probability, progress, shock, surpass, vogue, volunteer, ticket, forest, catch, chase, fist, dame, majesty, subject, traitor, prince, advocat, punishment, prison, to accuse, to blame, to arrest, to pardon, lieutenant, coat, boots, blue, brown, scarlet, diamond, cathedral, medicine, surgeon, poison, ruby, pearl, coral, mutton, pork, sausage, science, beauty, scuplture, learning, lemon, orange, peach, dance, conversation, frustrate, genius, conspiracy, individual, intelect, polite, populer, project
Scandinavian
band, bank, bull, egg, fellow, gap, keel, law, loan, root, scab, sister, skill, skirt, sky, steak, window, ill, low, meek, weak, wrong, call, cast, get, give, take, want, alike, dirt, guess, kid, leg, link, race, flat, loose, rotten, tighy, dye, fit, raise, scatter, scrape, skull, both, same, though, they, cut, bark, till
Low Countries
nap, deck, bowsprit, dote, dock, dotard, freight, rover, luff, bounce, mast, groat, kit, boose, guilder, hobble, splint, huckster, yacht, smuggler, brandy, landscape, sketch, rove, freebooter, uproar, smack, sloop, brandwine, knapsack, furlough, tap-too(tatoo), manikin, easel, foist, revel, drill, burgomaster, burgher, onslaught
Italian
algebra, argosy, artisan, balcony, cameo, caprice, cupola, citadel, design, granite, grotto, carnival, gondola, fresco, bandit, contraband, piazza, portico, stanza, stucco, trill, violin, vulcano, squadron, parapet, battalion, bankrupt, bastion, brusque, brigade, carat, cavalcade, charlatan, frigate, gala, gazette, grotesque, infantry, paeakeet, rebuff
Spanish & Portugese
anchovy, alligator, apricot, armada, banana, bastiment, bastinado, bilbo, bravado, brocade, barricade, casque, cedilla, cocoa, corral, desperado, embargo, galleon, maize, mestizo, mosquito, mulatto, negro, pecadillo, renegade, rusk, peon, sombrero, yam
via Spanish and Portugese
potato, tobacco, cacique (from Haitian), ananas (from Peruvian language), hammock, hurricane, papaw, cannibal (from Carib language), chocolate, tomato (from Aztec)
various dialects of India
bandana, bangle, bungalow, cadico, cashmere, cheroot, china, chintz, coolie, cot, currie, dinghy, juggernaut, jungle, jute, loot, mandarin, nirvana, pariah, polo, punch, pundit, rajah, rani, sepoy, verandah.
American Indian languages
caribou, hickory, moccasin, moose, opossum, pecan, racoon, sequoia, skunk, squash, squaw, terrapin, toboggan, tepee, tomahawk, totem, wampun, wigwam.
African languages
boorish, chimpanzee, gorilla, guinea, gumbo, voodoo, zebra
Australia
boomerang, kangaroo
Time Line
up to 5000 B.C. --> Paleolithic Man
2000 B.C. - 1500 B.C. --> Neolithic Man (may have been the Basques)
1500 B.C. - 500 B.C. --> Bronze Age (Celts are the first Indo European speakers in England that we know of).
55 B.C. --> Julius Caesar attacks England after conquering the Celts in Gaul. He doesn't succeed in conquering the Celts in England.
43 A.D. --> Emperor Claudius gradually conquers the Celts in England.
61 A.D. --> Celtic uprising led by Bodicae, widow of a Celtic chief.
75-85 A.D. --> Conquest was said to have been completed under the Roman governor Agricola.
410 A.D. --> Approximate date of Roman withdrawal.
449 A.D. --> Approximate date of the Germanic invasions coming from continental Denmark and the low countries. The tribes included the Angles, Jutes, Saxons and Frisians. We have this date and know a little about their culture through Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People, completed in 731. The entries in the Chronicle indicate only in a general way the succession of settlements which extended over a century. We know that the nature of the Germanic invasion was different from the Roman one, as the former displaced the Celts, while the latter ruled them.
Anglo-Saxon Civilization
This civilization was founded on comitatus relationship between lord and theign, and it was organized according to earls and ceorls. In times, various tribes combined and allied in small kingdoms, seven of which were eventually recognized as the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. The Heptarchy included Mercia, East Anglia, Northumbria, Kent, Essex, Sussex and Wessex. Of these, Wessex became the dominant, first under the Egbert (800-839) and more prominently under King Alfred (871-889).
Language
The various dialects spoken by the Germanic tribes are known as Pre-Old English. The term England developed later from the tribal name Angles, possibly because this kingdom was dominant. The term Anglo-Saxon referred to the West Germanic tribes generally. Old English was not entirely uniform and four main dialects were predominant: Northumbrian, Mercian, West Saxon, and Kentish. Nearly all of Old English literature is preserved in the West Saxon dialect.
Periods in History of English
Old English: 449-1066
Middle English: 1100-1500
Modern English: 1500 on
Characteristics of Old English
Spelling and Pronunciation:
1. the long vowels have undergone extensive change due to the Great Vowel Shift.
2. different letters.
3. there were no unstressed syllables; primary stress usually occurred on the first
Influences on English
I. Celtic
Very meager. Celtic words are preserved primarily in place names. There are two main groups of words:
1. Popular words that the Anglo-Saxons learned through everyday contact with Celtic natives, and
2. those that were introduced through Irish missionaries in the North.
II. Latin Influence (three main period in Old English)
Influence of the 0 Period: occurred on the continent before Germanic tribes penetrated into England. Borrowing reflect early contact between Germanic tribes and Roman Empire.
Influence of the First Period: acquired via the Celts after invading England.
Influence of the Second Period: when Roman missionaries introduced Christianity. Can be broken into two periods: early and late.
EARLY: 597, St. Augustine sent to Christianize the Anglo-Saxons. The conversion was gradual and lots of churches and monasteries were built.
LATE: Benedictine Reform because of Danish invasions at the end of the 8th century.
How do linguists determine when a Latin word entered the language?
1. Frequency in Old English texts.
2. the character of the word.
3. phonetic form of the word:
A. i-umlaut
B. palatal diphthongization
C. sound changes of vulgar Latin
D. breaking
III. Scandinavian Influence
Three main attack periods:
1. The period of the early raids: recorded by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in 787 and continuing intermittently until 850.
2. The work of large armies; widespread plundering. In 850, a Danish fleet arrives, captures Canterbury and London, and ravages the countryside. A West Saxon army defeats them, but soon they resume attacks. Short after Alfred's accession to throne, Wessex is attacked. At one point, Alfred has to hide in the marshes. He regathers troops and later attacks and defeats Guthrum and the Danish army. After this defeat, the Danes agree to sign the Treaty of Wedmore (878), which defined the line to the east of which the foreigners were to remain. Their designated land was known as the Danelaw.
3. The period of political adjustment and assimilation from 878-1042. Guthrum frequently broke faith, but situations improved under the reign of Alfred's son, Edgar (900-25) and grandson Athelstan (925-39).
Toward the end of the century, new invasions begin. A Viking fleet arrives in 991 and is recorded in the Battle of Maldon. In 994, Olaf became King of Norway and was joined by the Danish King Svein in a new attack on London. Svein succeeds in conquering England, as they can no longer buy him off. In 1014, he seizes the English throne and becomes king, driving off Aethelred the Unready. The OE period ends with Svein's son, Cnut, as King of England.
The blending of the Danish and the English was not so difficult because:
1. The Danish were adaptable,
2. The Danish were not really foreigners, and
3. Many of them accepted Christianity early and readily.
We must infer the relation of the two languages because we don't know much. Their similarity makes it difficult to date many words.
1. OE [sh]>Danish [sk] shirt > skirt
2. Scandinavian had hard pronunciation of [k] and [g]
3. Vowels may be a sign of borrowing [o] OE > [e] Danish
4.We can look to meanings of words.
5. Scandinavian place names.
Words were borrowed gradually. During the first attacks, borrowings were meager and were associated with sea-roving people. Later, after Danelaw, words relate to law and government.
Scandinavian and English coexisted. Which words survived?
1. where words coexisted and were similar, the modern word stands for both the OE and the Scandinavian.
2. where there are differences, the OE most often survives.
3. sometimes the Scandinavian word replaces the OE.
4. occasionally, both words survive but with different meaning or use.
5. a native word not in common use was sometimes reinforced by Scandinavian.
6. An OE word might be modified, taking on some character of the corresponding Scandinavian word.
THE MIDDLE ENGLISH PERIOD
I. Historical Background of Normandy
A. Origins of Normandy and etmology of name
B. 912 pact between Rollo and Charles the Simple
C. Adaptability of Scandinavians
II. Events Leading up to the Battle of Hastings
A. Danish line of Cnut dies out in 1042
B. Edward restored to throne
C. Edward dies childless
D. Harold, son of Godwin, is elected King of England
E. William's claim to the throne
III. The Battle of Hastings
A. Harold fights King of Norway
B. Harold's and William's battle strategies
C. Harold's death
D. Depiction in Bayeux Tapestry
E. William takes England by force
IV. Effects on the English Language
A. Attitude towards English
1. a matter of social distinction
2. the fate of England at William's death
3. division of England with William's successors and continued foreign influence
4. attitude of indifference for church and nobility
5. ultimate fusion
6. French as language of court; English as language of masses
V. The loss of Normandy in 1204
A. King John Lackland angers King Phillip of France
B. King John loses title as Duke of Normandy
VI. Repurcussions for aristocrats with landholdings in England and France
A. voluntary relinquishment and divisions as two options
B. King Louis' decree of 1244
C. consequences: after 1250, nobility of England consider themselves "English"
VII.. Continued French influence under Henry III
1. under Peter des Roches
2. Henry III's marriage to Eleanor of Provence
3. death of Henry III's mother
VIII. English reaction to foreigners:
A. Provisions of Oxford (1258) and Baron's War (1258-65)
IX. The Thirteenth Century:
A. Shifting emphasis of French and English
B. French becomes cultivated tongue:
1. used in law courts and parliaments
2. used by educated and in universities
3. used by polite society as second language
C. many French words enter the language during this time
X. The Fourteenth Century:
French is in decline because
A. Anglo-French is seen as inferior
B. the Hundred Year's War
C. Rise of the Middle Class
1. the Black Death
2. the Peasant's Revolt
3. rise of the bourgeois class
4. Statute of Pleading-- 1362
5. the Wycliffite Bible
6. English in schools
7. English as choice in writing
Middle English Language
I. Leveling of Inflections
II. Effects of the Norman Conquest
A. Grammatical: the Conquest allows the language to evolve as spoken by the lower classes.
B. Vocabulary
English is trilingual (Latin, French, and English)
III. Influence from the Low Countries
IV. Middle English Dialects
A. four principal dialects
B. rise of Standard English
1. location
2. population
3. Oxford and Cambridge
4. imporance of London English
5. Caxton
The Early Modern English Period
I. Important historical events that distinguish Early Modern English
A. printing press
B. the Tudor dynasty (1485)
C. exploration
D. separation of church and state
E. education (especially under reign of Elizabeth I)
F. exploration, trade, and British expansion
G. scientific endeavors (The Royal Society founded in 1660)
H. the first daily newspaper established in London (1702)
I. Defoe's Robinson Crusoe (sometimes labeled the first English novel)
J. Johnson's dictionary 1755
K. The American Revolution (1755-83) (first independent nation of English speakers)
II. problems of vernacular languages throughout Europe
A. recognition over Latin
1. Revival of Learning
2. translations
3. Ciceronianisms
4. Protestant Reformation
B. orthography (The Great Vowel Shift)
C. enrichment of vocabulary
III. sixteenth-century purists object to three classes of words
A. inkhorn terms
B. overseas language
C. Chaucerisms
Early Modern Forms, Syntax, Usage
Forms and Usage
I. Eighteenth-Century PUrism
A. Standardize (ascertain): According to Johnson, ascertain means "a settled matter, an established rule." The term is used in this sense in Swifts's Proposal for Correcting, Improving, and Ascertaining the English Tongue.
B. Refine: fallacious notion that contemporary language was corrupt and must by rid of "imperfections," such as the following noted by Swift:
1. recent innovations, especially shortened words
2. tendency to contract verbs
3. words in vogue, especially those used by fops
C. Fix: establish a permanent form
II. Attempts to form an Academy:
A. Examples of French and Italian Academies
B. earliest suggestions for an English Academy
C. Important Voices for the Academy
1. Dryden, 1664
2. Defoe, 1697
3. Swift's Proposal
4. Robert Lowth (and purism)
D. Increasing scepticism in the 18th century
E. Substituions for an Academy
1. dictionary
2. grammar
III. Johnson's Dictionary
IV. 18th Century Grammarians and Rhetoricians
A. Grammarians (Cooke, Murray, Sheridan, Priestley, Lowth)
B. Rhetoricians (Sheridan, Campbell, Baker)
C. The aims and goals of grammarians and rhetoricians attempting to ascertain English
1. Codified principles of language
2. Reduced language to rule
3. Settled disputed points and decided on usage
4. Pointed out and corrected common errors
D. How did they settle rules?
1. reason
2. etymology
3. example of the Classics
4. doctrine of usage (late 18th century, Priestley and Campbell)
LATE MODERN ENGLISH
I. Three Periods of European Immigration
A. Jamestown in 1607 to the end of Colonal times (@1787)
B. Expansion of 13 colonies west of Appalachains to Civil War (1860)
C. post Civil War
II. Hispanic and Aisan Immigration
III. English Immigration from the time of the 13 colonies
IV. Characteristics of American English
A. high degree of uniformity
B. archaism
C. distinct vocabulary
V. National Consciousness (Webster, Cooper, Franklin)
VI. Controversy over Americanisms
VII. American Dialects
A. Hans Kurath's World Geography (1949)
B. the Linguistic Atlas of the United States and Canada
VIII. American Contributions to Linguistics
A. H. L. Mencken's 1919 American Language
B. Leonard Bloomfield's 1933 Language
C. Noam Chomsky's 1957 Grammar
D. recent contributions
I was thinking of retyping my notes, but there's no real need and I don't have the phonetic symbols to give you all pretty 'th' sounds, so...
Grimm's Law
Verner's Law
I-umlaut
Great Vowel Shift
All phonological changes in English
If you have anything to add, please, do so in comments.
And good luck :D