Influence of the Scandinavian invasion on the English language.

Though the Scandinavian invasions of England are dated in Old England period, their effect on the language appeared in Modern England. since the 8^th cen the British Isles were ravaged by sea rovers from Scandinavia, first by Danes, later – by Norwegians. The territory of BI were occupied by the Danish settlements. The new settlers and the English intermarried and intermixed; they lived close together and didn’t differ in social rank or in the level of culture and customs; they intermingled the more easily as there was no linguistic barrier between them.

The great part of lexical borrowings from O Scand were not recovered until the 13^th c.

The fusion of the English and of the Scandinavian settlers progressed rapidly; in many districts people became bilingual. Gradually the Scandinavian dialects were absorbed by English, leaving impression on the vocabulary of the Northern English dialects. In the beginning Scandinavian loan-words (заимст) were dialectally restricted(огранич), later they penetrated (проник) into other parts of the language space, passed into London English and the national language. Probably in Early Modern England there were more Sc words.Some words died out or were retained (сохр) only in the local dialects, e.g. kirk (church) das (dew).

It’s difficult to define the semantic spheres of Sc borrowings, as they pertain to everyday life and don’t differ from native words. Only the earliest loan-words deal with military and legal matters. These early borrowings are Late Old England barda, cnearr (different types of ships), cnif (NE knife), lip(fleet), orrest(battle).

Many of the words taken over in consequence were homely and everyday ones. Thus the word sister is taken from Scandinavian. So are the names of parts of the body— leg and neck. Other common names include window, sky, knife, skin, dirt, skill, bag, cake and fellow. Everyday adjectives include wrong, low, loose, odd, flat and ugly. Among the everyday verbs are get, give, call, want, take, drag, smile, thrive, die etc. the conjunction though is also from Scandinavian.

Nowadays it’s difficult to distinguish Sc loans from native words. The only criteria that can be applied are some phonetic features: [sk] – sky, skill [s] – fish, shop (OE fisc,scip)

3. Norman Conquest and its influence on the English language.

The Norman Conquest was a great event in British political history and in the history of the English language. The French lang was brought to England by the Norman conquerors. That left a deep impress on the language.The Norman Conquerors of England had originally come from Scandinavia. First they had seized the valley of the Seine and settled in what is known as Normandy. They were swiftly assimilated by the French and in the 11^th c. came to Britain as French speakers. Their tongue in Britain is often referred to as “Anglo-French” or “Anglo-Norman”, but may just as well be called French. The most important consequence of Norman domination in Britain is to be seen in the wide use of the French language in many spheres of life. For almost three hundred years French was the official language of administration: it was the language of the king’s court, the church, the army and others. The intellectual life, literature and education were in the hands of French-speaking people. For all that, England never stopped being an English-speaking country. The bulk of the population spoke their own tongue and looked upon French as foreign and hostile. At first two languages existed side by side without mingling. Then, slowly and quietly, they began to penetrate each other. The three hundred years of the domination of French affected English more than any other foreign influence before or after. The early French borrowings reflect accurately the spheres of Norman influence upon English life; later borrowings can be attributed to the continued cultural, economic and political contacts between the countries.

The French borrowings of the Modern England period described according to semantic spheres. To this day nearly all the words relating to the government and administration (assembly, authority, country, court, power, office, nation). Military terms – aid, arms, army, battle, captain, lieutenant, navy. Law and jurisdiction – crime, court, guilt, just, justice, marry, marriage, money, prove, poor, session. Church and religion – Bible, Baptist, abbey, paradise, lesion, glory, tempt, virgin, religion. House, furniture, architecture – castle, column, couch, lamp, table, wardrobe. Entertainment – dance, leisure, pleasure, sport.

Forms of address – sir, madam. Meals – dinner, supper, beef, mutton, pork, bacon, venison.

4. Formation of the National Literary English Language.

In the course of the 15th century the London literary language gradually spread all over the country, superseding local dialects. Spoken English in various parts of Britain gradually approaches the literary norm, and differences between the norm and popular speech tend to become obliterated. London documents of the former half of the 15th century are poems by Thomas Occleve (Hoccleve), official London papers, and also official documents from other towns. The literary language is also found in letters written by kings, queens, ministers, and other officials.

The formation of a national language was greatly forsed by two events of the late 15th century.The most significant event of the period was the War of Roses (1455 – 1485), which marked the decay of feudalism and the birth of a new social order – an absolute monarchy.

Another great event was the introduction of printing. Printing was invented in Mayence (Germany) by Johann Gutenberg in 1438. From Mayence printing spread to Strasburg, then to Italy and to the Netherlands. The englishman William Caxton (1422 – 1491) published the First English printed book, The Recuyeil of the Histories of Troy. Then he founded the first English printing office in London in 1476, and in 1477 appeared the first book to be printed in England, namely, The Dictes and Sayings of the Philosophers. The spread of printed books was bound to foster the normalization of spelling and also of grammatical forms.

Social changes of the 16th century created the conditions for a great cultural progress and the growth of a national literature. The 16th century was a time of great literary achievement, the rise of a great number of dramatists. William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, Benjamin (Ben) Jonson,John