Origin of the English dialect

Origin of the English dialect

Historical background and pre-Germanic Britain

The history of English language begins with the invasion of Germanic tribes (5^th century). The British Isles were inhabited by prehistoric population and the earliest inhabitants were Celts (Celtic tribes) and they preceded(были предшественниками) the Germans.

They began to settle in Britain in the 7^th c. B.C. The earliest and highly civilized tribe was the tribe of Britons (племя Бриттов).

They had driven the predecessors into (отодвинули предшественников)Ireland, Wales, Scotland. The third wave of Celtic settlers was the Belgae (белги). They came later and they settled the home countries.

The Celtic tribes spoke dialects belonging to the Celtic groups. It wasn't the only language spoken on the British territory. Celtic Britain was a province of the Roman Empire. The first attempt to occupy the British Isles was made by Julius Caesar before B.C.

The Celtic tribes began to penetrate into (проникать внутрь)the Isles and 100 years later under Empire of Roman.

The Romans brought to Barbarian Britain the administration (управление, контроль), their way of life and their language.

The Celtic tribes were influenced by Roman civilization. The Romans founded military settlements or campus. The names of these settlements survived in some place names Manchester – castra - крепость.

They built roads (strata via – мощеная дорога), towns of Roman soldiers and they named this towns - colonies. The word "colony" survived in some names - Colchester. The growth of towns was very considerable. Among the trading centers of Roman Empire London was the most significant. It was a small settlement. It turned into the intensive town.

Wealthy roman landowners lived there. Under Roman occupation the Celts in Britain were Romanized to a certain degree and the influence (вероятно была больше)must have been stronger in the town than in the country side.

The use of Latin language grew; the Romanization began in the 5^th century and lasted up the period of West Germanic tribes. At this time most traces (черты, следы)of the Roman rule, economic and linguistic were destroyed(the period of West Germanic tribes). The Romans occupation of Britain lasted until the 5^th century. In 410 the Roman legions were withdrawn(ушли, ретировались). The withdraw of the Roman Empire was final and the Roman Empire was breaking up. After the Romans had left the British Isles. The Roman speech affected (повлиял)the British language and they had acquired from the Romans and from the Romanized Celts new lexical units and concepts. But they had contacts with the Romans while they lived on the continent before the migration to Britain.

Their ties with the Latin language were strengthened in later ages. They marked the influence of Latin on Old English. The Germanic invaders made 2 kinds of linguistic contacts:

• with the spoken dialects of the Celtic grammar

· with the Latin language

Old English dialects

The tribes who had settled in England spoke Old English dialects. They belong to the West Germanic dialects. These dialects were closely related and they (tribes) spoke the same dialect with slight dialectic distinction (variations). Gradually in the course of English period the nature of the dialects changed from tribal dialects. And these dialects were spoken by the people of the certain locality and the boundaries between the dialects had shifted (сместились). There was no correspondence between the tribal dialects of the invaders and the local dialect of the population of England. There was no intercourse(соц. взаимодействий) between the districts of Old English, that's why the dialects didn't blend(не смешались) together.

The term "Old English" isn't a name of a language in the modern sense. It is used to denote a group of West Germanic dialects, spoken in Britain from 6^th-11^th centuries and related through their common origin. They were separated from other Germanic dialects and they had joined evolution in Britain. Differentiation between the dialects became sharper in Britain due to isolation of different parts of the country. The Old English dialects had inherited similar traits from Germanic and developed new features and due to these features them from other Germanic dialects and from common Germanic.

 

We distinguish 4 dialects in Old English:

1. Kentish, spoken in Kent. Had developed from the speech of the Youths Jutes and was preserved in records from the 7^th century

2. West Saxon dialect (Wessex) – the main dialect of the Saxon group. The earliest British manuscripts date in the 9^th century

3. Mercian dialect, spoken in the Kingdom of Mercia and had developed from the language of the Angles

4. North Hungrian() dialect. Another dialect of Angles and it was spoken in the North of the river Humbra(Northumbria)

The distinction between Mercian and North Hungrian dialects shows that the languages didn't coincide with (совпадали)original dialects. The earliest records of the dialects refer to the 7^th century. The features of most Old English dialects may be contrasted to those of other Germanic dialects. We termed them Old English language (not West Saxon).

Rise of the London dialect

The Norman Conquest was not only a great event in British political history but also the greatest single event in the history of the English language. The Norman Conquerors of England had originally come from Scandinavia. First they had seized(завладели) 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(несмотря на) that, England never stopped being an English-speaking country. The bulk of the population spoke their own tongue and looked upon(смотреть на- считатьфранцузов за иностранцев) French as foreign and hostile(враг, враждебный). At first two languages existed side by side without mingling(без смешания). 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(точно) the spheres of Norman influence upon(=on) English life; later borrowings can be attributed(приписаны) to the continued(продолжительный) cultural, economic and political contacts between the countries.

In the late 14^th century English was reestablished as the official language of Britain, the literary language of English dates from the 14^th century. The 300 years of domination of the French language affected the English language in many spheres. The greater influence of French in the high ranks(ранг в обществе) of society led to great differences in original and social dialects. A more specific influence was made on the alphabet and spelling. From the phonetic structure of the language, especially word accentuation(манера произношения) was affected by the numerous numbers of French borrowings, which were adopted by the English language. However the influence of French affected the grammatical structure of the language.

The dialect division which evolved(развивалось) in Early ME was on the whole preserved in later periods. In the 14^th and 15^th c. we find the same grouping of local dialects: the Southern group, including Kentish and the South-Western dialects (the South-Western group was a continuation of the OE Saxon dialects), the Midland or Central (corresponding to the OE Mercian dialect – is divided into West Midland and East Midland as two main areas) and the Northern group (had developed from OE Northumbrian). And yet the relations between them were changing. The most important event in the changing linguistic situation was the rise of the London dialect as the prevalent written form of language. The history of the London dialect reveals(обнаруживать, раскрываться) the sources of the literary language in Late ME and also the main source and basis of the Literary Standard, both in its written and spoken forms. The Early ME written records made in London – beginning with the PROCLAMATION of 1258 – show that the dialect of London was fundamentally East Saxon. Later records indicate that the speech of London was becoming more fixed, with East Midland features gradually prevailing over the Southern features.

In the 14^th century English revived(возрождаться) as the official language. The 4 main dialects: Northern, Southern, West and East were struggling for supremacy(превосходство) but none of them predominated. Literary English originated from the language of the 14^th century. The London dialect had developed from several local dialects. The history of the London reveal(разоблачать) source of the literary English in Mid. English period. The London dialect was the main source of the national English language in its written and spoken forms. The history of London reaches back(уходит в прошлое) to Roman days. In OE times London was the biggest town in Britain also the capital of Wessex.

In 1018 1/8 of all Danegeld(сбора во время датского правления, собранного по стране) collected from all over the country came from London. The capital was transferred to London before the Norman Conquest. The early ME records were made in London in 1258. It was the London proclamation(провозглашение). These records show that London dialects came from the East Saxon dialects, from the South-Western dialects of the Southern groups.

The speech of London became more mixed with East-Middle features. They prevailed gradually over the Southern features. That explained that the mixed character of London speech is based in the history of the London population. In the 12^th and 14^th centuries the inhabitants of London came from the neighboring South-Western districts. In the middle of 14^th century London was practically depopulated due to the Black Death(черная смерть - чума). About of 1/3 of the population of Britain died. The biggest proportion of death came to London. But in 1377 London had already many inhabitants. Most of arrivals came from the East Midland and the other districts. It was wealthy resettlement of medieval Britain(средневековый). In the late 14^th century the speech of the Londoners was brought closer to the East Midland dialect.

East Midland dialect

From the 14^th century a large number of the official and literary papers written in London dialect showed a large number of Midland dialect features. The London dialect becomes East Midland in character. The flourishing of literature in the second half of the 14^th century testifies(торжественно устанавливает) the establishment of London dialect as the literary language. Some authors wrote their works by means of the local dialects which differed from the London dialect. Other author represented various combinations of London and original dialects. Towards the end of the century more and more works were written in the London dialect. It became the most common form of language. One of the most prominent authors was John de Trevisa. In 1332 he translated 7 books of the World History from Latin to South-Western dialects of English. Trevisa's manner of speech was greatly influenced by French.

The Mercian dialects were spoken in central England but they were understood by neighboring (people from the North and South districts). Of great linguistic importance was the activity of John Wycliffe. He was the forerunner of the English reformation. His contribution(вклад) to English was his and his pupils translation of the Bible which was completed in 1384. Besides he wrote some pamphlets where he criticized the corruption of the church. His texts were often copied and read by many people all over the country. He wrote mostly using the London dialect and it played an important role in the spreading of this dialect of English. John Goer – another poet (author) was born not far from London, nearer to Kent. But there are not many Kentisms in his works. (These) His poems were written in Anglo-Norman and Latin.

Geoffrey Chaucer

Geoffrey Chaucer, a famous writer before the age of Shakespeare, played the most important role in development of London dialect. In the history of English he was described by many writers as faunder of literary English language. He was born about the year 1340. He was an ambassador, official employee, a member of parliament. He communicated with all sorts of people and in his works he gave a true and vivid(живую) picture of England. He wrote in a dialect which coincided in(совпадать) the main features with the London dialect. He didn't create the literary language as poet of outstanding talent. But he made better use of the literary language in his poems and he set up the pattern of the literary language. In the period of the 14^th to the 15^th century his poems were copied all over the country and his books were among the first to be printed hundred years after the composition. Author's literary language is based on the mixed East Midland dialect of London. It is known as a classical Middle English. In the 15^th-16^th centuries it became the basis of the national standard form of a written language.

The Great vowel shift

Magic change in the pronunciation of English language. It took place in the south of England between 1200-1600. GVS was first studied by Danish linguist, Otto Jesperson. He created this term. Main difference between pronunciation ME and Modern English.

GVS is the most important historical event. It marked the separation between ME and Modern English. These vowels had continental values.

During GVS 2 highest long became diphthongs. Other 5 vowels increase in tongue high.

Principal changes:

1. MidE [long a] fronted to open[ ǽ ] and then raised to [e]. In many dialects it diphthongoised into [ei] [make]

2. MidE [ ] raised into [e] and to [i:]

3. MidE [ei] raised into down [i] [fit]

4. MidE [i]? (miss) diphthongoised to ModE [ai] [mise]

5. MidE [o:] raised to [o] and ModE [ou] boat

6. MidE [o:] raised to [u]

7. [u:] raised into diphthong [ou] – ModE [au] mouse

But before labial consonants this shift did not occur and [u] remains as [u:] root

Labial (губные)consonants are divided into:

- bilabial consonants which are articulated by two lips [p, b, m, w];

- labio-dental consonants are articulated with the lower lip against the upper teeth [v, f].

This means that the vowel in some English words was pronounced similar to modern vowels.

But the effects of vowel shift were not entirely uniformed in all dialects. Differences in degree of vowel shifting can be detected in region dialects both on written and oral form [speech of Scotland]

 

Shortening of long vowels produced complications:

Shortening before [d ] and [t∫] dead –[did]

Some borrowings have a spelling form origin by ratianed – they are treated as exceptions of GVS

English spelling was becoming standardiezed in 15-17 centuries. GVS is responsible for many of peculiarities of English spelling.

 

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The most characteristic feature of English is usually said to be its mixed character. Many linguists consider foreign influence, especially that of French, to be the most important factor in the history of English. This wide-spread viewpoint is supported only by the evidence of the English word-stock, as its grammar and phonetic systems are very stable and not easily influenced by other languages.

To comprehend the nature of the English vocabulary and its historical development it is necessary to examine the etymology of different layers, the historical causes of their appearance, their volume and role and the comparative importance of native and borrowed elements in enriching the English vocabulary.

According to their origin words can be native and borrowed. A native word is a word which belongs to the original English stock as known from the earliest available manuscripts of the Old English period.

Native words are further subdivided into the words of the Indo-European stock and those of the Common Germanic origin. The words having cognates in the vocabularies of different Indo-European languages form the oldest layer. It has been noticed that they readily fall into definite semantic groups. Among them we find terms of kinship (mother, father, son, daughter), names of animals and birds (cat, wolf, goose), parts of human body (arm, eye). Some of the most frequent verbs belong to this word stock: come, sit, stand. Most numerals are also of the Indo-European origin.

A bigger part of the native vocabulary consists of the words of the Common Germanic word stock. Such nouns as summer, winter, rain, ice, hat; the verbs to bake, to buy, to make, to meet; the adjectives deaf, dead, deep are of the Common Germanic origin. Most adverbs and pronouns also belong here.

Together with the words of the Common Indo-European stock the Common Germanic words form the bulk of the most frequent elements used in any style of speech.

The main contributors to the vocabulary were Italian, Dutch, Spanish, German, Portuguese and Russian. A number of words were adopted from languages of other countries and continents, which came into contact with English: Persian, Chinese, Hungarian, Turkish, Malayan, Polynesian, the native languages of India and America.

Next to French, Latin and Scandinavian, English owes the greatest number of foreign words to Italian, though many of them, like Latin loan-words, entered the English language through French. A few early borrowings pertain to commercial and military affairs while the vast majority of words are related to art, music and literature, which is a natural consequence of the fact that Italy was the birthplace of the Renaissance movement and of the revival of interest in art.

In the 14th c. English imported the Italian words ducato, million, florin (from the name of Florence, where the coin was minted), pistol, cartridge, alarm (probably borrowed from French but traced to Italian all^’ arme ‘all to arms’). Italian words relating to art are well known to speakers of all European languages. Examples of musical terms adopted in English are: aria, bass, cello (genetically, a diminutive suffix in violoncello), concerto, duet, finale, piano, solo, sonata, soprano, tenor, violin.

The Italian loan-words balcony, cameo, corridor, cupola, design, fresco, gallery, granite, parapet, pedestal, studio reveal the priority of the Italians in certain spheres of culture. The loans replica, sonnet, stanza indicate new concepts in literature.

As seen from the examples, some loan-words retained their Italian appearance, others were Gallicised (i.e. assumed a French shape); probably they had entered the English language through French, e.g. artisan, campaign, intrigue. Many words in general use do not differ from English words either in sounds or spelling and cannot be distinguished from native words without a special study: barrack, cash, canteen, escort, gallop, laundry, manage, medal, pants, pilot; these borrowings were probably imported at an earlier date and have lost their foreign flavour.

Borrowings from Spanish came as a result of contacts with Spain in the military, commercial and political fields, due to the rivalry of England and Spain in foreign trade and colonial expansion. This is apparent from the nature of Spanish borrowings in English made in the 16th and 17th c, e.g.: armada, barricade, cannibal, cargo, embargo, escapade. Many loan-words indicated new objects and concepts encountered in the colonies: banana, canoe, chocolate, cocoa, colibri, maize, mosquito, Negro, potato, ranch, tobacco, tomato.

Borrowings from Germanic languages are of special interest as English is a Germanic language too. The influence of Scandinavian in Early ME has certainly remained unsurpassed and the unique conditions of close language contacts were never repeated. By the 15th— 16th c. the Germanic languages had driven far apart; their linguistic affinities were disguised by the changes of the intervening periods. Therefore loan-words from related Germanic tongues were no less foreign to English speakers than those from other linguistic groups. Yet their sound form was somewhat closer to English and their assimilation progressed rapidly. Dutch words and some of the German words do not differ in appearance from native English words.

Dutch made abundant contribution to English, particularly in the 15th and 16th c, when commercial relations between England and the Netherlands were at their peak. Dutch artisans came to England to practise their trade, and sell their goods. They specialised in wool weaving and brewing, which is reflected in the Dutch loan-words: pack, scour, spool, stripe (terms of weaving); hops, tub, scum. Extensive borrowing is found in nautical terminology: bowline, buoy, cruise, deck, dock, freight, keel, skipper. The flourishing of art in the Netherlands accounts for some Dutch loan-words relating to art: easel, landscape, sketch.

Loan-words from German reflect the scientific and cultural achievements of Germany at different dates of the New period. Mineralogical terms are connected with the employment of German specialists in the English mining industry, e.g.: cobalt, nickel, zinc. The advance of philosophy in the 18th and 19th c. accounts for philosophical terms, e.g.: transcendental, dynamics (going back to classical roots). Some borrowings do not belong to a particular semantic sphere and can only be classified as miscellaneous: kindergarten, hall, stroll, plunder, poodle, waltz.

The most peculiar feature of German influence on the English vocabulary in the 18th and 19th c. is the creation of translation-loans on German models from native English components (sometimes also from foreign roots, borrowed and assimilated before). Whenever compound German nouns, in their alien sound form and morphological structure, were hard to reproduce, translation-loans came in handy in rendering their meaning and creating new terms: English swan-song is a literal translation of German Schwanenlied; home-sickness comes from Heimweh, standpoint from Standpunkt; environment was the rendering of Umge-bung (proposed by Th. Carlyle), superman was naturalised by B. Shaw as a translation of Nietzsche's Übermensch; world outlook and class struggle correspond to Weltanschauung and Klassenkampf; masterpiece consists of two Romance elements reproducing German Meisterstűck.

(Recent German borrowings in English, connected with World War II and other political events, are: blitz, bunker, fǘhrer, Gestapo, nazi.)

The earliest Russian loan-words entered the English language as far back as the 16th c, when the English trade company (the Moskovy Company) established the first trade relations with Russia. English borrowings adopted from the 16th till the 19th c. indicate articles of trade and specific features of life in Russia, observed by the English: astrakhan, beluga, boyar, copeck, intelligentsia, muzhik, rouble, samovar, troika, tsar, verst, vodka.

The loan-words adopted after 1917 reflect the new social relations and political institutions in the USSR: bolshevik, Komsomol, Soviet. Some of the new words are translation-loans: collective farm, Five-Year-Plan, wall newspaper. In the recent decades many technical terms came from Russian, indicating the achievements in different branches of science: sputnik, cosmonaut (in preference of the American astronaut), synchrophasotron.

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It is now essential to analyse the changes that borrowings have undergone in the English language and how they have adapted themselves to its peculiarities.

All the changes that borrowed elements undergo may be divided into two large groups.

On the one hand there are changes specific of borrowed words only. These changes aim at adapting words of foreign origin to the norms of the borrowing language, e.g. the consonant combinations [pn], [ps], [pt] in the words pneumatics, psychology, Ptolemy of Greek origin were simplified into [n], [s], [t], since the consonant combinations [ps], [pt], [pn], very frequent at the end of English words (as in sleeps, stopped, etc.), were never used in the initial position. For the same reason the initial [ks] was changed into [z] (as in Gr. xylophone).

The suffixes -ar, -or, -ator in early Latin borrowings were replaced by the highly productive Old English suffix -ere, as in L. Caesar >OE. Casere, L. sutor> OE. sūtere.

By analogy with the great majority of nouns that form their plural in -s, borrowings, even very recent ones, have assumed this inflection instead of their original plural endings. The forms Soviets, bolsheviks, kolkhozes, sputniks illustrate the process.

On the other hand we observe changes that are characteristic of both borrowed and native words. These changes are due to the development of the word according to the laws of the given language. When the highly inflected Old English system of declension changed into the simpler system of Middle English, early borrowings conformed with the general rule. Under the influence of the so-called inflexional levelling borrowings like lазu, (MnE. law), fēōlaza (MnE. fellow), stræt (MnE. street), disc (MnE. dish) that had a number of grammatical forms in Old English acquired only three forms in Middle English: common case and possessive case singular and plural (fellow, fellowes, fellowes).

It is very important to discriminate between the two processes — the adaptation of borrowed material to the norms of the language and the development of these words according to the laws of the language.

This differentiation is not always easily discernible. In most cases we must resort to historical analysis before we can draw any definite conclusions. There is nothing in the form of the words procession and, progression to show that the former was already used in England in the 11th century, the latter not till the 15th century. The history of these words reveals that the word procession has undergone a number of changes alongside with other English words (change in declension, accentuation, structure, sounds), whereas the word progression underwent some changes by analogy with the word procession and other similar words already at the time of its appearance in the language.

Sometimes a word is borrowed twice from the same language. As the result, we have two different words with different spellings and meanings but historically they come back to one and the same word. Such words are called etymological doublets. In other words, two or more words in the same language are called doubletsoretymological twins(or possibly triplets, etc.) when they have the same etymological root but have entered the language through different ways. They differ to a certain degree in form, meaning and current usage.

Etymological twins are usually a result of chronologically separate borrowing from a source language. In the case of English, this usually means once from French during the Norman invasion, and again later, after the word had evolved.

e.g. warranty (гарантия) and guarantee.

In English there are some groups of them:

Latino-French doublets.

Franco-French doublets

Norman Paris

• canal channel
• captain chieftain
• catch chaise

Scandinavian English

• skirt shirt
• scabby shabby

Another possibility is borrowing from both a language and its daughter language (usually Latin and some other Romanic language). In many cases involving Indo-European languages, words such as beef and cow, the one Germanic the other Romance, actually do share the same proto-Indo-European root. The forward linguistic path also reflects cultural and historical transactions; often the name of an animal comes from Germanic while the name of its cooked meat comes from Romanic language. Since English is unusual in that it borrowed heavily from two distinct branches of the same linguistic family tree, it has a relatively high number of this latter type of etymological twin.

Examples in English include:

• shirt and skirt (both Germanic, the latter from Old Norse)
• chief and chef (both from French at different times)
• secure and sure (from Latin, the latter via French)
• plant and clan (from Latin, the latter via Old Irish)
• right, rich, raj (господство), regalia, reign and real (from Germanic, Celtic, Sanskrit, Latin, French and Portuguese cognates respectively)
• ward and guard (from Germanic, the latter via French); also warden and guardian.

There are also etymological doublets which were borrowed from the same language during different historical periods, such as French doublets: gentil - любезный, благородный, etymological doublets are: gentle - мягкий, вежливый and genteel - благородный. From the French word gallant etymological doublets are: ‘gallant - храбрый and ga’llant - галантный, внимательный.

Sometimes etymological doublets are the result of borrowing different grammatical forms of the same word, e.g. the Comparative degree of Latin «super» was «superior» which was borrowed into English with the meaning «high in some quality or rank». The Superlative degree (Latin «supremus») in English «supreme» with the meaning «outstanding», «prominent». So «superior» and «supreme» are etymological doublets

 

Origin of the English dialect