Unit-II
Major II-History of English Language
Old
English
1.
Write
in detail about Old English. (2, 5 and 10 marks)
a. The
period of the Old English period extends from the earliest written documents in
the close of the seventh century to about 1100.
b. It
is highly influenced by Latin and characterized by homogeneous Anglo-Saxon
language.
c. Impact
of Norse can also be found on the vocabulary of the written language of Old
English.
d. It
has full inflexional system with three or four case-endings for its nouns and adjectives
with full verbal endings.
e. It
had no ‘silent syllables’ in pronunciation.
f. The
word order was relatively free and its inflexion prevented ambiguity.
g. Though
it had number of dialects, King Alfred’s Wessex (West-Saxon) became an accepted
language for the vernacular literary purpose.
h. West-Saxon
became the basis of Old English grammar and dictionaries.
i. However
unfortunately there is not a direct link between the West-Saxon and later
English.
j. The
nearest impact of West-Saxon can be found in such countries as Gloucester,
Somerset and Devon.
Middle English
2.
Write
in detail about Middle English. (2, 5 and 10 marks)
a. The
period of Middle English extends from A.D 1100 to about 1450.
b. It
began with the Norman Conquest and the transitional period leading to the close
of the middle ages.
c. Norse
influence is clearly visible only in Middle English.
d. Due
to the Norse invaders, the inflexion began to blur in Old English. In Middle
English, it became minimum and therefore called as the period of ‘levelled
inflexion’.
e. The
weakening of inflexion caused the word order to be less free and encouraged the
growth of the use of prepositions and periphrases.
f. There were many French chief copyist in the
twelfth and thirteenth century. These French scribes introduced their own
continental spelling.
g. Earlier Old English had a common literary dialect
whereas Middle English lacked that common dialect. The confused spelling
further aggravated that problem.
h. Like West saxon, none of the dialect acted as a
common literary vehicle
due to the influence of Latin and Norman French for
aristocratic entertainment.
i. However in
the late fourteenth century English began to assert itself as a vernacular
language due to the growth of London as the centre of commercial, political,
legal and ecclesiastical life.
j. The medium of expression used by educated
Londoners later become the widely known English language. Despite the local
tongue Cockney, due to the trade in wool and cloth by Londoners with East-mid land
,West-saxon lost its importance and the East-Midland gained importance.
K. The period
of Middle English ends with the printing press invented by John Caxton. The
transition period of Middle English to Modern English is dated as 1450 to 1500.
L. Due to the scientific invasions and other
factors, the language had wide production of vocabularies in this era.
3.
Write a detailed note on Modern English. (2, 5 and 10 marks)
1. Modern English is dated from about 1500 to the
end of Henry VII’s reign.
2. Early Modern English is dated till Queen Anne’s
accession and aftermath years are considered to be the Later Modern English.
The division becomes mandatory as there are many changes after the reign of
Henry VIII.
3. There was loss in inflexions due to the increase
in the Latin elements through Renaissance influence. Therefore this period is
referred as the period of ‘Lost inflexions’.
4. There was increase in prepositional usage and
periphrases. The word order was fixed due to the loss in inflexions.
5. The distinct quality of Modern English is the complete
transformation in the pronunciation of vowels. The change in vowel sound
happened due to the inevitable tendency of the printers in popularizing the
books of Queen Elizabeth’s time with the conventions of spellings.
6. The spelling became largely symbolical of
thoughts and things rather than a phonetic representation of the actual sound
of words.
4.
What is Philology? (2marks)
The term Philology originally meant the study of
literature including the technical study of linguistic matters in understanding
a text. The word logo implies the thought and language. Currently it involves
only the technical study of language apart from literature.
No comments:
Post a Comment