LING 322
MIDDLE ENGLISH: LANGUAGE AND CHANGE
Germanic PIE Phonology: traditional reconstruction
Proto-Indo-European consonants Velar Labial dental labio- Laryngeal palatal plain velar Oral *p (*b) *t *d *ḱ *ǵ *k *g *kʷ *gʷ stops asp. *bʰ *dʰ *ǵʰ *gʰ *gʷʰ Nasal stops *m *n *h , *h , Fricative *s *h ₁ ₂ Lateral *l ₃ Trill *r Semivowels *y *w PIE > Germanic
Proto-Indo- European
Proto-Germanic (c500 BC to c500 AD)
Fragmentary 2nd to 5th Cent. runic inscriptions confirm Proto-Germanic stage Øvre Stabu spearhead (2C) raunijaz (ON reynir ‘tester’)
Golden Horns of Gallehus (5C) ek Hlewagastiz Holtijaz horna tawidō I Hlewagastiz Holtijaz the horn made
End of Proto-Germanic just prior to the first substantial Germanic text The Codex Argenteus (Gothic, East Germanic, 6th Cent.) Germanic tribe settlements
North Germanic East Germanic
Ingvaeones Istvaeones Irminones (North Sea Germanic) (Weser-Rhine Germanic) (Elbe Germanic)
Frisians Saxons Angles Jutes Germanic inheritance from PIE
SOV OE: hū ðā æþelingas ellen fremedon ‘how the heroes deeds of valour performed’ Beowulf l.3
Germanic was possibly pro-drop
Three grammatical genders: PIE animate inanimate
GERM masc fem neut
Three numbers: singular, dual, plural
Dual began to disappear early e.g. only Gothic retained dual markings on verbs niman to take 1st sing nima nimada 2nd sing nimis nimaza 1st dual nimōs - 2nd dual nimats - Germanic characteristics
1. Main stress fixed on the first syllable of a word Led to weakening of vowels in unstressed syllables > long vowels become short, short vowels weaken
Early PG *awī ‘ewe’ > Lat PG *awi
Legacy for English
OE regularly stressed first syllables. Textual indecision indicates English vowel reduction in final syllables as early as the 10th century ə loss of distinct height and backness loss of length cccc 2. First Consonant shift (Grimm’s law)
1. PIE voiceless stops > Germanic voiceless fricatives . p → f t → Ɵ k → x (or h) kw → hw
2. PIE voiced stops > Germanic voiceless stops. b → p d → t g → k gw → kw
3. PIE voiced aspirated stops > Germanic voiced stops. bh → b dh → d gh → g gwh → gw, w Proto-Germanic consonants
Labial Dental Alveolar Palatal Velar Labial–velar
Nasal m n Plosive p b t d k ɡ kʷ ɡʷ Fricative ɸ θ s z x xʷ Trill r Approximant j w Lateral l
Vowels Front Back short long overl. short long High i iː u uː High-mid e eː Low-mid ɛː ɛːː ɔː Low ɑ ɑː NOUN inflections: a process of reduction
Sing. PIE PGmc Plur. PIE PGmc Nom. -s -s Nom. -es -ez Acc. -m -un Acc. -ns -unz Gen. -es -ez Gen. -ōm -ōn Dat. -ey/-y -i Dat. -mis -miz
West Germanic reflexes ‘foot’
Sing. PGmc OE Plur. PGmc OE Nom. fōts fōt Nom. fōtez fēt Acc. fōtun fōt Acc. fōtunz fēt Gen. fōtez fōtes Gen. fōtōn fōta Dat. fōti fēt Dat. fōtmiz fōtum Germanic Innovations Four to Three moods:
PIE indicative optative subjunctive imperative
PGerm indicative subjunctive imperative
Reduction from eight to six nominal cases nominative accusative dative genitive vocative instrumental
Vocative: only Gothic evidence, Instrumental: only West Germanic evidence Germanic Simplifications
Tense: PIE: past present future
Germanic: past non-past
Verb Inflection: Rise of weak verbs (origin debated)
Demonstrative pronouns
PIE three-grade system:
‘this, next to me’ ‘this, next to you’ that, far from both of us’
Germanic: proximal (here) distal (there) West Germanic
Ingvaeonic Istvaeonic Irminonic
Old English Old Frisian Old Saxon Old Dutch Old High German
Middle English M. L. German Middle Dutch Middle High German
Old Yiddish
English Frisian Low German Dutch Afrikaans German Yiddish Ingvaeonic Germanic
Ingvaeonic nasal spirant law: N Ø / ___ [+cont]
⇢ OE ūs Frisian ūs vs OHG uns Gothic uns
PIE *gansi ‘goose’ OE OHG gans
Three Proto-Germanic plural verb endings reduced to one
(3. pers. pl. ind.) *-anþi PGerm. (3. pers. pl. subjnc.) *-ain -(a)þ
(3. pers. pl. imp.) *- ainþau The loss of the Germanic reflexive pronoun
PIE *swe *se ‘self’ (3. pers. acc. sng)
Germanic *se- (Mod. Germ. sich Ice. sig etc.)
In OE reflexive performed by simple pronouns
ða beþohte he hine lit. then bethought he him (3. masc. nom. sing) (3. masc. acc. sng)
‘then he thought to himself’ East Germanic With your neighbour use the Modern gloss to identify cognates in the two excerpts from theGothic: Codex Argenteus
Warþ þan in dagans jainans, urrann gagrefts from kaisara Agustau,
gameljan allana midjungard. (gagrefts ‘decree’, gameljan ‘write (down)’)
And it happened in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus written to the whole world
Urrann þan jah Iosef us Galeilaia, us baurg Nazaraiþ, in Iudaian, in baurg Daweidis sei haitada Beþlahaim, duþe ei was us garda fadreinais Daweidis
And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, into the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David Germanic moves to England The Germanic move to England The Romans leave England in 410, Germanic tribes begin to arrive shortly after.
The venerable Bede (d. 26 May 735) names Angles, Saxons and Jutes. He writes in his Ecclesiastical History
“the Angles, being invited into Britain, at first drove off the enemy; but not long after, making a league with them, turned their weapons against their allies . . . their country, whilst their real intentions were to conquer it.”
But was it really an invasion? Numbers of migrants unknown No obvious signs of widespread death and destruction of Britons Archaeology points to combo of: displacement assimilation no interaction at all Post-arrival Celtic influence on English is minimal.
Wales = OE weahlas ‘foreigners’ fewer than a hundred words borrowed. Mostly local geographic features cumb ‘valley’ ‘ torr ‘projecting hill or rock’ luh ‘lake’ dun ‘hill’ Local creatures: brocc ‘badger’
Some Celtic relics in place names. Cornwall, Carlisle, Avon, Devon, Dover, London, Usk
Lancaster Lat -castor > Celtic -ceaster > OE Settlement
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Britain_peoples_circa_600.svg Old English Preliminaries
Writings preserved in 4 dialects (Northumbria, Mercian, West Saxon, Kentish)
West Saxon under the leadership and educational reforms of King Alfred, raised to the literary standard of the day.
Borrowing from Latin and in LOE Scandinavian and French but relatively few
Latin: biscop, munuc, preost etc
Calqued: Gk euangelion ‘reward for good news’ > Lat. bona adnuntiatio > OE gōd good + spell tale = gōdspel ‘gospel’
OE þrines ‘trinity’
Adaptation of OE words
bletsian ‘to bless’ Eastron ‘Easter’ geol ‘yule’ Broad characteristics of OE With your neighbour work through the OE version of the Lord’s prayer below. How many words do you recognise as still in use in Mod Eng? List significant differences in word forms. Can you explain the differences?
Fæder ure þu þe eart on heofonum, si þin nama gehalgod. To becume þin rice, gewurþe ðin willa, on eorðan swa swa on heofonum. Urne gedæghwamlican hlaf syle us todæg, and forgyf us ure gyltas, swa swa we forgyfað urum gyltendum. And ne gelæd þu us on costnunge, ac alys us of yfele. Soþlice. With your neighbour work through the OE version of the Lord’s prayer below. How many words do you recognise as still in use in Mod Eng? List significant differences in word forms. Can you explain the differences?
54 words, 43 still in use. Most have cognates or survive as archaisms.
gyltendum guilt rice kingdom (Germ. Reich) gedæghwamlican day + ly soþlice sooth + ly (truth + ly) ‘soothsayer’ hlaf loaf syle sell (OE give > ModEng. give for money)