INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE Written by László Kristó 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................... 4 NOTES ON PHONETIC SYMBOLS USED IN THIS BOOK ................................................. 5 1 Language change and historical linguistics ............................................................................. 6 1.1 Language history and its study ......................................................................................... 6 1.2 Internal and external history ............................................................................................. 6 1.3 The periodization of the history of languages .................................................................. 7 1.4 The chief types of linguistic change at various levels ...................................................... 8 1.4.1 Lexical change ........................................................................................................... 9 1.4.2 Semantic change ...................................................................................................... 11 1.4.3 Morphological change ............................................................................................. 11 1.4.4 Syntactic change ...................................................................................................... 12 1.4.5 Phonological change ............................................................................................... 13 Suggested reading ................................................................................................................ 15 2 Early Modern English Grammar ........................................................................................... 16 2.1 General notes .................................................................................................................. 16 2.2 Matthew 5 from the King James version of 1611 .......................................................... 17 2.3 Early Modern English grammar ..................................................................................... 19 2.3.1 Morphology ............................................................................................................. 19 2.3.2 Early Modern English syntax .................................................................................. 25 2.3.3 Lexical differences .................................................................................................. 30 2.4 Another sample text: Antony’s monologue from Julius Caesar by Shakespeare (Act 3, Scene 2) ................................................................................................................................ 30 2.5 An interesting addition as a point of interest .................................................................. 31 2.6 (APPENDIX) Matthew 5 from the New International Version of the Bible ................. 32 Suggested reading ................................................................................................................ 33 3 Pronunciation: Early Modern English and after .................................................................... 34 3.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 34 3.2 The sounds of EModE at around 1600 ........................................................................... 34 3.2.1 An illustrative sample of EModE pronunciation: the first 12 verses of Matthew 5 from the King James version ............................................................................................ 34 3.2.2 The sounds of EModE (at around 1600) and their typical spellings ....................... 36 3.3 Vowel changes from EModE to PdE ............................................................................. 37 3.4 Consonant changes from EModE to PdE ....................................................................... 42 3.4.1 R-Dropping (Non-Rhoticity) and related vowel changes........................................ 42 3.4.2 Palatalization ........................................................................................................... 49 3.4.3 Yod-Dropping ......................................................................................................... 51 3.4.4 WH-Simplification .................................................................................................. 52 3.5 Word stress ..................................................................................................................... 52 Suggested reading ................................................................................................................ 53 4 The Indo-European family and Proto-Indo-European .......................................................... 54 4.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 54 4.2 The branches of Indo-European ..................................................................................... 55 4.2.1 Germanic ................................................................................................................. 55 4.2.2 Celtic ....................................................................................................................... 55 4.2.3 Italic ......................................................................................................................... 57 3 4.2.4 Slavonic ................................................................................................................... 60 4.2.5 Baltic ....................................................................................................................... 62 4.2.6 Albanian .................................................................................................................. 62 4.2.7 Hellenic ................................................................................................................... 63 4.2.8 Armenian ................................................................................................................. 63 4.2.9 Indo-Iranian ............................................................................................................. 64 4.2.10 Other ...................................................................................................................... 64 4.3 Proto-Indo-European ...................................................................................................... 64 4.3.1 The sounds of PIE ................................................................................................... 65 4.3.2 The reconstruction of PIE morphemes: An illustration .......................................... 66 4.3.3 The morphology of PIE ........................................................................................... 66 4.3.4 Ablaut ...................................................................................................................... 70 4.3.5 Vocabulary: the Indo-European heritage in English ............................................... 71 Suggested reading ................................................................................................................ 72 5 Germanic: Old English and its closest relatives .................................................................... 73 5.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 73 5.2 The Germanic languages: their origin and the members of the family .......................... 73 5.2.1 The Germanic homeland and the early spread of Germanic tribes ......................... 73 5.2.2 The branches of Germanic and their members ........................................................ 75 5.2.3 Proto-Germanic ....................................................................................................... 79 5.3 Old English ..................................................................................................................... 84 5.3.1 The external history of Old English: a brief sketch................................................. 84 5.3.2 Old English: The language itself ............................................................................. 88 Suggested reading ................................................................................................................ 95 6 Middle English and after ....................................................................................................... 96 6.1 External history .............................................................................................................. 96 6.2 Middle English pronunciation and phonology ............................................................... 98 6.3 A sample text in ME with explanations ......................................................................... 99 6.4 Some important grammatical features of ME .............................................................. 100 6.5 The vocabulary of ME and word stress in borrowings ................................................ 101 6.5.1 Borrowings in ME ................................................................................................. 101 6.5.2 Word stress in borrowings ..................................................................................... 102 6.6 Vowel length in