English from Old to New van Gelderen English originated around 450 with the first Germanic tribes in Britain. 100.000 BP the culture of the homo Sapiens became diverse, which is why language is assumed to have appeared between 150.000 and 50.00 BC. Humans migrated from Africa to Australia to Oceania. From there they moved to Asia, then to Europe and finally to America. This implies the greatest affinity between people of Asia and those of the Americas, indicating that the Americas were settled by Asian people.

Genetic and linguistic reconstructions indicate that certain people and languages are more closely related since they separate at later points.

Harappan writings 5500 yearsEgyptian writings 5300 yearsMesopotamain 5100 yearsChinese writings 3500 yearsMayan writings 2500 years

Logographic writing: one word is expressed in one symbol. Syllabic writing: the symbol represents the pronunciation of a symbolAlphabetic writing: the symbol represents one sound.

The discovery of Sanskrit was especially important for formulating laws for sound changes.

Cognates: words that have a common ancestor. To find linguistic relations, we usually take words such as pronouns, numerals and kinship terms as comparison material since they are supposed to have changed the least. This method is known as “The Comparative Method”.

The result of the age of English and the influences of dialects and foreign languages is that the symbols do not adequately represent the sounds. There never was a spelling reform. After 1400 years some standards do arise and after 1500 years there are some advocates for spelling reforms, though in the end they never officially happen. The first standardization of English was the Chancery English which was at the court. When they began writing in English, 1420, it took 10 years to evolve to a standard.

- Relatively free spelling- Gh at ends though it wasn’t pronounced- Th for 3rd person verbs.

A major boost to the standardization comes after the introduction of the printing press in 1476, introduced in London by William Caxton. Other important developments where the publications of the first English dictionaries and the King James Bible. Other factors that contributed to the irregularity of English spelling are etymological respellings and the incorporation of words from other languages with changed pronunciation but keeping the original spelling.

English vowels can be described using three features:- Whether the tongue is low or high- Whether the tongue is front or back- The duration of the sound

Grimm’s LawGrimm's law, named for Jacob Grimm, is a set of statements describing the inherited Proto-Indo-European (PIE) stops as they developed in Proto-Germanic in the 1st millennium BC. It establishes a set of regular correspondences between early Germanic stops and fricatives and the stop consonants of certain other centum Indo-European languages (Grimm used mostly Latin and Greek for illustration). As it is presently formulated, Grimm's Law consists of three parts, which must be thought of as three consecutive phases in the sense of a chain shift:1. Proto-Indo-European voiceless stops change into voiceless fricatives.2. Proto-Indo-European voiced stops become voiceless stops.3. Proto-Indo-European voiced aspirated stops become voiced fricatives; ultimately, in most Germanic languages these voiced fricatives become voiced stops.

The chain shift can be abstractly represented as:bʰ → b → p → fdʰ → d → t → θgʰ → g → k → xgʷʰ → gʷ → kʷ → xʷ

Grimm’s Law distinghuishes Germanic Languages from languages such as Greek, Latin and modern Romance languages such as French and Spanish.

The Second Consonant ShiftThe first phase, which affected the whole of the High German area, has been dated as early as the fourth century, though this is highly debated. In this phase, voiceless stops became geminated intervocalic fricatives, or single postvocalic fricatives in final positionIn the second phase, which was completed by the eighth century, the same sounds became affricates in three environments: in word-initial position; when geminated; and after a liquid consonant (/l/ or /r/) or nasal consonant (/m/ or /n/).The third phase, which had the most limited geographical range, saw the voiced stops become voiceless.

b→pd→tg→k

Of these, only the dental shift d→t finds its way into standard German. The others are restricted to High Alemannic German in Switzerland, and south Bavarian dialects in Austria. This shift probably began in the 8th or 9th century, after the first and second phases ceased to be productive, otherwise the resulting voiceless stops would have shifted further to fricatives and affricates

Indo- European languages differ in their syntax and morphology from Germanic ones, even though they all have a common ancestor. The inflectional endings of Old English are due to its Indo-European and synthetic origins.

The English language started around 449 with the arrival of Germanic tribes. Over time there were influences of Latin through missionaries and French influences through the Normandic invasion. The evidence from texts indicate that the difference between Old and Modern English is in spelling, phonetics, morphology and syntax.

Old English texts are divided along geographical lines into Northumbrian, Mercian, West- Saxon and Kentish. Most evidence of older Old English comes from northern poets such as Caedmon’s Hymn, while later work comes from southern prose texts, for example Alfred’s Orosius.

The scribes who copied and illustrated the manuscripts worked mainly in monastries, with the original texts usually written on vellum, which was an expensive, thin leather. Books were therefore owned by either monastries or very rich people. Facsimile editions, which are replicas, enable us to see what a text looks like.

Most Old English texts, especially manuscripts such as Beowulf, use a modified roman alphabet which was introduced by Irish missionaries, with letter shapes that differ from Modern English. There are still some runic symbols as well as a lack of capital letters and punctiation. There are also no

symbols for /v/ and /z/. The letters (thorn) and (eth) were used interchangeably for the ‘regular’ /th/ sounds.

In addition to manuscripts, Old English is preserved in carvings on wood and stone from the 7 th century. The runic alphabet, or futhorc, was in use through large areas of Europe and is probably an adaptation by Gothic speakers of the Etruscan alphabet. Words are not spelled seperately, which makes them harder to read. Old English, like other West- Germanic languages, originally had a phonetic rule called final obstruent devoicing. This rule was lost when many final syllables in Middle English were lost.

Four sound changes that took place in Old English:

- Voicing consonants- Palatalization consonants- Breaking vowels: occurs when the front

vowels become dipthongs. o I > io/ eoo E > eoo Ae > ea

- Fronting vowels: describes what happens when a back or low vowel precedes an /i/o U > y, later I o O > eo A > ae

Modern English lost andings such as –as but gained words such as ‘to’. Comparing the many endings and few words of Old and Modern English, we see that the main change between the two stages is that of a language with free word order and many endings, but no small word, becoming a language with strict word order, few endings and many small words.

Paradigm: A list of forms, e.g. a list of all the cases of a pronoun.

Like Modern English, Old English third person pronouns show gender. Unlike Modern English, Old English also marks grammatical gender on demonstratives, adjectives and nouns. The grammatical gender of the noun determines the gender of the demonstrative and the adjective. The grammatical gender need not correspond to the natural gender of the noun. Reflexive pronouns do not occur in Old English. In Old English, the adjective ‘self’ is typically used as an emphatic, not as a reflexive. These only occur later on. With first and second person, reflexives do not appear until Middle English.

Demonstratives are not generally required, and in Old English they are used where Modern English uses relatives. Relative pronouns connect sentences.

The ending of the adjective is very intricate. As in other Germanic languages it depends on whether a demonstrative is present, which is different from the other Indo- European languages. No demonstrative means a strong ending, with demonstrative the adjective gets a weak ending. Adjectives are mostly used in comparative and superlative constructions.

Adverbs modify the verb. In Old English, the verb can have several endings, depending on tense, person, number and the mood. Strong verbs change their stem vowels in the past and past participle. Weak vowels get a regular –ed inflection.

Auxiliaries are not frequent in Old English, they start occurring when the infinitival ‘to’ becomes an analytic marker of non-finiteness in the late 14th century.

Old English can be described as synthetic whereas Modern English is analytic.

Rules for the free word order:- Pronouns usually occur near the beginning- The verb usually occurs at the end- If the verb occurs secondly, it’s usually in the main clause- Subject pronouns are somewhat more optional- Pleonastic subject, such as there and it, do not occur in Old English- Past action is indicated through affixes- The negative adverb often immediately precedes the verb + can be weakened to a prefix.

The most striking characteristic of Old English is now Germanic the vocabulary is. Old English often forms new words through compounding. Loan words are often longer, more precise and less broad in meaning. Words can change in meaning, either narrowing or widening. Ameliorization: giving words a better, more positive meaningPejorization: giving words a less, more negative meaning.

When a word’s spelling is adapted to fit a meaning, we speak of folk etymology.

Celtic is the home of a group of Indo- European languages spoken by people who lived throughout Europe. The Celtic languages influenced the English language in three phases:

- Loans into Germanic on the continent- Adaption into Old English- Influence after the Old English period

There is a great deal of evidence of Celtic presence in Eirope, with celtic influence on Latin and Germanic on the continent.

Evidence of contacts between Old English and Celtic during the second phase is provided by certain words and many placenames such as Waldon, Wales,. During this phase, the borrowings from Celtic by Latin and Germanic speakers in Britain were mostly place names, which were usually Celtic nouns.

There is a third, more recent period of Celtic influence, covering the loans after the Germanic and Old English periods. Most of these loans are nouns, but Celtic adjectives have been incorporated as well, mainly as parts of place names. Verbs and prepositions were not borrowed, but the use of them to express on going action may be due to contact with Celtics.

As Rome’s influence grew, so did Latin and it spreaed through most of Europe and it arrived in Britain through pope Gregory and his missionaries. The influence of Latin on Old English is usually divided into several periods:

- Influence on Germanic on the continent and in Britain- Influence on Old English before the Middle English period- Influence during the Renaissance

Possibly:- 170 words on the continent- 100 in Britain before the Romans left in 410- 150 after introduction of Christianity- Thousands during the Renaissance

Because of the vowel breaking and fronting in the 7th century, it’s impossible to tell when certain words were borrowed. Latin is also a source of loan translations.

Most of the loans into Germanic o, Old English and Middle English are incorporated by changing the Latin word to sound like a Germanic or English one. After the Middle English period, loans are often introduced into the language without modifying the Latin sounds. Most of the early louns are inflected as if they were Old or Middle English with adapted sounds as well.

In the 8th century, Scandinaviuan people began to settle in other parts of Europe. Their languages were closely related and they also influenced dialecs of English, They already had many basic words in common which made communication easy, this shows because the languages on both sides were affected. One change though is that there was no palatalization in the Scandinavian language. There are Scandinavian loans that cause a meaning shift, and the influence of Scandinavian on the English vocabulary is substantially, which include some verbs and adjectives, unlike the Celtic lonas. There are an estimated 1000 words.

Unlike Celtic and Latin, Scandinavian affected Old English grammar, not just vocabulary. For instance the 3rd person plural is due to their grammar. This is unexpected because pronouns and prepositions are usually stable. Due to contact with Scandinavians, endings on verbs, nouns and adjectives started to simplify in the north first.

French loans occurred in two phases:- 1066 – 1250: with fewer than 1000 words- 1250 – 1500: where French start to speak English and add their own words. Total amount is

about 10.000 words. Prefixes/ suffixed generally avoid English words. There are hybrids, but they are very rare. The influence of French on the grammar of English is not profound, perhaps it’s only the relative ‘wh-‘ pronoun.

Because of the difference of 12th/ 13th century French versus 15th century, a word might be borrowed again. Also, William’s French was Normandic, which was very different from Parisian French. Also, Nnormandic French does not palatalize, however, it does in other varieties.

Old French versus Modern French: The s is dropped in some words, amongst other things.

Old English was also influenced by countries it traded or warred with, Dutch, Spanish, German and Italian.

Pidgin: a language that comes into being when speakers of different languages need to communicate.Creole: A fully functional language, acquired by children. Typical characteristics are the SVO word order and the lack of verbal and nominal endings.

Only after about 1300 does English emerge as a language used for literature, the court and the church. Relevant dates:

- 1244: Holding land in both France and England became illegal- 1258: Henry III uses both English and French for an official proclamation- 1349: English first used at Oxford- 1362: Edward III opens Parliament

The Middle English texts available are varied: songs, travels, recipes, sermons, literature and family letters such as the Paston Letters (1420s- 1503) and the Cely (1472- 1488)and Stoner (1290-1483)family letters.

• after 1080 English writes virtually disappear. Throughout the 12th century laws are normally written in Latin; the first laws in Norman French date from about 1150. Latin is the common language for most deeds, petitions and charters until the 13th century. After that date they are often written in Norman French.

• ca. 1160: John of Salisbury observes that it is fashionable to use French words in English conversation. Around the same time, an English knight employs a Norman to teach his son French.

• ca. 1180: a poem complains that although 500 years ago Bede taught and preached in English it is now no longer done.

• 1198: a native English speaker gives evidence through an interpreter, who translates his testimony into French.

• ca. 1250: The rules for monks of St. Peter's Westminster forbid the use of English.• ca. 1260: William of Westminster writes that the common English people despise anyone

unable to speak English.• ca. 1290: Walter of Bibbesworth writes his Traité to teach French to children of upper-class

families. It introduces French through a description of the everyday objects and actions of common life, the parts of the body, and so on.

• 1299: an order regarding the use of the forest is issued in English.• 1327: Edward III's presentation of certain privileges to Londoners is made in English.• The earliest deeds and legal documents written in English appear in the reign of Edward III in

the last quarter of the 14th century.• 1363: Parliament is opened for the first time in English.• 1381: During the Peasants' Revolt, Richard II addresses the people in English. His successor

Henry IV (reigned 1399 - 1413) was the first monolingual English-speaking king after 1066.• After 1423 petitions to parliament are frequently in English; after 1444 none are in French.• 1489: French disappears from the statutes of parliament.• By the end of the 15th century French is only used in law courts (until the 18th century!).

Dialect features (see table 6.12 p. 135)

1. OE [:] > [:] south of the Humber. Northern ain, laird, nay versus Southern own, lord, no.2. 3sg present tense –s is originally a northern feature; OE had -þ3. 3pl pronouns: OE h-forms (hie, hiera, him), ME

th-forms (they, their, them) first in the North4. Initial /s/ and /f/ are voiced in the South (to [z] and [v])5. North: no palatalization of k, eg. Kirk/church6. North: [s] where South has []

Origins of standard English• Regionally standardized literary language in the last part of C14 (central midlands)• Growth of a standard from the London area from the mid-14th century• Emergence of London as the political and commercial centre• Development of Chancery standard• Caxton sets up his printing press in Westminster in 1476