From Old English to Standard English A Course Book in Language Varia
A practical and comprehensive course book which leads the student from the dialects of Old English, through Middle and Early Modern English to the establishment of Standard English in the 18th century, with a postscript on language today. The text include
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Other books by Dennis Freeborn Varieties of English A Course Book in English Grammar
FROM OLD ENGLISH TO STANDARD ENGLISH A COURSE BOOK IN LANGUAGE VARIATION ACROSS TIME
Dennis Freeborn
M
MACMILLAN
© Dennis Freeborn 1992
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1P 9HE. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. First edition 1992 Published by MACMILLAN EDUCATION LTD Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 2XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world
ISBN 978-0-333-53768-8 ISBN 978-1-349-21925-4 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-21925-4 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Contents
Preface
ix
Acknowledgements
xi
Texts and facsimiles
xii
Symbols
xvi
1 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6
The English language is brought to Britain How the English language came to Britain Roman Britain Studying variety in language across time How has the English language changed? How can we learn about OE and later changes in the language? Changes of meaning- the semantic level
1 1 7 10 10 11 12
2 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 2.10
Old English Dialects and political boundaries Written OE Danish and Norwegian Vikings The Battle of Brunanburh - OE poetry Effects on the English language Latin vocabulary in OE OE grammar The Norman Conquest The pronunciation of OE The inflections of OE
15 15 17 24 27 30 32 33 38 42 42
3 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8
From Old English to Middle English The evidence for linguistic change The Norman Conquest and the English language The earliest surviving ME text The book called Ormulum The origins of present-day Standard English in ME Evidence of changes in pronunciation The Bestiary- the eagle A note on ME spelling
43 43 44 46 50 53 53 57 58
v
Contents
4 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5
Middle English I - Southern and Kentish dialects The dialectal areas of ME How to describe dialect differences An example of a fourteenth century SW dialect Grammar A SE, or Kentish, dialect
59 59 63 64 65 66
5 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4
Middle English II - Northern dialects A fourteenth century Scots English dialect Another Northern dialect- York Northern and Midlands dialects compared Chaucer and the Northern dialect
71 71 75 78 80
6 6.1 6.2
Middle English Ill -West Midlands dialects A NW Midlands dialect A SW Midlands dialect
82 82 87
7 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4
Middle English IV- East Midlands and London dialects The origins of present-day Standard English A SE Midlands dialect The London dialect- Chaucer The London dialect- Thomas Usk
94 94 95 98 101
8 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6
