THE PRONOUN 5 страница

in -op, -ар, -up, e.g. piefp (NE theft), huntop, fiscap, seo^up ('hunting', 'fishing', 'youth'). Some nouns in -pu had a mutated root-vowel, prob­ably a trace of the earlier suffix -in, which caused the palatal mutation and was displaced by -p; cf., e.g. brad adj — brsedu, brSdpu (NE broad, breadth); lan3 — len^pu (NE long— length); strong — stren$pu (NE strong, strength). Another productive suffix which formed abstract nouns from adjective stems was -nesj-nis: beorhtnes (NE brightness), blindnis -(NE blindness), unrihtwisnes 'injustice', druncennis (from Part. II druncen).

Another productive suffix, -ung/-ing, was used to build abstract nouns from verbs (especially weak verbs), e.g. bodian — bodung ('preach, preaching'), earnian — earnung (NE earn, earning), wilnian — wilnung ^'desire' v, n).

§ 265. A most important feature of OE suffixation is the growth of new suffixes from root-morphemes. The second components of com­pound words turned into suffixes and the words were accordingly trans­formed from compound to derived. To this group belong OE -dom, -had, •lac, -scipe, -rseden. As compared with the same morphemes used as roots, the suffixes had a different — usually a more general — meaning. Thus, OE dnm as a noun meant 'judgement, choice', 'honour', while as a second affixal component it lost this lexical meaning to a varying extent, e.g.: freodom 'free choice', 'freedom' (NE freedom), wisdom 'wise judgement' (NE wisdom), cristendom 'Christianity', l& cedom 'med­icine'. Likewise OE had 'title* yielded words like cildhad (NE childhood); the noun lac 'gift' became a suffix in OE wedlac (NE 'wedlock').

As long as the morpheme was used as the root of an independent word, the ties between the root and the new affix were still felt, and the transition into a suffix was not complete as was the case with -dom, -had and -lac. If the word went out of use, the new affix was no longer associated with a root-morpheme and became an ordinary suffix. Thus -scipe occurred only as a component part of abstract nouns — freond- scipe (NE friendship), 3ebeorscipe 'feast', h& penscipe 'heathenism'. The growth of new suffixes from root-morphemes made up for the decline of the old system of stem-suffixes.

§ 266. In the derivation of adjectives we find suffixes proper such as -t*3, -j'sc, -ede, -sum, -en (from the earlier -in) and a group of morphemes of intermediate nature — between root and affix — like the noun suffixes described above. The suffixes with the element ithat is -isc, -i$ and -en (-in) were often, though not always, accompanied by muta­tion. Adjectives were usually derived from nouns, rarely from verb stems or other adjectives. The most productive suffixes were -1*3, and -isc: modis 'proud' (from mod, NE mood), hali$ (NE holy), bysi3 (NE busy); mennisc 'human' (from man with the root-vowel [a]), En^lisc, Denisc (NE English, Danish). Examples with other suffixes are: lan^sum 'lasting' (from lans, NE long); hocede 'curved, hooked' (from hoc, NE hook) (for the use of -ede with compound adjectives see §272).

§ 267. The productive adjective suffix -lie originated from the noun lie 'body', but had evidently lost all semantic ties with the latter. It could derive adjectives from nouns and other adjectives: sceandlic •disgraceful' (from sceand 'disgrace'), woruldlic 'worldly' (from woruld, fjg world), scearpllc 'sharp' (from the adjective scearp), deadtic (NE deadly), freondlic (NE friendly), etc.

By adding another suffix -e the adjective was turned into an adverb: freondlic — freondlice 'friendly, in a friendly manner', wundorlic 'won­derful'— wundorlice 'wondrously'; also: heard adj—hearde adv (NE hard), lan$ adj — lan$e adv (NE long). The use of -e after -lie was very common; thus -lice became a frequent component of adverbs and began to be applied as a suffix of adverbs, even if they were not derived from adjectives in -lie, e.g.: rot 'glad' adj — rot lice adv 'cheerfully', innweard 'deep' adj — innweardlice adv 'deeply' (NE inward) ^[10]

The ties of the other new adjective suffixes with corresponding roots are more transparent: OE full was an adjective which yielded derived adjectives (or compounds) being attached to other stems, mostly those ol abstract nouns: weordfull 'illustrious' (lit. " full of worth"), carfull (NE careful), synnfull (NE sinful). The adjective leas 'deprived, bereft of' employed as a suffix retained its meaning: sawolleas 'lifeless, de­prived of soul', hlafordleas 'without a lord', sISpleas (NE sleepless).

§ 268. Verb suffixes were few and non-productive. They can be illus­trated by -s in clxnsian, a verb derived from the adjective clsene (NE clean) and -Шс in пёаШсап 'come near, approach' and xfenl& can, an impersonal verb meaning 'the approach of evening' (R вечгргтъ).

Word-Composition

§ 269. Word composition was a hignly productive way of developing the vocabulary in OE. This method of word-formation was common to all IE languages but in none of the groups has it become as widespread as in Germanic. An abundance of compound words, from poetic meta­phors to scientific terms, are found in OE texts.

As in other OG languages, word composition in OE was more pro­ductive in nominal parts of speech than in verbs.

§ 279. Compaunds in 03 languages are usually divided into two types: mor­phological or primary compounds and syntactic or secondary. Marphological com­pounds— which must have Ьегп the earlier type — were formed by combining two stems, with or without я linking element, e, g.: OE mid-niht and midd-e-niht < NE midnight). Syntactic compounds were a later development; they reproduced the pat­tern of a syntactic group, usually an attributive phrase consisting of a noun in the Gen. case and a head noun: OE Sunnan-dxz — Sunnan — Gen. sg of sunne (Fem. Л-stem); tf®3 — the head word, 'Sun's day' (NE Sunday)- EnZlaland 'land of the Angles' (NE England) — Ещ(а G: n. pi of Enlle; Otena-fard 'oxen's ford' (NE Oxford). The distinction between the two types can help to determine the origin of the linking element, which may be a remnant of the stem-suffix in a morpho­logical compound or a grammitical inflection — in a syntactical compound. In OE, however, syntactical compounds are rare and the linking vowels in morphological compounds are either reduced and generalised under -e or lacking.

§ 271. Compound nouns contained various first components — stems of nouns, adjectives and verbs; their second components were nouns.

The pattern " noun plus noun" was probably the most productive type of all: OE heafod-mann 'leader' (lit. " head-man"), mann-cynn (NE mankind), heafod-weard 'leader' (weard 'guard'), stan-brycz (NE stone bridge), 5imm-stan (NE gem, lit. " gem stone"), bdc-crseft 'literature' (lit. " book craft"), leop-crseft, sonycr& ft 'poetry' (lit. " song craft, art of singing"), eorp-crseft 'geography' (OE eorpe, NE earth).

Among compound nouns there were some syntactical compounds: OE witena-^emot 'assembly of Elders', dse^es-eaie 'day's eye' (simplified to NE daisy, see also the names for the days of the week in § 245).

Compound nouns with adjective-stems as the first components were less productive, e.g. wid-sx 'ocean* (lit. " wide sea"), cwic-seolfor (NE quicksilver), 3dd-dxd (lit. " good deed"). Compound nouns with.verb and adverb-stems were rare; base-has 'baking house', inn--an$ 'entrance'.

§ 272. Compound adjectives were formed by joining a noun-stem to an adjective: ddm-$eorn (lit. 'eager for glory'), mod-cearij, 'sorrowful'. The following adjectives are compounded of two adjective stems: wid- ейр 'widely known', fela-modi5 'very brave'.

The most peculiar pattern of compound adjectives was the so-called " bahuvrihi type" — adjective plus noun-stem as the second component of an adjective. This type is exemplified by mild-heort 'merciful', stip- mod 'brave', ап-ёа$е 'one-eyed'; soon, however, the second component acquired an adjective suffix -ede, thus combining two methods of word- formation: composition and suffixation; cf. dn-ёа^е lit. " one eye" and an-hymede 'one-horned, with one horn'.

§ 273. The remarkable capacity of OE for derivation and word- composition is manifested in numerous words formed with the help of several methods: un-wis-dom 'folly' — un~ — negative prefix, wis — ad­jective-stem (NE on'se), dom — noun-stem turning into a suffix; pcaw- fsest-nes 'discipline' — peaw n 'custom', fasst adj 'firm' (NE fast), -nes — suffix.

§ 274. Table 3 gives a summary of the principal means of word- formation employed in OE and the main spheres of their usage.

Stylistic Stratification of the Old English Vocabulary

§ 275. Extant OE texts fall into a number of genres: poetic, religious, legal, ал<) more or less neutral. From comparing their vocabularies it has been discov­ered that apart from a natural distribution of words determined by the contents оГ the texts, there existed a certain stylistic stratification of the OE vocabulary. Mo­dern philologists subdivide OE words into three stylistically distinct groups: ucut- ral words, learned words and poetic words.

§ 276. Neutral words were characterised by the highest frequency of occurrence, wide use in word-Formation and historical stability; the majority of these words

— often in altered shape —have been preserved to the present day. Numerous exam­ples of these words were given above — to illustrate phonetic changes, grammar rules and word formation (OE marrn, stan, blind, drincan, bfon, etc.) Most words of this group are of native origin (see, however, early borrowings from Latin in § 238).

§ 277. Learned words are found in texts of religious, legal, philosophical or scientific character. Among learned words there were many borrowings from Latin. Numerous compound nouns were built on Latin models as translation loans to render the exact meaning of foreign terms, e. g.: wrfzendlic (L Лсала^им), feor$bold •body* (L arum® domus " dwelling of the soul') — see later Latin borrowings in OE in § 238—244. In later periods of history many OE learned words went out oi use being replaced by new borrowings and native formations.

§ 278. Poetic words in OE are of special interest: OE poetry employs a very specific vocabulary. A cardinal characteristic of OE poetry is its wealth of syno­nyms. Zn BEOWULF, for instance, (here are thirty-seven words for the concept " warrior", twelve for " battle", seventeen for " sea". Among the poetic names for " hero" are beo/n, rinc, sees, pesn and many metaphoric circumlocutions {" kennings")

— compounds used instead of simple words: lar-berend lit. " spear-carrier", lar-mla 'spear-warrior', smeord-freca 'sword-hero', hyrn-mla 'corslet-warrior', sflp-зewittn 'war contest', lind-hxbbende having a shield', 3Of-n'ne 'man of war, warrior', pfod-ъита 'man of the troop', zap-wine 'war-friend'. Similarly, brfost-hord 'treas­ure of the breast' denoted 'heart' or 'thought'; 3Qp-wudu 'battle-wood' stood for spear; bdn-cofa 'chamber for bones', flassc-hord 'hoard oi flesh' and jlipsc-hama 'cov­ering for flesh'—all meant 'body'; hord-cc! a 'treasure-chamber' was a metaphor- ic circumlocution for " secret thoughts". These compounds were used as stylistic devices — for ornament, for expressive effect, to bring out and emphasiae a cer­tain quality, and for the sake of alliteration.

Probably many poetic words were already archaic in late OE; some of the ken­nings were trite, conventional metaphors, while others were used only once in a certain text and therefore cannot be included in the basic OE vocabulary. And yet ihey constitute a unique feature of OE poetry and the OE language. Together with I he decline of the genre OE poctic words went out of use.

QUESTIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

4. Pick out the OE suffixes and prefixes which are still used in Eng­lish and can be regarded as productive today.

5. What is meant by " simplification of the morphological structure"? Use words from the following list to illustrate your answer: OE ealdian {< *eald-o-jan) 'grow old'; metan (< *myt-i-an) 'meet'; wulf Nom. (< *wulf-a-z) NE wolf-, wulfe, Dat. sg (< *wulf-a-i); woruld (< *wer- ealdi 'age', 'old'} NE world; hlaford (< *hlaf-wsard 'bread, loal', 'keep­er') NE lord; hl£ fdi$e (< *hlaf-di$e 'bread-kneading') NE lady; ialand (< *ea-land 'water', 'land') NE island; 3ddlic (< *god-lic 'good', 'body') NE goodly, fair.

6. Determine the part of speech and the meaning of the words in the right column derived from the stem given in the left column:

leorn-ian v 'learn' Ieorn-ere, ieorn-1113, 1еогп-ипз

зе-samn-ian v 'assemble' 3e-samn-un3

sceot-an v 'shoot' sceot-end

leoht n 'light' leoht-lic

stran3 adj 'strong' stran3-ian, stran3-lic, stran3-lice

eald adj 'old' eald-ian, eald-ипз, eald-dom

scearp adj 'sharp' scearp-lic, scearp-lice, scearp-nis

50Г3 п 'sorrow' sorj-ian, sor3-lic, sor3-full

faest adj 'firm, fast' ' fsest-e, faest-an, faest-lic, faest-lice,

faest-nis

зеогп adj 'eager' Зеогп-tull, зеогп-е, зеогп-ап,

3eorn-lice, зеот-ful-nes, зеогп- ful-lic

freond л 'friend' freond-leas, freond-lic, freond-

lice, freond-scipe, freond-rseden

7. Add negative prefixes to the following words and explain the meaning of the derivatives:

rot 'glad', — un-...; hal 'healthy* — wan-...; spedi3 'rich'—un-..., wan-...; cup 'known'—un- lfcian 'please'— mis-...;

limpan 'happen* — mis-...

Part Two

Chapter XI

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND FROM THE 11TH TO 15TH C. LINGUISTIC SITUATION. WRITTEN RECORDS

Economic and Social Conditions in the Ilth-I2th c.

§279 U^^nriRAi he OE period in the history of the language cor­responds to the transitional stage from the slave- owning and tribal system to the feudal system in the history of Britain. In the 11th c. feudal­ism was already well established. According to a survey made in the late lith c. slaves and freemen were declining classes. The majority of the agricultural population (and also of the total population, which amounted to about 2, 000, 000 people) were bound to their lord and land. Under natural economy, characteristic of feu­dalism, most of the things needed for the life of the lord and the villain were produced on the estate. Feudal manors were separated from their neighbours by tolls, local feuds, and various restrictions concerning settlement, travelling and employment. These historical conditions produced a certain influence on the development of the language.

§ 280. In Early ME the differences between the regional dialects grew. Never in history, before or after, was the historical background more favourable for dialectal differentiation. The main dialectal divi­sion in England, which survived in later ages with some slight modifi­cation of boundaries and considerable dialect mixture, goes back to the feudal stage of British history.

In the age of poor communication dialect boundaries often coincided with geographical barriers such as rivers, marshes, forests and moun­tains, as these barriers would hinder the diffusion of linguistic features.

In addition to economic, geographical and social conditions, dialectal differences in Early ME were accentuated by some historical events, namely the Scandinavian invasions and the Norman Conquest.

Effect of the Scandinavian Invasions

§ 281. Though the Scandinavian invasions of England are dated in the OE period, their effect on the language is particularly apparent in ME.

We may recall that since the 8th c. the British Isles were ravaged by sea rovers from Scandinavia, first by Danes, later — by Norwegians. By the end of the 9th c. the Danes had succeeded in obtaining a perma-

The Scandinavian invasions

nent footing in England; more than half of England was yielded to the invaders and recognised as Danish territory — " Danelaw". While some of the Scandinavians came to England merely to plunder and return to their homeland, others made their permanent home in North East England.

In the early years of the occupation the Danish settlements were little more than armed camps. But gradually the conditions stabilised and the Danes began to bring their families. The new settlers and the English intermarried and intermixed; they lived close together and did not differ either in social rank or in the level of culture and customs; they intermingled the more easily as there was no linguistic barrier between them. (OE and О Scand belonged to the Germanic group of languages and at that time were much closer than their descendants are today.) The colonisation and the intermixture of the newcomers with their former foes continued from the 9th c. on, during two hundred years, which witnessed diverse political events: the reconquest of Da­nelaw under Alfred's successors, the renewal of Scandinavian onslaughts _in the late 10th c. under Sweyne, and the political annexation of Eng­land by Denmark under Canute (see §98).

§ 282. In the areas of the heaviest settlement the Scandinavians outnumbered the Anglo-Saxon population, which is attested by geo­graphical names. In Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Northumberland, Cum­berland — up to 75 per cent of the place-names are Danish or Norwe­gian. Altogether more than 1, 400 English villages and towns bear names of Scandinavian origin (with the element thorp meaning " village", e.g. Woodthorp, Linthorp; toft 'a piece of land', e.g. Brimtoft, Lo­westoft and others). Probably, in many districts people became biling­ual, with either Old Norse or English prevailing.

Eventually the Scandinavians were absorbed into the local popu­lation both ethnically and linguistically. They merged with the society around them, but the impact on the linguistic situation and on the further development of the English language was quite profound.

The increased regional differences of English in the 11th and 12th c. must partly be attributed to the Scandinavian influence. Due to the contacts and mixture with О Scand, the Northern dialects (to use OE terms, chiefly Northumbrian and East Mercian) had acquired lasting and sometimes indelible Scandinavian features. We find a large admix­ture of Scandinavian words in Early ME records coming from the North East whereas contemporary texts from other regions are practically devoid of Scandinavian borrowings.

In later ages the Scandinavian element passed into other regions. The incorporation of the Scandinavian element in the London dialect and Standard English was brought about by the changing linguistic situation in England: the mixture of the dialects and the growing lin­guistic unification.¹ Yet neither in theSouth nor in Standard English " did the Scandinavian element ever assume such proportions as in the North-Eastern ME dialects.

The Norman Conquest

§ 283. Soon after Canute's death (1042) and the collapse of his em­pire the old AS line was restored but their reign was short-lived. The new English king, Edward the Confessor (1042-1066), who had been reared in France, brought over many Norman advisors and favourites; he distributed among them English lands and wealth to the consi­derable resentment of the Anglo-Saxon nobility and appointed them to important positions in the government and church hierarchy. He not only spoke French himself but insisted on it being spoken by the nobles at his court. William, Duke of Normandy, visited his court and it was rumoured that Edward appointed him his successor. In many respects Edward paved the way for Norman infiltration long before the Norman Conquest. However, the government of the country was still in the hands of Anglo-Saxon feudal lords, headed by the powerful Earl Godwin of Wessex.

¹ See Ярцева В. H. Развитие национального литературного английского языка. М.. 1969., р. 48 й.

§284. In 1066, upon Edward's death, the Elders of England (OE Witan) proclaimed Harold Godwin king of England. As soon as the news reached William of Normandy, he mustered a big army by prom­ise of land and plunder (one third of his soldiers were Normans, others, mercenaries from all over Europe) and, with the support of the Pope, landed in Britain.

In the battle of Hastings, fought in October 1066, Harold was killed and the English were defeated. This date is commonly known as the date of the Norman Conquest, though the military occupation of the country was not completed until a few years later. After the victory at Hastings, William by-passed London cutting it off from the North and made the Witan of London and the bishops at Westminster Abbey crown him king. William and his barons laid waste many lands in Eng­land, burning down villages and estates. They conducted a relentless campaign of subjugation, devastated and almost depopulated Northum­bria and Mercia, which tried to rise against the conquerors. Scores of earthen forts and wooden stockades, built during the campaign, were soon replaced by huge stone Norman castles. Most of the lands of the Anglo-Saxon lords passed into the hands of the Norman barons, Wil­liam's own possessions comprising about one third of the country. The Normans occupied all the important posts in the church, in the govern­ment, and in the army.

Following the conquest hundreds of people from Prance crossed the Channel to make their home in Britain. Immigration was easy, since the Norman kings of Britain were also dukes of Normandy and, about a hundred years later, tcok possession of the whole western half of France, thus bringing England into still closer contact with the continent. French monks, tradesmen and craftsmen flooded the south-western towns, so that not only the higher nobility but also much of the middle class was French.

Effect of the Norman Conquest On fhe Linguistic Situation

§ 286. The Norman Conquest was not only a great event in British political history but also the greatest single event in the history of the English language. Its earliest effect was a drastic change in the linguistic situation.

The Norman conquerors of England had originally come from Scan­dinavia (compare Norman and Northman). About one hundred and fifty years before they had seized the valley of the Seine and settled in what was henceforth known as Normandy. They were swiftly assim­ilated by the French and in the 11th c. came to Britain as French speakers and Ьеатетэ of French culture. They spoke the Northern dialect of French, which differed in some points from Central, Parisian French- Their tongue in Britain is often referred to as " Anglo-French" or " Anglo- Norman", but may just as well be called French, since we are less con­cerned here with the distinction of French dialects than with the contin­uous French influence upon English, both in the Norman period of history and a long while after the Anglo-Norman language had ceased to exist.

In the early 13th c., as a result of lengthy and inefficient wars with France John Lackland lost the French provinces, including the dukedom of Normandy. Among other consequences the loss of the lands in France _cut off the Normans in Britain from France, which speeded up the de­cline of the Anglo-French language.

§ 286. The most immediate consequence of the Norman domination in Britain is to be seen in the wide use of the French language in many spheres of life. For almost three hundred years French was the official language of administration: it was the language of the king's court, ihe law courts, the church, the army and the castle. It was also the every­day language of many nobles, of the higher clergy and of many towns­people in the South. The intellectual life, literature and education were in the hands of French-speaking people; French, alongside Latin, was the language of writing. Teaching was largely conducted in French and boys at school were taught to translate their Latin into French instead of English.

For all that, England never stopped being an English-speaking country. The bulk of the population held fast to their own tongue: the lower classes in the towns, and especially in the country-side, those who lived in the Midlands and up north, continued to speak English and looked upon French as foreign and hostile. Since most of the people were illiterate, Ihe English language was almost exclusively used for spoken communication.

At first the two languages existed side by side without mingling. Then, slowly and quietly, they began to permeate each other. The Nor­man barons and the French town-dwellers had to pick up English words to make themselves understood, while the English began to use French words in current speech. A gccd knowledge of French wou/d mark a person of higher standing giving him a certain social prestige. Probably many people became bilingual and had a fair command of both lan­guages.

§287. These peculiar linguistic conditions could not remain static. The struggle between French and English was bound to end in the com­plete victory of English, for English was the living language of the entire people, while French was restricted to certain social spheres and to writing. Yet the final victory was still a long way off. In the 13th c. only a few steps were made in that direction. The earliest sign of the official recognition of English by the Norman kings was the famous PRCCLAMATION issued by Henry 111 in 1258 to the councillors in Parliament. It was written in three languages: French, Latin and Eng­lish.

§ 288. The three hundred years of the domination of French affect­ed English more than any other foreign influence before or after. The early French borrowings reflect accurately the spheres of NoTman in­fluence upon English life; later borrowings can be attributed to the con­tinued cultural, economic and political contacts between the countries. The French influence added new features to the regional and social dif­ferentiation of the language. New words, coining from French, could not be adopted simultaneously by all the speakers of English; they were first used in some varieties of the language, namely in the regional dia­lects of Southern England and in the speech of the upper classes, but were unknown in the other varieties. This led to growing dialectal dif­ferences, regional and social. Later the new features adopted from French extended to other varieties of the language.

The use of a foreign tongue as the state language, the-diversity of the dialects and the decline of the written form of English created a situation extremely favourable for increased variation and for more intensive linguistic change.

Early Middle English Dialects. Extension of English Territory

§ 289. The regional ME dialects had developed from respective OE dialects. A precise map of all the dialects will probably never be made, for available sources are 'scarce and unreliable: localised and dated documents are few in number. Early ME dialects and their approximate boundaries have been determined largely by inference; for later ME the difficulty lies in the growing dialect mixture.

With these reservations the following dialect groups can be distin­guished in Early ME.

The Southern group included the Kentish and the South-Western dialects. Kentish was a direct descendant of the OE dialect known by the same name, though it had somewhat extended its area. The South­western group was a continuation of the OE Saxon dialects, — not only West Saxon, but also East Saxon. The East Saxon dialect was not prominent in OE but became more important in Early ME, since it made the basis of the dialect of London In the 12th and 13th c. Among the dialects of this group we may mention the Gloucester dialect and the London dialect, which must have been an influential form of speech at all times.

The group of Midland (" Central") dialects—corresponding to the OE Mercian dialect — is divided into West Midland and East Midland as two main areas, with further subdivisions within: South-East Midland and North-East Midland, South-West Midland and North-Wejt Midland. In ME the Midland area became more diversified linguistically than the OE Mercian kingdom occupying approximately the same territory: from the ^Thames in the South to the Welsh-speaking area in the West and up north to the river Humber.

The Northern dialects had developed from OE Northumbrian. In Early ME the Northern dialects included several provincial dialects, e.g. the Yorkshire and the Lancashire dialects and also what later became known as Scottish.