12. Dialects on the territory of the British Isles. Dialects and national variants.The factors which predetermine similarities and differences in the variants of the English language. . HISTORY OF ENGLISH

12. Dialects on the territory of the British Isles. Dialects and national variants. The factors which predetermine similarities and differences in the variants of the English language.

           The standard form of the language, accepted within a certain country, is called the national variant (original variant). The national variant is to be used in quality mass-media, in government, in court and in education. A dialect is a non-standard variety of the language that is different from other varieties in its vocabulary, definite sounds or pronunciation, grammar. Dialects don’t have a written form. Dialects can be identified within a certain territory or inside a certain group of people. 2 types:
- geographical (local/regional)
- social (found within a group with a common social feature, e. g. age groups, social classes, occupations, ethnic groups).
           Dialectsdevelopbecause:
1) groups of people who speak the same language live in isolation from each other, thus developing the language in their own way;
2) the influence of other languages from either bordering countries or multinational communities; 3) historical reasons such as invasions, wars, occupations;
4) occupation, geography, climate.
           English on the British Isles is the most linguistically diverse in the English-speaking world. Significant changes in accent, vocabulary and grammar usage may even occur within one region. Dialects in Britain are generally classified into Southern, Northern, Scotland and the Midlands. The standard variety on the British Isles is called RP or BBC English. It is based on the dialect which used to be spoken in London by the upper classes. Nowadays it is mostly heard on BBC Channels.
           Grammar differences between dialects are dramatically noticeable.
1) Most of them are Old English or Middle English forms that managed to survive in certain areas, e. g. double negation (nor he couldn’t), Germanic endings (e. g. carsn’t=can’t), old forms of verbs (garn=go);
2) The tendency to regularization or unification, e. g. changed the usage of regular verbs (do-done-done), changed the way reflexive pronouns are used (meself), omitting s for the 3^rd person singular;
3) A different way of how a grammar phenomenon was developing – connected with the use of prepositions and pronouns, e. g. different meanings of prepositions (till = up to, while = until).

           Different features are predominated by the following factors:
1) great distances between the colonies and metropole;
2) frequency of usage;
3) influence of the native languages.
           Factors that made them similar:
1) common basis (the Engl. language of the 17th century);
2) common dialectal basis;
3) similar basis:
           - transplantation;
           - formation of the national variant;
           - functioning as a national variant of the English language.

HISTORY OF ENGLISH

1. The main periods in the development of English (general characteristics).
There are 2 main classifications in the History of English. The first one is based on morphology, which was suggested by Henry Sweet. He paid attention to the state of unstressed endings, and according to this he developed 3 periods:
1. 5 – 11 century – period of full endings;
2. 11 – 15 century – period of levelled endings;
3. 15 – nowadays – period of lost endings.
The second classification is based on historical events.
1. 5 – 11 century – Old English Period.
In the 5th century Anglo-Saxons settled in Britain, they possessed Runic alphabet. They were pagans (Tuesday – the name of their god). Barbarians ruined previous culture. From that time English language started. In 7th century Christianity was introduced. Also it’s time of introduction of the Latin alphabet. The next invaders were Scandinavian. The distinct North Germanic speech of the Norsemen had great influence on English, most obviously seen in the words that English has borrowed from this source. These include some very basic words such as take and even grammatical words such as they. + (want, need, husband, ugly). The common Germanic base of the two languages meant that there were still many similarities between Old English and the language of the invaders. 1400 place names in England have Scandinavian roots.
2. 11 – 15 century – Middle English Period.
In the course of what is called the Middle English period, the fairly rich inflectional system of Old English broke down. It was replaced by what is broadly speaking, the same system English has today, which unlike Old English makes very little use of distinctive word endings in the grammar of the language. 1066 – Norman Conquest. William brought old French to Britain. It became official language (parliament, the rich). English was neglected and used by the poor. Latin was used by Church. 10 000 words were adopted (French borrowings), 8 000 are still in use.
3. 15 – nowadays – New English Period (Early English Period -15-16 cen., Modern English Period). In the 15th century English national language was formed. London dialect became the leading one. It combined southern and east-midland dialects. During the medieval and early modern periods the influence of English spread throughout the British Isles, and from the early seventeenth century onwards its influence began to be felt throughout the world. The complex processes of exploration, colonization and overseas trade that characterized Britain’s external relations for several centuries became agents for change in the English language. More recently still, English has become a lingua franca, a global language, regularly used and understood by many nations for whom English is not their first language.

2. The historical development of the English noun.
The OE noun had two grammatical categories: number and case. Also, nouns distinguished three genders, but gender was not a grammatical category; it was merely a classifying feature accounting for the division of nouns into morphological classes. The category of number consisted of two members: singular and plural. The noun had four cases: Nominative, Genitive, Dative and Accusative.
The Nominative can be defined as the case of the active agent, for it was the case of the subject mainly used with verbs denoting activity; the Nom. could also indicate the subject characterized by a certain quality or state; could serve as a predicative and as the case of address.
The Genitive case was primarily the case of nouns and pronouns serving as attributes to other nouns. The meanings of the Gen. case were very complex and can only be grouped under the headings “Subjective” and “Objective” Gen. Subjective Gen. is associated with the possessive meaning and the meaning of origin. Objective Gen. is associated with what is termed “partitive meaning” as in sum hundscipa‘a hundred of ships’.
The Dative was the chief case used with prepositions, e. g. on morзenne ‘in the morning’
The Accusative case was the form that indicated a relationship to a verb. Being the direct object it denoted the recipient of an action, the result of the action and other meanings.
There were 8 declensions: 4 strong (a, o, I, u, n), 3 minor (r, s, root).
- a-stem declension was the most important in the History of English because the 2 productive affixes of modern English nouns “s” and “ ’s” go down to the paradigm of the a-stem declension.
- n-stem declension
- u-stem declension
- root-stem declension (i-mutation (the change of the root vowel) is characteristic to this declension.
- o-stem declension – only for feminine
- r-stem declension – denotes family relations
- s-stem declension – belong to children and cubs
- i-stem declension – names of tribes.
ME noun.
There remained only 2 cases: Nominative and Genitive. Declensions were unified and gradually most of the nouns got the endings of a-stem declension. The role of prepositions grew more and more (to show the relation between words in the sentence).
ENE noun.
In the NE Genitive case is known as possessive case and its meaning became narrower because it is used exclusively with the nouns which denote living beings.
In the 18th century the apostrophe wasn’t reduced to denote the possessive case in spelling.
The category of number proved to be the most stable category of the noun.

3. The verb in Old English.
OE verb had 2 tenses – present and past. OE inherited the verb system from I. -E. Different conjugations: 2 main groups – weak and strong, also there were 2 numbers, 3 moods, 3 persons (in singular).
Strong conjugation
Strong conjugation included verbs which formed their past forms with the help of gradation (change of the root vowel). They were not numerous, but very frequently used. They had 4 basic forms in OE:
1) the infinitive
2) the past singular
3) the past plural
4) the past participle.
There were 7 classes of strong verbs, different by the pattern of gradation (each class had its own variation of the vowel change). The number of classes is greater nowadays.
Weak conjugation
These verbs form their past participle with the help of a dental suffix. In OE were 3 classes of weak verbs slightly different by the form of the dental suffix and the stem vowel that joined this suffix to the root. These weak verbs had 3 forms: 1) infinitive 2) preterite 3) participle II.
Mixed or preterite-present verb
They had vowel gradation in their present tense forms, corresponding to the vowel gradation of the strong verbs their past was formed according to the pattern of weak verbs combined some characteristics from both strong and weak verbs. Many of them survive as our modal verbs (can, shall, will, must).
There was a small group of irregular verbs teach (taught), write (wrote, written), go (went), be (am, are, is, was, were).
Non-finite forms
2 non-finite forms: 2 infinitive, 2 participles. The infinitive had no verbal grammatical categories. Inflected (dative) infinitive was used in the independent syntactic positions, mainly as the adverbial modifier of purpose.
Inflective infinitive was used in combinations with preterite-present verbs and other verbal collocations, the 2 infinitives were often but not always interchanging.
2 types of participles
Participle I had the ending –ende, it was declined according to the weak adjectival declensions. It might be used both as predicate, attribute.
Participle II had a stem of its own. In strong verbs it was marked by a certain grade of the root vowel interchange and by - en. In weak verbs the Participle II ended in –d or –t.
Participle II was declined as an adjective and also could be used in syntactic functions of attribute and predicative.

4. The development of the verb in Middle English and New English.
All types of verbs which existed in OE (strong\weak) were preserved in ME. Non-finite forms have changed in the direction from nominal to verbal parts of speech. They are no longer decline nor are they agreed with the nouns. The infinitive loses the category of case and acquires a particle “to”. Participle I which has an active meaning and expresses process of doing sth in ME changes its shape (ende-inde-inge).
Changes in various classes of ME verbs.
Strong verbs. The number of basic forms remained the same but due to the reduction of endings we may find homonymy of forms.
Weak verbs. The number of weak verbs grows significantly in ME. Almost all the new born or borrowed verbs became weak. The changes were phonetical. The productive weak type was formed by the verbs of a second class and some verbs of the first class. The endings became ed and de. The irregular verbs still form a separate group, though there were some differences.
The preterit-present verbs were grouped in the same way as in OE except that could function as auxiliaries for the future and subjunctive mood. There were constant migration in these verbs, and then it stopped.
Several new categories developed on the basis of OE verbal phrases. This development gave to analytical forms.
1) the category of voice: developed as a result of combination of bē on (to be)/ weorpan (to get, become) + Participle II of transitive verbs – the opposition of (non) passive appeared.
2) the category of order: habban + Participle II of transitive verbs / bē on + Participle II of intransitive verbs - the opposition of perfect/non-perfect developed.
3) Future tense forms: sculan/willan + infinitive. The analytical forms of future forms developed - the category of tense became a 3 member opposition.
ENE changes:
The verb lost the ending of the infinitive, all the endings of the present tense but 3-person singular. All verb except “to be” lost the distinction between the past tense singular and past tense plural.
Thus the 4 basic forms of strong forms were reduced to 3. The continuous form of the verb developed on the basis of phrasal combination of the verb bē on + Participle I thus a new category developed (category of aspect).
Gerund developed in the NE as a result of the verbal noun which ended in – ing and Participle I.
The Infinitive, Gerund and Participle have developed analytical perfect and passive forms. In addition to that the Infinitive has also developed Continuous forms.

5. The historical background of Modern English spelling.
OE spelling was close to pronunciation.
All OE vowels were monofunctional (one letter – one sound).
In OE diphthongs were digraphs (2 letters).
In ME spelling changes were mostly caused by French: 4 letters went out of use, 6 letters were borrowed from French. Most unstressed vowels were leveled and reduced to a sound [ ] denoted by e.
Four main groups of spelling changes:
1) Changes connected with loss endings after short ending. After the syllable with a long vowel the ending e remained just to show the pronunciation of previous vowel. OE takon – Me taken
2) Changes connected with double consonants. In a lot of words double consonants preceding to final weak [ ] became simplified. In some words double consonants remained, mostly they were ss, ff, ll, ck, kk. The same consonants were doubled by analogy in other words. Medially all consonants were doubled after a short vowel in order to show that this vowel was shot.
3) Changes connected with latinization of spelling (period of Renaissance) letters were not pronounced.
4) Changes connected with introduction of new digraphs ea, oa.
After 15th century no great changes in spelling can be found because all the changes in NE were on the phonetic level.

6. The historical development of the English vocabulary.
OE lexicon.
It was extensive by the German heritage. Roughly half of English words derived from Latin and French. Native words are the most frequent (they are shorter and more general). According to some scientists in OE words 52% were French, Latin.
- Word building/formation/composition was highly productive way of formation words in OE. it was more productive in nominal parts of speech than in verbs.
- Compounding. Nouns and adjectives were mainly formed by compounding. The final part of compounder showed the gender and part of speech. Noun + noun compounding was the most productive. - Affixation. Prefixes were frequently used.
Foreign borrowings were used rather than production.
Numerous Latin words which found their way into the English language during these five hundred years clearly fall into two main groups:
1) words pertaining to religion
2) words connected with learning.
The total number of Latin words is over 400 (most of them didn’t survive to nowadays).
Also there were Celtic borrowings. Abundant borrowing from Celtic is to be found only in place-names. The OE kingdoms Kent, Deira and Bernicia derive their names from the names of Celtic tribes. The name of York, the Downs and perhaps London have been traced to Celtic sources. Various Celtic designations of ‘river’ and ‘water’ were understood by the Germanic invaders as proper names: Ouse, Esk, Exe, Avon; Thames, Stour, Dover.
ME vocabulary.
The diversity in spelling was far greater than that found even in Old English. Even in an edited text, we still find variant spellings, e. g. naure, noeure, ner, neure, all standing for neuer, ‘never’.
Middle English is particularly characterized by intensive and extensive borrowing from other languages. In particular the Norman conquest of 1066, which introduced French-English bilingualism into England, paved the way for a massive borrowing of French words into the English vocabulary. In early Middle English, over 90 per cent of the lexicon was of native English (Anglo-Saxon) origin. By the end of the Middle English period, this proportion had fallen to around 75 per cent. However, loanwords were by no means the only way in which the vocabulary of Middle English increased. The processes of word formation, such as compounding and affixation, which were already established in Old English, continued to be used, and were extended in various ways.
Scandinavian words couldn’t be divided into semantic groups (them, till. sky, are).
French loans can be divided into semantic groups:
- industrial (butcher, smith)
- nuclear family (aunt, cousin)
- loan translations (… - in - law)
WE innovation – conversion.
NE vocabulary.
The year 1476, when William Caxton set up his press in Westminster, may therefore be a safe beginning point for the period. Printing played a major role in fostering the norms of spelling and pronunciation, in providing more opportunities for people to write, and in giving published works much wider circulation. As a result, more books were published, providing reliable evidence on the development of the language.
In 1604, Robert Cawdrey published the first ‘dictionary of hard words’, which had about 3000 entries of ‘hard vsuall English wordes’, mostly borrowings, such as abettors, glossed as ‘counsellors’, and abbruiat, glossed as ‘to shorten, or make short’. In 1721, Nathaniel Bailey published his Universal Etymological English Dictionary, which was a marked improvement on the previous ‘hard word’ dictionaries. The English lexicon received its first really authoritative treatment in 1755, when Samuel Johnson published his Dictionary of the English Language.
ModE vocabulary.
New affixes appeared (post, ex). Words connected with Internet, beginning with e (e-mail).
Backformation: baby-sitter - to baby –sit
Clipping: ad – advertisement, vet – veterinary
Acronyms: TV, URV, pop-mobile
“punch” – dream, Hindi

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