The History of EnglishThe History of English: A Linguistic Introduction is for anyone interested in the history of the English language. While leading the reader through the pre-history of English, through Germanic times, Old English, Middle English, Early Modern English, and Modern English, the book also introduces the reader to concepts in theoretical and historical linguistics. It includes authentic texts from each period of the language, from Beowulf to the King James Bible. This book is a great introduction to the field of linguistics for anyone interested in language! |
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Page 4
... Greek , and Russian , but also Hindi , a major language spoken in India , and Farsi , the language of Iran . And , in fact , it is also the mother ( or perhaps great - great - great - grandmother ) of English . That's right — all of ...
... Greek , and Russian , but also Hindi , a major language spoken in India , and Farsi , the language of Iran . And , in fact , it is also the mother ( or perhaps great - great - great - grandmother ) of English . That's right — all of ...
Page 5
... Greek , more copious than the Latin , and more exquisitely refined than either , yet bearing to both of them a stronger affinity , both in the roots of verbs and the forms of grammar , than could possibly have been produced by ac ...
... Greek , more copious than the Latin , and more exquisitely refined than either , yet bearing to both of them a stronger affinity , both in the roots of verbs and the forms of grammar , than could possibly have been produced by ac ...
Page 6
... Greek Latin Gothic English * pǝter pita pater pater fadar father ( fathar ) * ped- padam poda pedem fotu foot * bhrāter bhratar phrater frater brothar brother * bher- bharami phero fero baira bear ( bera ) ( to carry ) * gweiǝ- jivah ...
... Greek Latin Gothic English * pǝter pita pater pater fadar father ( fathar ) * ped- padam poda pedem fotu foot * bhrāter bhratar phrater frater brothar brother * bher- bharami phero fero baira bear ( bera ) ( to carry ) * gweiǝ- jivah ...
Page 7
... Greek, and Latin all have the “p” and “t” of the reconstructed Indo-European forms, and all but Sanskrit keep the final “r”. This example shows a change that happened in a branch called the “Germanic language fam- ily” (more on language ...
... Greek, and Latin all have the “p” and “t” of the reconstructed Indo-European forms, and all but Sanskrit keep the final “r”. This example shows a change that happened in a branch called the “Germanic language fam- ily” (more on language ...
Page 8
... Greek , an “ f ” sound in Latin , and a non - breathy “ b ” in the Germanic languages . We also see the common change of Indo - European “ t ” to Germanic “ th ” , as seen in Gothic and English . * bher- is the root for the Indo ...
... Greek , an “ f ” sound in Latin , and a non - breathy “ b ” in the Germanic languages . We also see the common change of Indo - European “ t ” to Germanic “ th ” , as seen in Gothic and English . * bher- is the root for the Indo ...
Contents
7 | |
13 | |
The IndoEuropean Daughter Families | 28 |
Characteristics of the Germanic Languages | 34 |
The Subdivisions of Germanic | 47 |
The Germanic Daughter Languages | 48 |
Old Norse | 56 |
Old Saxon | 68 |
Sample Texts | 108 |
Literature | 114 |
Sample Texts | 133 |
EARLY MODERN ENGLISH | 139 |
Sample Texts | 158 |
THE FUTURE OF ENGLISH | 177 |
Sample Texts | 195 |
213 | |
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Common terms and phrases
adjective alphabet became best known called century chapter declension definite article dialects diphthongs Dutch Early Modern English England eventually example forms French Future English gender Germanic daughter languages Germanic languages gōdan gōde Gothic grammatical Greek Grimm's Law guage hæv Indo-European infinitive inflectional endings king Latin letter linguist lish long vowels masculine meaning Middle English Middle English period Modern German Modern Pronunciation modern-day nominative noun Old English Old Frisian Old High German Old Low Franconian Old Norse Old Saxon original Past Participle past tense periphrastic person plural person singular personal pronouns phonetic present participle Present Preterite pronounced reconstructed rhotacism Sample Texts schwa sentence shows simply sing sound change Spanish speakers of English spoken subjunctive syllable thematic third person thou tion versus voiced voiceless Vowel Shift vowel sounds weak verbs West Germanic West Germanic language word written
Popular passages
Page 5 - The Sanskrit language, whatever be its antiquity, is of a wonderful structure; more perfect than the Greek, more copious than the Latin, and more exquisitely refined than either, yet bearing to both of them a stronger affinity, both in the roots of verbs and in the forms of grammar, than could possibly have been produced by accident; so strong indeed, that no philologer could examine them all three, without believing them to have sprung from some common source, which, perhaps, no longer exists...
Page 3 - Therefore is the name of it called Babel ; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.