The Origins and Development of the English Language

PREFACE. 1. LANGUAGE AND THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE: AN INTRODUCTION. A Definition of Language. Language as System. Grammatical Signals. Language as Signs. Language as Vocal. Writing and Speech. Gestures and Speech. Language as Conventional. Language Change. The Notion of Linguistic Corruption. Language Variation. Correctness and Acceptability. Language as Human. Theories of the Origin of Language. Innate Language Ability. Do Birds and Beasts Really Talk? Language as Communication. Other Characteristics of Language. Why Study the History of English? For Further Reading. 2. THE SOUNDS OF CURRENT ENGLISH. The Organs of Speech. Consonants of Current English. Vowels of Current English. Vowels before [r]. Stress. Unstressed Vowels. Kinds of Sound Change. Assimilation: Sounds Become More Alike. Dissimilation: Sounds Become Less Alike. Elision: Sounds Are Omitted. Intrusion: Sounds Are Added. Metathesis: Sounds Are Reordered. Causes of Sound Change. The Phoneme. Differing Transcriptions. For Further Reading. 3. LETTERS AND SOUNDS: A BRIEF HISTORY OF WRITING. Ideographic and Syllabic Writing. From Semitic Writing to the Greek Alphabet. The Greek Vowel and Consonant Symbols. The Romans Adopt the Greek Alphabet. Later Developments of the Roman and Greek Alphabets. The Use of Digraphs. Additional Symbols. The History of English Writing. The Germanic Runes. The Anglo-Saxon Roman Alphabet. The Spelling of English Consonant Sounds. Stops. Fricatives. Affricates. Nasals. Liquids. Semivowels. The Spelling of English Vowel Sounds. Front Vowels. Central Vowels. Back Vowels. Diphthongs. Vowels plus [r]. Unstressed Vowels. Spelling Pronunciations and Pronunciation Spellings. Writing and History. For Further Reading. 4. THE BACKGROUNDS OF ENGLISH. Indo-European Origins. Indo-European Culture. The Indo-European Homeland. How Indo-European Was Discovered. Language Typology and Language Families. Non-Indo-European Languages. Main Divisions of the Indo-European Group. Indo-Iranian. Armenian and Albanian. Tocharian. Anatolian. Balto-Slavic. Hellenic. Italic. Celtic. Germanic. Cognate Words in the Indo-European Languages. Inflection in the Indo-European Languages. Some Verb Inflections. Some Noun Inflections. Word Order in the Indo-European Languages. Major Changes from Indo-European to Germanic. First Sound Shift. Grimm's Law. Verner's Law. The Sequence of the First Sound Shift. West Germanic Languages. For Further Reading. 5. THE OLD ENGLISH PERIOD (449-1100). Some Key Events in the Old English Period. History of the Anglo-Saxons. Britain before the English. The Coming of the English. The English in Britain. The First Viking Conquest. The Second Viking Conquest. The Scandinavians Become English. The Golden Age of Old English. Dialects of Old English. Pronunciation and Spelling. Vowels. Consonants. Handwriting. Stress. Vocabulary. The Germanic Word Stock. Gender in Old English. Grammar, Concord, and Inflection. Inflection. Nouns. i-Umlaut. Modern Survivals of Case and Number. Modifiers. Demonstratives. Adjectives. Adverbs. Pronouns. Personal Pronouns. Interrogative and Relative Pronouns. Verbs. Indicative Forms of Verbs. Subjunctive and Imperative Forms. Nonfinite Forms. Weak Verbs. Strong Verbs. Preterit-Present Verbs. Suppletive Verbs. Syntax. Old English Illustrated. For Further Reading. 6. THE MIDDLE ENGLISH PERIOD (1100-1500). Some Key Events in the Middle English Period. The Background of the Norman Conquest. The Reascendancy of English. Foreign Influences on Vocabulary. Middle English Spelling. Consonants. Vowels. The Rise of a London Standard. Changes in Pronunciation. Principal Consonant Changes. Middle English Vowels. Changes in Diphthongs. Lengthening and Shortening of Vowels. Leveling of Unstressed Vowels. Loss of Schwa in Final Syllables.Changes in Grammar. Reduction of Inflections. Loss of Grammatical Gender. Nouns, Pronouns, and Adjectives. The Inflection of Nouns. Personal Pronouns. Demonstrative Pronouns. Interrogative and Relative Pronouns. Comparative and Superlative Adjectives. Verbs. Personal Endings. Participles. Word