The English language vocabulary. Dialects. Borrowings. (8th lecture)

Old English should not be regarded as a single monolithic entity just as Modern English is also not monolithic. It emerged over time out of the many dialects and languages of the colonising tribes, and it was not until the later Anglo-Saxon period that they fused together into Old English. Even then it continued to exhibit local language variation, the remnants of which continue to be found in dialects of Modern English. Thus it is misleading, for example, to consider Old English as having a single sound system. Rather, there were multiple Old English sound systems. Old English has variation along regional lines as well as variation across different times. For example, the language attested in Wessex during the time of Æthelwold of Winchester, which is named Late West Saxon (or Æthelwoldian Saxon), is considerably different from the language attested in Wessex during the time of Alfred the Great's court, which is named Early West Saxon (or Classical West Saxon or Alfredian Saxon). Furthermore, the difference between Early West Saxon and Late West Saxon is of such a nature that Late West Saxon is not directly descended from Early West Saxon (despite what the similarity in name implies).

The four main dialectal forms of Old English were Mercian, Northumbrian, Kentish, and West Saxon. Each of those dialects was associated with an independent kingdom on the island. Of these, all of Northumbria and most of Mercia were overrun by the Vikings during the 9th century. The portion of Mercia that was successfully defended and all of Kent were then integrated into Wessex.

After the process of unification of the diverse Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in 878 by Alfred the Great, there is a marked decline in the importance of regional dialects. This is not because they stopped existing; regional dialects continued even after that time to this day, as evidenced both by the existence of Middle and Modern English dialects later on, and by common sense—people do not spontaneously adopt another dialect when there is a sudden change of political power.

However, the bulk of the surviving documents from the Anglo-Saxon period are written in the dialect of Wessex, Alfred's kingdom. It seems likely that with consolidation of power, it became necessary to standardise the language of government to reduce the difficulty of administering the more remote areas of the kingdom. As a result, documents were written in the West Saxon dialect. Not only this, but Alfred was passionate about the spread of the vernacular, and brought many scribes to his region from Mercia to record previously unwritten texts.

The Church was affected likewise, especially since Alfred initiated an ambitious programme to translate religious materials into English. To retain his patronage and ensure the widest circulation of the translated materials, the monks and priests engaged in the programme worked in his dialect. Alfred himself seems to have translated books out of Latin and into English, notably Pope Gregory I's treatise on administration, Pastoral Care.

Because of the centralisation of power and the Viking invasions, there is little or no written evidence for the development of non-Wessex dialects after Alfred's unification.

Thomas Spencer Baynes claimed in 1856 that, due to its position at the heart of the Kingdom of Wessex, the relics of Anglo-Saxon accent, idiom and vocabulary were best preserved in the Somerset dialect.

During the Middle English period (roughly 1100–1500) the English language is characterized by a complete lack of a standard variety. By contrast, during much of the Old English period, the West Saxon dialect had enjoyed a position as a written standard, and the transition to Early Modern English is marked by the emergence of the middle class dialect of London as the new standard variety of the language.

The lack of a written standard in Middle English is a natural consequence of the low status of English during this period. After the Norman Conquest in 1066, the ruling classes spoke (Norman) French, while English lived on as the spoken language of the lower classes. In the absence of a high-prestige variety of English which might serve as a target for writers of English, each writer simply used his own variety of the language.

The Middle English dialects can be divided into five major groups:

• South-Western (SW) (or simply Southern), a continuation of OE West Saxon;

• South-Eastern (SE) (or Kentish, though it extended into neighbouring counties as well), a continuation of OE Kentish;

• East Midland (EM), in the eastern part of the OE Mercian area;

• West Midland (WM), in the western part of the OE Mercian area;

• Northern (N), north of the Humber.

In general, southern Middle English dialects tend to be more conservative (i.e. preserve more of the phonological and morphological features of Old English) and northern dialects more progressive. The same difference can be discerned between the southern and northern parts of the East and West Midland dialect areas. This is particularly noticeable in the case of the West Midland dialect, which is primarily preserved in two major text groups. One of these is early (c. 1220) and from the southern part of the West Midland area (represented here by Ancrene Riwle); the other one is later (c. 1375) and from the northern part of the West Midland area (represented here by Sir Gawain and the Green Knight). The language variants of the two text groups differ in many respects, the early group having much in common with the South-Western dialect, the later group having more in common with the Northern dialect.

Middle English dialect differences can be of three types:

• phonological: the recognition of the Middle English dialects listed above is primarily based on phonological differences, i.e. on the extent to which various sound changes took place before or during the Middle English period in different parts of England.

• morphological: clear dialect differences can be found in the forms of the verb be, in present tense verb inflexion, and in various pronominal forms.

• lexical: the proportion of words of Scandinavian origin varies considerably, being highest in texts from areas with Scandinavian settlements during the Old English period (the Danelaw), i.e. chiefly the East Midland and Northern areas. By contrast, French loanwords, which entered the English language on a large scale only after the upper classes started using English again, do not serve to distinguish Middle English dialects. Instead, the proportion of such words varies with time, being higher in later texts. Information about the origin of individual words in the texts will be found in the glossaries.

Speaking about borrowings. Borrowings

OE: loan-words were not so frequent in OE. They are Celtic and Latin. Celtic element is not very significant and is mainly reduced to the following: dūn (down) dun (dun – настойчивый, тускло-коричневый), binn (bin – мусорное ведро). These may occur as separate words, but a great many are found only as elements of place-names, and some common names of people are of Celtic origin – Arthur (noble), Donald (proud), Kennedy (ugly head). Latin words in OE are usually classified into two layers. Some were taken into Germanic languages in pre-British period, these words are found in many Germanic languages, and are so assimilated now that only a specialist can trace their origin: cealc – chalk – Lat. Calcium, castel- castle – Lat. Castellum, disc – dish – Lat. Discus). Traditionally to this first layer we refer the place names containing Latin stems: cester – Lat. Castra (camp) – Chester, Manchester… The second layer of the Latin borrowings is connected with the introduction of Christianity, and denotes religious notions plus some notions connected with the cultural and social phenomena which appeared in society after this event. A significant portion of religious terms are not specifically Latin, for they were borrowed into it from Greek:

OE	NE	Latin	Greek
apostol	apostle	apostolus	Apostolos
deofol	devil	diabolus	diabolos

Some borrowed stems came easily into the word-building system of the language, forming the hybrids. (Lat)Biscop-(Germ)hād – bishophood. (епископство, духовенство), translation-loans are also found in the names of days of the week. Nowadays all the grammatical terms in English are replaced by words of Latin origin.

ME: The changes were mainly quantitative . this is the period when new words and new morphemes were actively borrowed and promptly assimilated grammatically. This made the vocabulary of the late ME quite different from that of the Germanic languages. French borrowings were especially numerous. Some spheres of life were for years controlled by French speaking elite. In some cases the borrowings ousted (вытеснять) native English words, but frequently they coexisted. (bailiff – судебный пристав, council, attorney, crime, army, lieutenant, victory, confession etc.) These were the words of such spheres as: town crafts, school, leisure and pleasure (carol, charm), military terminology, religious terminology, words of everyday usage: aunt, cousin etc. The names of domestic animals remain of native origin, for they lived in the country and English shepherd take care of them but the names of meat of these animals were borrowed mutton, pork, beef, even butcher. Actually words of French origin were found practically everywhere. French borrowings have the status of literary words. But no matter how drastic were the innovations, the majority of the everyday words remain native.