3-century domination of the French language, starting from 1066. After the Norman Conquest the prestige languages were Latin and French. Latin: the church, the school, the international communication French: the court, the army, education, literature for the nobility of England

Still, the majority of population spoke English (by lower classes in the towns and in the countryside). The French language, which was the native language of a minority of a few thousand speakers influenced English, because it controlled politics, church, economics and culture. Normans never outnumbered the English (approx. only 2%)

Loss of lands in France that cut off the Normans in Britain from the continental ones in the 13^th cent.=> French in Britain ultimately died out=> 14^th cent. – flourish of English:

• French was replaced in court
• more and more literature in English
• a switch from French to English as the medium in grammar school education
• English was introduced into Parliament in the middle of 14^th cent.

The influence of French/Norman Conquest:

Vocabulary: 10000 loan-words

Pronunciation: French helped to distinguish voiced counterparts ( [v] [z] ) of those fricatives which were unvoiced ( [f] [s] ) + new diphthong [oi]

Grammar: WORD ORDER: OE word order Adj + N => French word order N+ Adj (some expressions like secretary general)

Dialects:

• 4 OE dialects were placed more or less on a level
• West Saxon lost its supremacy
• the center of culture and learning was shifted from Winchester to London

Their political separation:

Middle English: Northumbrian → the Northern dialect; Mercian → East Midland (in the Danelaw), West Midland dialects (held by Anglo-Saxon kings); Kentish → South Eastern (it extended its area), Wessex → South Western (it diminished its area)

Their differences:

· in grammar:

3^rd person singular in Present tense endings: Northern dialects: -es (comes), Southern dialects: -eth (cometh)

!All simplifying changes began in the North!

plural of nouns: Northern dialects: -es (cares), Southern dialects: -en (caren)

forms of personal pronouns:

scho: Northern

sche: East Midland

hue: West Midland

hi: South Eastern

he: South Western

in vocabulary: (in terms of loan-words)

In North and East Midland prevailed Scandinavian words

In Southern and West Midland appeared French words first (esp. the area around London), but then they spread northwards and eastwards

Modern English (1500 - ...) loss of inflexion. Nowadays 300 million people speak English as a mother tongue

The greatest direct effects:

• the introduction and dissemination of printing => standardization in spelling and punctuation => spread of London English throughout the country
• the Renaissance
• the Protestant Reformation
• the Enclosures
• exploration and colonization

№ 2. Germanic languages: their history, classification and principal features

All GmL derive from a still earlier common ancestor Proto-Germanic. P-G is supposed to have broken from the other cognate IE lang. as early as 2000 BC. About 300 BC the Gmc-speaking people began migrating. Reasons:

- pressure from invading Eastern people

- Over population                                                                the Great Germanic tribal migration of 4^th century AD

- The poverty of natural resources

500 to 100 years of independent changes – separate Gmc Languages:

The Germanic languages can be described under three headings: East Germanic, North Germanic & West Germanic.

· East Germanic. – east of the Oder, around the shores of the Baltic sea. Gothic, Vandalic, Burgundian

· North Germanic. – stem from Old Scandinavian, Scandinavia, northern Denmark

· From about 800 to 1050 AD the Old Norse began to break up.

· West Germanic. between the Elbe and the Oder along the North sea cost

· This group consists of 5 members. Old English, Old Frisian, Old Saxon, Old Low Franconian (= Old Dutch), Old High German (OHG).  

Old English:The angles  The Saxons The Frisians  The Jutes

Eventually, the number of Gmc languages has changed, some died out. (all east gm clang + Langobardic)

Table. The classification of old & modern Germanic languages.