Пояснительная записка: когда ребенок слышит родную речь матери, то он воспринимает ее как естественную речь для общения с нею, и изучение родного языка является естественным процессом. И совершенно по-другому воспринимается иностранный язык, учащиеся всегда интересуются почему все происходит таким образом, а не другим.
И вот чтобы понять тонкости, специфику современного английского языка необходимо познакомиться с историей английского языка, формированием словаря, грамматических структур, так как современный английский язык формировался постепенно, путем взаимопроникновения языков в ходе исторического процесса.
Развивающие цели курса:
- развивать умения и навыки анализа и систематизация полученных ранее знаний в области иностранного языка
- показать учащимся практическое значение иностранного языка в других областях знаний
- развивать социальную компетентность, то есть умение и готовность взаимодействовать с другими людьми как в деловой, так и в личной сферах общения
- показать значение иностранного языка в диалоге культур.
Обучающие цели:
- расширение и углубление знаний по иностранному языку
- обучение работе со справочной литературой и умению использовать полученные данные
- обучение навыкам проектной работы.
Воспитательные цели:
- воспитывать гражданина и патриота
- показать роль межкультурной толерантности для международного взаимодействия.
The Subject of History of English.
When a child acquires first knowledge of his or her mother tongue he usually takes all its peculiarities for granted: he has no other language to compare it with and no general logical principles to judge it by. Learning one’s mother tongue is a natural process, which has been going on ever since mankind came into being.
Things are quite different with mastering a foreign language, when learning it( at whatever age) the student compares it to his mother tongue. He is often astonished to find great differences in the way ideas are expressed in the two languages and if the learner is an adult person he will often be struck by inconsistencies in the foreign language. He will therefore quite naturally be inclined to ask, why is this so?
In studying the English language of today we are faced with a number of peculiarities which appear unintelligible from the modern point of view. These are found both in the vocabulary and in the phonetic and grammatical structure of the language. Let us mention a few of them.
In the sphere of vocabulary there is considerable likeness between English and German. Thus, for example, the German for summer is Sommer ; the German for sit is sitzen. On the other hand in certain cases English has something in common with French, as the following examples will show: English autumn-French automne, English river- French riviere, English modest- French modeste. These similarities are easily observed by anyone having some knowledge of German or French. But we can not account for them if we remain within the limits of contemporary English; we can only suppose that they are not a matter of chance and that there must be some cause behind them. These causes belong to a more or less remote past and they can only be discovered by going into the history of the English language.
Similar facts are also found in the phonetic structure of the language or more precisely in the relation between pronunciation and spelling. Here, too, we are faced with a series of phenomena which can not be explained from the modern point of view. Why for instance does the spelling of the words – light, daughter, know, gnaw contain letters which do not indicate any sound? Why does the spelling-ea- indicate different sounds in the words- speak, great, bear, heard, heart? These and many other questions can only be answered by resorting to the history of the language.
Finally, let us turn to grammar. Why do the substantives- man, foot, goose, mouse as against most modern English substantives form their plural by change of the root vowel? Why have the substantives – sheep, deer an unchanged plural? Why do the verbs – can, may, will take no-s- in the 3-d person singular present indicative? All these phenomena are traced back to a distant past and they cannot be accounted for without a study of history.
In studying history of the language, we cannot limit ourselves to stating the facts. We must also find the causal ties between them.
History of the English language is connected with other disciplines. It is based on the history of England, studying the development of the language in connection with the concrete conditions in which the English people lived in several periods of their history. It is also connected with disciplines studying present day English, theoretical phonetics, theoretical grammar and lexicology. It shows phonetic, grammatical and lexical phenomena as they developed and states the origins of the present-day system.
Generalities about Germanic languages.
The vast Indo- European family of languages to which most of the languages spoken in Europe belong consists of several branches of which the Germanic languages are one. Nowadays Germanic languages are spoken in many countries: German ( in Germany, Austria and partly in Switzerland), Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish and Icelandic English ( spoken besides England in the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and partly elsewhere. In India English considered a second official language. In ancient times the territory of Germanic languages was much more limited. Thus, in the first century AD Germanic languages were only spoken in Germany and in territories adjacent to it and also in Scandinavia. Germanic languages are classified into three groups: East Germanic, North Germanic, West Germanic. East Germanic languages have been dead for many centuries. Only one of the Old East Germanic languages is well-known, Gothic, a vast written documents have come down to us in this language, namely, a translation of the Bible made in the 4-th century AD by the Gothic bishop Ulfilas from the Greek. All North Germanic and West Germanic languages have survived untill our own times. Now let us turn to the question of the tribes who spoke Old Germanic languages.
Old Germanic tribes in the first centuries of our era were passing through the stage of development”which is signalized by the term “ barbarism”. Friedrich Engels in his work “ On the History of Ancient Teutons” and also in chapters 7 and 8 of his work “ The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State” gave a detailed characteristic of the social structure of the Ancient Teutons, and of the emergence of Old Germanic states.
Our knowledge of the Ancient Teutons is based on testimonies by Greek and Roman writers who for some reason or other were interested in them. The earliest of these was the Greek traveller and astronomer Pytheas, from Massilia ( now Marseilles), who lived in the 4-th century BC. He sailed from his native town through the straits of Gibraltar ,along the West coast of Gaul( France), along the Channel and he may even have reached the Baltic. Pytheas’s work has not come down to us, only a few fragments have been preserved by the Greek geographer Strabo (63BC–20AD) the author of a large work” Geography” and by the Roman writer Pliny the Elder( Caius Plinius Secundus ( 23–79AD).
Next comes the Roman general, statesman and writer Julius Caesar( 100–44BC). In his “ Commentaries on the War of Gaul” Caesar gives several chapters to the Germans whom he combated and dealt with on the Rhine. Caesar’s statement that the Germans lived in tribes and tribal unions is of particularly great value for the historians. It also follows from Caesar’s account that the Teutons were nomads in his time.
About a century later Pliny the Elder wrote about the Teutons in his great work “ Natural History”. Pliny gave a classification of Germanic tribes which has been basically accepted by modern historians. According to Pliny, Germanic tribes in the first century AD consisted of the following groups:
- the Vindili ( among them were Goths and the Burgundians) inhabited the eastern part of Germanic territory.
- The Ingvaeones, inhabited the north-western part of Germanic territory, the shores of the North Sea, including what is now Netherlands.
- The Iscaevones, inhabited the western part of the Germanic territory on the Rhine, among them were the Franks, who eventually conquered Gaul.
- The Hermiones, inhabited the southern part of Germanic territory ( southern Germany).
- The Peucini and Bastarnae, inhabited Rumania.
- The Hilleviones, inhabited Scandinavia.
Next after the Pliny comes the great Roman historian Cornelius Tacitus (born about 55, died about 120 AD). In his short work “ Germania” Tacitus characterized the social structure of the Old Germanic tribes around 100 AD. Tacitus’ results were widely used by Friedrich Engels in his work “ On the History of Ancient Germans.”
Germanic alphabets.
Germanic tribes used three different alphabets for their writings. These alphabets partly succeeded each other in time. The earliest of these was the Runic alphabet, each separate letter being called a Rune. Runes have a very peculiar look for eyes accustomed to modern European alphabets. Thus, the rune denoting the vowel –e- was –M-, the rune denoting the consonant –f- was –W- etc. Namely writing at that time did not mean putting a colour or paint on some surface: it meant cutting letters into wood or engraving them on stone, bone or metal. Now not every kind of line could be successfully cut into a wooden plank. Thus, a horizontal line would not be feasible, as the knife used to cut it, would merely separate fibres of the wood and eventually when the knife was removed the fibres would join again and no trace of a line would remain visible. Horizontal lines would be titled upwards or downwards and curves would be replaced by broken lines. Another peculiarity of the Runic letters has not been quite satisfactorily explained yet: namely, titled lines stretching from top to bottom are avoided, they are shortened in one way or another. The Runic alphabet was used by different Germanic tribes: Goths, Anglo-Saxons and Scandinavians. Numerous Runic inscriptions survive or rocks in different parts of Scandinavia. There are also Runic inscriptions on movable objects: a spear, a helmet, a ring etc.
The latest alphabet to be used by Germanic tribes is the Latin alphabet, it superseded both the Runic and the Gothic alphabet when a new technique of writing appeared. The material now used for writing was either parchment or papyrus. Introduction of the Latin alphabet accompanied the spread of Christianity and of Latin language of Christian religious texts.
Anglo-Saxon England.
Towards the end of the4-th century Europe was invaded by barbaric tribes. The Roman had to leave Britain because they were needed to defend their own country. The Britons were left to themselves, but they had very little peace.
Very soon sea-robbers came sailing in ships from the continent. These invaders were Germanic tribes called Angles, Saxons and Jutes. They were wild and fearless people and the Britons could never drive them away. The Britons fought many battles but at last they were forced to retreat to the west of Britain. Those who stayed became the slaves of the Anglo-Saxons. For a long time the tribes of Angles, Saxons and Jutes fought with one another for supreme power. Britain split up into 7 kingdoms: Kent, Sussex, Essex, Wessex, Mercia, East Anglia and Northumbria. The Anglo-Saxons lived in small villages. Round each village there was a ditch and an earthen wall with a wooden fence on top. The earthen wall and the fence served to defend the village against robbers and wild beasts. The Anglo-Saxons were tall strong men with blue eyes and long blond hair. They were dressed in tunics and cloaks which they fastened with a brooch above the right shoulder. On their feet they wore rough leather shoes. Their usual weapons were a spear and a shield. Some rich men had iron swords, which they carried at their left side. The women wore long dresses with wide sleeves, their head were covered with a hood. In their villages the Anglo-Saxons bred cows, sheep and pigs. They ploughed the fields and grew wheat, rye or oats for bread and barley for beer.
Christianity.
Christianity first penetrated to Britain in the 3-d century. It was brought there from Rome by Christian refugees who were fiercely prosecuted for their faith at home. In the year 306, the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great stopped the prosecution of the Christians and became a Christian himself. Christianity was made the Roman national faith. It was brought to all dependent countries. It became the official religion in Britain too. The Druids disappeared. The new religion was called the “ Catholic Church” ( Catholic means universal). The Greek and Latin languages became the languages of the Church all over Europe.
When the Anglo-Saxons, who were pagans, invaded Britain most of the British Christians were killed. Those who remained alive fled to Wales and Ireland where they lived in groups called Brethrens (brotherhoods). They built churches and devoted themselves to worship. They told people stories of Christian martyrs and visitations by saints. Such stories were typical of the literature of that time.
Towards the end of the 6-th century Christian monks began coming from Rome to Britain again. The head of the Roman Church at that time was Pope Gregory. He wanted to spread his influence over England by converting the people to Christianity. He sent monks to convert the Anglo-Saxons. The monks landed in Kent and the first church they built was in the town of Canterbury. Up to this day Canterbury has remained the English religious center and the seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Old English.
Since the settlement of the Anglo-Saxons in Britain the ties of their language with the continent were broken and in its further development it went its own ways. It is at this time the 5-th century that the history of the English language begins.
Its original territory was England except Cornwall, Wales and Strathclyde. These western regions the Britons succeeded in holding and they were conquered much later: Cornwall in the 9-th; Strathclyde in the 11-th and Wales in the 13-th century. The Scottish Highlands were inhabited by Picts and Scots. The Scots language has survived in the Highlands up to our own days. Ireland also remained Celtic.
Down to the end of the 6-th century Anglo-Saxon Britain was almost entirely isolated from Europe and particularly from Rome. In 597 Pope Gregory sent a mission to England in order to spread Christianity among the Germanic conquerors and to include England into the sphere of his political influence. In the 7-th century Christianity spread allover England. The Latin was at that time an international language of the Church and of Church Science in Western Europe. As a result of new ties with Rome the Latin language was introduced in England as the language of the Church. This development had an important consequences for the English language: it adopted a considerable number of Latin words which were directly or indirectly connected with religious and church notions.
Writings in Old English.
In Old English two alphabets were used: the Runic and the Latin. One is the Ruthwell Cross, a religious poem engraved on a tall stone cross near the village of Ruthwell in the South East Scotland. The other is the Runic Casket made of whalebone and found in France near the town of Clermond-Ferrand, now in the British museum in London. The Runic text is a short poem about whalebone. Both these texts are probably of the9-th century.
After the Anglo-Saxons came into contact with Roman culture, the Runic alphabet was superseded by the Latin.
Since the very earliest time there were 3 main dialects in Old English: Northumbrian, spoken by Angles, living north of the Humber; Mercian, spoken by Angles, living between the Humber and the Thames; West-Saxon, the language of the Saxons; Kentish, the language of the Jutes.
The rise of Wessex as a political power in the 9-th century had its consequences for the West-Saxon dialect: in the course of the century it became the dominating literary language of the epoch. The West-Saxon dialect is represented by Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, works of the abbot Aelfric and sermons of Wulfstan. The Northumbrian dialect: the Runic texts of the Ruthwell Cross and Franks Casket. The Mercian dialect: Translation of the Psalter; the Kentish dialect: Translation of Psalms of the Bible.
The Raids of the Danes.
As we know, Anglo-Saxon Britain was not a united country. There were a lot of small kingdoms which constantly waged wars against one another for supreme power. As a result these little kingdoms were weak and could not hold out against attacks from abroad.
Beginning with the 8-th century pirates from Scandinavia and Denmark began raiding the eastern shores of Britain. They are known in English history as the Danes. They were brave, cruel and merciless people. They landed their long boats, killed and robbed the population of the towns and villages and sailed away. They returned over and over again and continued killing and robbing the population. Gradually they began settling in Britain and seized more and more land. The Anglo-Saxons understood that their small kingdoms must unite in order to struggle against the Danes successfully. In the 9-th century Egbert, the king of Wessex, one of the stronger Anglo-Saxon kingdoms united several neighbour kingdoms. The United kingdom got the name of England, and Egbert became the first king of the united country.
Alfred the Great.
Alfred, the grandson of Egbert, became king in the year 871, when England’s danger was greatest. The Danes who had settled on the eastern shores of Britain continued robbing and killing the people of England and occupying more and more land. Alfred gathered a big army and gave the Danes a great battle at Maldon in 891. The Danes were defeated in this battle, but still they remained very strong and dangerous, and Alfred hurried to make peace with them. He had to give the Danes the greater portion of England. The kingdom that was left in Alfred’s possession was Wessex. There were some years of peace, and during this time Alfred built the first English navy.
Alfred is the only king of England who got the name “ the Great”. And he was really a great king. He was very well educated for his time. He had learned to read and write when he was quite young. He had travelled on the continent and visited France. He knew Latin. He is famous not only for having built the first navy but also for having tried to enlighten his people. He worked out a code of laws. He translated the Church history and parts of the Bible from Latin into Anglo-Saxon. He started the famous Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, which is the first history of England: it begins with the history of the early Britons. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle was continued by various authors for 250 years after the death of Alfred.
England after Alfred the Great’s Reign.
The Anglo-Saxons kings that ruled after Alfred the Great, continued fighting the Danes, until all England was once more ruled by English kings. But 80 years after Alfred’s death the Danes came again with great armies and occupied much of the territory. Again Britain was divided into two parts: the northern part ruled by the Danes and Wessex in the south ruled by English kings. The Danes continued their attacks on Wessex and finally occupied the whole of the territory. In 1016, the king of Denmark Canute became also the king of England.
Canute was a strong monarch and gave England peace for nearly 20 years. When he died in1035, his two sons ruled England for a short time one after the other. With the death of Canute’s second son in1042, the Danish rule was over. An English king came to the thrown, it was Edward the Confessor. He got the name of Confessor for being a very religious man. The famous Westminster Abbey in London was built during his reign, and when he died in 1066 he was buried in the Abbey.
The Scandinavian conquest had far-reaching consequences for the English language. The Scandinavian dialects spoken by the invaders belonged to the North Germanic languages and their phonetic and grammatical structure was similar to that of Old English. Close relationship between English and Scandinavian dialects made mutual understanding without translation quite possible. On the other hand, mass settlement of Scandinavians in Northern and Eastern England, gave their language a great influence in these regions. The relation between the two languages corresponded to that between Anglo-Saxons and Scandinavians: they were spoken by the same social layers and had equal rights. The result was a blending of Scandinavian and English dialects, this process being especially intensive in the North and East.
Answer to the questions:
What tribes was Europe invaded by toward the end of the 4-th century?
Why did the Romans leave Britain?
What parts of Britain did the Angles, Saxons and Jutes settle in?
What kingdoms were finally formed in Britain?
Who brought Christianity to Britain?
What language became the language of the Church?
Why was it impossible for the Anglo-Saxons to hold out against the Danes?
Why did Alfred have to fight with the Danes?
Why did Alfred have to give the Danes a great portion of England?
When was the Danish rule over?
Fill in the blanks: split up, to retreat, Germanic, barbaric, ploughed, Confessor, Chronicle, Christianity, converting, to enlighten, bred, worship, ditch, spear, prosecuted, fled, Catholic, Canterbury, shield, Archbishop.
_ Toward the end of the 4-th century Europe was invaded by_____ tribes.
_Britain was invaded by _____ tribes called Angles, Saxons and Jutes.
_After several battles with the invaders the Britons were forced ______ to the west.
_Britain ______ into seven kingdoms.
_______ was brought to Britain from Rome.
The first Christians were fiercely_____ in Rome.
The new Christian religion was called the _____ Church.
Many British Christians______ to Wales and Ireland, where they built churches and devoted themselves to ______.
Pope Gregory wanted to spread his influence over England by _____the people to Christianity.
The_____ of ______ is head of the Established Church of England.
King Alfred the Great was trying_____ the people.
The Anglo-Saxon_____ is called the first history of England.
Round each of their villages Britons made_____ and an earthen wall.
The usual weapons of an Anglo-Saxon were a _____ and a_____.
In their villages the Anglo-Saxons_____ cows, sheep and pigs.
The Anglo-Saxons_____ the fields and grew wheat, rye and oats.
Westminster Abbey was built during the reign of Edward the _____.
Who were these people? What did they do? Write in short about each of them?
Julius Caesar Boadicea Suetonius Hadrian Alfred the Great Edward the Confessor
Литература
- “Великобритания” Ю.Б. Голицынский (на английском языке) СПб.: КАРО,2003
- “ История английского языка” Б.А. Ильиш (на английском языке) “ Просвещение”, 1973