The Problem of Chronological Divisions in the History of English

ИСТОРИИ АНГЛИЙСКОГО ЯЗЫКА

ОБЗОРНЫЕ ЛЕКЦИИ ПО

The historical development of a language is a continuous uninterrupted process without sudden breaks or rapid transformations. That is why any division of language history into certain stretches of time might appear artificial. Yet divisions into periods are necessary while learning the history of the language or while doing some researches.

The commonly accepted, traditional division of the history of English belongs to Henry Sweet, the English scholar (1849 – 1912), the author of a number of works on the English language and its history. This division is based on the phonological and morphological characteristics of the unstressed endings with boundaries attached to definite dates and historical events affecting the language.

Old English (OE) starts with the beginning of writing. The oldest manuscripts refer to the VII century and ends with the Norman Conquest (1066) in the XI century. It is the period of full endings, any vowel could be found in the unstressed ending: singan ‘to sing’, sunu ‘a son’.

Middle English (ME) begins with the Norman Conquest and ends with the War of Roses (1455 – 1485) resulting in the decay of feudalism and the rise of monarchy. It is the period of leveled endings. The vowels of unstressed endings have been leveled under a neutral vowel [q] represented by the letter ‘e’: singen ‘to sing’, sone ‘a son’.

New English period (NE) begins in the XVI c. It is subdivided into Early New English (XVI – XVII c.c.) and Late New English, beginning in the XVIII c. and lasting to the present day. It is a period of lost endings: sing, son.

It is natural that amendments are proposed to the traditional chronological limits of the periods. Professor T. A. Rastorguyeva adds a pre-written or pre-historic period which goes back to the V c. when the West Germanic Invasion took place. She also divides the above mentioned periods into two parts pointing out their cultural peculiarities. As far as we see, this division does not contradict the traditional approach and fits quite well into a conception of English History.

Nevertheless, some foreign scholars exaggerating the French influence on the English language consider that the History of the English language as a German one was over in the Anglo-Saxon, Old English period. Ch. Balley and K. Maroldt in their paper “The French Lineage of English” treat Modern English as a Creol language, the mixture of English and French. Analysing the changes in all the layers of the language we can prove that English phonetics, vocabulary, grammar and syntax did not stop their existence in the XI c., but acquired new features due to the historical development.