Quality over Quantity. A Diachronic Approach to the Influence of Old Norse on the English Language

Quality over Quantity. A Diachronic Approach to the Influence of Old Norse on the English Language
Author: Rafael Damas Quiles
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
Total Pages: 75
Release: 2018-03-13
Genre: Foreign Language Study
ISBN: 3668659648

Master's Thesis from the year 2017 in the subject Didactics for the subject English - Miscellaneous, grade: Distinction: 9/10, University of Jaén, language: English, abstract: This dissertation aims at explaining the enormous impact of Old Norse on the English language, more prominent in quality than in quantity. Such influence is firstly dealt with by focusing on the historical and sociocultural context, which, split into different periods, becomes of paramount importance in order to grasp the essence of such contact, both linguistic and cultural, between both societies throughout the centuries. Linguistically, general features of the Germanic group of languages are approached from different perspectives, mainly from the phonetical and morphosyntactic ones. Likewise, such analysis is followed by a comparative one between Old Norse and Old English as coexisting languages, thus allowing similarities and differences between both of them to come to the fore. Finally, the Old Norse influence is covered by taking into special account morphosyntactic and lexical elements, that is, those areas where both Germanic languages have come closer to each other. Therefore, this has allowed us to delve into those numerous items stemming either from the same or from dissimilar sources, most of which, whatever the case, are still substantially present in the everyday uses of today’s English.

The Viking Legacy

The Viking Legacy
Author: John Geipel
Publisher: David & Charles
Total Pages: 236
Release: 1971
Genre: Foreign Language Study
ISBN:

The Cambridge Handbook of English Historical Linguistics

The Cambridge Handbook of English Historical Linguistics
Author: Merja Kytö
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 1092
Release: 2016-05-03
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1316472914

English historical linguistics is a subfield of linguistics which has developed theories and methods for exploring the history of the English language. This Handbook provides an account of state-of-the-art research on this history. It offers an in-depth survey of materials, methods, and language-theoretical models used to study the long diachrony of English. The frameworks covered include corpus linguistics, historical sociolinguistics, historical pragmatics and manuscript studies, among others. The chapters, by leading experts, examine the interplay of language theory and empirical data throughout, critically assessing the work in the field. Of particular importance are the diverse data sources which have become increasingly available in electronic form, allowing the discipline to develop in new directions. The Handbook offers access to the rich and many-faceted spectrum of work in English historical linguistics, past and present, and will be useful for researchers and students interested in hands-on research on the history of English.

Historical Phonology of English

Historical Phonology of English
Author: Donka Minkova
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Total Pages: 440
Release: 2013-12-10
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 0748677550

This book covers the historical development of the English phonological system from its earliest reconstructed and recorded forms to its most recent variations.

English as a Contact Language

English as a Contact Language
Author: Daniel Schreier
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 405
Release: 2013-01-17
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1139619268

Recent developments in contact linguistics suggest considerable overlap of branches such as historical linguistics, variationist sociolinguistics, pidgin/creole linguistics, language acquisition, etc. This book highlights the complexity of contact-induced language change throughout the history of English by bringing together cutting-edge research from these fields. Special focus is on recent debates surrounding substratal influence in earlier forms of English (particularly Celtic influence in Old English), on language shift processes (the formation of Irish and overseas varieties) but also on dialects in contact, the contact origins of Standard English, the notion of new epicentres in World English, the role of children and adults in language change as well as transfer and language learning. With contributions from leading experts, the book offers fresh and exciting perspectives for research and is at the same time an up-to-date overview of the state of the art in the respective fields.

Alliteration and Sound Change in Early English

Alliteration and Sound Change in Early English
Author: Donka Minkova
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 422
Release: 2003-03-13
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1139433172

This 2003 study uses evidence from early English verse to reconstruct the course of some central phonological changes in the history of the language. It builds on the premise that alliteration reflects faithfully the acoustic identity and similarity of stressed syllable onsets. Individual chapters cover the history of the velars, the structure and history of vowel-initial syllable onsets, the behaviour of onset clusters, and the chronology and motivation of cluster reduction (gn-, kn-, hr-, hl-, hn-, hw-, wr-, wl-). Examination of the patterns of group alliteration in Old and Middle English reveals a hierarchy of cluster-internal cohesiveness which leads to new conclusions regarding the causes for the special treatment of sp-, st-, sk- in alliteration. The analysis draws on phonetically based Optimality-Theoretic models. The book presents valuable information about the medieval poetic canon and elucidates the relationship between orality and literacy in the evolution of English verse.

An Introduction to Language and Linguistics

An Introduction to Language and Linguistics
Author: Ralph Fasold
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 481
Release: 2006-03-09
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 0521847680

This accessible textbook offers balanced and uniformly excellent coverage of modern linguistics.

Language and History in Viking Age England

Language and History in Viking Age England
Author: Matthew Townend
Publisher: Brepols Publishers
Total Pages: 272
Release: 2002
Genre: Foreign Language Study
ISBN:

This is the first ever book-length study for the nature and significance of the linguistic contact between speakers of Old Norse and Old English in Viking Age England. It investigates in a wide-ranging and systematic fashion a foundational but under-considered factor in the history and culture of the Vikings in England. The subject is important for late Anglo-Saxon and Viking Age history; for language and literature in the late Anglo-Saxon period; and for the history and development of the English language. The work's primary focus is on Anglo-Norse language contact, with a particular emphasis on the question of possible mutual intelligibility between speakers of the two languages; but since language contact is an emphatically sociolinguistic phenomenon, the work's methodology combines linguistic, literary and historical approaches, and draws for its evidence on texts in Old English, Old Norse and Anglo-Latin, and other forms of linguistic and onomastic material

The Acquisition of Heritage Languages

The Acquisition of Heritage Languages
Author: Silvina Montrul
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 381
Release: 2016
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1107007240

An authoritative overview of research into heritage language acquisition, covering key terminological and empirical issues, theoretical approaches, and research methodologies.