БИЛЕТ № 2

The history of English is divided into 3 periods: Old English, Middle English, and New English.
Any division in the language history is arbitrary, as its historical development is an uninterrupted
process within which no clear borders between the periods can be set. Thus, although Old English is
incomprehensible to modern native speakers, the change from the synthetic inflecting type to
modern analytical was not sudden and took several centuries. Each period has its own core features
and specific characteristics.
Old English (450-1066). The core feature - full endings. The language of the 5-7th centuries is
called Early Old English; it existed in the form of tribal dialects of the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes,
who came to Britain in the 5th century. As there are no written records of the period, linguists have
to resort to comparative reconstructions and analyze written monuments of the later periods. That
historical period was marked by the contacts of Germanic and Celtic peoples that often lead to the
decimation of the British Celts. There was also some Roman influence through Celtic transmission.
The period from the 7th century to 1066 is referred to as classical Old English; it has a considerable
body of evidence in the form of Anglo-Saxon literature. The local dialects (Mercian, Northumbrian,
Kentish and West Saxon) of the period did not always coincide with the former tribal ones, but the
majority of the written monuments are written in the West Saxon dialect. All the core features of the
inflecting type were present in the system of classical Old English. The intensive contacts with
Scandinavians led to amalgamation of the peoples. 11th century – new wave of influence from
Normandy. 11-12th centuries – the intermediate period, during which OE was gradually growing
into Middle English. The Norman Conquest (1066) is considered a watershed in the history of the
English language, too, as it changed the linguistic situation radically. The tendency towards the
decay of the inflecting type is displayed in the scarce written records of this period. Spoken English
must have been somewhat ahead of written English. There is an overlap between Late OE and Early
ME, so the intermediate period should cover both OE and ME. Transitional Period. English started
to become a National language for the country.
Middle English (the end of the 11th-the end of the 15th century). Main characteristics: strong
French influence and the coexistence of the Anglo-Saxon dialects with the Norman dialect. The
inflections become greatly reduced (H. Sweet called ME ‘the period of levelled endings’); this
process was accompanied by an increase in monosyllabism and the growth in the significance of
syntax. It is customary to distinguish 4 dialects of ME: Northern, East Midland, West Midland and
Southern. The differences between them appeared in the written literature as well as spoken
language. The demand for uniformity was expressed for the first time in the ‘classical ME’ (14-15 th
centuries) when London English started to become generally accepted. Typologically, ME was the
most dynamic period.
New English (c.1500 – nowadays):
а) Early New English (c.1500 – 1660; the epoch of Shakespeare). Core feature: ‘lost endings’ (H.
Sweet). The original set of inflectional features appears to have been replaced by the newly-
developed characteristics in the mainstream of the diachronic typological constant.
b) Modern English (19th century – nowadays). Expansion of English all over the world. Emergence
of new English-speaking communities with complex ethnic structures.
БИЛЕТ № 3
The history of the English language really started with the arrival of three Germanic tribes who
invaded Britain during the 5th century AD. These tribes, the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes,
crossed the North Sea from what today is Denmark and northern Germany.
1.At that time the inhabitants of Britain spoke a Celtic language. But most of the Celtic speakers
were pushed west and north by the invaders - mainly into what is now Wales, Scotland and Ireland.
The Angles came from "Englaland" they brought their language with them, called "Englisc" - from
which the words "England" and "English" are derived.The invading Germanic tribes spoke similar
languages, which in Britain developed into what we now call Old English
2. The most important influence was the Norman Conquest of 1066, when William the Conqueror,
the Duke of Normandy invaded and conquered England. The new conquerors (called the Normans)
brought with them a kind of French, which became the language of the Royal Court, and the ruling
and business classes. For a period, there was a kind of linguistic class division, where the lower
classes spoke English and the upper classes spoke French. The decimation of the Celts can explain
the small number of Celtic words in the OE VOCABULARY.
The invasion → change in the social structure. Former tribal organization had to give way to new
organizations strengthening the military focus of the Anglo-Saxon society → a class of professional
war men. Words of status: cyning – king, ealdorman – vice-roy, Pegn – soldier (their intermediate
position between the commoners and the aristocracy made upward mobility possible), Ceorl – free
man, Peow – a slave.In the 14th century English became dominant(100 War) in Britain again, but
with many French words added. This language is called Middle English.
Christianity [krɪstɪˈænɪtɪ] The conversion of the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity began at the end of
the 6th century (597) and was completed in the second half of the 7th century. Before this the
Angles, Saxons and Jutes had been pagans, that is, they believed in many gods. The Anglo-Saxons
named the days of the week after their gods. Saturday was named after Saturn, a Roman God.
In 597 the Roman Pope sent about forty monks to Britain to convert the Anglo-Saxons. The monks
landed in Kent and it became the first Anglo-Saxon kingdom to be converted. The first church was
built in the town of Canterbury, the capital of Kent. The Christianity spread among the Anglo-
Saxons of the other kingdoms. It took about a century to compel all the Anglo-Saxons to accept the
new faith.Besides, the spread of Christianity was of great importance for the growth of culture in
Britain. The Roman monks helped to spread Roman culture in the country again, brought many
books to Britain and most of them were religious books and they were all written in Latin and
Greek. The church services were also conducted in Latin.
The influence of the Romanized Celts on the Old English language:
- some words of Latin origin appeared in different Germanic dialects on the continent, and they
were reinforced by the presence of the same words in the language of the Britons (street, port, wine,
-chester – things that could be used by Anglo-Saxons
- The first historian The Venerable Bede – Ecclesiastical History of the English People (731);
written in Latin but translated into OE by King Alfred the Great. The subject of the book: the
English were starting to become aware of themselves as an ethnic and cultural unity; the English
associated their cultural dominant with Christianity.
The folk epic Beowulf represents the most telling evidence of the outlook and temper of the
Germanic mind. New values : loyalty, courage, physical strength, honour; death is better than a
shameful life. Christianization made England a significant part of the Western Christian superethnic
system. It promoted literacy → ‘intellectual leadership of Europe.
4 БИЛЕТ
English is a language of Indo-European family, -> Germanic group,-> West Germanic
subgroup. (English Protolanguage = Indo-European)
The languages of the Germanic branch diverged from the common form Proto-Germanic. It
falls into three groups: East Germanic, West Germanic, and North Germanic.
*all East Germanic languages are now dead.
*the North Germanic L. are spoken in Iceland, Scandinavia, and Denmark.
*English is a West Germanic language. As well as German.
E.g. The English forms ‘ mother, father, friend’ are cognates (родственники) of the German
forms ‘Mutter, Vater, Freud’
Language variation in the O. E. period.:
The dialects of Old English :
The language of 5-7th centuries - Early Old English. It existed in the form of oral tribal
dialects. There are no written records to provide evidence of the state of the language in that
period. The Early Old English was marked by the cross-ethnic contacts of Germanic and
Celtic peoples.
The period from the 7th c. to 1066 is sometimes called classical Old English. It has a
considerable body of evidence in the form of Anglo-Saxon literature.
The following four principal OE dialects are commonly distinguished:
Kentish, a dialect spoken in the area known now as Kent and Surrey (Southeast)
West Saxon, the main dialect of the Saxon group, spoken to the south of the Thames and the
Bristol Channel (Southwest to the south of the river Thames) [temz]
Mercian. a dialect derived from the speech of southern Angles and spoken chiefly in the
kingdom of Mercia. That is, in the central region. From the Thames to the Humber. (In the
midland districts)
Northumbrian, another Anglian dialect, spoken to the north of the river Humber.
These local dialects are said to have developed from the tribal dialects of the Angles, Saxons,
and Jutes. Therefore the Northumbrian and Mercian dialects are also called “Anglian”,
the West Saxon are referred to Saxon, Kentish are referred to “Jutish”.
The boundaries between the dialects were uncertain and probably movable. They passed into
one another, dialectal forms were freely borrowed from one dialect into another;
OE writing systems
– The earliest Gmc writing system is the runes. The runic monuments carved in wood, stone
and bone appeared as early as 1 Ad.
– The old Gmc runic alphabet consisted of 24 runes. In England, at least 30 runes were used to
reflect the changes in pronunciation. It was named futhark (OE fuþorc) for the 1st 6 letters.
The name of each rune was associated with an OE w. and could stand for that w. or the initial
sound of it.
– The root «rune» comes from the IE root meaning «to scratch, to dig ».
– The runologists hypothesize that runes could be derived from the Archaic Mediterranean
writing system.
- The common feature is that there is no fixed direction of writing & no w. divisions. Only
occasional use of punctuation, etc. No spaces, punctuation marks; diacritics ( a sign, such as
an accent, which when written above or below a letter indicates a difference in pronunciation
from the same letter when unmarked or differently marked)
-Letter - sound correspondences (буква соответствует звуку)
– The runic monuments are the Franks Casket (whale bone, Northumbria, c. 720) and the
Ruthwell Cross (8th c.), which has both Latin and runic inscriptions on it.
- The runic shapes tend to avoid curves and horizontal lines which are difficult to carve in
wood or other materials used then.
Runic characters could stand for some central concepts symbolizing semantic fields.
 БИЛЕТ № 5
1. Every l. usually has >1 variety, especially in speech. The variety usually labelled Standard
English forms the basis of printed English in newspapers and books; it is used in the mass media
and is taught in schools. It is possible to distinguish between: the literary standard, the spoken
standard, and vulgar speech. It is difficult to draw a sharp line between these types.
The spoken standard is heard in the conversation of educated people who are conscious of their
speech.
The written standard is the language of books (both poetry and cultivated prose).
Illiterate (vulgar) speech is the language of those who are ignorant of the ideas of correctness.
The difference between the spoken standard and vulgar speech is in their association with
different social classes in modern times.
2. Main characteristic: strong French influence and the coexistence of the Anglo-Saxon dialects
with the Norman dialect of French and the Latin language.
XI–XII c. Intermediate period (OE was gradually growing into Mid.E) - Attested decay of
inflecting paradigms, strengthening of agglutinating features and analyticism. The event that began
the transition from OE to Mid ENG was the Norman Conquest of 1066. The emergence of Standard
English started in the Middle English period. This period is characterized by dialectal diversity. The
four principal dialectal areas of Middle English are: - Northern, The Northern dialects had
developed from OE Northumbrian. *Extends from the North of England as far south as the Humber
River.
- The group of Midland (“Central”) dialects had developed from the OE Mercian dialect - is
divided into West Midland and East Midland (together cover the area between the Humber and the
Thames).
- Southern. The Southern group included the Kentish and the South-western dialects. The South
Western group was a continuation of the OE Saxon dialects, - not only West Saxon, but also East
Saxon. Is spread in the district south of the Thames.
Each dialect has some peculiarities at different levels of the language system in pronunciation, in
vocabulary, in grammar. Dialectal differences were more noticeable between Northern and Southern
areas, the Midland dialect occupies an intermediate position.
The East Midland type of English (particularly the dialect of London) became the basis for the
Standard English because:
1) Midland English occupied a middle position. It shared some of the characteristics of both the
Southern and the Northern dialects.
2) The East Midland district was the largest, most populous, economically and politically most
important area.
3) The Universities of Oxford and Cambridge were situated in this district. They were important
intellectual and cultural centres.
3. “The history of Standard English is almost a history of London English”. London was the focus
of the social and intellectual activities of the country. London speech was constantly interacting
with local speech. In the late 15th c. the London standard had been accepted, at least in writing, in
most parts of England.
The introduction of printing in 1476. W. Caxton, the first English printer, used the current speech of
London in the books issued from his press.
In the Renaissance (1500—1650) education became a new factor promoting a standard, uniform
language.
1.16-17 век, There was an active displacing of French and Latin languages from the written speech.
That created the conditions for functional expansion of the English language.
2. 17-18 век, There was started an active work aimed of codifying the language. Dictionaries,
reference books were created.
• Codification leads to stabilization of norms. The creation of glossaries.(from 15c)
All these tendencies resulted in the publication of «A Dictionary of the English Language», by
Samuel Johnson in 1755. This was the first dictionary aimed at recording usage. This dictionary
(Johnson's) was sort of cornerstone in the process of the standardization of English.
Another result of the efforts to refine English consisted in the introduction of some rules which
were never observed in speech:
1) Two negations were considered to be wrong
2) Some grammarians insisted on governing the use of shall and will
3) At the root of all the mistakes of language reformers was their ignorance of the processes of
linguistic change. Changes in language are often unreasonable and cannot be fully predicted. The
spread of English to many parts of the world in the 19th and 20th centuries has changed the
conception of what is called Standard English. The US, Canada & Australia have their own
standards. Moreover, the linguistic situation in Great Britain is gradually acquiring new features.
 БИЛЕТ 6
Vowels in English are divided into:
● diphthongs and monophthongs, diphthongoids (stability of articulation)
● long and short
● rounded and unrounded (position of lips)
● the vertical movement of the tongue [i], [y], [u] [i:], [y:], [u:] are closed [æ], [α], [æ:], [α:] –
opened [e], [o], [e:], [o:] –mid-open
● horizontal movement of the tongue [i], [e], [æ] – front, [u], [α], [o] - back, [y] – mixed
● phasal opposition – checked and free
Historical trends:
1. Enrichment of the vocalic subsystem.
2.Loss of morae-counting features: pre-written Germanic languages are considered to have been
morae-counting; OE period saw a change from morae-counting to morphosyllabization
(characterized by coincidence of syllable and morae borders; typical of isolating languages)
3.Development of phonological (prosodic) oppositions based on the type of contact
4.Phonetic and prosodic support for the stability of the root morpheme; dynamic stress, the 1st
syllable of the root is usually stressed: gelēafan, mōste, fēowertiga, oferwunnen
5.Reduction of the unstressed syllables in Anglo-Saxon words and early (Old and Early Middle
English) borrowings and morphosyllabisation.
Reduction is a process of unification and shortening of vowels to the schwa sound in unstressed
position.
Forms (from the earliest to the latest):
11. monophthongization of diphthongs(merged to one = instead of 2➡ 1; appeared in unstressed)
2. shortening of long vowels
3. Leveling of short unstressed vowels of the schwa
4. Total reduction (loss) of short vowels
5. reduction of the weak syllables (loss of codas with weak consonants force).
PHENOMENA:
1) breaking (5th century): affected the front vowels [i, e, æ]which changed into diphthongs
before [r, l, х]:
aerm ->earm (ModE. ARM)
2) palatal diphthongization, which includes back vowels after palatal consonants [k’], [j]:
æ → ea *ʒæf > ʒeaf «давал»; *cæster > ceaster;
3) velar umlaut: front vowels become diphthongoids under the influence of back vowels [u, o,
a]:
i > io (eo) hira > hiora (heora) «их»; niman > nioman «брать»;
e > eo herot > heorot «олень»; hefon > heofon «небо»;
4) palatal umlaut (i-umlaut; 6-7th centuries) is a change of a vowel caused by partial assimilation
to the following vowel in the immediately following syllable. It brought a complete change in
vowel quality: one phoneme is replaced by another:
u → y *fullian > fyllan;
a → e *framian > fremman;
5) ABLAUT. Is a gradation of vowels in the root, which functions as the inner inflection. We can
find it in many IE languages. There was qualitative gradation, whereby the root vowel changed its
quality and quantitative gradation, whereby the root vowel changed its length. Ablaut was most
associated with the formation of the basic forms of IE strong verbs. For the English language the
ablaut is very important, as it is a means of word-change and word-building. Let us compare the
four basic forms (the infinitive, the past tense singular, the past tense plural and Participle II) of the
Old English verb WRITAN ‘to write’. They are as follows: (1) WRITAN ‘to write’, (2) WRAT ‘(he)
wrote’, (3) WRITON ‘(they) wrote, (4) WRITEN ‘written’. We can see that besides different
endings in the forms given above there is gradation of vowels in the root: -i-/-a-/-i-/-i- (-zero-zero).
6) VOCALIZATION OF [R]. It occurred in the 16th – 17th c. Sound [r] became vocalised (changed
to [ə] (schwa)) when stood after vowels at the end of the word. Consequences:
new diphthongs appeared: [εə], [iə], [uə]; the vowels before [r]
were lengthened (e.g. arm [a:m], for [fo:], etc.); triphthongs appeared: [aiə], [auə]
(e.g. shower [‘∫auə], shire [‘∫aiə]).
7) THE GREAT VOWEL SHIFT. The most significant phonetic change of the period was the
Great Vowel Shift. It is a systematic sound change in the pronunciation of the vowel sounds of
a language.The Great Vowel Shift was a major change in the pronunciation of the English
language that took place in England between 1350 and 1700. The Great Vowel Shift was first
studied by Otto Jespersen (1860–1943), a Danish linguist and Anglicist, who coined the term.
During this period all the long vowels became closer or became diphthongs. EG. time [ti:mə →
taim]
8) STRESS. Stress – intensification of a syllable (mora). OE employed dynamic or force stress.
It was fixed, it remained on the same syllable in different Gr. Forms of the words and it didn’t shift
in word-building either. But in words with prefixes the position of the stress varied: verb prefixes
were unaccented while in nouns and adjectives the stress was commonly in the prefixes. Such
accentuation helped to differentiate between nouns and verbs derived from the same root. EG.
‘andswaru (N) - and-‘swarian (V) (answer)
 БИЛЕТ 7
The OE sound system underwent the profound changes during the ME period. The changes affected
by the pronunciation of words, the word accentuation, systems of vowel and consonant phonemes.
The ME period is known to have been marked with significant developments in the phonological
system.
General phonological trends:
1) emergence of a correlation between the type of syllable and the quality (and/or quantity)
of the vowel – prosodic techniques are gradually involved in creating meaningful units . The
correlation of close contact between the vowel and the coda is based on the opposition of free
and checked vowels. This prosodic opposition began to develop in the 11-12th centuries. In ME
there is a new opposition – phonological opposition of abruptness.
2) The type of syllable (S) – in Mid. English the relevant features of the S were - open (closed)
types of syllables →in New English type of contact (btw. the nucleus and coda) within the syllable
The most important of these changes may be summed up in the following headings:
1)the rise of new phonemes;
2) the weakening or reduction in the ME in the unaccented syllables;
3) the change of the language in the lengthening of the short vowels in the open syllables and in the
shortening of the long vowels before certain consonants:
4) the loss of the OE diphthongs:
5) the formation of new diphthongs.
In the Middle English period, great changes affected the entire system of vowel phonemes.
The ME sound system was basically different from that of the OE one. One of the most important
phonetic changes that resulted in changing the whole phonetic system of the English language was
the process of weakening or reduction of vowels in unaccented syllables. The tendency to phonetic
reduction was particularly strong in unstressed final syllables. As a result of the phonemic reduction
of vowels in unsrtesed syllables there appeared the vowel shwa [] (OE fiscas [fiskas0 – ME fishes
[fiS9s / fiSis] )
According to the quantitative changes which took place in the 12-13c, short vowels [o] [ a] [e]
became long in open syllables. (OE open [open] – ME open [o:pen]
Qualitative vowel changes displays considerable dialectal divergence. E.x. The OE labialized
vowels y and y: disappeared. In different dialects they were replaced by different vowels: in Kentish
they were reestablished by e/e:, in the South-West and in the West Midlands they merged with [u].
[u:]
Sources.
-The source of checked vowels is the shortening of long vowels in close syll-s and lengthening of
short vowels in open syll-s. Began to appear in the 11th and 12th century. Shortening of vowels
occurred in Early NE before single dental and velar consonants [θ, d, t. k].
- The source of non-centring vowels – the great vowel shift. THE GREAT VOWEL SHIFT.
The most significant phonetic change of the period was the Great Vowel Shift. It is a
systematic sound change in the pronunciation of the vowel sounds of a language.
The Great Vowel Shift was a major change in the pronunciation of the English language that took
place in England between 1350 and 1700. The Great Vowel Shift was first studied by Otto
Jespersen (1860–1943), a Danish linguist and Anglicist, who coined the term. During this period all
the long vowels became closer or became diphthongs. EG. time [ti:mə → taim]
– The source of stable & centring vowels is the vocalisation of /r/ (after checked & free vowels):
6) VOCALIZATION OF [R]. It occurred in the 16th – 17th c. Sound [r] became vocalised (changed
to [ə] (schwa)) when stood after vowels at the end of the word. Consequences:
new diphthongs appeared: [εə], [iə], [uə]; the vowels before [r]
were lengthened (e.g. arm [a:m], for [fo:], etc.); triphthongs appeared: [aiə], [auə]
(e.g. shower [‘∫auə], shire [‘∫aiə]).
 БИЛЕТ 8
Historical trends:
1. Enrichment of the vocalic subsystem.
2.Loss of morae-counting features: pre-written Germanic languages are considered to have been
moare-counting; OE period saw a change from morae-counting to morphosyllabization
(characterized by coincidence of syllable and morae borders; typical of isolating languages)
3.Development of phonological (prosodic) oppositions based on the type of contact
4.Phonetic and prosodic support for the stability of the root morpheme; dynamic stress, the 1st
sullable of the root is usually stressed: gelēafan, mōste, fēowertiga, oferwunnen
5.Reduction of the unstressed syllables in Anglo-Saxon words and early (Old and Early Middle
English) borrowings and morphosyllabisation.
Reduction is a process of unification and shortening of vowels to the schwa sound in unstressed
position.
Forms (from the earliest to the latest): from monophthongization of diphthongs to reduction of
unstressed syllables.
The process of reduction is closely related to unstressed vocalism, which is changes of vowels in
unstressed positions. Unstressed vocalism played an important role in keeping an opposition in
length of consonants, as long consonants were possible in intervocalic positions.
Phonological changes in the OE period caused phonetic instabilities in the root morpheme. Thus,
the phonological basis and the functional status of changes depended on the morphological
characteristics of the word meanings. So, the stress is steadily marked the root morpheme, creating
the conditions for its isolation and opposition to other areas of the word form. However, OE is
characterized by distinct fusion processes, indicating the predominance of synthesis.
In old English there was a constant attempt to find any possibilities to improve the composition
of vowels, which led to the emergence of such oppositions as front-back slide that produced a
noticeable amount of processes at the junction of morphemes. These processes include the breaking,
velar and palatal umlaut. The regressive assimilation explains why the stability of the root
morpheme sacrificed the continuity of word forms.
In Middle English, together with the reduction of unstressed syllables there was the tendency of
reduction of vowels occurring in unstressed syllables, and in the end, there was one vowel – neutral.
In the 13-14th centuries this vowel ceased to be pronounced, it became an indicator of openness of
middle English words. The quality and quantity of the vowel type started to depend on the type of
the syllable structures.
Consonants showed greater stability during the history of the language. The number and nature of
the opposition varied in connection with vocalic changes. The elimination of morae-counting
structure and opposition in the length of consonants (and vowels in its previous form),
phonologically voiced fricatives, the emergence of the opposition of tension and some other
processes can be a characteristic of the situation during that time.
Classification of CONSONANTS:
- active organs: lips - labial, tongue - lingual, velum – velar
- the focus (place) of articulation (teeth – dental, alveolar ridge – alveolar, palatum – palatal)
- type of obstruction – stops (=plosives); fricatives, nasals, liquids
- protensity - short and long consonants (=geminated)
The OE consonant system has undergone some changes:
1.↑ PALATALISATION – as a result of reduction of unstressed vowels several consonants
merged into one. There were some exceptions though mature, duty, due, suit, statue, tune, etc.
Palatalization of the dental consonants d t s z before[j] turned them into the new sibilants [d3][ ts]
[s] [3] ch for [t∫< k’]: cinn > chin, birce > birch, but: cyning > king and g, dge for [dʒ< g’ g’:]: ecg
> edge.
2.Syntagmatic merger(слияние) of [s+k’] (reciprocal assimilation) [∫] . Sceal > shall [sk’ > ∫],
scip > ship
3. Syntagmatic merger of [z+j] to [ʒ]. (Later in the French words vision, decision, pleasure)
 4.Loss of nasals before fricatives. [m] and [n] merged with the previous vocalic morae and
formed a long monophthong.(fimf- fīf). Another sonorants [l], [r] were included in the consonant
periphery of the syllable.
5.West-Germanic lengthening of consonants or Gemination (5 cen.). It took place in the
position after a short stressed vowel and before followed vowel [i] or semivowel [j].
framian > fremman, *hleahian > hliehhan, *tælian > tellan, *sæcgan > secgan. Thus there appeared
16 consonants [p: t: k’: k: b: d: g’: g: f: θ: s: χ: r: l: m: n:].
6.The opposition of protensity was eliminated in 10-12 cen. There was a change in consonant
opposition-voicing of fricative consonants (voiced fricative allophones of phonemes [f s θ] were in
a position that contributed to the voicing {between vowels and voiced consonants}).
7.Some consonants remained almost unchanged through historical periods, for ex. sonorants
[m,n,l], the plosives [p,b,t,d] and also [k, g] in most positions have not been changed. The most
important developments were the growth of new sets of sounds, — affricates and sibilants, — and
the new phonological treatment of fricatives, some consonants were lost or vocalized.
GROWTH OF SIBILANTS AND AFFRICATES
In OE there were no affricates and no sibilants, except [s, z]. The earliest traces of these sounds
appeared in the end of OE or in Early ME. These consonants developed from OE palatal plosives
[k', g'] In Early ME they began to be indicated by special letters and digraphs, which came into use
under the influence of the French scribal tradition — ch, tch, g, dg, sh, ssh, sch. [k’] à[t∫]: cild
[k’il’d]- child [t∫ild], [g’] à[dζ]: ecge [‘egg’] edge [‘edζ], [sk’] à[∫]: fisc [fisk’]- fish [fi∫].
•
Древнеанглийский (c. X)
Краткие Долгие Дифтонги
[i] [y] [u] [i:] [y:] [u:] [ea], [eo], [io], [ie]
[e] ([œ]) [o] [e:] [o:] [ea:], [eo: (io:)], [ie:]
[æ] [α] [æ:] [α:]
 БИЛЕТ 9
The syllable can be structured into the following components (this is called suprasegmental (or
prosodic) phenomena:
1) Onset (начало)– any consonants preceding the vowel
2) Rhyme – all the phonemes from the vowel to the end of syllable
a) Nucleus – in majority of syllables is a vowel (or syllabic consonants)
b) Coda – any consonants following the nucleus.
Types of contact
Close contact – if the medial stage of the first sound coincides (совпадает) with the initial stage of
the second sound.
Loose (free) contact – if the final stage of the first sound is followed by the initial stage of the
second sound.
Syllabic structure
1) Monosyllabic words (have, write, come, man, etc.) EG. hruse (earth)
2) Disyllabic words (begin, behave, lovely, etc.) EG. igland (island)
3) Polysyllabic words (galaxy, ultimate, pronunciation, adventurous, etc.) EG. kynerice (kingdom)
4) Root-words - lexemes, morphosyllabemes (morphosyllabisation – the process when syllabic
and morphemic borders coincides). E.g.for “scissors” root-word is “sciss” (in OE means cut).
Word stress in Old English.
In OE a syllable was made prominent by an increase in the force of articulation; in other words, a
dynamic or a force stress was used. In disyllabic and polysyllabic words the accent fell on the root-
morpheme or on the first syllable. Word stress was fixed, it remained on the same syllable in
different grammatical forms of the word and did not shift in word-building either.Polysyllabic
words, especially compounds, may have had two stresses, chief and secondary,the chief stress being
fixed on the first root-morpheme.In words with prefixes the position of the stress varied: verb
prefixes were unaccented, while in nouns and adjectives the stress was commonly thrown on the
prefix:
EG.Tō –weard, ‘or-eald – adj (NE toward, “very old”)
If the words were derived from the same root, word stress, together with other means, served to
distinguish the noun from the verb: EG‘and-swaru n – and-‘swarian v (NE answer, answer).
Stressed and unstressed syllables went through different changes. In stressed syllables the difference
between sounds was strong. In unstressed syllables the sounds were weakened and lost.
Tendencies:
1) Recessive. Stress in French borrowings: last syll ––> closer to the beginning (ex. adventure)
2) Rhythmic. Division of polysyll. w-s into small rhythmic groups (w-s with 2nd stress)
Unstressed vowels
Reduction is a process of unification and shortening of vowels to the schwa sound in unstressed
position.
Forms (from the earliest to the latest):
1. monophthongization of diphthongs
2. shortening of long vowels
3. unification of short vowels
4. disappearance of short vowels
5. reduction of unstressed syllables
The process of reduction is closely related to unstressed vocalism, which is change of vowels in
unstressed positions. Unstressed vocalism played an important role in keeping an opposition in
length of consonants, as long consonants were possible in intervocalic positions
In Early ME the pronunciation of unstressed syllables became increasingly indistinct. As compared
to OE, which distinguished five short vowels in unstressed position Late ME had only two vowels
in unaccented syllables: [Ə] and [i ], which are never directly contrasted; this means that phonemic
contrasts in unstressed vowels had been practically lost.
 БИЛЕТ 10
Morphological trends.
-Simplification of the former tripartite word-structure (Proto-Germanic) *fisk<-a->z
-Weakening of the unstressed syllables (inflections) (Old English) writan -> write(n ->write ['wrī/tǝ]
-> write [rait]
-Development of “weak” (agglutinative) types of paradigms in verbs and nouns with transparency
(*transparent word – morphology and/or meaning are interpretable on the basis of segmentation, i.e.
analysis into parts) (Old-> Middle English)
-Strengthening of the productive types with stability of the root-morphemes and transparent
segmentation (Old -> Middle English) e.g. play-s; play-ed; love-li-nes
-Further weakening of the unproductive types with root-alternations (Old -> Middle English) e.g.
foot – feet; rise – rose
-Gradual and consistent decay (homonymy of forms and ultimate loss) of the morphological
markers of inflectional grammar (Old -> Middle English).
Technique suggests methods of linking meaningful units in a particular language. Types of
technique: analysis and synthesis. Most languages employ both techniques.
Synthesis (synthetic technique) – words are linked by means of morphology (formal concord and
government)
Analysis (analytical technique) – words are linked by means of syntax (juxtaposion, usage of form-
words, strict word order)
Types of morphological word structure
Inflecting. Words in such languages consist of stems and inflexions. Stems can consist of roots and
word-form¬ing affixes (prefixes, or suffixes, or both, modifying the root-meaning). Thus, words are
often polysyllabic. Roots are often unstable because of regressive assimilation between the root and
the affix ––> it is hard to establish a clear-cut borderline between morphemes. Old English roots
were also unstable in their sound-shapes and often were bound morphemes (couldn’t stand alone):
Cf.: O.E. writon 'they wrote'. Writ- is a bound
morpheme.
Inflexions are usually polysemantic. Several grammatical meanings are conjoined in one
inflexion.
Cf.: камня - stanes (O.E.). Both forms contain inflecting markers (Gen. case, sg).
OE w-s belonged to different parts of speech. 1 part of speech could be distinguished from
another systematically by its own word-changing paradigm. Each part of speech was characterized
by its own word-building affixes: modignes (noun);modig, modiglic(adjectives); modigian (verb);
modiglice (adverb). Word order in Old English was free.
In agglutinating l-s, w-s = unchangeable roots and several affixes whose number usually
de¬pends on the number of grammatical meanings of the word-form. 1 affix = 1 meaning:
polysemy is not typical. Stability of the root is supported by progressive assimilation between the
root and affix. the sound forms of the ModE ‘es’ & ‘ed’ depend on the final sound of the root:
works [s] worked [t]. mixes [iz] / plays [z] played [d] wanted [id] W-s cannot
be easily classified into parts of speech by their affixes since 1 affix can be added to the roots of
different categorial classes of words. ‘(e)s’: sg in V-s, pl in N-s, ex. The girl smiles and The girls
smile.
Parts of Speech
-Lexico-morphological classes – three criteria are applicable, morphological and lexical being the
main ones
 -Lexical differences among words of different parts of speech (Ns – objects; Adjs – qualities of
objs; Verbs – actions; Advs – qualities of actions)
-Different morphological paradigms and grammatical categories in nominal and verbal parts of
speech, specific grammatical features in each part of speech
-Different syntactic functions in different parts of speech
VERBS
-Strong (irregular) 7 subclasses, based on internal flexion (=root alternation due to Ablaut). They
had four stems (Infinitive, Preterite singular, Preterite plural, Past Participle). Eg brecan – braec –
braecon - brocen=to break; faran – for – foron – faren=to go; etc.
-Weak (3 subclasses) They had three stems, their root-morphemes display much more stability.
Weak verbs (Infinitive, Preterite with the suffix –d-, Past Participle with the suffix –d-; the dental
suffix being the marker of past tense). The suffix –d- has been agglutinative from the very
beginning, it specializes on expressing the idea of past. (the former clitic *dhē/dhō) Eg nerian –
nerede – nered=to save; fremman – fremede – fremed; etc.
-Preterite-present – modal verbs (cunnan, sculan, willan, magan, *motan, etc.)
-Anomalous or athematic: dōn ‘do’; gān ‘go’ bēon (wesan)
Verbal categories
Tense (present and past) – O.E. inflexions and internal flexion; the dental suffix –d-; contexts
helped to refer the action to the past, present, or future
Mood (Indicative, Subjunctive, Imperative) – O.E. inflexions
Number and person - O.E. inflexions;
Voice – analytical constructions with the verbs beon (wesan), (ge-)weorðan

Verbal paradigms in Old English

Finite paradigms – consist of such verbal forms which can function as predicates. E.g. – first
person, singular, present form – Wrīte – пишу (I write letters every day).
Non-finite subparadigms – consist of such verbal forms which cannot function as predicates by
themselves, but they can be used only as parts of predicates A) Infinitive (verbal noun) B)
Participle I (verbal adjective) C)Participle II – seems to be close to
adjectives → functional orientation of non-finite forms to non-verbal parts of speech (e.g. the
Infinitive wrītan – to write: I can write letters every day)
Principal, basic, main parts of the verb = bases (stems) – bases, from which finite forms are
derived
The traditional for historical linguistics term “PRETERITE” = PAST
Old English infinitive
-Declensions of infinitives in O.E. are viewed as West-Germanic peculiarity. At least they are not
observed in the Gothic language (where the infinitive is undeclinable, used after du).
-The O.E. infinitive is a verbal noun which had typically nominal paradigms. But already by the
classical O.E. period the case inflections of the infinitive had been partially lost. The fossilized form
of the Dative with the inflection –anne/enne had been preserved. The typical marker of the Dative –
the preposition to.
-The Nominative case was more frequent and common than Dative (etan, tellan – to etenne, to
tellenne)
The Nominative and Dative infinitives
-The difference between the forms was functional. The to-infinitive was used as an adverbial
modifier of purpose and as part of the compound verbal predicate after the verbs onginnan, beon
(wesan) with modal meanings. As an adverbial modifier of purpose it was used to express a
direction and purpose of an action:
EG.From ingonge thaere halgan stowe is to ahabenne
-The Nominative infinitive could be used as an object EG.Romane heton getimbrian Cartaina
-Second part of a compound verbal predicate after preterite-present verbs and aspective verbs
(blinnan, gewinnan): EG. Hwaet sceal ic singan?
-To express an order in indirect speech. EG.Him budon drincan gebitrodne windrenc
-To denote the aim of the action with verbs of motion: EG.He sige-hredig secean com maerne
theoden
-Manner of action: EG. Gewat tha neosan hean huses
-As a part of a complex object: EG.Tha gesawon hi micel leoht heofon lice cuman
Participle I was always active; Participle II of transitive verbs – passive, intransitive – active.
Participles were declined after strong (-a- stem and –o- stem) and weak adjectival declensions.
The participle as an attribute could take on strong forms if it was the only attribute of the noun: eg
Berendne man (the Accusative case); If the adjective is preceded by a pronoun, numeral, or
adjective, the participle takes on weak forms: eg Thisne berendan man.

Nouns and Adjectives

Nouns (things, objects, objective entities) in Old English had the grammatical categories of case (4
cases: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative), number (singular and plural) and gender
(masculine, feminine and neuter).
- Gender is actually not a grammatical category in a strict sense of the word for every noun with
all its forms belongs to only one gender (the other nominal parts of speech have gender forms), so
this category was formal; but case and number had a set of endings. Nouns used to denote males are
normally masculine - maim, faeder, brodor, abbod (man, father, brother, abbot). Naturally, those
denoting females should be all feminine, - modor, sweostor, cwene, abbudissa (mother, sister,
queen, abbess). Yet there are curious exceptions, such words as masjden (maid), wif (wife) are
neuter. And unfinan (woman) is masculine, because the second element of the compound is
masculine. The gender of the other nouns is unmotivated.
-There are two numbers - singular and plural, and four cases - nominative, genitive, dative and
accusative.
Comparing with what we have now we can see that number proved to be a stable category, relevant
for rendering the meanings and expressing the true state of things in reality.
-Case is supplanted by other means to express the relations between the words in an utterance,
whereas gender disappeared altogether.

All Old English nouns were divided as to being either strong or weak.
While the first category had a branched declension (склонение), special endings for different
numbers and cases, the weak declension was represented by nouns which had already begun to lose
their declensional system.
There was another group of nouns that according to Germanic laws of ablaut changed the root
vowel during declension. In Modern English such words still exist: goose - geese, tooth - teeth, foot
- feet, mouse - mice etc. In Old English time they were far more numerous in the language.
The general rule is the so-called i-mutation, which changes the vowel.
Nouns were declined due to their stem (a-stem, ja-stem, wa-stem, i-stem, etc.), the stem was defined
not on the basis of Old English, but historically. For example, stán has an a-stem, but the words scip
(ship) and múþ (a mouth) has the same stem, because scip got developed from P.Gmc. skipan, while
múþ – from P.Gmc. munthaz. The Old English ende (end) belongs to ja-stem developed from
P.Gmc. andja.

As well as the noun, the Old English adjective (qualities of things, objects, and objective entities)
can be declined in case, gender and number. Moreover, the instrumental case was preserved.
Adjectives must follow sequence with nouns which they define - that is why the same adjective can
be masculine, neuter and feminine. The declension is more or less simple; it looks much like the
nominal system of declension.
The Old English had two adjective declensions, a strong and a weak. The weak forms were used
generally after demonstrative pronouns, and possessive adjectives; the strong were used
independently.
The thing is that one need not learn by heart which adjective is which type - strong or weak, as you
should do with the nouns. If you have a weak noun as a subject, its attributive adjective will be
weak as well. So - a strong adjective for a strong noun, a weak adjective for a weak noun. Thus if
you say "a black tree" that will be blæc tréow (strong), and "a black eye" will sound blace éage.
The last thing to be said about the adjectives is the degrees of comparison. Again, the traditional
Indo-European structure is preserved here: three degrees (absolute, comparative, superlative)
formed with the help of suffixes -ra and -est: earm (poor) - earmra – earmost, blæc (black) - blæcra
– blacost.
Many adjectives changed the root vowel - another example of the Germanic ablaut:
strong - strengra - strengest
The most widespread and widely used adjectives always had their degrees formed from a different
stem. Many of them are still seen in today's English:
gód (good) - betera - betst (or sélra - sélest)
 БИЛЕТ 12
Form words display a tendency to preserve their individuality and unique character. In English,
there are such classes of form words as pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions, auxiliary verbs
(preterite-present and eurysemous), etc.
By strengthening of form words we understand strengthening their individuality and unique
features; emergence of new form words; English form words had to strengthen their individuality to
cope with the constantly growing functional load. The process was ongoing in Middle and Early
New English.
Strengthening of form words:
-There can be observed (historically) a gradual but stable growth of the significance of form
words under the new conditions of constantly increasing analyticism.
-This process implies strengthening individuality of the already existing classes, on the one
hand. .
-On the other hand — emergence of new groups of form words originating from the 'open
classes'.
Considering the paradigms of Old English personal pronouns one might hypothesize that
homonymy of the case forms was such that they could be easily confused in the period of active
trend towards reduction and decay of inflexions. (таблица)
In Middle English greater confusion might have been introduced if it had not been for the new
forms borrowed from Scandinavian (the origin of she is unknown)(таблица).
The Scandinavian 'they, them' and the form 'she' are capable of distinguishing number and gender
respectively: so they help to avoid homonymy, which is important, as personal pronouns express
number and person in verbs analytically: they write; you write; we write; I write. They also serve
as analytical markers of gender in he writes; she writes; it writes.
Analysis suggests distribution of meanings (both grammatical and lexical, if they are identifiable as
separate entities) among easily separable units (morphological segments in words). These units may
be represented by lexemes if the degree of analyticism is high.
Historically analyticism has been developing unevenly in the language system. Modern English
verbal paradigms display the highest degree of analyticism (both grammatical and lexical) as
compared with the earlier periods. Grammatical analyticism suggests involvement of analytical
constructions into word-changing paradigms. Suffice it to mention, that 30 (out of the total number
33) finite forms in Modern English are analytical. They express continousity, perfectivity, futurity,
and partially synthetic indefinite. Lexical analyticism implies the emergence of analytical
constructions in word-building paradigms. The characteristic features of analytical constructions as
paradigmatic elements are as follows:
1. They usually consist of two or more elements regarded as words (primary lexemes). Do you
know? Have you translated the manuscript?
2. The syntactic relations between the elements are based on strong juxtaposition (placing lexemes
side by side, or proximity).Cf.: I have done it. *I done have it.
3. The functional load is distributed between the elements.
 БИЛЕТ 13
Synthetic technique implies that all grammatical and lexical meanings are conjoined within one
word-form Synthetic technique is associated with 1) formal concord, 2) formal government.
In Old English synthesis was the prevailing technique in that period.
By contrast Modern English prefers analysis
Analysis suggests distribution of meanings (both grammatical and lexical, if they are identifiable as
separate entities) among easily separable units (morphological segments in words). These units may
be represented by lexemes if the degree of analyticism is high. go out (Cf.: Russian выходить O.E.
utgangan)
Analytical technique comprises: l) form words; 2) juxtaposition; 3) fixed word order.
Formal concord and government, as purely synthetic methods of linking words, were common in
Old English.
We may speak of formal concord (or 'agreement'), if the form of the dependent word duplicates
the grammatical meanings of the main word. This method was quite common in Old English.
If the dependent word takes on the form, which is required by the semantics of the main word, we
may speak of government. In inflecting languages (Latin, Russian, Old English) verbs, adjectives,
nouns, adverbs, prepositions may govern the noun, pronoun, or a noun phrase in a particular case.
Government: наполненный водой; уши кота; читать газету. Agreement: глубокой реки;
глубокого моря
The decay of inflections has seriously diminished the extent of formal concord and government in
English. Whereas Old English subjects agreed with the predicates in number and person, in Modern
English the form of the predicate often depends on the semantic content of the subject. This is
notional concord.
Juxtaposition is placing words side by side. The closer the semantic connection between words,
the closer to each other they tend to be placed in a sentence. Both the side of juxtaposition and its
force are relevant in Modern English. Cf: watch pocket vs. pocket watch.
Having lost its inflexions, Modern English adheres to strict rules regulating juxtaposition and word
order as compensatory methods. The share of analytical technique has been constantly growing in
the course of the history of English.
Word Order in English
In Old English different patterns could occur (SOV, SVO, OVS, etc.) largely depending on the
communicative goal of the utterance since the morphology of O.E. was much richer than it is in
Modern English, and word-order did not have to duplicate the grammatical functions of inflexions.
In analytical (especially isolating) languages, on the contrary, the share of the grammatical function
of word order is much greater. This function consists of distinguishing parts of a sentence. To tell
the noun-subject from the noun-object in Modern English, one should state which positions the
nouns occupy in reference to the verb-predicate. The left-hand position is associated with the
subject, the right-hand position — with the object. Cf.: they want to take him to the burying-place.
In Modern English word order is fixed in the group: Subject— Predicate—Object (SVO). But
complete fixation of word order is incompatible with the need for flexibility. The utterance can be
effective only if it meets the demands of communication. English has found a compromise.
Linguists often distinguish [Plotkin 1989; Morohovsky 1980] two zones in the English sentence: the
central and peripheral ones. The members of the central zone, traditionally labeled SVO, have
considerable restrictions in mobility, the verb cannot be removed because it separates the subject
and the predicate. In the periphery zone word order is less strict. The end of the sentence is
considered to be more important communicatively. It is here that the new and most weighty
information tends to be placed.
 БИЛЕТ 14
Vocabulary is the most susceptible to innovations subsystem. English vocabulary is very heterogeneous
since every subethnic group within the constantly changing English speaking community has left its own
verbal legacy.
There is a connection between the social and functional status of every subethnic group and the register of
its verbal legacy. There are even some general typological distinctions between different etymological strata
of words. The peculiar interaction of typological, etymological and ethnic factors led in the long run to the
emergence in the English vocabulary of two typologically diverging strata, whose relations might be
described as coexistence.
Taking into account the typological aspect we can call the two strata analyticised (core words) and
synthetic(periphery words) respectively.A quantitative historical analysis of the English core words shows
that in the course of its history the English lexical system has undergone deep changes (both quantitative and
qualitative by nature). These changes reflect a powerful influence coming from extralinguistic factors such as
ethnogenetic, especially cross-ethnic contacts in the creative epochs of the English ethnogenesis. These are
such periods which are associated with the formation of the specifically English ethnocultural type
(especially from c. V to XIV c.). The quantitative distribution of the functional load of each etymological
lexical stratum in the core of modern English looks like this: The qualitative functional parameters of each
etymological stratum in the core can be explained via specific character of the cross-ethnic contacts in each
particular period associated with each stratum. A historical and typological analysis shows that the intensive
cross-ethnic contacts have caused great losses in the Anglo-Saxon lexical system. To preserve the genetic
adequacy the language developed 3 typological trends (strategies): 1) the gradual growth of the functional
load of the Anglo-Saxon lexemes (hence: their polyfunctionality, polysemy, etc.). This process was
accompanied by a structural simplification. 2) The Gmc lexical legacy was enriched with Scandinavian
borrowings. The percentage of the Germanic core words is now about 66 %. 3) Structural and functional
“mimicry” of early French (Romance) borrowings acquiring more and more core features. Thus when one
compares the functional potentials of native and non-native words in English, one should always bear in
mind that c.34 % of the core words are French in origin and their emergence in the core is due to ethnic
factors, this lexical stratum is a legacy of the categorization of ethnocultural experience resulting from the
cross-ethnic contacts at subethnic and superethnic levels during the creative periods of the English
ethnogenesis.The analyticised stratum includes all native (Germanic) words and early borrowings: mostly
from the other Germanic languages, partially from Latin, a bit later — root-words from Romance languages.
On the contrary, the synthetic stratum includes only borrowings from the Romance, Latin and Greek
languages.
Analyticised words Synthetic words
1. They have developed a mono- or disyllabic 1. They remain polysyllabic because reduction had
structure, i.e. they are now mostly root-words. They already lost its force by the time they were borrowed.
have undergone English historical sound changes. That is why these words preserved the affixes of the
Their phonetic shape is based on the English synthetic inflecting languages from which they had been
rhythmic peculiarities. borrowed.
2. They are characterized by stability of accent in 2. They have several accented syllables with different
their paradigms: force of stress. Instability of accent can be often
Cf: 'lazy — 'laziness — lazier 'busy — 'busier — observed in their paradigms.
'busily, etc. Cf.: 'flexible — flexibility cons'pire — conspiracy
cons'pirator — conspira'torial
As might be gathered from this paradigm, the roots of
such words may be unstable in their sound forms.
3. They display part-of-speech polyfunctionality, i.e. 3.They characteristically belong to different parts of
they do not belong to parts of speech as lexico- speech, i.e. their part-of-speech characteristics may be
morphological classes. derived from their affixes.
Cf.: a round table (adjective) another round (noun) Cf. different (adj.); difference (noun); differ (verb);
come round (adverb) to round the corner at a high differentiate (verb); recognize (verb); recognition
speed (verb) round the corner (prep). (noun); recognizable (adj.).

4. They are less active in affixation; usually prefer 4. Sets of related words were borrowed almost
native affixes (of Germanic origin). Affixes join to simultaneously. These words were borrowed together
the roots without fusion, words are easily segmented with their affixational models. Thus, they preserve their
into morphemes. original synthetic character, sometimes fusion occurs:
sharp — sharpen — sharpness — sharply hope — in / im / il / ir are different variants of one and the same
hopeful — hopefully—hopefulness — hopeless, etc. Latin prefix. The form of this prefix varies according to
Cf.: O. E. mod – modig – modiglic – modigian, the rules of Latin grammar. Cf: irregular, immortal,
modignes inarticulate, illegal.
The affixes in the words given above are also
borrowed.
5. They are very active in the so-called self- 5. They form very few new compoundings, as a rule,
explaining compounds (some of them are also called they have been borrowed as ready-made compoundings.
embedded structures). All these compoundings These compoundings have linking vowels to join the
readily segment into independent roots: bound root-morphemes:
mother-to-be heavyweight, housewife, ready-to- psychotherapy, sociology, electrotechnology, telephone,
wear, up-to-the-minute. television, monosyllabic.
Cf. O. E. freomaeg (free or noble kinsman),
nydgefera (companion in need).
6. There is normally no transition from the 6. Polysyllabic words can acquire analytical properties
analyticised stratum to the synthetic one. through shortening:
ad — advertisement; mime—pantomime; lab —
laboratory; memo, hi-fi, porno, comfy, etc.
7. They are very active in analytical lexical models 7. They are not capable of entering analytical models as
[see §2 above] readily as analyticised words do, though periphrastic
analytical constructions are possible: make a proposal
(to propose)
New analytical lexemes do not emerge on their basis.

8. They are usually polysemantic. Many of them 8. They are not used as form words; they do not develop
possess broadened semantic and combinatory broad meanings though can be polysemantic. Their part-
potentials. Words with broad meanings are capable of-speech meaning is explicit in their form, but in the
of creating analytical constructions. They are often nuances of their meanings they depend on the
used as form words. Their meanings are syntactically neighbouring words in one and the same syntactic
determined (i.e. depend on the syntactic construction:
construction) as in have a book (pen, stamp, etc.) I recognized Mary in the picture. The government
but: have cut (made, played, etc.) recognized his services by making him a lord.
but: have to go (play, wait, etc.)
but: have my hair cut, etc.

9. They are used in different registers (either 9. They are semantically and syntactically specified.
informal or formal). They are especially typical of That is why they are common as terms and belong to
colloquial style, very popular in everyday speech: formal registers. They are often out of place in
put off; give in; take part; take away; jut out; mark everyday informal speech.
Postpone; capitulate; participate; deprive; protrude;
off; slow down distinguish; decelerate, etc.

Though the synthetic stratum lies outside “the mainstream of the typological evolution of English, its
emergence & existence are maintained by the international function of English as the lingua franca of the
modern world”. The number of these words has been increasing together with the expansion of English. In
the MidE period alone, ~10,000 French words were adopted by English, 75% of those words are still in
current use. «The original Anglo-Saxon language is estimated to have had 50,000—60,000 words, many
exclusively reserved for poetry: the Scandinavian invasions contributed about 2,000, while the influx of the
Norman conquerors swelled the hybrid language of Middle English to approximately 100,000—125,000
words. The steady accretion of Latin words resulted in the Renaissance form of the language (Early ModE)
being twice the verbal volume of MidE. The vocabulary of Modern English is now well in excess of half a
million words».