A History of the English Language

109 Pages·1.453 MB·

by  Drout Michael D.C.

A H
ISTORY OF THE
E L
NGLISH ANGUAGE
COURSE GUIDE
Professor Michael D.C. Drout
WHEATONCOLLEGE
A History of the English Language
Professor Michael D.C. Drout
WheatonCollege
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AHistoryoftheEnglishLanguage
ProfessorMichaelD.C.Drout
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CourseSyllabus
AHistoryoftheEnglishLanguage
AboutYourProfessor...................................................................................................4
Introduction ...............................................................................................................5
Lecture1 TheFoundationsofLanguage:Brain,
Development,Acquisition......................................................................6
Lecture2 SignsandMeanings:Semantics.........................................................13
Lecture3 SoundsofLanguage:Phonetics..........................................................20
Lecture4 SoundandMeaning:Phonology.........................................................28
Lecture5 SoundShiftsandHistory.....................................................................34
Lecture6 TheRules:Syntax...............................................................................41
Lecture7 Words,Words,Words.........................................................................50
Lecture8 TheHistoryoftheEnglishLanguage..................................................57
Lecture9 FromGermanictoOldEnglish............................................................64
Lecture10 BorrowingandInfluence:Romans,Celts,Danes
(Latin,Celtic,Scandinavian)................................................................73
Lecture11 TheNormanConquest,theInfluenceofFrench,and
theDevelopmentofMiddleEnglish.....................................................80
Lecture12 ToModernEnglish:TheGreatVowelShift.........................................87
Lecture13 YouSaySoda,ISayPop:Dialect,Variants,and
theDevelopmentofAmericanEnglish................................................94
Lecture14 AGlobalLanguage:ThePresentandFutureofEnglish..................101
CourseMaterials......................................................................................................108
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About Your Professor
Michael D.C. Drout
MichaelD.C.DroutistheWilliamandElsie
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mages.co PCroellnetgiceeinPrNooferstosno,rMofaEssnagclihsuhsaetttWs,hwehaetorenhe
BCCI teachescoursesinOldandMiddleEnglish,
Collier, medievalliterature,Chaucer,fantasy,and
min sciencefiction,andthehistoryofthe
Benja Englishlanguage.
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ProfessorDroutreceivedhisPh.D.inmedievalliteraturefromLoyola
Universityin1997.HealsoholdsM.A.degreesfromStanford(journalism)
andtheUniversityofMissouri-Columbia(Englishliterature)andaB.A.from
CarnegieMellon.
In2006,ProfessorDroutwaschosenasaMillicentC.McIntoshFellowbythe
WoodrowWilsonFoundation.In2005,hewasawardedthePrentice
Professorshipforoutstandingteaching.TheWheatonCollegeclassof2003
presentedhimwiththeFacultyAppreciationAwardinthatyear.Heiseditorof
J.R.R.Tolkien’sBeowulfandtheCritics,whichwontheMythopoeic
ScholarshipAwardforInklingsStudiesfor2003.HeisalsotheauthorofHow
TraditionWorks:AMeme-BasedCulturalPoeticsoftheAnglo-SaxonTenth
Century(ArizonaMedievalandRenaissanceStudies).Droutisoneofthe
foundingeditorsofthejournalTolkienStudiesandiseditorofTheJ.R.R.
TolkienEncyclopedia(Routledge).
Drouthaspublishedextensivelyonmedievalliterature,includingarticleson
WilliamLangland’sPiersPlowman,Beowulf,theAnglo-Saxonwills,theOld
EnglishtranslationoftheRuleofChrodegang,theExeterBook“wisdom
poems,”andAnglo-Saxonmedicaltexts.Hehasalsopublishedarticleson
UrsulaK.LeGuin’sEarthseabooksandSusanCooper’sDarkIsRising
seriesofchildren’sfantasynovels.DrouthaswrittenanOldEnglishgrammar
book,KingAlfred’sGrammar,whichisavailableforfreeathiswebsite,
www.michaeldrout.com.HehasgivenlecturesinEngland,Finland,Italy,
Canada,andthroughouttheUnitedStates.
DroutlivesinDedham,Massachusetts,withhiswifeRaquelD’Oyen,their
daughterRhys,andtheirsonMitchell.
ANoteonTypesettinginThisBooklet
Thereisadistincttypefontchangebetweenourstandardtypeface(Arial,a
sansseriftypeface)andJuniusModern(aseriftypeface)usedforspecial
charactersettingsforpassagessetinOldEnglish.
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Introduction
Languagedefinespeopleashuman.Infact,allofhumanity’sgreatestcultur-
alaccomplishmentsareeithermadeoutoflanguageorrelyonlanguagefor
theirdissemination.InAHistoryoftheEnglishLanguage,highlyregarded
professorMichaelD.C.DroutofWheatonCollegeleadsafascinatingdiscus-
sionoftheoriginanddevelopmentoftheEnglishlanguage.
ProfessorDroutaddressesthefoundationoflanguageanditsconnectionto
specificportionsofthebrain.Thecomponentsoflanguageareexplainedin
easy-to-understandtermsandtheprogressionofthelanguagefrom
GermanictoOld,Middle,andModernEnglishisfullyillustrated—including
suchrevolutionarylanguageupheavalsasthosebroughtaboutbythe
NormanConquestandtheGreatVowelShift.
OneofthemostinterestingaspectsoftheEnglishlanguageliesinitsvari-
ants,suchasthe“soda”vs.“pop”debateandtheplaceofAfrican-American
Englishinmodernculture.Theseandotherdialectualcuriositiesarelooked
atindetailandplacedinthecontextoftoday’sworld.Finally,Professor
DroutexaminesthefuturenotonlyoftheEnglishlanguage,butofallthe
world’slanguages.
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Lecture1:
TheFoundationsofLanguage:
Brain,Development,Acquisition
TheSuggestedReadingforthislectureisVictoriaFromkin,Robert
Rodman,andNinaHyams’s(eds.)AnIntroductiontoLanguage,
chapters1–2.
Thestudyoflanguageisthefoundationofallotherlearning.IntheMiddle
Ages,educationwasdividedintotheTriviumandtheQuadrivium,which
togethermadeupTheSevenLiberalArts.TheTriviumwasmadeupof
grammar,rhetoric,andlogic;theQuadriviumincludedarithmetic,geometry,
music,andastronomy.SoevenintheMiddleAges,longbeforethegreatlin-
guisticdiscoveriesofthenineteenthandtwentiethcenturies,thestudyoflan-
guagewasthebaseuponwhicheverythingelsewasbuilt.
Languagedefinesusashuman.Alltheotheroldclearseparationsbetween
humanandanimal—socialorganization,tooluse,altruism—havebeenseen
tobemuchlessclearasmoreresearchhasbeendone,butthepossession
ofabstractlanguageisthusfarstilluniquelyhuman(someanimalsseemto
possesstherudimentsoflanguage,buteventhemostadvancedofthese
doesnothavetheabilityofahumantwo-year-old).Allofourgreatestcultural
achievementsareeithermadeoutoflanguageorrelyuponlanguagefortheir
accomplishmentanddissemination.Evenwhensomeoneachievessome-
thinggreatinart,orathleticsormusic,weimmediatelyturntolanguageto
tellotherpeopleaboutit.Themassiveproliferationofcellphones,instant
messaging,podcasts,andvoicemailssimplyillustratesasimplefactabout
humanity:welovetotalk.Infact,wejustcannotstoptalking.
Languageisourmediumofcommunication,butitcanalsobeabarrierto
understanding.Thereareoversixthousandlanguagesintheworldtoday,
thoughwearerapidlylosingthesmalleronesthesamewaywearelosing
endangeredspecies.Anyonewhohasbeenstrandedinaplacewhereno
onearoundyouspeaksyourlanguageknowsthefrustrationthatarisesfrom
beingunabletocommunicateinanarticulate,complexfashion.Wespend
billionsofdollarsandcountlesshoursontranslation,onattemptingtolearn
newlanguagesandondevelopingmachinesthatcantranslateforus(with
surprisinglylittlesuccess).Thesixthousandlivinglanguageswouldneedan
entirelibraryofdictionariesandgrammarsjusttodocumentthem,notto
mentionthatatthepresentstateofourknowledge,eachlanguageneedsa
dictionaryandgrammarintermsofeveryotherlanguage:abookthatteach-
esJapaneseinKoreanisnousetoaspeakerofEnglishorGermanor
RussianwhowantstolearnJapanese.
E
N Somelanguageshavereputationsforbeingparticularlydifficult.Finnishhas
O
morethantennouncases;theverbsystemofSpanishisexceedinglycom-
E
R plex;Japanesehasthemostdifficultalphabetsystemintheworld;Chinese
U
T andmanyotherAsianlanguagesrelyontonesthatareverydifficultforadult
C
E
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speakersofnon-Asianlanguageseventohear;Khoi-sanandotherAfrican
languagesrelyonclicksoundsthatarenotphonemesinmanyotherlan-
guages.Englishhasnumerousexceptionstoallofitsrulesandadoptsnew
vocabularysoreadilythatdictionariesmustbeconstantlyupdated.Andyet
takeatinychildfromanylinguisticenvironment,bringhimorhertoanother
linguisticenvironment,andessentiallydonothingexceptcarryonnormal
behaviorandthechildwillgrowupasafluentspeakerofthenewlanguage.
Beforetheageofsixchildrenlearnnewlanguageseffortlessly.Thereseems
tobenoupperlimittothenumberoflanguagesthatcanbelearnedthisway,
andnotonlycanchildrenlearnasmanylanguagesastheyareexposedto,
buttheyalsoneverseemtoconfuselanguages:Achildgrowingupinabilin-
gualenvironmentcanswitcheasilyfrom,say,FinnishtoSwedishorSpanish
toEnglishorPolishtoRussianwithoutconfusingthetwolanguagesormak-
ingfundamentalmistakesingrammar.Multilingualpeoplecandothisswitch-
ingwithoutconfusion.Andyetadultscanstudylanguagesfordecadesand
notachieveperfectpronunciation.
Sohowdoesthisallwork?Wheredoeslanguagecomefrom?Ifitisacom-
pletely“natural”phenomenon,whydowehavesixthousandworldlan-
guages?Iflanguageisacompletely“cultural”phenomenon,whyisitthe
commoncapabilityofeveryhuman?Whycanevenpeoplewhoareunableto
hearorspeakdevelopcomplexlanguage?Whydowespeakalanguagedif-
ferentfromthatofourancestors?Whydosomepeople,evenwithinAmerica,
speakingEnglish,usedifferentwordsforthesamethings?
Inthiscourse,wewilllearntheanswerstoallthesequestionsandmore,
tracinglanguagefromthebrain,throughthethroatandmouthandoutinto
theworld,examiningthewaysitchangesovertimeandspace.Intheend,
althoughwewillnothavealltheanswers,wewillhaveamuchbetteridea
abouthowlanguageworksandhowthissupremelyhumanachievement
helpsmakeuswhatweare.
Thiscoursecanbedividedintotwoparts.Inthefirsthalf,lecturesone
throughseven,wewillexaminehowlanguageworksingeneral.Inthesec-
ondhalf,lectureseightthroughfourteen,wewilltakethesegeneralprinci-
plesandapplythemtothespecificlanguageofEnglishinallitsfascinating
andcomplexhistoryanddevelopment.
Wewillthereforestartoffwiththeverybigpicture—thelogicalstructuresof
languages,thewayslinguisticsoundsareproduced,theconnection
betweensoundandmeaning,thepowerofsyntax—andthenzoomintothe
particularwaysEnglishputstogethersoundandmeaning.Interwoven
throughouttheentireargumentwillbethehistoryofEnglish,alanguagethat
beganamongasmallgroupofrelativelyprimitiveforest-dwellersmanythou-
sandsofyearsagointhenorthofEuropeandhasexpandedtobecomethe
firsttrulygloballanguage.
TheFoundationsandtheBrain
Wecouldbeginourdiscussionoflanguagewithmathematics,withthetypes
ofcommunicationssystemsthatcanbedescribedmathematically.Thekey
ideasinthisfieldweredevelopedbyClaudeShannonandWarrenWeaver,
whowereresearchersforBellLabs(thetelephonecompany)in1949.
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ShannonandWeaverdemonstratedmathematicallyhowmuchinformation
couldbetransmittedthroughawire;inotherwords,whatwasthemaximum
amountofinformationthatcouldbeconveyedthroughacertain“bandwidth.”
OthermathematiciansandlogicianstookupwhereShannonandWeaverleft
offanddevelopedthedisciplineofinformationtheory.Butinformationtheoryis
abitbeyondthescopeofthiscourse,particularlysinceweareabletodomost
ofourthinkingaboutlanguagewithouthavingtorelyuponinformationtheory.
Instead,wewillbeginwiththebrain,wherelanguagebegins.Surprisingly,
languagestudydidnotalwaysstartwiththebrain.IntheMiddleAges,lan-
guagewasthoughttobeagiftfromGod,andforabouttwothousandyears
theexplanationfortheexistenceofmultiplelanguagescameprettymuch
unchangedfromGenesisandtheTowerofBabelstory.Butin1861the
FrenchphysicianPierrePaulBrocadiscoveredthatacertainpartofthe
brain(intheinferiorfrontalgyrusofthefrontallobeofthecortex)wascon-
nectedtospeech.
Brocadissectedthebrainofapersonwithaphasiaandnoticedalesionin
thatparticulararea.PeoplewithdamagetoBroca’sareaareabletoproduce
words,butnotgrammaticalspeech.Peoplewithdamagetoanotherpartofthe
braincalledWernicke’sarea(intheleftposteriorsectionofthesuperiortem-
poralgyrus)haveadifferentkindofaphasia:Theyproducenormal-sounding
speechthatmakesnosense;ithastherhythmofregularspeechbuthasno
meaning.ThediscoveryofBroca’sandWernicke’sarea,andthestudyby
manydoctorsandlinguistsofspeechimpairments,ledtotheunderstanding
thatlanguageisnotsimplyproducedinthebrain,butinveryspecificpartsof
thebrain.Inotherwords,wehavea“languageorgan.”
Theneurobiologicalstudyoflanguageisoneofthefastest-movingareasin
contemporarylinguisticresearch.PET(positronemissiontomography)and
fMRI(functionalmagneticresonanceimaging)scansallowresearcherstosee
whichareasofthebrainarefunctioningwhenanindividualdoesdifferent
kindsoflinguisticprocessing.Studiesofstrokevictimsandsufferersofbrain
injurieshavealsoallowedneurolinguiststomapthebraininmoredetail
(detailedneurolinguisticsisalsoabitbeyondthescopeofthiscourse).
Sothebraingenerateslanguageinsomewaythatwearestillfiguringout.
Thenwhathappens?Thesignalsfromthebraintraveldowntothethroat,
mouth,lips,andlungs.Weproducesoundsbyforcingairoutofthechest
andthroughfoldsinthethroat—thevocalcords—andthenmodifyingthe
soundsthusproducedbychangingthearrangementsofthevocaltract,
whichincludesthethroat,tongue,mouth,lips,andpalate.Inlecturethree
wewilldiscussthismovement—calledarticulation—inmuchmoredetail,but
fornowitissimplyimportanttonotethatthebraingeneratesimpulsesthat
arethentransmutedintosoundbythemovementofairthroughthevocal
tract.Thesesoundstravelthroughtheairintotheearsofalistener,where
thesoundimpulsesareconvertedbackintoelectricalimpulsesinthebrain.
E Ofcoursethisreallydoesnotexplainverymuch,asitleavesoutthereally
N
O importantelementsofwhichsoundsarechosenbythebrain,howtheyare
E
R arranged,andhowthehearerdecodesthem.Thebrainobviouslychooses
U
T soundcombinationsthataremeaningfulinsomelanguage,buthowdoesthe
C
E brainknowthis?Bybeingexposedtothatlanguageenoughtolearnit.Thus
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wegettothebiggest“whichcamefirst,thechickenortheegg?”problem
sincetheoriginal“chickenandtheegg”problem:Howdidlanguagearise?
Thereareavarietyoftheories,andtheyareallbad.Someresearchersthink
thatlanguagecamefromimitationofsounds(the“dingdong”)theory,others
fromtheneedtokeepgroupsofpeopleinrhythm(the“yoheeho”theory).
Wesimplydonotknow,ashumanshavebeenusingspokenlanguagefar,
farlongerthantheyhavebeenusingwriting.
LanguageAcquisitionandDevelopment
Wedoknowthatoncealanguageexists,exposingayoungchild’smindto
thatlanguageresultsinthechildlearningthelanguage.Thelanguageorgan
isclearlyuniversal:TakeababyfromanAmericanfamilytoChinaandput
thatchildwithaChinese-speakingfamily,andthatchildwillgrowupspeak-
ingfluentChinese.Butwaittoolong,andbringanadulttoChina,andthat
adultwillnotevenbeabletodistinguishkeyaspectsofChinese,suchasris-
ingandfallingtones.ThedifficultythatadultJapanesespeakershaveindis-
tinguishingLandR,forexample,hasledtomanyunpleasantethnicjokes
andalsoWorldWarII-eraattemptstoseparateoutJapaneseAmericansfrom
potentialspiesbasedonthepronunciationofLandRwords.
Sowecanconcludethatthelanguageorganisbothhard-wired(anyonecan
learnalanguagewithnoinstructionifheorsheisexposedearlyenough)and
programmable.Ourbestresearchsuggeststhatthebrain’slanguagecapabili-
tyiscompletelyopenuntiltheageofsix.Then,betweensixandpuberty,
thereisabitlessflexibility.Afterpubertysomethinghardensinthebrainandit
becomesfarmoredifficulttolearnnewlanguageswithoutagreatdealofcom-
plexintellectualmaterial(i.e.,memorizingparadigms,figuringoutparallels,
understandingrules)thatchildrendonotneedinordertopickupalanguage.
But,asanyonewhohasspenttimearoundayoungchildknows,childrendo
notpickuplanguagecompletelyandimmediately.ThefieldofDevelopmental
Linguisticsinvestigatesthewayschildrenlearnlanguages,andthisinvestiga-
tionhasshownusmuchabouthowthebrainworksingeneral.Itallbegins
withsounds.Babiesbabble,repeatingsoundslike“da,da,da,”or“ma,ma,
ma.”Researchshowsthatbabiescanbabbleanysoundinanyoftheworld’s
languages,buttheyrapidlyrestricttheirbabblingtothesoundsthatmakeup
thelanguagethatisspokenaroundthem.Soundacquisitioncontinues
throughoutlanguagedevelopment.Althoughbabiescanbabbleanygiven
soundfromanylanguage,theycannotcombineallofthesesoundsinany
order.Neithercanolderchildren,whichiswhy“babytalk”isoftencharacter-
izedbyphenomenasuchasconsonantclustersimplification,inwhichgroups
ofconsonants,suchasthoseatthebeginningoftheword“squirrel,”aresim-
plified;“squirrel”becomes“skel,”“truck”becomes“tuck.”Theseprocessesof
substitutionarethesameasthosethatgointolanguagechangeingeneral,
andwewilldiscusstheminsomedetailinlecturefive.
Aroundtheageofoneyear,childrenbegintouseone-wordutterances,
movingfromsoundstowords.Thesewordsare,atthebeginning,nearlyall
nouns.Thenfollowtheverbs,andthenotherwordsthatcanbecombined
withnounsandverbs:adjectivesandadverbs.Thetwo-wordstagelastsfora
while,withchildrenabletocommunicatethroughexpressionslike“mybook”
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