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OE dialects. The role of Wessex dialect.

Kingdom Kent Wessex Mercia Northumbria
Dialect Kentish West Saxon Mercian Northumbrian
Spoken in Kent, Surrey, the Isle of Wight along the Thames and the Bristol Channel between the Thames and the Humber between the Humber and the Forth
Origin from the tongues of Jutes/ Frisians A Saxon dialect a dialect of north Angles a dialect of south Angles
Remarks   9thc-Wessex was the centre of the E. culture and politics. West Saxon – the bookish type of lan-ge (Alfred the Great – the patron of culture and learning)   8th c. – Northumbria was the centre of the English culture

5)Scandinavian invasion & its effect on English

Since the 8c the Br. Isles were ravaged by sea rovers from Scandinavia, first by Danes, later – by Norwegians. By the end of 9c Danes had succeeded in obtaining a permanent footing in England. More than half of E. was recognized as Danish territory – “Danelaw”. Some of the Scandinavians came to E. to plunder & return to their homeland, others made their permanent home in North East England.

Danes (the new settlers) & the E. intermarried & intermixed. They intermingled the more easily as there was no linguistic barrier (OE & O Scand. Belonged to the Germanic group of l-es).

The colonization continued from 9c on, during 200 years, political events: - reconquest of Danelaw under Alfreds’s successor, - the renewal of Scandinavian onslaughts in late 10c under sweyne, -political annexation of E. by Denmark under Canute.

In some areas Scandinavians outnumbered the Anglo-Saxon population, which is attested by geographical names. In Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Northumberland, Cumberland – 75% of the place-names are Danish or Norwegian.

More than 1400 E.villages & towns bear names of Scand. Origin (with the element “thorp” meaning “village”/Woodthorp/, with “toft” – “ a piece of land” /Brimtoft/.

Scandinavians were obsorbed into the local population both ethnically& linguistically. The impact on the linguistic situation & on further development of E.l. was quite profound.

The increased regional differences of English in 11 & 12c must be partly attributed to the Scand. Influence. Due to contacts & mixture with O.Scand, the Northern dialects acquired lasting Scand. features. We find a large admixture of Scand. words in EME records coming from the North East whereas contemporary texts from other regions are practically devoid of Sc. borrowings. In later ages the Sc. element passed into other regions. The incorporation of the Sc. element in the London dialect & Standart English was brought about by the changing linguistic situation in England: the mixture of the dialects & the growing linguistic unification. Yet neither in the South nor in Standart English the Scand. element ever assume such proportions as in the North-Eastern ME dialects.

A considerable part of the vocabulary was common to English & to Scand. dialects. In many words the root was the same, while endings were different.



OE Scand

Sunu sunr

Wind vindr

Another part of Scand. vocabulary did not correspond to English /lagu (NE law),husbonda (husband)


Date: 2015-12-18; view: 1306


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