Old english

explanation

1. OLD ENGLISH PERIOD (450-1150)

2. PERIOD IN THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH. The evolution of English in England has been an unbroken one, with this development however it is possible to recognise three main periods . T he period 450 to 1150 is known as the - OLD ENGLISH PERIOD . The Anglo saxon conquest marks the beginning of the old English period and Norman conquest its end.

3. OLD ENGLISH DIALECTS There were a number of kingdoms in the old english period . H ence there were a number of dialects in old English ,out of these the four prominent dialects were KENTISH, WESTSAXON ,MERICAN, NORTHUMBRAIN.

4. During the old English period the westsaxon dialects gained supremacy .There are many reasons for the popularity of the west saxon dialects. Wessex being the most civilised kingdom among the rest. Most of the library works were written in the west saxon dialect. Riddles and treaties were written in the west saxon dialect.

5. OLD ENGLISH SPELLING AND PRONOUNCIATION. The Germanic people in the early times used a special alphabet known as the Runic alphabet. Old E nglish had seven vowels- a,e,I,o,u andoe which was the combination of two symbols called the ‘Ash’ symbols. Old English had 16 consonants Old was phonetic in character In oldengilsh there were certain symbols which stood for more than one sound.

6. OLD ENGLISH GRAMMAR. Old English was highly inflected language and so the old English period is called the period of full inflection. Old English was a synthetic language ie , one which indicates the relation of words in a sentence by means of inflections.Old English noun s had 2 numbers singular and plural. All noun had grammatical gender.There were two forms of adjectives in old English There were two tenses in old English single present tense and single past tense .

7. old english vocabulary In the course of first 700years of its existence, English was brought into contact with three other language. The language of the celts , the romans and the scandinavian . Each of these contacts resulted in additions to its vocabulary.

8. Celtic influence. Celtic the orginal Language of Britian has left a few marks on the spoken language . The anglo saxons preserved the celtic names of cities ,towns ,rivers, and mountains. Some words reffering to natural features of landscape. The celtic influence is mainly seen in the area of place names

9. Latin influence There were three distinct occasions on which borrowing from latin occurred before the end of the old English period. Continental Borrowing Latin through celtic transmission Christanization of Britain

10. Scandinavian inflence of old english vocabulary. Near the end of the old Engilsh period , English underwent a third foreign influence the result of contact with another important languagescandinavian –the language of swedes,norwegiaang and the danes . They are commonly called as VIKINGS. The periodof their activity extended from the middle of the 8 th century to the beginning of the 11 th century is popularly known as viking age. The scandinavian influence upon old E nglish was due to their attacks ,settlements and ultimate conquest of britain .

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