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English from Old to New Flashcards

1
Q

What is the time period for Old English?

A

500-1100

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2
Q

What significant event occurred in 1066 that influenced the English language?

A

Battle of Hastings

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3
Q

What language became the official language after the Norman Conquest?

A

Norman French

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4
Q

What major technological advancement in the late 1400s influenced the English language?

A

Creation of the Printing Press

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5
Q

What are the key influences on Old English?

A
  • Old Norse
  • Latin
  • Germanic tribes
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6
Q

What is Grimm’s Law?

A

A sound change that affected Proto-Indo-European languages

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7
Q

What was the impact of the Danelaw on Old English?

A

Close contact with Old Norse languages

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8
Q

True or False: Old Norse and Old English had equal status in the Danelaw area.

A

True

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9
Q

What types of words were borrowed from Old Norse into Old English?

A
  • Ordinary household words
  • Closed class items like pronouns and prepositions
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10
Q

What was the primary language of the upper classes during Middle English?

A

French

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11
Q

What was the dominant language in England until at least 1350?

A

French

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12
Q

What significant societal change occurred after the Black Death?

A

Labour shortage and increased demands from peasants

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13
Q

What was the Peasants Revolt of 1381 about?

A

Lower taxes and an end to unfree labour

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14
Q

What was the relationship between English and Latin in the context of Christianity?

A

Latin was the language of Christianity

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15
Q

What significant linguistic shift began around 1300 towards English?

A

Attitudes changed towards English as the language of the English

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16
Q

What are the main phonological changes in Old English?

A
  • Fricative voicing
  • Palatalisation
  • Breaking
  • Fronting or i-mutation
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17
Q

What is the structure of the Old English syntax?

A
  • Case-system
  • Verb-second (V2) in main clauses
  • Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) in embedded clauses
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18
Q

What is the term for the English vocabulary primarily derived from Germanic origins?

A

Word-Hoard

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19
Q

What major phonological change happened during Early Modern English?

A

Great Vowel Shift

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20
Q

What are the distinct forms of personal pronouns in Early Modern English?

A
  • I/me
  • thou/thee
  • he/him
  • she/her
  • we/us
  • ye/you
  • they/them
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21
Q

What were some of the influences on the Middle English lexicon?

A
  • Celtic
  • Latin
  • French
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22
Q

What is one characteristic of the Early Modern English syntax?

A

Rise of auxiliary verbs

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23
Q

What was the effect of the Norman Conquest on English vocabulary?

A

Massive influx of French loanwords

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24
Q

Fill in the blank: The Black Death pandemic struck England in _______.

A

1349

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25
What linguistic feature was lost in the transition from Old English to Middle English?
Dual category in pronouns
26
What was the effect of the Great Vowel Shift on long vowels?
Raising of long vowels
27
What was the social mobility impact of the establishment of towns?
Increased geographical and social mobility
28
True or False: English was initially considered the 'high language'.
False
29
What type of words did French loanwords typically introduce into English?
* New concepts * Replace native words * Coexist with native terms
30
What caused the decline of serfdom in England?
Labour shortages and peasant demands following the Black Death
31
What is the meaning of the phrase 'ic gewilnige þæt ic ana ne belife'?
I wish that I alone not remain-SUBJ ## Footnote Translated as 'I wish that I may not remain alone' (modal auxiliary) or 'I do not wish to remain alone' (to-infinitival clause)
32
How did the status of English change by the 1550s?
It changed from ‘barbarous and unrefined’ to ‘elegant’
33
From which languages did the English language borrow during the Renaissance?
Latin and Greek
34
What is meant by the phenomenon of 'bound roots'?
A linguistic concept related to root morphemes that cannot stand alone
35
What is the impact of Latinate suffixes on root words?
They cause phonological and/or stress changes to the root
36
Give an example of a Latinate suffix and its effect on a root word.
-ity: electric – electricity (stress and k/s)
37
What is an example of a native suffix?
-ing: investigate – investigating
38
What grammatical changes occurred in English morphology?
Case endings disappear further, pronouns change, verbal agreement continues to disappear, nouns are used as verbs and adjectives
39
How did syntax change in the English language?
Word order becomes fixed, subjects become obligatory, auxiliaries are used more, do becomes obligatory in questions and negatives, multiple negation is reduced, punctuation becomes syntactically motivated
40
What phonological change occurs due to Grimm’s Law?
Fricative voicing occurs, where [f] > [v], [s] > [z], and [θ] > [ð] between voiced sounds.
41
What morphological change is associated with the weak past tense in Old English?
The weak past tense is formed by adding an ending to the verb.
42
How many cases were reduced in Old English?
The case system was reduced from 8 cases to 4.
43
What is an example of palatalisation in Old English?
OE 'c' becomes /tʃ/ before a front vowel, as in 'ceorl' to 'churl'.
44
What happens to front vowels in Old English due to breaking?
Front vowels æ, e, and i become diphthongs before certain consonants.
45
What is the result of fronting or i-mutation in Old English?
Vowels are raised and fronted before an i-ending, leading to pairs like 'mouse' - 'mice'.
46
What syntactic structure is typical in main clauses of Old English?
Main clauses typically follow a Verb-second (V2) structure.
47
What is the Old English case system similar to?
It is similar to the Modern German case system.
48
What is the term for the English vocabulary influenced by Germanic invaders?
The term is 'Word-Hoard', representing the true English version of vocabulary.
49
What influences did the Viking invaders bring to Old English?
They brought everyday loanwords into the language.
50
What phonological changes occurred in Middle English?
There was a loss of consonants and changes in vowel sounds, such as unrounding and lengthening.
51
What influence did Scandinavian have on Middle English pronouns?
Scandinavian influence led to the distinction between formal and informal pronouns.
52
What syntactic change occurred regarding possessives in Middle English?
The possessive 'of' was influenced by the French 'de'.
53
What was a significant change in the lexicon of Middle English?
Latin contributed church terms, primarily via French influence.
54
What orthographic change occurred in Middle English handwriting?
The Old English wynn (ƿ) fell out of use, and the thorn (þ) began to resemble 'y'.
55
What is yogh (Ȝ) and its significance in Middle English?
Yogh represented y (/j/) and various velar phonemes, derived from the Insular form of the letter g.
56
What phonological change occurred with the initial consonant cluster in Early Modern English?
Loss of k in initial consonant cluster: knight ! [nait] ## Footnote Completed by Shakespeare’s time, as shown by his puns on knight/night.
57
What is the Great Vowel Shift?
A significant phonological change from c. 1450-1750 involving the raising of long vowels. ## Footnote It may have been a push or a drag chain and proceeded in stages.
58
What is a key characteristic of the Great Vowel Shift?
It only affected LONG vowels. ## Footnote Some sound changes did not go ‘all the way’ (e.g. leave versus great).
59
What is Antepenultimate Syllable Shortening?
The long vowel in an adjective could undergo shortening in the derived noun, therefore not affected by later GVS.
60
What are the distinct forms of personal pronouns in Early Modern English?
I/me, thou/thee, he/him, she/her, we/us, ye/you, they/them.
61
What happened to the 2nd person singular pronoun in Early Modern English?
Loss of thou/thee; the plural form ye/you is also used for the singular.
62
What new forms of pronouns emerged in Early Modern English?
Rise of new reflexive pronouns in -self, -selves.
63
What happened to the verbal ending -eth in Early Modern English?
More fully replaced by -s; -est disappears.
64
What change occurred in the use of auxiliary verbs in Early Modern English?
Modal verbs became auxiliaries and lost their lexical meaning.
65
What is the subjunctive mood used for in Early Modern English?
Indicate 'irrealis' meanings of intentions, promises, and orders.
66
By the 1550s, how did the status of English change?
From ‘barbarous and unrefined’ to ‘elegant’.
67
What languages influenced English during the Renaissance?
Latin and Greek.
68
What are examples of native versus Latinate suffixes?
Native: -ing, -ness, -ly, -less; Latinate: -ity, -ian, -ic.
69
What grammatical changes occurred in Early Modern English morphology?
Case endings disappear further, pronouns change, verbal agreement continues to disappear.
70
What syntactic change occurred regarding word order in Early Modern English?
Word order becomes fixed and subjects become obligatory.
71
True or False: Multiple negation increased in Early Modern English.
False.
72
What is becoming obligatory in questions and negatives during Early Modern English?
Use of 'do'.
73
Fill in the blank: The phenomenon of _______ roots refers to roots that cannot stand alone.
bound.
74
How did punctuation begin to change in Early Modern English?
Becoming syntactically motivated.

English Old to New (1 decks)

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