Mid Term Exam (last Semester)

Question 1

Fill in the gaps in the family tree.

Answer 1

a. Indo-European-Germanic
b. (Proto-) Germanic
c. Celtic
d. North Germanic
e. East Germanic
f. West Germanic

Question 2

Which date(s) could be given as the beginning of English? Discuss.
- two possible answers

Answer 2

> 449/450: Beginning of Germanic settlement

> 700: first written records

Question 3

Give the alternative name for each of the three periods of Latin influence on Old English. Then relate the example words given below to the respective period.
Example words: abbot, port, Dorchester, wine, wall, altar

Answer 3

Question 4

Classify the given verb forms of scan according to their function

Answer 4

Question 5

Decide whether the given Old English verb is weak or strong

Answer 5

a. strong - vowel change
b. weak - dental suffix
c. weak - dental suffix

Question 6

Indicate in the map where the Danelaw was located. What does the name mean? When was it installed? Why?
(Tell us on which side the Danelaw is!!!)

Answer 6

> It was the area where the Danish law was valid.
It was installed in 878 with the Treaty of Wedmore.
The Treaty of Wedmore was a peace treaty between the English and the Vikings to put an end to the Viking attacks.

Question 7

Decide which phoneme is represented by the grapheme <c> in the example words. Name the reason for your choice.</c>

Answer 7

Question 8

Explain the difference in the vowel between the ModE noun ‘tooth’ and its plural form ‘teeth’. Give their ModE phonemes.
You might need the following information:
older form of ‘tooth’ in OE: tōþ
older form of ‘teeth’ in OE: tōþiz

(i-Mutation/explain the process, general description; there are partial points, just write sth.)

Answer 8

i-Mutation
> the back-vowel <o> (/oː/) in the plural form tōþiz was influenced by the <i> in the second syllable. It was fronted and assimilated to the <i> (and became <e> (eː)).</e></i></i></o>

In the second step the syllable containing the <i> was lost.</i>

We end up with the form tēþ
The ModE phonemes:
tooth: /tuːθ/ > /uː/
teeth: /tiːθ/ > /iː/

Question 9

Many loan words from French were taken over during the Middle English period. Explain the two possible consequences this massive influx of loans can have on the language and give an example each.

Answer 9

Option 1: One word dies out while another survives. For example, ‘niman’ (‘taken’ survived).

Option 2: Differentiation of synonyms: The meanings of the words slightly change and create near-synonyms. For example, ‘ask’ 9from west Germanic ‘āscian’), ‘question’ (from Old French ‘questionner’) and ‘interrogate’ (from Latin ‘interrogare’)

Option 3: Doublets: words with the same source language/etymological root that enter the language via different routes. For example, ‘warden’ (Anglo-Norman) and ‘guardian’ (Central French) from Old French ‘guarden’.

Question 10

Name two ways how the inflectional system changed during the Middle English period and give an example each.

Answer 10

• phonological erosion > house, hous(e)s, hous(e)s
• morphological analogy > nama, naman - name, names
  bacan, bōc, bōcon, ʒebacen - bake, baked, baked

Question 11

The first vowel in the give example words changed from Old English to Middle English. Name the OE and the ME vowel phoneme and name/describe the change.

(Remember to use the slashes for phonemes > reduction of a point per exercise)

Answer 11