THE PURPOSE OF THIS COURSE OF LECTURES

Lecture 1

Position of the English language among other languages in the world

POINTS FOR DISCUSSION

1. The history of the English language as a science.

2. The purpose of this course of lectures.

3. Linguistic change.

4. Sources and methods of language history.

5. The Origin and position of English among other languages in the world.

6. Modern Germanic languages

THE HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE AS A SCIENCE

Linguistic courses studied at philological faculties and institutes of foreign languages deals with different aspects of the language. Grammar deals with Morphology and Syntax; Lexicology deals with the Vocabulary (the structure of words, word formation, the development of meaning etc.); Phonetics deals with the sounds of the language. As a whole these aspects comprise the system of modern language.

But language is a product of centuries of development; language, as long as it lives is in actual use, is in constant state of change.

It does not develop by leaps and bounds; its changes are usually gradual and slow, though there are periods when the changes become numerous and comparatively fast (as the 12^th or the 15^th centuries in the history of the English language).

Language comes into existence together with the appearance of human society, and is inseparable from the latter’s development. That’s why language is historical and social phenomenon.

The growth and development of a language should be studied alongside with the history of the people that speak it.

A philologist should know the structure of the language he studies, and its relation to other languages, the wealth of its vocabulary along with sources enriching it, and in general the political, social and cultural influences which have combined to make the languages what it is.

Can we say that the history of a language begins with its coming into existence? No, we cannot. Its history begins with writing, that is when written documents exist.

THE PURPOSE OF THIS COURSE OF LECTURES

As we have said above a language can be studied in its various aspects: phonetics, grammar, wordstock, style, and so on. In studying Modern English we consider all these aspects synchronically, that is we regard the language as a fixed, unchangeable system. Accordingly we take no account of the origins or previous development of present-day features previous development of present-day features of the language or their tendencies to change.

The synchronic approach may be contrasted to the diachronic approach, in which no element of the language is treated as fixed or stable, and every linguistic fact is interpreted as a stage in the continuous linguistic evolution.

The history of the language deals with changes in phonetics, grammar and wordstock in time, and thus is aimed to give a diachronic description of the contrast between historical and synchronic as it is in theory; in studying Modern English we often record to its history to find explanation for current phenomena; on the other hand the progress of the language can be presented as a series of synchronic cross-sections of certain historical periods, such as the age of Chaucer or Shakespeare.

The history of the English language shows the place of the English language among other languages and thus provides a wider approach to its study: it reveals the ties of English with other Germanic languages as well as its ties with languages of other groups, e.g. French and Latin.

The evolution of the English language is connected with the history of the English speaking people or “external history”. Wherever possible, it will be shown what linguistic alterations are dependant on or caused by events in the history of the people (e.g. the mixing of languages, the appearance of new words).

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