BBI 3101

INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH

WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT

DUE WEEK 8

Instructions:

  1. Complete ALL the exercises below and compile them into a folder to be handed in to course instructor WEEK 8.
  2. No late folders will be accepted.
  3. You must include the following information in the folder:
  4. Name
  5. Student number
  6. Mobile phone number
  7. Home address

EXERCISE #1

1.About how many people speak English as a native language?

2.Which language of the world has the largest number of speakers?

3.What are the six largest European languages after English?

4.Why is English so widely used as a second language?

5.Which languages are likely to grow most rapidly in the foreseeable future? Why?

6.What are the official languages of the United Nations?

EXERCISE #2

Explain why the following people are important in studies of the Indo-European family of languages:

  1. Panini
  2. Jacob Grimm
  3. Karl Verner
  4. Ferdinand de Saussure

EXERCISE #3

Define, identify, or explain briefly:

  1. Family of languages
  2. Indo-European
  3. Koiné
  4. Vulgar Latin
  5. Proto-Germanic
  6. West Germanic
  7. Hittites
  8. Centum and satem languages

______

EXERCISE #4

Explain why the following are important in historical discussions of the English language:

  1. The Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy
  2. Beowulf
  3. Alfred the Great
  4. Ecclesiastical History of the English People

______

EXERCISE #5

1.Who were the first people in England about whose language we have definite knowledge?

2.When did the Romans conquer England, and when did they withdraw?

3.At approximately what date did the invasion of England by the Germanic tribes begin?

4.Where were the homes of the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes?

5.Where does the name English come from?

______

EXERCISE #6

1.What characteristics does English share with other Germanic languages?

2.To which branch of Germanic does English belong?

3.What are the dates of Old English, Middle English, and Modern English?

4.What are the four dialects of Old English?

5.About what percentage of the Old English vocabulary is no longer in use?

EXERCISE #7

1.How would the English language probably have different if the Norman Conquest had never occurred?

2.From what settlers does Normandy derive its name? When did they come to France?

3.Why did William consider that he had a claim on the English throne?

4.What was the decisive battle between the Normans and the English? How did the Normans win it?

5.When was William crowned king of England? How long did it take him to complete his conquest of England and gain complete recognition? In what parts of the country did he face rebellions?

6.What happened to Englishmen in positions of church and state under William’s rule?

7.For how long after the Norman Conquest did French remain the principal language of the upper classes in England?

8.How did William divide his lands at his death?

9.What was generally the attitude of the French kings and upper classes to the English language?

______

EXERCISE #8

Explain why the following are important in historical discussions of the English language:

  1. King John
  2. Henry III
  3. The Hundred Years’ War
  4. The Black Death
  5. Geoffrey Chaucer
  6. John Wycliffe

EXERCISE #9

1.In what year did England lose Normandy? What events brought about the loss?

2.What effect did the loss of Normandy have upon the nobility of France and England and consequently upon the English language?

3.Despite the loss of Normandy, what circumstances encouraged the French to continue coming to England during the long reign of Henry III (1216-1272)?

4.The arrival of foreigners during Henry III’s reign undoubtedly delayed the spread of English among the upper classes. In what ways did these events actually benefit the English language?

5.What was the status of French throughout Europe in the thirteenth century?

6.What explains the fact that the borrowing of French words begins to assume large proportions during the second half of the thirteenth century, as the importance of the French language in England is declining?

7.What general conclusions can one draw about the positions of English at the end of the thirteenth century?

8.In what way did the Hundred Years’ War probably contribute to the decline of French in England?

9.The Black Death reduced the numbers of the lower classes disproportionately and yet indirectly increased the importance of the language that they spoke. Why was this so?

EXERCISE #10

1.What new forces began to affect the English language in the Modern English period? Why may it be said that these forces were both radical and conservative?

2.What problems did the modern European languages face in the sixteenth century?

3.Why did English have to be defended as a language of scholarship? How did the scholarly recognition of English come about?

4.When was the first English dictionary published? What was the main purpose of English dictionaries throughout the seventeenth century?