Chapter 9: Historical Linguistics and History of English

by Markus Krabbe

The current chapter looks at two related areas: the diachronic study of language in general, i.e. historical linguistics, on the one hand, and the history of the English language, on the other, with focus clearly on the latter. Interest shall first be directed at historical linguistics as such and at a nutshell description of what it is that diachronic linguistics study.

Historical Linguistics – the field

Historical linguistics looks, as the name suggests, at language and its history, that is at earlier stages of language development and at processes leading to change and finally to language as we have it today. Its aims are twofold at least: analyzing and describing the historical status of language(s) and analyzing and describing patterns of change and development that help explain language history and also ongoing processes in language today.

In the beginning, that is from the late 18^th century on, historical linguistics was a mainly comparative field of study, looking at related languages, establishing language families by using e.g. the family tree model and (re-)constructing earlier stages of language based on results of comparative work. By gathering lists of cognate words (see below), that is words with a common root and similar form and meaning in various languages, proto-languages were reconstructed. Early and famous comparative work was conducted by the Englishman Sir William Jones, who compared Sanskrit and European languages, establishing the Indo-European language family (see image below), to which also English and German belong, both being part of the (West-)Germanic sub-branch.

Many variant branches of historical linguistics exist so that at this point we will only mention a selected sample (see bibliography for further reading). Basically, any field present in synchronic linguistics may also be approached form a diachronic perspective, if with at times serious setbacks caused by a lack of data. A “classic” amongst the areas of historical linguistics is the study of etymology, i.e. the study of the history of words. Historical semantics may look at words from two perspectives: the onomasiological approach looks at a meaning and from there moves to the connected sign (How was X expressed in the 12^th century?), whereas the so-called semasiological approach goes from sign to meaning (What did X mean in the 12^th century?). Research in this area is, like in any other historical discipline, is comparably difficult and increasingly so the further back into the history of the language we look. This is due to reduced numbers of sources and increasing limitations in accessibility. There simply are no tape recordings of language from the age of Shakespeare and there is no way to interview an Anglo-Saxon on his use of speech patterns or certain words.

The history of English

Traditionally and in fact most appropriately, the history of English is divided into four distinct periods: Old, Middle, Early Modern and Modern English. Old English covers a period from the second half of the first millennium to roughly around 1100, ending shortly after the Norman Conquest. It is a period in which English still was a dominantly synthetic language and it is certainly different from any English spoken since. The language of this period was influenced by and in contact (language contact) with Latin and what is called Old Norse, i.e. the language of Scandinavian seafarers and settlers. As in later stages, English lexicon at this stage of its development was (amongst other features) characterized by frequent borrowings from contact languages, i.e. by taking over words from them. With the beginning of the
Middle English period a change in typology becomes evident, which was never a question of “a few years” around the Norman Conquest but certainly a process taking a much longer time. Middle English may and is however generally labeled as being an analytic language. More careful scholars might say it is “increasingly analytic”. In Middle English we trace, next to continued and renewed Latin influences, strong influences of various predecessors of modern French: Norman dialects at an early stage and Central French influence as time went by. As a consequence we trace an ongoing expansion of the lexicon, i.e. borrowing, especially in areas influenced by the new ruling classes. Another drastic and important change starting in Middle English (around 1400), though not ending until well into, possibly even at the end of, Early Modern English (c. 1800), was the so-called Great Vowel Shift (GVS). The GVS is best (though imperfectly, but see further reading) defined as a process in which all long vowels become raised to higher and closer positions, with “position” referring to articulation. A final and equally important process starting in the Middle English period was that of the standardization of the English language. As this is a long and complex story in itself, it shall suffice to say that it started even before 1400 and that it is widely finished around 1800, as well. Important stages in this process are the medieval Chancery Lane, an administrative center of a certain influence in official language use, the printing press, though with de-standardizing effects in the beginning, the first dictionaries and grammars and finally the Elementary Educational Act, though slightly after the period given above, i.e. in 1870. This is already deep inside what we call the Early Modern English period, the start of which is usually placed around 1500, that is in a time of drastic change in Europe (reformation, renaissance etc.) and after e.g. the discovery of America. EModE is also characterized by a continued and refreshed influence of Romance and Classic languages on its lexicon, due to e.g. the renaissance, and also by the continuation of both the GVS and the process of standardization. Also, the development towards an increasingly analytic language type continues. After 1750 the Modern English period begins. Again, some scholars claim earlier or later dates, a fact that is again due to all periodization being a mere means of structuring a long history and basically any date being more or less arbitrary and disputable. Still, most drastic change phenomena are widely finished by this time and English has taken a shape that makes it look much like the English we know today. However, the journey of English continues as you read, as change is an ever present facet of language.

Keywords

Reading

Finegan, Edward (2004). Language: Its Structure and Use. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace College Publishers. Ch. 13 + 14.

Yule, George (2006). The Study of Language: An Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Ch. 19.

Advanced Reading

Baugh, Albert C. & Cable, Thomas (2002). A History of the English Language. London: Taylor & Francis.  

Crystal, David (2005). The Stories of English. London: Penguin.  

Jucker, Andreas H. (2000). History of English and English Historical Linguistics. Stuttgart: Klett.  

For facsimiles of some OE texts:
http://www.rosenkilde-bagger.dk/Early%20English%20Volumes.htm

For some OE texts read aloud:
http://www.readingoldenglish.com/

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