History of the English LanguageOld English Text Analysis

(200 points total)

Directions: Read through the passage “The Coming of the English” by Bede (attached). Then analyze the language in the passage, looking for the characteristics of Old English pointed out in your textbook(s) and in class. All problems are based on the text attached at the end of this assignment.

Extra Credit. Discuss any other interesting observations that struck you while examining and analyzing this OE passage. (Up to a possible 20 points for five insightful observations with examples drawn from the text to support your points. MUST be typed and attached to the back of your assignment.)

Spelling and Pronunciation. For each of the following letters used in OE spelling, identify two alternative pronunciations for each phonome listed below. Provide at least one word from the text which illustrates each alternative pronunciation; be sure to include the PDE translation and the line number. (24 points)

Spelling Sound Example(s)

1. fl /D/ re #›re ‘fiercer’ (line 3)

/T/ flrim ‘three’ (11, 21), flæt ‘that’ (5)

2. s

3. f

4. c

5. g

6. h

7. n

Compounds. Identify at least five different OE compounds in the text. For each of the parts of the compound, give the two OE parts, their Present Day English (PDE) meanings, and provide evidence to prove the meanings of the parts. For example, for the compound west sæ found on line (40), the two parts are west and sæ, which mean (as in PDE) ‘west’ and ‘sea’. One can prove that west means ‘west’ in several ways. First, this word is very similar to its PDE counterpart, and more conclusively, because this word occurs with the same meaning on line (25) in the compound Westseaxan meaning ‘West Saxons’. Similarly, the word sæ looks a lot like its PDE correlate, and it exists on line (5) as sælicum ‘sea’ (the ending licum is probably a suffix) and also on line (40) in the compound eastsæ, which means ‘east sea’. Provide line numbers throughout (to identify the compound and as proof); if you use another piece of evidence to find the meaning of the compound (similarity with PDE, etc.) briefly explain. (15 points)

Compound Word Part 1 + Part 2

ex. west sæ (line 40) west ‘west’ (line 25) sæ ‘sea’ (line 5,40)

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Case: Nouns. Find the forms of the words cyning ‘king’ and land ‘land’ in the passage for the line numbers given. For each example, give its case (nominative, accusative, dative, genitive), number (singular, dual, plural) and briefly explain how you figured out the case. Note: cyning is a masculine a-stem noun; land is a neuter a-stem noun. (24 points)

‘king’ OE word Case Number Proof/Explanation

(line 4)

(line 11)

(line 12)

‘land’ OE word Case Number Proof/Explanation

(line 16)

(line 24)

(line 26)

Pronouns. Using the OE passage, create the paradigm for the third person plural pronoun in OE. Be sure to identify all the possible forms (i.e. there may be different spellings, so look for different combinations of vowels, long and short vowels, etc.) and provide the line number(s) where you found the pronoun(s). (10 points)

Nominative Pronoun Line # Dative Pronoun Line #

Accusative Pronoun Line # Genitive Pronoun Line #

Adjectives. Examine the use of the given adjectives in the text and determine whether they are strong or weak. Write the appropriate term (strong or weak) on the line provided. (10 points)

1. Line 5: sælicum

2. Line 6: yfell

3. Line 11: foresprecenan

4. Line 11: myclum

5. Line 12: ylcan

6. Line 18: unogrtdeiDendlic

7. Line 33: myclum

8. Line 33: sylfan

9. Line 35: sumre

10. Lines 41-2: cynelican

Old English 2

Affixes. Find at least one example of each of the following affixes in the text. As usual, provide the line number. (7pts)

1. a-

2. un-

3. with-

4. -lice

5. -nysse

6. ge- (past participle)

7. ge- (noun from verb)

Syntax: Word Order. Examine the following clauses, then complete the following steps. [Note: ignore the parts which are not underlined.] (30 points)

1. fia gesommnedon hi gemot (line 1)

2. and Seaxan fla sige geslogan (line 15)

3. fla sendan hi ham ærenddracan (line 15)

4. And hi fla sona hider sendon maran sciphere strengran wighena (line 17)

5. And him Bryttas sealdan (lines 18-19)

6. Comon hi of flrim folcum (line 21)

7. hit weste wunige (lines 27-28)

8. Wæron ›a ærest heora latteowas and heretogan twegan gebro›ra (line 28)

a. Write an ‘S’ directly below the underlined subject.b. Write an ‘V’ directly below the underlined verb.c. Write an ‘O’ directly below the underlined object. (Note: in sentence (3) you’ll find two objects.)d. What are the possible orderings of the subject (S), object (O) and the verb (V) in OE?

e. What is the ordering of the subject (S), object (O) and the verb (V) in PDE? (If you aren’t sure, translate a few phrases into modern English sentences.)

Old English 3

Inflectional Morphology: Past Tense. (40 points)

(1) Verb identification. List all of the verbs that are in the simple past tense, omitting all complex verb phrases with auxiliary verbs (could, had, was, were, would, etc.) and all forms of the verbs be and have. Categorize the verbs according to whether they are strong, weak, or other. When you list each verb, be sure to cite its line number and give its PDE counterpart. Be sure to list each new verb only once, but note the number of times a verb is repeated.

(2) Calculating the Results. Total the number of different verb types that occurred in the text, as well as the total instances (tokens) that occurred. Using the total number of verb types, figure out the percentages of their usage in the passage. Lastly, total the number of strong and weak verbs in the PDE columns and the percentage of each. Note that you won’t be able to simply count the PDE verbs in the strong and weak charts--you’ll need to reconsider each PDE verb’s status as strong and weak.

(3) Summary. Briefly summarize your results. Which type of verb was most prevalent? Was that what you expected? Explain why or why not. Were there any verbs that were difficult to categorize? If so, how did you decide where to categorize them?

(4) Comparison of OE and PDE. Compare the OE patterns with the PDE ones. Consider the findings from your first assignment, as well as the patterns that you found here. What are the differences and similarities between OE and PDE? Are they what you expect, given what you know about OE and PDE patterns?

[There’s space on the next page for your summary and comparison.]

Old English 4

Strong Verbs (suppletion)Strong Verbs (suppletion)OE (line) PDE Verb1

5

10

15

20

25Total types of verbsTotal types of verbsTotal instances (tokens)Total instances (tokens)

Weak Verbs (dental suffix)Weak Verbs (dental suffix)OE (line) PDE Verb1

5

10

15

20

25Total types of verbsTotal types of verbsTotal instances (tokens)Total instances (tokens)

Comparing OE

TOTAL VERB TYPES:

Percent Weak Verbs:

Percent Strong Verbs:

Comparing PDE

TOTAL VERB TYPES:

Total PDE Weak Verbs

Total PDE Strong Verbs

Percent Weak Verbs:

Percent Strong Verbs:

Other VerbsOE (line) PDE Verb1

5

10

Total types of verbsTotal types of verbsTotal instances (tokens)Total instances (tokens)

[Past Tense Verb Summary]

________________________________________________________________________________________

[Past Tense Verb Comparison of OE and PDE]

Old English 5

Inflectional Morphology: Plural Nouns. (40 points)

(1) Noun identification. List all of the plural nouns in the passage, categorizing them according to their plural marking (-s, -n, -a, -um, ø ‘no ending’, or something else). As with the past tense verbs problem, list the PDE counterparts and keep track of the total types and instances for each type of plural.

(2) Calculating the Results. Calculate the totals and the percents of usage for both the OE and PDE nouns. (See the verb problem for more specific directions.)

(3) Summary. Briefly summarize your results. Which type of noun was most prevalent? Was that what you expected? Explain why or why not. Were there any nouns that were difficult to categorize? If so, how did you decide where to categorize the noun?

(4) Comparison of OE and PDE. Compare the OE patterns with the PDE ones. Consider the findings from your first assignment, as well as the patterns that you found here. What are the differences and similarities between OE and PDE? Are they what you expect, given what you know about OE and PDE patterns?

[There’s space on the next page for your totals, summary and comparison.]

-s PluralsOE (line) PDE Noun1

5

10Total types of -s pluralsTotal types of -s pluralsTotal instances (tokens)Total instances (tokens)

-n PluralsOE (line) PDE Noun1

5

10Total types of -n pluralsTotal types of -n pluralsTotal instances (tokens)Total instances (tokens)

-a PluralsOE (line) PDE Noun1

5

10Total types of -a pluralsTotal types of -a pluralsTotal instances (tokens)Total instances (tokens)

-um PluralsOE (line) PDE Noun1

5

10Total types of -um pluralsTotal types of -um pluralsTotal instances (tokens)Total instances (tokens)

-ø PluralsOE (line) PDE Noun1

5

10Total types of ø pluralsTotal types of ø pluralsTotal instances (tokens)Total instances (tokens)

Misc Other PluralsMisc Other PluralsOE (line) PDE Noun1

5

10Total types of other pluralsTotal types of other pluralsTotal instances (tokens)Total instances (tokens)

Old English 6

Comparing Plurals: OE

TOTAL ALL PLURALS:

Percent -s plural

Percent -n plural

Percent -a plural

Percent -um plural

Percent ø plural

Percent other plurals

Comparing Plurals: PDE

TOTAL ALL PLURALS:

Total PDE -s Plurals

Total PDE other Plurals

Percent PDE -s Plural

Percent PDE Other Plural

[Plural Nouns Summary]

________________________________________________________________________________________

[Plural Nouns: Comparison of OE and PDE]

Old English 7