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unit-1-课文.doc

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UnitoneABriefHistoryofEnglish

PaulMcHenryRoberts（1917-1967）wasanAmericanauthorandjournalist.HetaughtcollegeEnglishforovertwentyyears，firstatSanJoseStateCollegeandlateratCornellUniversity.Hepublishednumerousbooksonlinguistics,includingUnderstandingGrammar（1954），PatternsofEnglish（1956），andUnderstandingEnglish（1958）.InthisselectionexcerptedfromthebookUnderstandingEnglish（1958），RobertsrecountsthemajoreventsintheEnglishhistoryanddiscussestheirimplicationsforthedevelopmentoftheEnglishlanguage.

NounderstandingoftheEnglishlanguagecanbeverysatisfactorywithoutanotionofthehistoryofthelanguage.Butweshallhavetomakedowithjustanotion.ThehistoryofEnglishislongandcomplicated,andwecanonlyhitthehighspots.

ThehistoryofourlanguagebeginsalittleafterA.D.600.Everythingbeforethatispre-history,whichmeansthatwecanguessatitbutcannotprovemuch.ForathousandyearsorsobeforethebirthofChristourlinguisticancestors,theAnglo-Saxons,werewanderingthroughtheforestsofnorthernEurope.TheirlanguagewasapartoftheGermanicbranchoftheIndo-EuropeanFamily.

NotmuchissurelyknownaboutthearrivaloftheAnglo-SaxonsinEngland.Wedoknow,however,thattheywerealongtimesecuringthemselvesinEngland.FightingwentonforaslongasahundredyearsbeforetheCeltsinEnglandwereallkilled,drivenintoWales,orreducedtoslavery.ThisistheperiodofKingArthur,whowasnotentirelymythological.HewasaRomanizedCelt,ageneral,thoughprobablynotaking.HehadsomesuccessagainsttheAnglo-Saxons,butitwasonlytemporary.By550 or so the Anglo-Saxons were firmly established.English was in England.

ItiscustomarytodividethehistoryoftheEnglishlanguageintothreeperiods:

OldEnglish,MiddleEnglish,andModernEnglish.OldEnglishrunsfromtheearliestrecords—i.e.,seventhcentury—toabout1100;MiddleEnglishfrom1100to1450or1500;ModernEnglishfrom1500tothepresentday.SometimesModernEnglishisfurtherdividedintoEarlyModern,1500-1700,andLateModern.1700tothepresent.

WhenEnglandcameintohistory,itwasdividedintoseveralmoreorlessautonomouskingdoms,someofwhichattimesexercisedacertainamountofcontrolovertheothers.Inthesixthcenturythemostadvancedkingdom.Northumbria,developedarespectablecivilization,thefinestinEurope.ItwasinthisperiodthatbestoftheOldEnglishliteraturewaswritten,includingtheepicpoemBeowulf.Intheeighthcentury.Northumbrianpowerdeclined,andthecenterofinfluencemovedsouthwardtoMercia,thekingdomoftheMidlands.Acenturylaterthecentershiftedagain,andWessexthecountryoftheWestSaxons,becametheleadingpower.ThemostfamouskingoftheWestSaxonswasAlfredthegreat,whosemilitaryaccomplishmentwashissuccessfuloppositiontotheVikinginvasions.Intheninthandtenthcenturies,theNorsemenemergedintheirshipsfromtheirhomelandsinDenmarkandtheScandinavianPeninsula.ThelinguisticresultofallthiswasaconsiderableinjectionofNorseintotheEnglishlanguage.NorsewasatthistimenotsodifferentfromEnglishasNorwegianorDanishisnow.ProbablyspeakersofEnglishcouldunderstand,moreorless,thelanguageofthenewcomerswhohadmovedintoeasternEngland.Atanyrate,therewasconsiderableinterchangeandwordborrowing.ExamplesofNorsewordsintheEnglishlanguagearesky,give,law.egg,outlaw,leg.ugly,scant,sly,crawl,scowl,take,thrust.Therearehundredsmore.WehaveevenborrowedsomepronounsfromNorse-they,theirandthem.ThesewordswereborrowedfirstbytheeasternandnortherndialectsandtheninthecourseofhundredsofyearsmadetheirwayintoEnglishgenerally.

Ingrammar,OldEnglishwasmuchmorehighlyinflectedthanmodernEnglishis.Thatis,thereweremorecaseendingsfornouns,morepersonandnumberendingsforverbs,amorecomplicatedpronounsystem,variousendingsforadjectives,andsoon.Present-dayEnglishhasonlytwocasesfornouns-commoncaseandpossessivecase.Adjectivesnowhavenocasesystematall.Ontheotherhand,wenowuseamorerigidwordorderandmorestructurewords（prepositions,auxiliaries,andthelike）toexpressrelationshipsthanOldEnglishdid.Invocabulary,mostoftheOldEnglishwordsarewhatwemaycallnativeEnglish:

thatis,wordswhichhavenotbeenborrowedfromotherlanguagesbutwhichhavebeenapartofEnglisheversinceEnglishwasapartofIndo-European.OldEnglishdidcertainlycontainborrowedwords.WehaveseenthatmanyborrowingswerecominginfromNorse.RatherlargenumbershadbeenborrowedfromLatin,too.SomeoftheseweretakenwhiletheAnglo-SaxonswerestillontheContinent（cheese,butter,bishop,kettle,etc.）.ButthegreatmajorityofOldEnglishwordswere