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Модульная программа элективного курса предпрофильного обучения для учащихся 9-х классов Early Britain and the forming of the English language

Автор(ы): Закиева Рамиля Рустямовна, Учитель

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Пояснительная записка: когда ребенок слышит родную речь матери, то он воспринимает ее как естественную речь для общения с нею, и изучение родного языка является естественным процессом. И совершенно по-другому воспринимается иностранный язык, учащиеся всегда интересуются почему все происходит таким образом, а не другим.
И вот чтобы понять тонкости, специфику современного английского языка необходимо познакомиться с историей английского языка, формированием словаря, грамматических структур, так как современный английский язык формировался постепенно, путем взаимопроникновения языков в ходе исторического процесса.
Развивающие цели курса:

развивать умения и навыки анализа и систематизация полученных ранее знаний в области иностранного языка
показать учащимся практическое значение иностранного языка в других областях знаний
развивать социальную компетентность, то есть умение и готовность взаимодействовать с другими людьми как в деловой, так и в личной сферах общения
показать значение иностранного языка в диалоге культур.

Обучающие цели:

расширение и углубление знаний по иностранному языку
обучение работе со справочной литературой и умению использовать полученные данные
обучение навыкам проектной работы.

Воспитательные цели:

воспитывать гражданина и патриота
показать роль межкультурной толерантности для международного взаимодействия.

The Subject of History of English.

When a child acquires first knowledge of his or her mother tongue he usually takes all its peculiarities for granted: he has no other language to compare it with and no general logical principles to judge it by. Learning one’s mother tongue is a natural process, which has been going on ever since mankind came into being.
Things are quite different with mastering a foreign language, when learning it( at whatever age) the student compares it to his mother tongue. He is often astonished to find great differences in the way ideas are expressed in the two languages and if the learner is an adult person he will often be struck by inconsistencies in the foreign language. He will therefore quite naturally be inclined to ask, why is this so?
In studying the English language of today we are faced with a number of peculiarities which appear unintelligible from the modern point of view. These are found both in the vocabulary and in the phonetic and grammatical structure of the language. Let us mention a few of them.
In the sphere of vocabulary there is considerable likeness between English and German. Thus, for example, the German for summer is Sommer ; the German for sit is sitzen. On the other hand in certain cases English has something in common with French, as the following examples will show: English autumn-French automne, English river- French riviere, English modest- French modeste. These similarities are easily observed by anyone having some knowledge of German or French. But we can not account for them if we remain within the limits of contemporary English; we can only suppose that they are not a matter of chance and that there must be some cause behind them. These causes belong to a more or less remote past and they can only be discovered by going into the history of the English language.
Similar facts are also found in the phonetic structure of the language or more precisely in the relation between pronunciation and spelling. Here, too, we are faced with a series of phenomena which can not be explained from the modern point of view. Why for instance does the spelling of the words – light, daughter, know, gnaw contain letters which do not indicate any sound? Why does the spelling-ea- indicate different sounds in the words- speak, great, bear, heard, heart? These and many other questions can only be answered by resorting to the history of the language.
Finally, let us turn to grammar. Why do the substantives- man, foot, goose, mouse as against most modern English substantives form their plural by change of the root vowel? Why have the substantives – sheep, deer an unchanged plural? Why do the verbs – can, may, will take no-s- in the 3-d person singular present indicative? All these phenomena are traced back to a distant past and they cannot be accounted for without a study of history.
In studying history of the language, we cannot limit ourselves to stating the facts. We must also find the causal ties between them.
History of the English language is connected with other disciplines. It is based on the history of England, studying the development of the language in connection with the concrete conditions in which the English people lived in several periods of their history. It is also connected with disciplines studying present day English, theoretical phonetics, theoretical grammar and lexicology. It shows phonetic, grammatical and lexical phenomena as they developed and states the origins of the present-day system.

Generalities about Germanic languages.

The vast Indo- European family of languages to which most of the languages spoken in Europe belong consists of several branches of which the Germanic languages are one. Nowadays Germanic languages are spoken in many countries: German ( in Germany, Austria and partly in Switzerland), Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish and Icelandic English ( spoken besides England in the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and partly elsewhere. In India English considered a second official language. In ancient times the territory of Germanic languages was much more limited. Thus, in the first century AD Germanic languages were only spoken in Germany and in territories adjacent to it and also in Scandinavia. Germanic languages are classified into three groups: East Germanic, North Germanic, West Germanic. East Germanic languages have been dead for many centuries. Only one of the Old East Germanic languages is well-known, Gothic, a vast written documents have come down to us in this language, namely, a translation of the Bible made in the 4-th century AD by the Gothic bishop Ulfilas from the Greek. All North Germanic and West Germanic languages have survived untill our own times. Now let us turn to the question of the tribes who spoke Old Germanic languages.
Old Germanic tribes in the first centuries of our era were passing through the stage of development”which is signalized by the term “ barbarism”. Friedrich Engels in his work “ On the History of Ancient Teutons” and also in chapters 7 and 8 of his work “ The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State” gave a detailed characteristic of the social structure of the Ancient Teutons, and of the emergence of Old Germanic states.
Our knowledge of the Ancient Teutons is based on testimonies by Greek and Roman writers who for some reason or other were interested in them. The earliest of these was the Greek traveller and astronomer Pytheas, from Massilia ( now Marseilles), who lived in the 4-th century BC. He sailed from his native town through the straits of Gibraltar ,along the West coast of Gaul( France), along the Channel and he may even have reached the Baltic. Pytheas’s work has not come down to us, only a few fragments have been preserved by the Greek geographer Strabo (63BC–20AD) the author of a large work” Geography” and by the Roman writer Pliny the Elder( Caius Plinius Secundus ( 23–79AD).
Next comes the Roman general, statesman and writer Julius Caesar( 100–44BC). In his “ Commentaries on the War of Gaul” Caesar gives several chapters to the Germans whom he combated and dealt with on the Rhine. Caesar’s statement that the Germans lived in tribes and tribal unions is of particularly great value for the historians. It also follows from Caesar’s account that the Teutons were nomads in his time.
About a century later Pliny the Elder wrote about the Teutons in his great work “ Natural History”. Pliny gave a classification of Germanic tribes which has been basically accepted by modern historians. According to Pliny, Germanic tribes in the first century AD consisted of the following groups:

the Vindili ( among them were Goths and the Burgundians) inhabited the eastern part of Germanic territory.
The Ingvaeones, inhabited the north-western part of Germanic territory, the shores of the North Sea, including what is now Netherlands.
The Iscaevones, inhabited the western part of the Germanic territory on the Rhine, among them were the Franks, who eventually conquered Gaul.
The Hermiones, inhabited the southern part of Germanic territory ( southern Germany).
The Peucini and Bastarnae, inhabited Rumania.
The Hilleviones, inhabited Scandinavia.

Next after the Pliny comes the great Roman historian Cornelius Tacitus (born about 55, died about 120 AD). In his short work “ Germania” Tacitus characterized the social structure of the Old Germanic tribes around 100 AD. Tacitus’ results were widely used by Friedrich Engels in his work “ On the History of Ancient Germans.”

Germanic alphabets.

Germanic tribes used three different alphabets for their writings. These alphabets partly succeeded each other in time. The earliest of these was the Runic alphabet, each separate letter being called a Rune. Runes have a very peculiar look for eyes accustomed to modern European alphabets. Thus, the rune denoting the vowel –e- was –M-, the rune denoting the consonant –f- was –W- etc. Namely writing at that time did not mean putting a colour or paint on some surface: it meant cutting letters into wood or engraving them on stone, bone or metal. Now not every kind of line could be successfully cut into a wooden plank. Thus, a horizontal line would not be feasible, as the knife used to cut it, would merely separate fibres of the wood and eventually when the knife was removed the fibres would join again and no trace of a line would remain visible. Horizontal lines would be titled upwards or downwards and curves would be replaced by broken lines. Another peculiarity of the Runic letters has not been quite satisfactorily explained yet: namely, titled lines stretching from top to bottom are avoided, they are shortened in one way or another. The Runic alphabet was used by different Germanic tribes: Goths, Anglo-Saxons and Scandinavians. Numerous Runic inscriptions survive or rocks in different parts of Scandinavia. There are also Runic inscriptions on movable objects: a spear, a helmet, a ring etc.
The latest alphabet to be used by Germanic tribes is the Latin alphabet, it superseded both the Runic and the Gothic alphabet when a new technique of writing appeared. The material now used for writing was either parchment or papyrus. Introduction of the Latin alphabet accompanied the spread of Christianity and of Latin language of Christian religious texts.

Anglo-Saxon England.

Towards the end of the4-th century Europe was invaded by barbaric tribes. The Roman had to leave Britain because they were needed to defend their own country. The Britons were left to themselves, but they had very little peace.
Very soon sea-robbers came sailing in ships from the continent. These invaders were Germanic tribes called Angles, Saxons and Jutes. They were wild and fearless people and the Britons could never drive them away. The Britons fought many battles but at last they were forced to retreat to the west of Britain. Those who stayed became the slaves of the Anglo-Saxons. For a long time the tribes of Angles, Saxons and Jutes fought with one another for supreme power. Britain split up into 7 kingdoms: Kent, Sussex, Essex, Wessex, Mercia, East Anglia and Northumbria. The Anglo-Saxons lived in small villages. Round each village there was a ditch and an earthen wall with a wooden fence on top. The earthen wall and the fence served to defend the village against robbers and wild beasts. The Anglo-Saxons were tall strong men with blue eyes and long blond hair. They were dressed in tunics and cloaks which they fastened with a brooch above the right shoulder. On their feet they wore rough leather shoes. Their usual weapons were a spear and a shield. Some rich men had iron swords, which they carried at their left side. The women wore long dresses with wide sleeves, their head were covered with a hood. In their villages the Anglo-Saxons bred cows, sheep and pigs. They ploughed the fields and grew wheat, rye or oats for bread and barley for beer.

Christianity.

Christianity first penetrated to Britain in the 3-d century. It was brought there from Rome by Christian refugees who were fiercely prosecuted for their faith at home. In the year 306, the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great stopped the prosecution of the Christians and became a Christian himself. Christianity was made the Roman national faith. It was brought to all dependent countries. It became the official religion in Britain too. The Druids disappeared. The new religion was called the “ Catholic Church” ( Catholic means universal). The Greek and Latin languages became the languages of the Church all over Europe.
When the Anglo-Saxons, who were pagans, invaded Britain most of the British Christians were killed. Those who remained alive fled to Wales and Ireland where they lived in groups called Brethrens (brotherhoods). They built churches and devoted themselves to worship. They told people stories of Christian martyrs and visitations by saints. Such stories were typical of the literature of that time.
Towards the end of the 6-th century Christian monks began coming from Rome to Britain again. The head of the Roman Church at that time was Pope Gregory. He wanted to spread his influence over England by converting the people to Christianity. He sent monks to convert the Anglo-Saxons. The monks landed in Kent and the first church they built was in the town of Canterbury. Up to this day Canterbury has remained the English religious center and the seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Old English.

Since the settlement of the Anglo-Saxons in Britain the ties of their language with the continent were broken and in its further development it went its own ways. It is at this time the 5-th century that the history of the English language begins.
Its original territory was England except Cornwall, Wales and Strathclyde. These western regions the Britons succeeded in holding and they were conquered much later: Cornwall in the 9-th; Strathclyde in the 11-th and Wales in the 13-th century. The Scottish Highlands were inhabited by Picts and Scots. The Scots language has survived in the Highlands up to our own days. Ireland also remained Celtic.
Down to the end of the 6-th century Anglo-Saxon Britain was almost entirely isolated from Europe and particularly from Rome. In 597 Pope Gregory sent a mission to England in order to spread Christianity among the Germanic conquerors and to include England into the sphere of his political influence. In the 7-th century Christianity spread allover England. The Latin was at that time an international language of the Church and of Church Science in Western Europe. As a result of new ties with Rome the Latin language was introduced in England as the language of the Church. This development had an important consequences for the English language: it adopted a considerable number of Latin words which were directly or indirectly connected with religious and church notions.

Writings in Old English.

In Old English two alphabets were used: the Runic and the Latin. One is the Ruthwell Cross, a religious poem engraved on a tall stone cross near the village of Ruthwell in the South East Scotland. The other is the Runic Casket made of whalebone and found in France near the town of Clermond-Ferrand, now ...

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