The vocabulary composition of language

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION        2

1.  Phonetic structure        4

1.1 The system of spelling        4

1.2 The changing in the system of vowels and consonants        7

2. Grammatical structure        15

2.1 The formation of plural nouns        15

2.2 The changing in the system of pronouns        17

2.3 The verb        18

3. The vocabulary composition of language        22

3.1 The development of methods of word formation        22

3.2 Replenishment of the vocabulary by borrowing from various languages        28

Conclusion        32

References        34

INTRODUCTION

English language as you know, developed from the integration of the tribal dialects of Angles, Saxons and Jutes migrated to the British Isles in III — V centuries B. C. The first written monuments in which it is the history of the English language date back to the VIII century. English have passed a difficult way, crossing in the course of its development with other languages (Scandinavian), enriching their vocabulary with these languages.

In different epochs, attempts were repeatedly made to establish a single norm and to develop a literary form of the English language. However, as is known, only in the period of capitalism, the English language could become the national language of the whole nation, having subordinated all other dialects, having processed them according to the norms already established. Thus, only in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, as a result of the victory of the capitalist system over the feudal system, which led to the rapid development of industry and trade, one can speak of the formation of a single English national literary language.

English national language, formed on the basis of the London dialect during the formation of the English nation during the XVI - XVII centuries, is rapidly developing. A number of factors contributed to the elaboration and consolidation of certain linguistic norms of the English literary language.

The interacting factors that influenced the development of the literary language in the period of the 16th-17th centuries, we can mention 3 main factors:

1) the general interest in classical samples in the Renaissance, and hence the imitation of classical grammars and rhetoric, especially Latin grammar, and the transfer of the system of ancient linguistics to the English system;

2) the influence of the so-called archaic purism, in other words, the struggle against the mass invasion of foreign words into the vocabulary of the English language, especially Latin and French words, and, as a form of manifestation of this struggle, orientation to the obsolete norms of the language;

3) orientation to living and developing, unsettled and therefore rapidly changing norms of colloquial folk English speech.

The aim of the research paper is to consider the characteristic features of the development of the English language in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

The subject of the research is phonetic, grammatical and lexical features of the English language of the period under study.

To achieve the aim of the research the following objectives were singled out:

- to consider and characterize the phonetic structure of the language;

- to reveal the features of the grammatical system;

- analyze the changes in the vocabulary of the language of the period under consideration.

To implement the above tasks in the course paper using a comprehensive research method. It includes descriptive, historical-comparative and chronological methods, as well as various analytical methods, depending on the specific tasks of each part of the work: classification, elements of semantic and statistical analysis.

1.  Phonetic structure

1.1 The system of spelling

The formation of the English national language, the gradual normalization of the literary form of the language, the introduction of printing - all this required the establishment of a firm spelling norm. The instability of English spelling in the sixteenth century and its inconsistency with the sound standards of English at that time led to a desire to simplify it. During the XVI-XVII centuries, only the most insignificant and partial changes were made. [1]

One such change was the omission of the mute “e” after the syllable with a short vowel and after the syllable with a long vowel, denoted by a digraph. So, in the XVI century the following words had this spelling: coude, muche, to sleepe, weake, to goe. In the 17th century, words of this type take on a modern form: could, much, to lack, to sleep, weak, to go. The letter e is preserved in writing only in cases where it is necessary to show that the vowel of the preceding syllable stands for the diphthong or long vowel, as, for example: time, take.

The letter “y”, widely used in the sixteenth century orthography and used in the beginning, in the middle and at the end of words, is replaced by the letter “I” in all cases, except for the absolute end of words and words of Greek origin, where they continue to write the letter “y”. So, in the XVI century they wrote: descrybe, ryche, merylye. In the XVII century they already wrote: to describe, rich, merily. The suffix -yng, often containing the letter “y” in the 17th century, later acquires a steady-writing -ing, for example: lyvyng is replaced living.

During the XVI century, the writing of the group “aun” in the words of French origin is simplified, where the letter was used to indicate the presence of a nasal vowel. So, by the end of the 16th century, the letter “u” is not written in words such as: to chaunge, pleasaunt, remembraunce , which thus take a graphic form: to change, pleasant, remembrance.

Some simplification also occurs in writing individual consonants. In the 17th century, -all begins to write in the affix -l, for example: severall, contynuall -several, continual.