Historical Background of the Middle
English Period
The historical development of a language is a continuous, uninterrupted
process without sudden breaks or rapid transformations. Therefore any
periodisation imposed on language history by linguists, with precise dates,
might appear artificial. There are some periodizations of the history of English
language. The author of the first scientific historical phonetic and grammar of
En. Language. H. Sweet suggested the periodization that corresponds to the
morphological structure of different centures. He called the Old English Period
– ‘The period of full endings ‘, the M. E. P. – ‘The period of reduced endings’
, the New En. P. – ‘The period of lost endings.’ But this periodization is not
full because it is not quite right to devide the logical features, but
phonological or syntactical ones (they were not mentioned in the periodization.)
So, thus I consider that any periodization is based on some principles, but
can’t touch all the sides of the language.
One of the prominent and well-known English scientists Henry Sweet worked out
several periodisations of the history of English language. He suggested to
single out the period of transition and to subdivide the transitional stage
between the Old and the Middle English Periods cover 1100-1200. H. Sweet
reckoned 1200 to be the limning of the Middle English based on morphological
phenomena the Middle English Period is considered to le the Period of Levelled
English.
<< Ïðåäûäóùàÿ ðåôåðàò
Âñå ðåôåðàòû
Ñëåäóþùèé ðåôåðàò >> |
