Ііі. Subject Curricular Chart

Thematic and lectures distribution, content (topics, objectives, main issues, key notions), topics, objectives, content of seminars

Total quantity of hours

Materials for students self-study work

Quantity of hours for self-study work

Methods and forms of current and final rating

Module 1

Theme 1.

Introduction. English as a Germanic language. Specific features of Old Germanic languages. Periodization of the history of the English language. The Old English period in the development of the English language. Old English alphabets and literary monuments.

Lecture 1

Aims: to make students understand the necessity to study the history of the English language to better understand the present state of the language; to make them acquainted with the periodization of the history of the English language and with the main features of Germanic languages.

Main idea: the history of the English language is closely connected with the history of its people; English is one of the Germanic languages; Common Germanic languages were of the synthetic type and English inherited many of the synthetic features of Indo-European and Common Germanic languages.

Main problems: periodization of the history of the English language; synthetic and analytical types of languages; synthetic and analytical form-building means

Key notions: Proto (parent) language, dialects, ablaut, areal languages, stress, accent, synthetic languages, analytical languages; inflected/uninflected languages; synthetic and analytical form-building means, comparative linguistics.

Main points to cover:

1. The subject of the History of the English language.

2. Languages of the world.

3. Phonetic system of Germanic languages: stress; system of consonants; changes within the system of consonants; Grimm's Law; Verner's Law; rhotacism.

4. Common Germanic fracture; Common Germanic Vowel Shift.

5. Specific features of Common Germanic Grammar. The Noun. The Adjective.

6. Strong and weak verbs.

7. The structure of Vocabulary.

8. Britain before Germanic Settlement.

9. Britain after Germanic Settlement.

10. Main written records of Old English period.

6

Main historical events

6

The control of the acquired knowledge is exerted through:

1. Writing tests at the seminars (See the Plans of Seminars).

2. Questioning at the seminars.

3. Writing the Module Test

4. Examination

Theme 2.

Unit 2.1. Old English Phonetics. The systems of vowels and consonants in comparison with Proto Indo-European and Proto (Common) Germanic. The main processes within the system of vowels in OE. The main changes within the system of consonants in OE. General characteristics of the phonemic systems by the end of OE period.

Lecture 2

Aims: to get students acquainted with the character of different phonetic processes within the system of vowels and consonants in OE; to make them be able to discern the processes on the basis of OE texts.

Main idea: The phonetic system of OE was based on the IE phonetic system and partly changed due to phonetic processes which took place in the period between IE and Common Germanic. The changes which continued to take place in OE were mainly of the assimilative character.

Main problems: characteristics features of every change and reasons for each of them..

Key notions: i-umlaut, splitting, breaking, palatal mutation, palatal diphthongization, velar umlaut, contraction, metathesis.

Main points to cover:

1. Stress in OE.

2. Comparison of Common Germanic and OE systems of vowels.

3. Development of stressed vowels: i – umlaut; OE breaking; palatal diphthongization; velar umlaut; contraction.

4. Quantitative changes within the system of vowels.

5. The system of consonants.

6. The main processes within the system of consonants: palatalization, loss of consonants, metathesis. Reduction of consonants

8

4

The control of the acquired knowledge is exerted through:

1. Writing tests at the seminars (See the Plans of Seminars).

2. Questioning at the seminars.

3. Writing the Module Tests.

4. Examination

Unit 2.2. Old English Grammar. General characteristics. The Noun. The Adjective. The Pronoun.

Lecture 3

Aims: to make students acquainted with the features of OE grammar in general and the specific features of each part of speech in OE in comparison with the Common Germanic period.

Main idea: OE grammar was of synthetic type, its parts of speech preserved some of the IE grammatical features but inherited some new features during the common Germanic period and continued to develop new features in OE.

Main problems: declensions of nouns; adjectives, pronouns; their categories

Key notions: declensions, strong declension, weak declension, root declension, stem-building suffix, gender, case, number, dual

Main points to cover:

1. General characteristics of the grammatical structure in OE.

2. The Noun: logical and grammatical categories (gender, number, case).

3. Noun declension: vowel declensions, consonantal declensions, weak and root declensions.

4. The Adjective: morphological categories: case, number, gender.

5. Strong and weak declensions of adjectives. Degrees of Comparison.

6. The Pronoun in Old English. Personal Pronouns and their categories.

7. Demonstrative Pronouns. Groups of demonstrative pronouns and their categories.

8

4

The control of the acquired knowledge is exerted through:

1. Writing tests at the seminars (See the Plans of Seminars).

2. Questioning at the seminars.

3. Writing the Module Test

4. Examination

Unit 2.3. Grammatical Structure of the language in OE. Morphological classification of verbs: strong, weak, preterite-present and anomalous verbs. The categories of the Verb.

Lecture 4

Aims: to disclose the morphological peculiarities of the OE verb, the categories it possessed, to show the developed character of the verb paradigm in OE and its synthetic type.

Main idea: The OE verb possessed the features which were inherited by it from IE protolanguage and acquired new features in the process of its development.

Main problems: the problem of the categories of voice, aspect, of non-finite forms of the verb, the origin of the ending –ed of the past tense.

Key notions: strong verbs, weak verbs, preterite-present verbs, anomalous verbs, ablaut series/system, Participle I, Participle II.

Points to cover:

1. Old English ablaut.

2. Strong verbs. The first five classes.

3. The VI and the VII classes of strong verbs.

4. Weak verbs. Their classes.

5. Main grammatical categories of Old English verbs.

6. Preterite-present verbs in Old English.

7. Anomalous verbs. Their paradigms.

8. Verb categories in Old English. Conjugation of Verbs.

9. Non-finite forms of the verb.

4

The Adverb in OE. Old English Syntax. Old English vocabulary. Adverb in OE.

Syntax of the Simple Sentences. Kinds of simple sentences.

Word-order in Old English. Number of negations.

Compound sentences in Old English. Means of connection.

Complex sentences in Old English. Kinds of complex sentences. Means of connection.

Vocabulary of Old English. Etymological-Layers.

Word-building means.

Borrowings in Old English

4

The control of the acquired knowledge is exerted through:

1. Writing tests at the seminars (See the Plans of Seminars).

2. Questioning at the seminars.

3. Writing Module Tests

4. Examination

Theme 3. The Middle English Period in the Development of the English Language.

Unit 3.1. Middle English Period. Main historical events. The Scandinavian invasion. The Norman Conquest. Middle English dialects.

Lecture 5

Aims: to make students acquainted with the main historical events of Middle English period: the Scandinavian invasion and the Norman conquests; to make the students understand the difference between the invasions and their influence upon the English language.

Main idea: The Scandinavian invasion and the Norman conquests greatly influenced the development of the English language, especially in the sphere of vocabulary.

Main problems: main differences between the Scandinavian invasion and the Norman conquests in the character of their influence upon the English language.

Key notions: invasion, conquest, consequence, dialect, borrowings

Points to cover:

1. Middle English Period. General characteristics.

2. Main historical events.

3. Scandinavian invasion.

4. Linguistic consequences of the Scandinavian invasion.

5. The Norman Conquest.

6. The Struggle between French and English.

7. Comparison of the influences of both the conquests upon the language.

8. Main dialects of English in the Middle English.

4

Middle English written records.

4

The control of the acquired knowledge is exerted through:

1. Writing tests at the seminars (See the Plans of Seminars).

2. Questioning at the seminars.

3. Writing the Module Tests

4. Examination

Unit 3.2: Phonetic system in Middle English. Changes within the system of vowels. Changes within the systems of consonants. Orthography in Middle English.

Lecture 6

Aims: to make students understand and be able to explain different phonetic processes which took in the English language during the Middle English period.

Main idea: The phonetic system of English continues to develop in ME in accordance with inner laws of the development of the language and influenced by the historical events which took place at that time.

Main problems: dialect changes and the reasons for them; the driving forces of the reduction of vowels; reasons for changes; historical background for spelling in English.

Key notions: qualitative changes, quantitative changes, reduction, lengthening and shortening, monophthongization, assibilation, vocalization, loss of sounds

Points to cover:

1. The system of vowels in Middle English in comparison with Old English.

2. Changes within the system on unstressed vowels: leveling of vowels.

3. Changes within the system of stressed vowels. Quantitative changes: lengthening and shortening.

4. Qualitative changes of stressed vowels:

   1. Dialect changes

   2. Monophthongization of OE diphthongs

   3. Formation of new diphthongs

5. Main changes within the system of consonants: assibilation, vocalization of consonants, loss of initial h, loss of – n in inflections.

6. Orthography in Middle English

8

4

The control of the acquired knowledge is exerted through:

1. Writing tests at the seminars (See the Plans of Seminars).

2. Questioning at the seminars.

3. Writing the Module Test

4. Examination

Unit 3.3 Middle English Grammar. The Nominal Parts of Speech.

Lecture 7

Aims: to show to the students the direction of the changes in ME within the grammatical structures of the Noun, the Adjective, the Pronoun; to make them able to analyze the changes in the texts.

Main idea: the nominal parts of speech in ME displayed the tendency to simplification and loss of some grammatical categories

Main problems: the loss of some forms and different categories within the system of adjectives, the merging of cases of nouns, the appearance of new pronouns.

Key notions: analytization, simplification , complication, grammatical markers, reduction, loss, rearrangement, merging

Points to cover:

1. General characteristics of Middle English Grammar.

2. Changes within the system of the Noun.

3. Changes within the system of the Adjective.

4. Personal pronouns in Middle English.

5. Demonstrative pronouns in Middle English.

6. The establishment of the Article.

8

4

The control of the acquired knowledge is exerted through:

1. Writing tests at the seminars (See the Plans of Seminars).

2. Questioning at the seminars.

3. Writing Module Tests 1 & 2.

4. Examination

Unit 3.4. Middle English Verb. Middle English Vocabulary. Middle English Syntax.

Lecture 8

Aims: to show to the students the direction of the changes within the grammatical structure of the Verb in ME: rearrangement of classes of strong and weak verbs; phonetic and other changes within specific classes of verbs; the development of analytical forms: the Future, the Passive, the Perfect, the Continuous;

to make students know that syntax acquired greater importance in ME due to the loss of grammatical endings; the vocabulary was greatly enriched at the expense of Scandinavian and French borrowings.

Main idea: the verbal system developed in the direction of its complication, syntax develops in the direction of its complication; the vocabulary greatly enriched at the expense of borrowings.

Main problems: the development of analytical forms the development of a strict word-order; the assimilation of borrowings in English.

Key notions: analytical forms, strict word-order, connectors, complex sentences, compound sentences, coordination, subordination, etymology, semantic spheres, doublets, new word-building means.

Points to cover:

1. Phonetic changes within the system of the Verb as a result of different phonetic processes;

2. Rearrangement of classes of strong and weak verbs;

3. Changes within the paradigm of the verb;

4. Development of analytical forms;

5. Borrowings from Scandinavian dialects and their phonetic peculiarities.

6. Borrowings from French and their main semantic spheres;

7. Assimilation of French borrowings.

8. Syntax of Middle English.

9. Peculiarities of functioning of impersonal sentences.

4

4

The control of the acquired knowledge is exerted through:

1. Writing tests at the seminars (See the Plans of Seminars).

2. Questioning at the seminars.

3. Writing the Module Test

4. Examination

Theme 4. New English Period in the Development of the English Language.

Unit 4.1. Phonetic changes in Early New English.

Lecture 9

Aims: to make the students acquainted with the main historical events in ENE: the formation of the English nation; the formation of the written standard of the language; the changes within the phonological system of ENE.

Main idea: the changes in ENE were preconditioned by economic, political and cultural events; the phonological changes displayed further complication of system of phonological oppositions.

Main problems: the establishment of the written and spoken standards of the English language; the development of linguistics; the Great Vowel Shift and other phonetic changes, the reasons for them.

Key notions: political unification, capitalism, nation, national language, printing, printing press, orthography, chronology, GVS.

Points to cover:

1. Main historical events of Early New English.

2. Early New English phonology. The Great Vowel Shift.

3. New diphthongs in Early New English.

4. New long and short vowels.

5. Individual changes within the systems of consonants.

6. Historical foundations of modern orthography.

8

Main historical events of Early New English. Conditions for linguistic unity.

4

The control of the acquired knowledge is exerted through:

1. Writing tests at the seminars (See the Plans of Seminars).

2. Questioning at the seminars.

3. Writing the Module Tests.

4. Examination

Unit 4.2. Morphological Structure of the English Language. Changes within the Morphological system.

Lecture 10

Aims: to make students learn the changes within the morphological structure of the English language in ENE.

Main idea: morphological structure of English displayed the tendency to further analytization of the grammatical structure.

Main problems: new formations within every part of speech; establishment of the strict word-order; paradigmazation of the forms of the Subjunctive mood.

Key notions: standard and non-standard verbs vs strong and weak; modal verbs, new forms of pronouns, the plural paradigm.

Points to cover:

1. Changes within the system of nominal parts of speech in Early New English.

2. Changes within the system of the verb in early New English.

3. New analytical forms in Early New English.

4. Non-finite forms in Early New English.

1. Borrowings in the Early New English period.

2. Word-building means.

3. Syntax of word-combinations.

4. Syntax of the simple sentence.

5. Syntax of the compound and complex sentence.

5. Expansion of English.

8

Vocabulary of Early English Syntax of the language of Early New English period.

4

The control of the acquired knowledge is exerted through:

1. Writing tests at the seminars (See the Plans of Seminars).

2. Questioning at the seminars.

3. Writing Module Tests 1 & 2.

1. 4. Examination

Module Control Work. Preparing for Examination

36

42

In total for the Course

90

42