11

What kind of English linguistics do we What kind of English linguistics do we need? (of the ca. 65 fields available)need? (of the ca. 65 fields available)

0. Starter: Waltzing Mathilda1. why linguistics?2. why English linguistics?3. one answer to the topic:

historical linguistics

2

swagman = AusE old-fash. 'man with clothes and possession carried around'; swag slang 'stolen goods'billabong ('temporary lake') climatecoolibah tree = 'eucalyptus' aborig.billy = 'William', met. 'friend, pot for food'jumbuck = Native Austr. jiimba, > jump-buck (folk-etym.), cf G. Bocktucker = Austr. slang 'food' (cf to tuck)

Slim Dusty+ 2003

Starter: example Waltzing Mathilda (1820s), now "national anthem"

songs preserve history/culture

3

tucker in close-up: OED2

to tuck 'ausstaffieren' < ONFr or It. toccare? (Venice!)

4

1. Why linguistics?

Language, the object of linguistics, is the major tool of human communication and of social life. as against animals language = very universal and multi-purpose tool for

making statements giving commands performing a speech act ("I herewith declare ...") praising sb. arguing with sb. communicating complex thoughts ...

5

2. Why English linguistics? E = world language

104 countries (McArthur) general lingua franca

diplomacy aviation and navigation tourism international scholarship WWW: "Universität" 28 mill vs "university" 649 mill Sowi now offers its lectures in English.

EFL is a foreign language of a diff. calibre than Fr or It

6

(1) geographical distribution of English: McArthur's circle of world Englishes, from Crystal 1995: 111

e.g. Chinese, Pakistani,Tok Pisin

7

(2) GB was important, the US still are

E as a lingua franca

8

(3) GB has one of the richest cultures of Europe

literature: from Beowulf to The Beatleshigh culture, pop culture, medial culture

(<US)role of history, e.g. Alfred the Great

cultural history: e.g. Christianity economic history: e.g. the railway

9

3. Why historical linguistics?

Orwell's warning: Newspeak (cf Essay in 1984, publ. in 1949) many features

reduction of vocabulary simplified WF (clippings: Agitprop, Gestapo; cf modern

acronyms [NATO, Excel] and initialisms [BBC, Stuko] simplified grammar (thinked instead of thought etc)

main point: Newspeak cuts off language from its history quote: "When Oldspeak had been once and for all superseded,

the last link with the past would have been severed." implications of loss of history: no subtety of meaning, no

unorthodox opinions; associations clinging to traditional words are cut out

a-historical language now: "Kollektivvertrag", "senior lecturer", "lector"

10

"In need of history": special reasons in English Studies English provides a particular wealth of

language history cf David Crystal 2004, The Stories of English

enormous range of material gathered to demonstrate the diversity of English through the ages (one of the reviewers)

600 pages on selected language-historical aspects from OE to Tolkien's Hobbits (Crystal = synchronic linguist)

Research deficits in view ofBritish dialects, spoken English and international Englishes!

11

Selection of three features

(a) vocabulary: particularly rich and diversified (b) sounds and spellings: particularly

traditional (unlike in German) (c) communicative and cultural aspects:

exceptionally interesting

12

(a) Lexis: Quantification of various English vocabularies (from Voigt, Langenscheidt/Longman, 1982)

0

200000

400000

600000

800000

1000000

GenEng Shakesp Native Non-nat.

# w ords

13

English lexis: towards a survey lexicology: 1. word field

2. semantics: metaph.

3. etymology

4. pragmatics: please,terms of address

1. OE: heroic words, later relig. words (God, love, filth; later: sentimental)2. kenningar: the bent-necked wood, sea-farer for 'ship';

whale-road for 'sea'3. Roman, Celtic, Germanic; ON, Ofr, Latin in differ. times (Human.: debt, doubt)4. Cultural background needed: please < Fr; change from four forms of address

to one (you/yee/thou/thee > you)

14

morphol. and syntax: thou, thee, you and ye in England

thou = sg. nom. (G. du)thee = sg. acc. (cf Shp.)you = pl. acc.ye(e) = pl. nom.

Pl. acc. dominates over the other forms.

15

Semantics: Explain word pairs

forgive/pardon shirt/skirt cow/beef dish/disk chief/chef PN Laing/Laird – long, lord

16

Etymology creates transparency: cognate English borrowings from Fr. and Lat. (Bodmer n.d., pp. 282)

Latin Engl. Words < Frz. Engl. Words directly < Lat.

conceptum conceit (Einbildung) concept (Begriff) constrictionem constraint (Zwang) constriction

(Zusammenziehung)

collocare couch (sich legen) collocate (ordnen) computare count (zählen) compute

(berechnen) quietus coy (spröde) quiet (ruhig) dignitatem dainty (Leckerei) dignity (Würde) defectum defeat (Niederlage) defect (Mangel) aestimare esteem (achten) estimate (schätzen) factionem fashion (Mode) faction (Partei) facto feat (Kunststück) fact (Tatsache) fragilis frail (schwach) fragile (zerbrechlich) legalis loyal (loyal) legal (gesetzlich)

17

2nd example: sounds and spellings

Extreme deviation of present pronunciation and spellings – why:– English is more hybrid, i.e. it has been more

under the influence of other languages than, e.g., German; different sets of rules

Scandin.: to get, sky French: employee, garage

– In spelling, E. has been decidedly traditional since the late MAs (Caxton).

18

some details

examples:– <-gh>: orig. (ME) a fricative [X], cf Scottish night, bright– -our, -or: orig. (ME) < Ofr (= ModFr –eur), weakened

pronunciation in E today: honour, liquor– photo, phenomenon: = Greek, in frequent words

<f> vowels changed most in the history of E, part. due to

GVSh (15-17th c.), therefore their spelling is partic. misleading (rough, ought)

the present spelling is a mixture of diff. historical processes (English = hybrid)

19

Rhotic pronunciation in England c. 1950 (from dtv-Atlas Englische Sprache 2002)

r lost

r kept

20

Menorha model applicable to histor. English phonol.: correlation between historical stages and present varieties)

Germanic heritage

OE

ME

Scandinavian

French

18th c.19th c.

AE Austr NorthLd.dial.common

words ESProots

varieties

21

3rd example: Cultural studies1. What is the Doomsday Book?

Bayeux tapestry

Harold is killed.

22

1066 and all that

1086William the C.Relevance of the Doomsday Book

"Grundbuch" (index of land ownership)

What happened in Britain in 1986?

23

1986

24

A stamp of 1986? ? ??

25

Summing up: Historically conditioned complexity: Taking-leave formulas

• Goodbye! – < God be with you/ye! (historical) phraseology; word field: religious

• Good day!– arch./Austr. register/varieties

• Bye-bye!– iterative formation baby language/infantilisms in dialect/Tok Pisin etc

• Bye for now! Ciao!– inform./fashion register/etymology

• See you (later/next week/term).– idiomatic expressions: semantic/phonological implications

• I hope to see you again!• Farewell! • Have a nice day/weekend!• Cheerio! (Br inf)• So long! (Br inf)• Hasta la vista, Baby! (US A. Schwarzenegger)• Piss off! F* off!

– slang sociolinguistics, pragmatics• I must be off!/ I must be going! / I've got to go. --> grammar

prep. adj.

conclusion: E allows many varieties/

is difficult

OED2: 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. iii. i. 151, I thanke your worship,

God be wy you. 1591 — 1 Hen. VI, iii. ii. 73

God b’uy my Lord.

2626

FazitFazit• Viele heutige Wissensinhalte sind geprägt von Schnelllebigkeit und

immanenten wirtschaftlichen Interessen: Passwörter, Benutzer-Namen, Call-Center, Hotlines, Zinssätze, Aktienkurse, Akronyme

• Umso mehr brauchen wir heute auch die klassischen, d.h. langlebigen und bewährten Bildungsinhalte:– Die Geschichtlichkeit der Sprache/des Englischen korrreliert mit unserer

eigenen Geschichtlichkeit und der unserer Kultur. – Die strukturelle und quantitative Komplexität des Englischen heute, als

Folge seiner komplexen Geschichte, bietet eine Vielzahl langlebiger und wichtiger Wissensinhalte.

– Ahistorizität = menschliche Entwurzelung– Der Strukturalismus des 20 Jhds. (de Saussure etc) und die derzeit

modische Beschränkung auf Anwendungsmodelle (Applied Linguistics) werden der Tatsache, dass wir sprachlich und kulturell historisch verwurzelt sind, nicht gerecht.

• Und wenn Sie mich persönlich fragen, ...

27

• We can learn for our future by knowing our personal past.

30 years ago

Thank you for your attention!

1 year ago