The Earliest English : An Introduction to Old English Language.

Cover -- Half Title -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Table of Contents -- Acknowledgements -- Terminology -- List of symbols and a note on conventions -- Abbreviations -- Using this book -- UNIT 1: Thinking about the earliest English -- 1.0 Preliminaries -- 1.1 Uniformity and change -- 1.2 Initial terminology -- 1.3 Old English poetry -- 1.4 Reading passage -- 1.5 Words, words, words -- 1.6 Pronouncing Old English -- Summary -- Study questions -- websites -- further reading -- UNIT 2: History, culture, language origins -- 2.0 Reading passage -- 2.1 Some history -- 2.2 A language-family tree -- 2.3 The Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy -- Summary -- Study questions -- websites -- further reading -- UNIT 3: Nouns -- 3.0 Mercenaries and settlers -- 3.1 The Germania -- 3.2 The Germania and the Anglo-Saxons -- 3.3 Local shires and their politics -- 3.4 Women -- 3.5 Reading passage -- 3.6 Inflections, nouns and grammatical roles -- 3.7 Inflections in other languages -- 3.8 Articles in OE -- 3.9 More on OE articles, noun inflections and grammatical case -- 3.10 Inflections on OE nouns -- 3.11 Additional noun declensions in OE -- 3.12 Pronouns -- 3.13 NPs, nominals, strong and weak adjectives -- Summary -- Study questions -- websites -- further reading -- Appendix 1: At-a-glance guide to OE inflections - nouns and adjectives -- UNIT 4: Verbs -- 4.0 The conversion of England -- 4.1 Influence of the Celtic church -- 4.2 The convergence of the Celtic and Roman traditions -- 4.3 Reading passage (1) -- 4.4 Word order and pronouns in OE -- 4.5 OE verbs: present participles -- 4.6 Relative clauses -- 4.7 Thou and you in OE -- 4.8 OE and PDE verbs -- 4.9 'Less regular' verbs -- 4.10 Still more on OE verbs -- 4.11 Weak verbs -- 4.12 Reading passage (2) -- 4.13 Comments on reading passage (2) - the subjunctive -- Summary -- Study questions -- websites -- further reading.

Appendix 2: At-a-glance guide to OE inflections - verbs -- INTERLUDE: Working with dictionaries -- UNIT 5: OE metrics -- 5.0 Overview of OE metre -- 5.1 Stress in OE -- 5.2 Syllables in OE and PDE -- 5.3 Syllables and alliteration -- 5.4 How half-lines end: poetic closure in OE -- 5.5 Resolution -- 5.6 The concept of metrical position in OE verse -- 5.7 Half-line patterns that never occur -- 5.8 The Five Types -- 5.9 Secondary stress, metrical position and 'L' -- 5.10 Stress, L and alliteration -- Summary -- Study questions -- websites -- further reading -- UNIT 6: Standards and crosses -- 6.0 Poetry and prose -- 6.1 The emergence of Wessex -- 6.2 Alfred's programme of cultural reform -- 6.3 What makes West Saxon West Saxon? -- 6.4 Quibbling with 'Breaking' -- 6.5 What is 'an account of linguistic change'? -- 6.6 Crosses -- Summary -- Study questions -- websites -- further reading -- UNIT 7: Twilight -- 7.0 A 'Silver Age'? -- 7.1 The reinvention of West Saxon prestige -- 7.2 Alliterative prose (1): Ælfric -- 7.3 Alliterative prose (2): Wulfstan -- 7.4 Inflectional loss: introductory questions -- 7.5 Inflectional loss (1): evidence from the late 10th century -- 7.6 Inflectional loss (2): what was lost? -- Summary -- Study questions -- websites -- further reading -- UNIT 8: Rebuilding English -- 8.0 Hastings and after -- 8.1 English, Norman and Anglo-Norman -- 8.2 Was English ever a creole? -- 8.3 Remodelling the pronoun system -- 8.4 The Peterborough Chronicle: reading and study passage -- 8.5 New models of verse -- 8.6 Orm -- 8.7 Envoi: The 'Alliterative Revival' -- Summary -- Study questions -- websites -- further reading -- Appendix 1: At-a-glance guide to OE inflections - nouns and adjectives -- Appendix 2: At-a-glance guide to OE inflections - verbs -- References -- Index.

Using easy-to-understand, non-technical language, this book covers basic terminology, background and the OE vocabulary students need to know. The text is divided into sections which each have two parts on the topic involved, one on history and culture, and one on language. Importantly, there are exercises for students to do and these appear in each section along with 'guiding' comments to help students in class and self-study. In addition, there is a discussion topic in each section.

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Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2024. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.