ENG367Y-OE-PDE transliteration and commentary (15%)
- Due February 28th, 6pm.
- Length: the commentary should be about 2000 words long.
- Format: the usual (i.e. only your student number should appear on the assignment, paper clips should hold it together, etc.).
This assignment is designed to help you:
- translate an OE prose text
- identify similarities and
differences between OE and PDE: lexis, spelling, syntax, paradigms
YOU MUST WORK ALONE ON THIS ASSIGNMENT. It is an academic offence "to
represent as one's own any idea or expression of an idea or work of
another in any academic ... work." (Faculty of Arts and Science
Calendar).
1.Study one of the following passages from A.G. Rigg's The English Language: a Historical Reader:
- page 97-98 (text 11): verses 19-22
- page 97-98 (text 11): verses 22-26
2. Following the model in the handout you got in class, "transliterate"
the OE text:
- If the OE word (or part of it) has a direct PDE reflect, write that PDE reflex above the OE word, even if the meaning has changed. E.g., þ&ash;t = that; sume = some, to = to; on = in.
- If the OE word has not survived in PDE, translate it, putting your PDE translation in brackets. E.g., heora = (their), heo = (she); namon = (took).
Some ways of identifying the PDE reflex of an OE word:
- Use the principles of correspondence. E.g., the OE adverb |g|eo|rn|e "eagerly" = "y|e|rn|e" -- in the OED!
- Work with grammatical information: a little later in the course, you'll be able to tell that gescóp is the 3 sg. past tense of a class 6 strong verb, whose infinitive is sc|a|p|an. Use the principles of correspondence to generate sh|a|p|e!
- Exploit information in dictionaries (definitions, glosses, spellings). For example, if you look up the word fear in the OED, the spelling "1 fær" will confirm that the spelling fær was current through the eleventh century (i.e. in the OE period, according to OED conventions) and that you have successfully invoked the principles of correspondence. If you look up yerne in the OED, it will confirm that 3eorne was an attested spelling in the OE period. If you want to confirm that yerne is related to the PDE verb yearn, read the OED's etymology. Yerne will cross-reference you to the verb yearn (which lists spellings attested in the OE period: "1- geornan").
3. In an essay of around 2000 words, write a systematic account of the differences between OE and PDE that your transliteration of the short passage happens to illustrate. I am not interested in your ability to regurgitate Millward without applying it!
Your essay should be divided into the following sections:
- spellings (try to distinguish between
orthographic changes that reflect changes in pronunciation from those that
don't),
- syntax (word order),
- paradigms (inflexions, morphology), and
- vocabulary
(word-formation, semantic change, later replacements).
Each of these sections should be given approximately equal weight.
Organize each section carefully. Your points should be in a coherent order (e.g., within "paradigms, discuss nouns, then adjectives, etc.). Your concrete examples of each point should be grouped together: e.g., "case distinctions in some parts of the personal pronoun system have been levelled: [examples]." Your examples should be followed with the verse number in parentheses.
You'll have to be selective with the vocabulary. Try to strike a balance
between generalizations ("several OE words no longer exist; we express what
they denote with borrowings from French: [exx]") and subtle and sophisticated
interpretation of a few specific words.
You will need to use dictionaries and grammars and overviews of Old English. Many of these are on short-term loan on the third floor of the Robarts Library. See the secondary reading list for some titles.