XIV Международная студенческая научная конференция Студенческий научный форум - 2022

The creation of one of the most powerful powers in the history of mankind - the British Empire (in the 19th-20th centuries, Great Britain was called "the empire over which the sun never sets"), is the result of a long and laborious historical path of development of the territories of modern Great Britain, which began in the 1st v. BC. In addition, the creation of a national character was facilitated by the resistance of the local population of the island to the Roman invasion (about 54 BC, the troops of Gaius Julius Caesar landed on British soil) and the conflicts of the Britons with their neighbors (for example, Bede the Venerable indicates that the struggle with the Picts, the Britons called on the Germanic tribes). In addition, various economic and political crises (such as the English Civil War) played a significant role in the formation of the state.

Sketch about of literature of Great Britain

The Anglo-Saxon period dates back to the 5th century, when the Angles, Saxons and Jutes began to settle on the shores of Britain (ancient Germanic tribes who lived between the Elbe and Rhine rivers, as well as in the territories of Jutland). The first written monuments of the Britons are closely connected with this period. For example, the works of the aforementioned Bede of the Venerable and his famous historical work "The Ecclesiastical History of the People of the Angles", as well as the King of Wessex Alfred the Great. In addition to the fact that he not only saved Britain from the Danes, but also translated Bede's Church History from Latin. In addition, we must not forget about one of the most famous epic poems in the world - "Beowulf", written in alliterative verse. The epic of Beowulf is based on Scandinavian folk tales. Genre features are also quite typical: “the heroes of the epic are cut from one piece, each personifies some quality that determines its essence. The protagonist of the epic himself is the ideal of a courageous and resolute warrior, unchanging in loyalty and friendship". With the Norman conquest of 1066, a new Anglo-Norman period begins, marked by the dominance of the French language and the almost complete disappearance of Anglo-Saxon literature. However, one cannot speak only of the negative consequences of the conquest. From the two opposing languages, the "New English" emerged, which took shape by the 16th century. The Normans contributed to the spread of ancient English stories. So, the image of the legendary King Arthur is found in the author of courtly novels Chrétien de Troyes. The confrontation between the Anglo-Saxons and Normans gave rise to folk art. Ballads about Robin Hood (XIII-XIV centuries) are one of the brightest examples. The personality of the protagonist is ambiguous and contradictory. He is portrayed either as a peasant or as a ruined nobleman, Earl of Huntington, who went on crusades with Richard the Lionheart.

Formation of English as a national language

National language and nation are those categories that are interconnected and arise with the emergence of each other. One of the most basic features of the national language is that it penetrates both the spoken and the book-play form. That is, it is no longer only a means of communication, but also ensures the conduct of economic activity, and also penetrates the cultural sphere of the life of the people (literary language, dialects, jargons, vernacular). The need for education of the national

language arises during the formation of a single nation, when an intensive exchange develops between different districts and regions of the same linguistic territory due to the development of economic ties and the formation of an internal market.

There are two ways to form a national language:

1. The first way lies in the fact that the once common language of the nation is falling apart due to any state upheaval that befell the people. Then local dialects enter an independent stage of development and gradually develop into independent languages.

2. Another way is that one or another dialect, and sometimes several, can form the basis of the national language during the formation of the nation and develop into the corresponding national language. English is an example of such a language.

The interaction of closely related languages ​​such as English and Scandinavian has affected modern English in such a way that it contains a significant number of words of Scandinavian origin, as well as some phonetic features that characterize the dialects of northern England. Scandinavian origin can be traced in many lexemes of modern English, undoubtedly the influence of Norwegian and Danish dialects and on the simplification of the formative structure of the language.

This process is usually explained by the similarity in the vocabulary of the languages of the conquerors and the Anglo-Saxons, which could contribute to linguistic confusion with its usual consequences in the field of morphology.

Of great importance for the spread of the London dialect and its transformation into the national language was the transition of teaching at school from French to English in 1439 (in the 14th and 15th centuries in English there was a tendency to eradicate the Norman-French language of the conquerors. For example, in 1362, English introduced into legal proceedings, in 1385 - into teaching, and from 1483 parliamentary laws began to be published in English).

The literary norms of modern English began to form on the basis of the language of London in the late 13th and early 14th centuries. The introduction of book printing (since 1476) contributed to the formation of the spelling norm; at the same time, many traditional spellings were fixed that did not reflect living pronunciation. Thus, the divergence between pronunciation and spelling, so characteristic of modern English, began. The resuscitation of Greek and Latin scholarship and the diffusion of new knowledge through printed books led to a literary revival centered in London. J. Chaucer (1340 - 1400) was the first to create his artistic works in English, anticipating the victory of the London dialect. During Shakespeare's time, the London dialect was far from the norm, but gradually acquired the characteristics of a normative literary language.

Conclusion

Thus, the history of the English language is a history of constant accumulation of words. To Old English words of common Germanic origin, which still make up a significant portion of the most common vocabulary (father, winter, cow ...), first borrowings from Scandinavian dialects (husband, wrong, they ...) were added, then - a huge number of words of French origin (prince, army, religion, city, government ...). Borrowings from Latin (wine, pepper, priest, school, important, attention, complete ...) took place in different historical periods and periods of the history of the English language and enriched the English language and the history of the English language not only with several layers of vocabulary (the most powerful of which belongs to time to the Renaissance), but also derivational elements (for example, the suffix - tion). Ancient Greek (through Latin) and modern European languages ​​- Spanish, Italian, Dutch and others, as well as the languages ​​of the Middle East and India - played a somewhat smaller, but also significant role in the history of the English language and in the development of the English dictionary.

References:

1. A.L. Kozyrev, Ph.D. Popov, N.E. Shpak, T. N. Chugaeva, N. S. Nazmutdinova -«United Kingdom: language and culture»

2. A.S. Agapov «Some questions of the Anglo-Saxon conquest of Britain»

3. Zheleznova E.G. - «On the development of English as a national language».

4. Shepeleva E. V. – «Stages of the formation of the English language»

5. Gurevich A.Ya. «Medieval heroic epic of the Germanic peoples»