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Gender In English
A system of grammatical gender, whereby every noun was treated as either masculine, feminine, or neuter, existed in Old English, but fell out of use during the Middle English period; therefore, Modern English largely does not have grammatical gender. Modern English lacks grammatical gender in the sense of all noun classes requiring masculine, feminine, or neuter inflection or agreement; however, it does retain features relating to natural gender with particular nouns and pronouns (such as ''woman'', ''daughter'', ''husband'', ''uncle'', ''he'' and ''she'') to refer specifically to persons or animals of one or other sexes and neuter pronouns (such as ''it'') for sexless objects. Also, in some cases, feminine pronouns are used by some speakers when referring to ships (and more uncommonly some airplanes and analogous machinery), to churches, and to nation states and islands. Some aspects of gender usage in English have been influenced by the push towards a preference for gender-neut ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grammatical Gender
In linguistics, grammatical gender system is a specific form of noun class system, where nouns are assigned with gender categories that are often not related to their real-world qualities. In languages with grammatical gender, most or all nouns inherently carry one value of the grammatical category called ''gender''; the values present in a given language (of which there are usually two or three) are called the ''genders'' of that language. Whereas some authors use the term "grammatical gender" as a synonym of "noun class", others use different definitions for each; many authors prefer "noun classes" when none of the inflections in a language relate to sex. Gender systems are used in approximately one half of the world's languages. According to one definition: "Genders are classes of nouns reflected in the behaviour of associated words." Overview Languages with grammatical gender usually have two to four different genders, but some are attested with up to 20. Common gend ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Personal Pronouns
Personal pronouns are pronouns that are associated primarily with a particular grammatical person – first person (as ''I''), second person (as ''you''), or third person (as ''he'', ''she'', ''it'', ''they''). Personal pronouns may also take different forms depending on number (usually singular or plural), grammatical or natural gender, case, and formality. The term "personal" is used here purely to signify the grammatical sense; personal pronouns are not limited to people and can also refer to animals and objects (as the English personal pronoun ''it'' usually does). The re-use in some languages of one personal pronoun to indicate a second personal pronoun with formality or social distance – commonly a second person plural to signify second person singular formal – is known as the T–V distinction, from the Latin pronouns and . Examples are the majestic plural in English and the use of in place of in French. For specific details of the personal pronouns used in the En ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thorn (letter)
Thorn or þorn (Þ, þ) is a letter in the Old English, Old Norse, Old Swedish, and modern Icelandic alphabets, as well as modern transliterations of the Gothic alphabet, Middle Scots, and some dialects of Middle English. It was also used in medieval Scandinavia, but was later replaced with the digraph '' th,'' except in Iceland, where it survives. The letter originated from the rune in the Elder Fuþark and was called ''thorn'' in the Anglo-Saxon and ''thorn'' or '' thurs'' in the Scandinavian rune poems. It is similar in appearance to the archaic Greek letter sho (ϸ), although the two are historically unrelated. The only language þ is still currently in use in is Icelandic. It is pronounced as either a voiceless dental fricative or its voiced counterpart . However, in modern Icelandic, it is pronounced as a laminal voiceless alveolar non-sibilant fricative ,, cited in similar to ''th'' as in the English word ''thick'', or a (usually apical) voiced alveolar non- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mercian Dialect
Mercian was a dialect spoken in the Anglian kingdom of Mercia (roughly speaking the Midlands of England, an area in which four kingdoms had been united under one monarchy). Together with Northumbrian, it was one of the two Anglian dialects. The other two dialects of Old English were Kentish and West Saxon. Each of those dialects was associated with an independent kingdom on the island. Of these, all of Northumbria and most of Mercia were overrun by the Vikings during the 9th century. Part of Mercia and all of Kent were successfully defended but were then integrated into the Kingdom of Wessex. Because of the centralisation of power and the Viking invasions, there is little to no salvaged written evidence for the development of non-Wessex dialects after Alfred the Great's unification, until the Middle English period. History The Mercian dialect was spoken as far east as the border of East Anglia and as far west as Offa's Dyke, bordering Wales. It was spoken in an area that exte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Northumbrian Old English
Northumbrian was a dialect of Old English spoken in the Anglian Kingdom of Northumbria. Together with Mercian, Kentish and West Saxon, it forms one of the sub-categories of Old English devised and employed by modern scholars. The dialect was spoken from the Humber, now within England, to the Firth of Forth, now within Scotland. In the Danelaw after the Viking invasions, Northumbrian may have been influenced by the Norse language. The earliest surviving Old English texts were written in Northumbrian: these are Caedmon's Hymn (7th century) and Bede's Death Song (8th century). Other works, including the bulk of Caedmon's poetry, have been lost. Other examples of this dialect are the Runes on the Ruthwell Cross from the '' Dream of the Rood''. Also in Northumbrian are the 9th-century Leiden Riddle and the mid-10th-century gloss of the Lindisfarne Gospels. The Viking invasion forced a division of the dialect into two distinct subdialects. South of the River Tees, southe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prestige (sociolinguistics)
In sociolinguistics, prestige is the level of regard normally accorded a specific language or dialect within a speech community, relative to other languages or dialects. Prestige varieties are language or dialect families which are generally considered by a society to be the most "correct" or otherwise superior. In many cases, they are the standard form of the language, though there are exceptions, particularly in situations of covert prestige (where a non-standard dialect is highly valued). In addition to dialects and languages, prestige is also applied to smaller linguistic features, such as the pronunciation or usage of words or grammatical constructs, which may not be distinctive enough to constitute a separate dialect. The concept of prestige provides one explanation for the phenomenon of variation in form among speakers of a language or languages. The presence of prestige dialects is a result of the relationship between the prestige of a group of people and the language t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
10th Century In England
Events from the 10th century in the Kingdom of England. Events * 902 ** Irish Norsemen, expelled from Dublin, establish colonies on The Wirral. * 909 ** King Edward the Elder and his sister, Princess Æthelflæd of Mercia, raid Danish East Anglia and bring back the relics of St. Oswald in triumph. Æthelflæd translates them to the new minster in Gloucester, which is renamed St. Oswald's Priory in his honour. ** Edward despatches an Anglo-Saxon army to attack the Northumbrian Vikings and ravages Scandinavian York. ** The Dioceses of Bath and of Crediton are separated from that of Sherborne, Athelm being appointed first Bishop of Wells and Eadwulf of Crediton. Æthelweard briefly serves as Bishop of Sherborne at about this time. * 910–920 **Edward the Elder, King of Wessex, and his sister, Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians, conquer most of the Danelaw. * 910 ** 5 August – Battle of Tettenhall: Edward the Elder, King of Wessex, allied with the forces of Mercia, defeats a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
9th Century In England
Events from the 9th century in England. Events * 801 ** Northumbrian invasion of Mercia fails. * 802 ** Ecgberht becomes King of Wessex following the death of Beorhtric. * 803 ** Council of Clofeshoh abolishes the Archbishopric of Lichfield. * 805 ** 12 May – death of Æthelhard, Archbishop of Canterbury. ** 3 August – enthronement of Wulfred as Archbishop of Canterbury. * 806 ** Eardwulf of Northumbria is deposed and apparently succeeded by Ælfwald II. In 808 Eardwulf perhaps returns to the throne for an uncertain period. * 815 ** Ecgberht of Wessex harries Cornwall.''Annales Cambriae''. * 816 ** Saxons invade the mountains of Eryri and the kingdom of Rhufoniog. * 818 ** King Coenwulf of Mercia devastates Dyfed. * 821 ** Wulfred, Archbishop of Canterbury, submits to Coenwulf of Mercia in a dispute over Church lands. ** King Coenwulf of Mercia dies at Basingwerk near Holywell, Flintshire, probably while preparing a campaign against the Welsh. Succession is disputed. * 822 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Danelaw
The Danelaw (, also known as the Danelagh; ang, Dena lagu; da, Danelagen) was the part of England in which the laws of the Danes held sway and dominated those of the Anglo-Saxons. The Danelaw contrasts with the West Saxon law and the Mercian law. The term is first recorded in the early 11th century as ''Dena lage''. The areas that constituted the Danelaw lie in northern and eastern England, long occupied by Danes and other Norsemen. The Danelaw originated from the invasion of the Great Heathen Army into England in the 9th century, although the term was not used to describe a geographic area until the 11th century. With the increase in population and productivity in Scandinavia, Viking warriors, having sought treasure and glory in the nearby British Isles, "proceeded to plough and support themselves", in the words of the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' for the year 876. Danelaw can describe the set of legal terms and definitions created in the treaties between Alfred the Great, th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Old Norse
Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlements and chronologically coincides with the Viking Age, the Christianization of Scandinavia and the consolidation of Scandinavian kingdoms from about the 7th to the 15th centuries. The Proto-Norse language developed into Old Norse by the 8th century, and Old Norse began to develop into the modern North Germanic languages in the mid-to-late 14th century, ending the language phase known as Old Norse. These dates, however, are not absolute, since written Old Norse is found well into the 15th century. Old Norse was divided into three dialects: ''Old West Norse'' or ''Old West Nordic'' (often referred to as ''Old Norse''), ''Old East Norse'' or ''Old East Nordic'', and '' Old Gutnish''. Old West Norse and Old East Norse formed a dialect co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Old English Grammar
The grammar of Old English is quite different from that of Modern English, predominantly by being much more inflected. As an old Germanic language, Old English has a morphological system that is similar to that of the Proto-Germanic reconstruction, retaining many of the inflections thought to have been common in Proto-Indo-European and also including constructions characteristic of the Germanic daughter languages such as the umlaut. Among living languages, Old English morphology most closely resembles that of modern Icelandic, which is among the most conservative of the Germanic languages. To a lesser extent, it resembles modern German. Nouns, pronouns, adjectives and determiners were fully inflected, with four grammatical cases ( nominative, accusative, genitive, dative), and a vestigial instrumental, two grammatical numbers ( singular and plural) and three grammatical genders (masculine, feminine, and neuter). First- and second-person personal pronouns also h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Germanic Languages
The Germanic languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family spoken natively by a population of about 515 million people mainly in Europe, North America, Oceania and Southern Africa. The most widely spoken Germanic language, English, is also the world's most widely spoken language with an estimated 2 billion speakers. All Germanic languages are derived from Proto-Germanic, spoken in Iron Age Scandinavia. The West Germanic languages include the three most widely spoken Germanic languages: English with around 360–400 million native speakers; German, with over 100 million native speakers; and Dutch, with 24 million native speakers. Other West Germanic languages include Afrikaans, an offshoot of Dutch, with over 7.1 million native speakers; Low German, considered a separate collection of unstandardized dialects, with roughly 4.35–7.15 million native speakers and probably 6.7–10 million people who can understand it [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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