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Old English causative verbs, their formal build-up and subsequent development
Filipová, Helena ; Čermák, Jan (advisor) ; Tichý, Ondřej (referee)
The present work provides a comprehensive overview of causativity - its definition, classification and characteristics - in a typological perspective. It outlines the development of causativity in English, from Indo-European to Present Day English with main emphasis on the Old English period and the factors that had led to the state of causative verbs at that time. In Research Part, it inquires into the possible competition between morphological and syntactic causatives and its future after- effects with respect to the described typology. Key words: causation, causativity, causative verb, causative opposition, morphological causative verb, syntactic causative expression, labile causative opposition, Old English
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Corpus based analysis of the competition of linguistic expressions of Old Norse and Old English origin in the Late Old English and Middle English periods
Schlindenbuchová, Magdalena ; Tichý, Ondřej (advisor) ; Čermák, Jan (referee)
This paper seeks to illustrate the influence of Old Norse on the English lexicon. The theoretical part deals mainly with the socio-historical background and with the invasions of the Old Norse speakers, which brought about the changes in the English language. Furthermore, it discusses the idea of mutual intelligibility of the two languages concerned and it describes the characteristics of the language contact situation, which lasted for about 200 years, during which speakers of Old Norse invaded the British Isles. The aim then is to relate these events and factors to the linguistic changes in historical English caused by the influence of Old Norse. The changes shall be illustrated on the competition of concrete linguistic expressions of Old Norse origin and Old English origin. The research itself focuses on the examination of the competition during the periods of Late Old English and Middle English, and it is carried out in the Old English and Middle English corpora (YCOE, PPCME2). The analysis comprises four words of Old Norse origin and their four Old English equivalents. Key words: historical linguistics, borrowing, language contact, corpus linguistics, Old English, Middle English, Old Norse
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Middle English adjectival innovations of native origin (1200-1400) formed by prefixation
Ortutayová, Dominika ; Čermák, Jan (advisor) ; Popelíková, Jiřina (referee)
The aim of this thesis is to analyse and describe the Middle English adjectival innovations of native origin coming into existence by prefixation in the period of 1200-1400. The formations are described from the point of view of their word-formation and semantics, the individual word- formation patterns are identified and analysed in terms of their productivity. In the theoretical part we present three points of view - social, typological and word-formational - which allow us to formulate our hypothesis consisting in the assumption that the native prefixation will exhibit gradual signs of decreasing productivity, brought about both by the language-external and language-internal causes - the language being overwhelmed by the an influx of foreign elements due to political and social situation at the time; as well as gradual phonological and semantic non- transparency of the native prefixes. The empirical part is based on the analysis of the 219 adjectives retrieved from the Oxford English Dictionary. Our results show that 7 out of 13 prefixes are decreasing in productivity or unproductive, yet the situation is not homogeneous and we were able to identify eight possible scenarios of development in productivity patterns. Our hypothesis is thus confirmed only partially - both the extra and...
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Old English causative verbs, their formal build-up and subsequent development
Filipová, Helena ; Čermák, Jan (advisor) ; Tichý, Ondřej (referee)
The present work provides a comprehensive overview of causativity - its definition, classification and characteristics - in a typological perspective. It outlines the development of causativity in English, from Indo-European to Present Day English with main emphasis on the Old English period and the factors that had led to the state of causative verbs at that time. In Research Part, it inquires into the possible competition between morphological and syntactic causatives and its future after- effects with respect to the described typology. Key words: causation, causativity, causative verb, causative opposition, morphological causative verb, syntactic causative expression, labile causative opposition, Old English
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The king as a writer: The image of Anglo-Saxon rulers in the perspective of contemporary artists and society
Kantorová, Aneta ; Panušková, Lenka (advisor) ; Čermák, Jan (referee)
The present thesis focuses on the importance of the written word as a ruling device of the Anglo- Saxon kings. Due to the availability of historical evidence, the studied period begins in 597 with the arrival of Christian missionaries from Rome and ends prior to the Norman Conquest in 1066. The kings' approach to the written word is analyzed on the basis of surviving literary and iconographic evidence, i.e. on documents composed for or by the rulers, and on the visual images of the rulers as portrayed in surviving manuscripts. The first chapter provides a historical background necessary for the correct interpretation of the examined texts and portraits. This section is aimed at the main concepts discussed in the thesis: medieval authorship, medieval kingship, and the spread of Christianity within the Anglo- Saxon kingdoms. The second chapter offers the analysis of written documents and focuses on the texts composed within the scope of King Alfred's educational and religious reform. The close reading of the OE translations demonstrates the king's use of the texts as didactic tools mainly serving to promote religion and learning within the kingdom. The key texts are Gregory's Pastoral Care, Augustine's Soliloquies, and Boethius's Consolation of Philosophy; an additional context of the king's life and...
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The Motives of Separation and Solitude in Old English Lyrical Poetry
Klasnová, Lenka ; Znojemská, Helena (advisor) ; Čermák, Jan (referee)
This thesis is concerned with four Old English lyrical poems of the so-called elegiac group, i.e. The Wife's Lament, Wulf and Eadwacer, The Wanderer and The Seafarer and their shared themes of separation and solitude. After a brief account of the few facts known about the poems, the appropriateness of the elegiac genre imposed upon them by scholarly tradition is addressed in the introduction. The first chapter gives a brief overview of the history of critical opinion on each of the poems. Since their simple unambiguous translation is impossible, given the cryptic nature of the narratives and numerous grammatically, syntactically, semantically or otherwise problematic points, the chapter also attempts the notoriously difficult task of their interpretation. While some solutions to the problematic aspects may be preferred in the course of the interpretation, a variety of potential possibilities is discussed in most cases. The resulting interpretations strive to present each poem as a unified and logical narrative. The second chapter addresses the themes of loneliness, alienation, isolation and separation in each of the four poems, their given reasons, manifestations, progress and the common elegiac imagery used to express them. The mood evoked by specific word meanings and employed rhetorical devices...
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