Assignment 1/beowulf/Mariela Pizarro

Answers:

1. When was Old English spoken?

It was spoken and written in parts of what are now England and south-eastern Scotland between the mid-5th century and the mid -12th centrury.

2. Name 4 language groups which influenced the development of Old English.
It has influencias of 4 languages such as: Germanic, latin, norse , Celtic.

3. In the Phonology section, name 5 phonetical differences between Old English & Modern English.

[dʒ] is an allophone of /j/ occurring after /n/ and when geminated.
[ŋ] is an allophone of /n/ occurring before /k/ and /g/
[v, ð, z] are allophones of /f, θ, s/ respectively, occurring between vowels or voiced consonants
[ç, x] are allophones of /h/ occurring in coda position after front and back vowels respectively
[ɣ] is an allophone of /g/ occurring after a vowel, and, at an earlier stage of the language, in the syllable onset.

4. Are there any similarites between Old English and Modern English? Name them.

Morphology:
Both, old english and Modern english are morphological diversity and is spelled ssentially as it is pronounced. It maintains several distinct cases: the nominative, accusative,genitive, dative and instrumental, remnants of which survive only in a few pronouns in in modern English.

Syntax:

The word order of Old English is widely believed to be subject-verb-object as in modern English. The word order of Old English, however, was not overly important due to the aforementioned morphology of the language. As long as declension was correct, it did not matter whether you said, "My name is..." as "Mīn nama is..." or "Nama mīn is..."

5. In the Orthography section, enlarge the picture of the runic alphabet. How many letters (runes) are there in this alphabet?

I think, there are 34 letters.

6. Which epic poem was originally written in Old English?

The manuscript "Beowulf".

7. In the See Also section, click on: Beowulf. Appoximately when was Beowulf written?

It was written between the 8th and the early 11th centuries.

8. Even though Beowulf was written in England, the story takes place in which countries?

The relates events took place in Denmark and Sweden.

9. In the poem, which 3 antagonists does Beowulf battle or fight against?

The three antagonists are: Grende, Grendel's mother and dragon.

10. What happens to Beowulf at the end of the story?

Beowulf is fatally wounded in the final battle, and after his death he is buried in a barrow in Geatland by his retainers.

11. Who was the author of Beowulf?

The author of Beowulf is unknown.

12. What were the titles and the dates of the two film versions of Beowulf?

Beowulf & Grendel (2005), Grendel ( 2007), Beowulf (2007), and Beowulf:
Prince of the Geats (2008).

Due: Monday March 23rd, 2009