Intelligibility in the early language contact in Danelaw revisited

• Authors: Sówka-Pietraszewska Katarzyna , Grelowska Gabriela
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

The problem of intelligibility between Anglo-Saxons and Scandinavians in Danelaw has been a matter of dispute for over a century now. Two perspectives of looking at this issue have been proposed. One group of scholars claim that, due to a fair number of similarities in the lexis and grammar of the languages, the level of mutual intelligibility was high. The other party strongly objects to the view of commonalities and mutual comprehension. Instead, they argue for the idea of emerging bilingualism in Danelaw. This paper aims to adduce arguments to the claim of mutual intelligibility proposed by Townend (2002), among others. We provide an insightful etymological account of meticulously collected parallel words in the analysed languages. The search for the common ancestry of lexical roots is enhanced by the study of cultural context. Moreover, a comparative analysis of syntax, morphology, and pronunciation is also provided. The proposed complex analysis leads to the conclusion that the level of mutual intelligibility between the Old English speakers and Norsemen was high.

Keywords

EN

Danelaw; mutual intelligibility; Proto-Germanic; comparative approach

• Publisher: Oficyna Wydawnicza ATUT – Wrocławskie Wydawnictwo Oświatowe
• Journal: Beiträge zur allgemeinen und vergleichenden Sprachwissenschaft
• Year: 2021
• Volume: 10
• Pages: 201-221

Dates

published

2021-12-01

Contributors

author

Sówka-Pietraszewska Katarzyna

• Uniwersytet Wrocławski

author

Grelowska Gabriela

• Wyższa Szkoła Bankowa we Wrocławiu

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Identifiers

DOI

10.23817/bzspr.10-9