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1

Intelligibility in the early language contact in Danelaw revisited

100%

Sówka-Pietraszewska K., Grelowska G.

Beiträge zur allgemeinen und vergleichenden Sprachwissenschaft

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2021

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vol. 10

201-221

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.

2

Anglo-Scandinavian code-mixing in English place-names

88%

Fekete T.

Studia Anglica Posnaniensia

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2015

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vol. 50

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issue 4

5-23

EN

With this paper I wish to investigate the nature of code-mixing found in English place names chiefly, though not exclusively, from the Danelaw area. The paper analyses this code-mixing in the frame-work of contact linguistics in the light of the contact situation between Old English and Old Norse, as described by Townend (2002) and Lutz (2013), that existed from the 8th century onwards, bearing in mind, however, that the Scandinavian place names may not necessarily be direct indicators of the nature and extent of the Scandinavian settlement itself. Historical code-switching usually and generally focuses on describing intersentential and intrasentential code-switching, and this paper aims at broadening the overall scope of the investigation through the inclusion of onomastics. The analysis will be chiefly based on a corpus of 1,915 relevant place-names, with the data drawn from the Oxford Dictionary of English Place-Names (Mills 1998), and Fellows-Jensen’s regional studies on Scandinavian place-names in England (Fellows-Jensen 1972, 1978, 1985). The primary focus of the investigation will be those place names which contain both Scandinavian and English elements, used to contain at least one Scandinavian or English element which was replaced by an element from the other language, contain at least one element which underwent a transformation to accommodate to the phonological system of the other language and contain elements which could belong to either of the languages but cannot be decided with absolute certainty. In this paper I also argue that names (specifically the above mentioned place-names) can conform to Muysken’s (2000) category of congruent lexicalization and that word-internal code-switching, and CS in general, is in fact a phenomenon that can occur in the case of hybrid place-names.

3

Aethelflaeda – kobieta, która broniła Anglię przed wikingami

87%

Madej M.

Acta Universitatis Lodziensis. Folia Historica

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2019

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issue 105

13-22

EN

Aethelflaed (ca. 870–918) was the daughter of Alfred the Great, king of Wessex. The times in which she lived were for the future England extremaly difficult. Though in the decisive year of 878 her father defeated one of the Viking leaders, Guthrum, in the battle of Edington and this victory brought the Anglo-Saxons a couple of years of peace, the northern and eastern part of the country was still under Viking rule. The primarily purpose of this paper is to present the achievements of Aethelflaed. No doubt she inherited her father’s character and determination to completely eliminate the Vikings from England. After the passing of her husband, ealdorman Aethelred of Mercia, she alone ruled Mercia, which for a women was quite unusual in her times. Together with her brother Edward the Elder she continued the construction of burhs, a project started by Alfred. Among other victories in 917 she managed to recapture Derby, one of the Five Boroughs of the Danelaw. Unfortunately, Aethelflaed’s sudden death in 918 stopped these successes. However, the memory of her deeds survived generations.

PL

Aethelflaeda (ok. 870–918) była córką Alfreda Wielkiego, króla Wessexu. Czasy, w których żyła, były dla terenów dzisiejszej Anglii niezwykle ciężkie. Choć w przełomowym roku 878 jej ojciec pokonał jednego ze skandynawskich wodzów Guthruma w bitwie pod Edington i zwycięstwo to przyniosło Anglosasom kilkanaście lat pokoju, to północna i wschodnia część kraju wciąż znajdowała się pod panowaniem wikingów. Artykuł ten ma na celu ukazać przede wszystkim dokonania Aethelflaedy. Bez wątpienia odziedziczyła po ojcu siłę charakteru i determinację, by całkowicie usunąć wikingów z Anglii. Po śmierci męża, ealdormana Mercji Aethelreda sama sprawowała rządy w tym kraju, co z racji płci było w jej czasach czymś wyjątkowym. Wraz z bratem Edwardem Starszym kontynuowała rozpoczętą przez Alfreda fortyfikację miejscowości, m.in. w 917 r. udało jej się odbić z rąk wikingów Derby, jedną z ich głównych baz. Sukcesy Aethelflaedy przerwała, niestety, nagła śmierć w kolejnym roku. Pamięć o jej czynach przetrwała jednak pokolenia.

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1 Acta Universitatis Lodziensis. Folia Historica

1 Beiträge zur allgemeinen und vergleichenden Sprachwissenschaft

1 Studia Anglica Posnaniensia

1 Fekete T.

1 Grelowska G.

1 Madej M.

1 Sówka-Pietraszewska K.

1 2021

1 2019

1 2015

Intelligibility in the early language contact in Danelaw revisited

Anglo-Scandinavian code-mixing in English place-names

Aethelflaeda – kobieta, która broniła Anglię przed wikingami