LANGUAGE VARIATION AND CHANGE / PLM 7

TASK 1 “Introducing English historical linguistics”

EACH TASK WILL BE DISCUSSED IN THE MONDAY SESSION: PLEASE BRING A

PRINTED COPY OF YOUR TASK. ONCE YOU HAVE CHECKED ALL THE
ANSWERS AND MADE ANY NECESSARY AMENDMENTS ON THE SPOT, YOU
WILL BE HANDING IT TO THE LECTURER.

b) “Introducing Historical Linguistics”

1. Have a look at this example of ideograph provided by Sumerian cuneiform

a) Translate the last five phrases in the blanks above.

b) Cuneiform symbols were originally pictures of the objects they represent. Find at least one that
still has some pictorial value. Suggestion: rotate the page 90 degrees clockwise.

c) The symbol for “offering” is a combination of which two other symbols?

d) How is the plural indicated when there is no accompanying numeral?

e) Which is the position of the modifiers in relation to the noun they modify?
2. Consider the following examples of Egyptian hieroglyph:

From these hieroglyphs, the following sentences can be made:

a) Transliterate and translate the last two sentences in the blanks above.

b) What is the Egyptian word order for subject, verb, and adverbial phrase?

3. Have a look at the Cyrillic alphabet:

Transliterate these Russian words:

4. Here are the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew script:

a) Supply a transliteration for each:

b) Sometimes letters which normally stand for consonants are used to represent vowels. When so
used, they are called matres lectionis, “mothers of reading”:
c) These three Hebrew letters are used as matres lectionis; what vowels can each represent?

5. The Ruthwell Cross is a Scottish stone monument that has engraved upon it part of an Old
English poem, “The dream of the rood”. In the 1640´s the cross was broken into pieces;
consequently the inscription is now fragmentary. Most of what survives is reproduced here:
a) Complete the chart below by giving the transliteration for each rune.

b) Transliterate the runic letters of the fourth fragment in the blanks provided above.