Diachronic characteristics of the category of gender in the English language

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Diachronic characteristics of the category of gender in the English language

Aliyeva L.R.

Azerbaijan University of Languages

The fact that each of the different natural languages spoken in the world has a Proto-Language at its origin is one of the controversial issues that has been resolved on the basis of the historical-comparative method. Over time, different but similar dialects originating from the same Proto-Language have changedfrom the language of a small tribe to the languages of large tribes, and then expanded further and become the language of different peoples and states. The family of Indo-European languages spoken on the European continent today can be cited as a clear example of this. These languages derived from the same Proto-Germanic language, but due to the influence of linguistic and extra-linguistic factors, they went through different historical stages and developed differently. For example, if the Old English language had a suffixed, grammatical gender category during the initial evolution, that is, in the 5th-11th centuries as in Modern German, then in the 11th-15th centuries, the grammatical gender in English was completely replaced by the natural gender.

Regarding the reasons for the failure of the grammatical gender in English, scientists have put forward different - phonetic, functional concepts. Although the advanced considerations are aimed at the scientific explanation of the grammatical gender leaving the language in English, they do not fully explain the essence of the matter. Scholars emphasize linguistic and extra-linguistic factors in these radical changes in English. They do not exclude the influence of other languages - the languages of the Danes and the Normans. According to linguists, it is extra-linguistic factors that cause the emergence of intra-linguistic factors and give them an impetus. In the presented article, the category of gender in English was studied from a diachronic point of view and an attempt was made to approach the discussed issue from historical point of view.

Key words: category of gender, natural gender, grammatical gender, diachronic approach, intra- linguistic factors, extra-linguistic factors, gender-neutral language

Алієва Л.Р. ДІАХРОНІЧНА ХАРАКТЕРИСТИКА КАТЕГОРІЇ РОДУ В АНГЛІЙСЬКІЙ МОВІ

У статті зазначено, що кожна з різних природних мов, поширених у світі, має прамову у своєму походженні, є одним із суперечливих питань, які були вирішені на основі історико-порівняльного методу. З часом різні, але схожі діалекти, що походять від однієї прамови, змінювалися з мови малого племені на мови великих племен, а потім поширювалися далі й ставали мовами різних народів і держав. Як яскравий приклад цього можна навести сім'ю індоєвропейських мов, якими сьогодні розмовляють на європейському континенті. Ці мови походять від однієї прагерманської мови, але через вплив лінгвістичних і позамовних факторів пройшли різні історичні етапи і по-різному розвивалися. Наприклад, якщо давньоанглійська мова мала суфіксовану граматичну категорію роду під час початкової еволюції, тобто в 5-11 століттях, як і в сучасній німецькій мові, то в 11-15 століттях граматичний рід в англійській мові був повністю замінений за природною статтю. Щодо причин неспроможності граматичного роду в англійській мові вчені висувають різні - фонетичні, функціональні концепції. Хоча висунуті міркування спрямовані на наукове пояснення виходу з мови граматичного роду в англійській мові, вони не повністю пояснюють суть справи. Науковці підкреслюють лінгвістичні та екстралінгвістичні фактори цих радикальних змін в англійській мові. Вони не виключають впливу інших мов - мов датчан і норманів. На думку мовознавців, саме екстралінгвістичні чинники зумовлюють виникнення внутрішньомовних і дають їм поштовх. У представленій статті категорію гендеру в англійській мові досліджено з діахронічної точки зору та зроблено спробу підійти до обговорюваного питання з історичної точки зору.

Ключові слова: категорія роду, природний рід, граматичний рід, діахронічний підхід, інтралінгвістичні фактори, екстралінгвістичні фактори, гендерно нейтральна мова.

Introduction

grammatical gender english language

The formation of natural language is a centuries-long process, and it has passed through different stages, which do not repeat each other, accompanied by various historical events. During these transitional stages, languages undergo changes in various ways, and this is inevitable. “Greek philosophers were aware of the fact that human language is subject to change in the course of time” [1, p. 26]. The period in which the language is developing and maturing is its evolutionary period. The evolution of the language is studied equally with the most important intra-linguistic and extra-linguistic events that occurred in the history of its development. Thus, those historical events are valued as a turning point in the life of the language and the people it belongs to. At present, the languages spoken by a large number of people on earth have undergone a period of development in different directions under the influence of various factors - linguistic and extra-linguistic factors until they reach the level of modern standardization. They experienced historical moments that played an important role in their development.

The history of each nation is undoubtedly preserved in the language of that nation. Every language family currently spoken in the world is based on one Proto-language. It is impossible to disagree with this statement, because the historical-comparative method, studying the genealogical system of languages since the 19th century, classified the languages of the world into different language families and showed that each language family took its origin from the same Proto-language. In the later stages of development, a large geographical migration of tribes speaking the same Proto-language began their nomadic way of life, wars of aggression against other tribes and other relations separated these tribes from each other, and the relations with new tribes had a strong impact on their language, religion and way of life.

In this way, the languages of small tribes expanded into the language of large tribes, and different dialects of the same Proto-language emerged. The unity of the tribes speaking different languages is first created due to the unity of language in order to understand each other. Thus, as a result of migration of tribes speaking the same language in different directions and assimilation with tribes speaking a different language, different number of dialects has grown from one Protolanguage. Over time, no matter how much the difference between dialects has deepened, still the trace of the source language remains in these languages, the genetic connection does not disappear. Taking into account these characteristics, languages are compared genealogically or typologically, and scientists have determined which language family they belong to base on the historical-comparative method. A language, which is a member of a certain language family, differs both in the features it has acquired from its ancestral roots and in the features it has acquired in the periodization process it has undergone. In this regard, the periodization process of the English language, the changes occurring in the English language during this period, especially the reasons why the grammatical gender category, which had a special position in Old English, left the language, attract attention as a special topic of debate.

In linguistics, the category of gender, in particular, the division of nouns according to grammatical and natural gender and their manifestation in different forms in languages has always been the object of research by scientists. G.G. Corbett studied the category of gender in more than 200 languages of the world and came to the conclusion that grammatical gender is widely used in languages [7, p. 1].

Other prominent representatives of world linguistics H. Sweet, O. Jespersen, Ch. Hockett, A. Campbell, K. Brunner, N.F. Blake, R. Quirk, C.L. Wrenn, R.M. Hogg, A. Curzan, J. Klover, C. Hough, J. Corbett, D. Crystal and others studied the category of gender from the diachronic aspect, they conducted extensive research on the reasons why grammatical gender in English left the language as a result of historical development unlike the other Indo-European languages. All problems connected with the category of gender are learned in the subject of the History of the English Language or the History of English Grammar.

The main goal of teaching this subject to the students is to provide extensive, fact-based information about the evolution of the English language. In order to achieve the goal, the following tasks must be taken into consideration:

- Identify theoretical sources related to the historical stages of the English language;

- To inform students separately about the historical periods of the English language;

- To explain the reasons for the collapse of the grammatical gender category that existed in Old English;

- To interpret the essence of the natural gender used in Modern English in comparison with the grammatical gender.

A methodological basis for the study of the category of gender in English. Historical-comparative, comparison-contrast and contextual analysis methods were used to study the gender category in English in a diachronic aspect.

Diachronic Features of the Category of Gender in English

The evolution period of the English language has been subdivided by different ways by scholars. It was first done by H. Sweet: “The usual division of the history of the language into three major periods - Old, Middle and Modern - was first proposed by Henry Sweet in a lecture on the history of sounds to the Philological Society in 1873” [2, p. 6]. This division is known as morphological periodization in linguistics. H. Sweet wrote about it like that: “I propose, therefore, to start with the three main divisions of Old, Middle and Modern, based mainly on the inflectional characteristics of each stage. Old English is the period of full inflections (nama, givan, caru), Middle English of levelled inflections (naame, given, caare) and Modern English of lost inflections (naam, giv, caar)” [3].

English is a language that has witnessed many historical events during its evolution. English belongs to the Germanic language group, which was spoken as a single language long before our era. Germanic tribes - sometimes called Teutonic tribes - lived in the same area in the far North of the European continent and spoke the same Germanic language. In the later periods of historical development, these tribes began to migrate in different directions to the interior of the continent. They fought with other tribes in order to occupy new lands and seize wealth, they moved away from their homeland and settled in the newly conquered territories and began to get closer to the tribes living in those territories.

Thus, the tribes speaking the same language became distant from each other, the relations they established with other tribes affected their language and way of life and as a result, different dialects of the same language arose. Over time, the tribal languages spread over wider areas and the dialectal differences of the Germanic languages deepened. Nevertheless,

the signs of the Proto-language remained in them to a greater or lesser extent. However, although these languages belong to the same language family, the individual and distinguishing features characteristic of them have been acquired by the language as a result of its evolution. It is for this reason that it can be noted that although modern German and English languages belong to the Indo-European language family, they are very different in terms of grammatical structure. Because the periodization process of these languages developed in different directions, their phonetic and grammatical systems differed from each other. But these languages, at the same time, have not lost the genetic connection between other Indo-European languages at all levels.

Depending on the migration of Germanic tribes, researchers divide the Germanic languages into North, East and West Germanic subgroups. Each group is characterized by its own peculiarities.

The Germanic language group is one of the subgroups of the Indo-European language family. English belongs to the group of West Germanic languages of this subgroup. In addition to English, this group includes German, Flemish, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, the language of the Faroe Islands, Frisian languages, etc. Among these languages, English attracts special attention due to the historical evolution period it has passed and the changes it has undergone in the language system.

It is known that in the history of its development, the British Isles were invaded by five separate invaders from different parts of the European continent, and the Anglo, Saxon and Jute tribes who attacked the islands during such invasions took over the islands and became permanent residents there, and caused the formation of the English language which became the language of a nation and a state. Although the islands were occupied for centuries by the Celts (in the 6th-3rd centuries BC) and the Romans (in the 1st-5th centuries AD) before the Germanic tribes (Teutonic tribes), their language could not remain on the islands, because the new invader pushed the old invader out of the islands.

The Teutonic tribes were permanent residents of the islands starting from the 5th century, and even though no later invaders occupied their lands and became the owners of the islands for centuries, these tribes did not leave the islands and the English language was formed under such circumstances. It is the period of evolution of the English language that is rich with periods of invasions. Thus, in the later stages of history, the Vikings in the 9th-11th centuries and the Norman invasion in the 11th-15th centuries left deep traces in the English people's lifestyle and language. At the same time, the Christianity brought by the Romans to the islands paved the way for the ecclesiastical power, and Latin and Greek became the main state languages in the country. These languages also did not leave the local Anglo-Saxon language untouched, and a large number of words entered the English language from them.

Due to the invasions, although the English language belonging to the ancient Germanic tribes underwent deep phonetic, grammatical and lexical changes under the influence of foreign languages, it was able to maintain its stability as a language and the ability to be a means of communication by accepting changes according to each stage of historical development. He did not leave the stage and go bankrupt. “The history of the English language falls naturally into three periods; but these periods blend into one another so gradually that too much significance must not be attached to the exact dates which scholars, chiefly for convenience of treatment, have assigned as their limits. Our language, it is true, has undergone many and great changes; but its continuity has never been broken, and its individuality has never been lost” [4, p. 2].

However, the Modern English spoken today is not the Anglo-Saxon English spoken in the period between the 5th and 11th centuries. It would be wrong to say that “A citizen of modern England can easily read and understand Old English”.

During its evolution, Modern English language underwent a process of periodization under the influence of the mentioned languages, and each period is characterized by changes that took place under the influence of the language of an invader. Today in English, it is possible to clearly see the influence of the Celtic tribes, Greek-Latin languages brought to the islands by the Romans, the languages close to the Anglo-Saxon English of the Danish tribes, as well as the Old French language of Latin origin spoken by the Normans. “The language of the Vikings was old Norse, a close cousin of Old English and in many ways similar” [5, p. 6]. Each foreign language has influenced the vocabulary of the local language in the most basic and flexible way during communication with the local people. For this reason, today's English is considered the richest language in terms of synonyms, antonyms and homonyms.

Noting the influence of other languages on the historical formation of the English language, O. Jes- persen writes about the fact that the Celtic language did not have much influence on the English language: “We now see why so few words were taken over into English. There was nothing to induce the ruling classes to learn the language of the inferior natives; it could never be fashionable for them to show an acquaintance with that despised, tongue by using now and then a Celtic word. On the other hand the Celt would have to learn the language, of his masters, and learn it well...'' [6, p. 39].

However, today languages of Celtic origin are spoken in the British Isles, especially in Scotland and Wales. At the same time, many troponins in modern English - the Thames, Severn, Avon, Denver, etc. are of Celtic origin. However, a large number of words were transferred to English from Latin, Greek and French, and under the influence ofthese languages, the phonetic and grammatical system of the English language underwent changes. From a diachronic point of view, it can be explained that the mentioned languages were the languages of the invaders and the church that ruled the British Isles for centuries. In certain periods, state administration, science, education, and culture were conducted and propagated in these languages. But the common people spoke Anglo-Saxon.

Although the processes of Romanization or Normalization took place in the English language during its evolution, English functioned as the language of the kingdoms that arose in the British Isles. In particular, the role of King Alfred the Great in the formation of English as the state language is undeniable/

However, it cannot be denied that the English language has undergone great changes under the influence of the language of the invaders who invaded the islands and settled there for centuries and became a language formed in a completely different direction. It is enough to note that the Old English language began to change from a synthetic suffixed language to an analytical language starting from the middle Ages, in the XI century. This process started at different times in different parts of the country. Scientists note that the renewal of the English language began in the 9th century after the Danes attacked the northern part of the country. Anglo-Saxon English was spoken in some parts of the islands as early as the 11th century. The collapse of the suffix system in English became massive after the Norman invasion, and this process ended in the period between the XI and XV centuries.

When the Old English language, which had a free word order in the sentence, began to lose its rich morphological means that express grammatical meanings, like the modern German language, the syntactic relations between the words in the sentence began to be realized at the expense of auxiliary parts of speech and fixed word order. In Old English, the noun was a part of speech rich in suffixes, having the categories of case, person, number and gender as the main part of speech. The noun determiners - articles, adjectives, pronouns, and numerals agree with it in case, person, number and gender. The tense forms, types and forms of the verb are expressed in the language by different suffixed morphemes.

In particular, in Old English, the grammatical gender category played a key role in the gender classification of nouns. Gender is a category that exists in all languages of the world as a linguistic universal. The essence of this category is explained by G. Corbett as follows: “Gender is the most puzzling of the grammatical categories. It is a topic which interests non-linguists as well as linguists and it becomes more fascinating the more it is investigated. In some languages gender is central and pervasive, while in others it is totally absent” [7, p. 1]. But for Ch. Hockett, “Genders are classes of nouns reflected in the behavior of associated words” [8, p. 231].

Cognitively, the basis of the conceptualization of the category of gender in human thinking is the coding of the division of living beings into female, male and inanimate beings that do not express any gender according to their natural sex. In the concept of its essence, there is a grouping of animate and inanimate beings according to the gender existing in nature. Although the conceptualization of the gender category in human thinking is the same, their manifestation in languages appears in different forms. Gender category is a language universal that manifests itself in different content depending on the typological characteristics of the language. If there is a gender difference between animate and inanimate beings according to sex in nature, then the category of gender must be cognitively present in all languages of the world, because the gender difference must be expressed in language. In this respect, their lexical-semantic and grammatical features are taken into account when classifying nouns by gender.

Regarding the gender category, A. Curzan writes: “In the fifth century BC, according to Aristotle's account, Protagoras first created the labels masculine, feminine and neuter for Greek nouns. Protagoras apparently anxious that the grammatical gender of nouns and the sex of their referents did not always correspond in Greek” [9, p. 11]. This contrast exists in all languages with grammatical gender. However, as mentioned above, there are languages in which the category of gender is in central position, for example, as in Latin, Greek, German, Spanish, Russian, French, etc., but there are languages in which the grammatical gender ofthe noun is not important, for example, in English, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Turkish etc. languages.

In the process of periodization of the English language, there was a category of grammatical gender that almost completely left the grammatical system of the language, and this assimilation radically affected the internal structure of the English language, separating it from the direction of development of other Germanic languages and directing it in a completely different way. Therefore, Modern English differs from other Germanic languages, because in them both natural and grammatical gender are used in parallel in the gender division of nouns. For example, in German, both semantic and morphological features of nouns are the main principles for their gender classification. At the same time, in modern German, the articles die, der, das are the main grammatical signs indicating that nouns belong to the feminine, masculine and neuter genders. Although the classification of nouns according to natural gender is considered simple in the language, but the gender division of nouns that do not express any gender creates a problem in the language.

For example, “A Frenchman's beard is feminine (la barbe), the Russian `water' - eoga is feminine; in German das Messer (the knife) is an `it', but der Loffel (the spoon) is masculine, whilst die Gabel (the fork) represents a feminine figure. And in Spanish the spoon (la cuchara) is feminine and the fork (el tenedor) is masculine” [10].

These features were also present in the Old English noun system. In this regard, R. Quirk and C. Wren write:“Old English nouns fall into three groups, masculine, neuter and feminine, according as they require one or other form of the demonstratives se, |$t, seo, and enforce corresponding agreement on the other demonstratives, on adjectives and on pronouns.... these three genders concern grammatical agreement and do not reflect any logical contrast between (animate) masculine, and feminine and (inanimate) neuter; thus OE boc `book' is feminine, wifmann `woman' is masculine, and m^gden `girl' is neuter. [11, p. 19-20].

In Old English grammatical relationships between clauses were expressed through suffixes. The noun's four cases, three genders, three numbers - singular, plural and dual number forms and person changes were expressed through suffixes depending on the gender of the noun. Their semantics and morphological features, especially their endings, played an important role in the gender division of nouns in Old English. “The gender of Old English nouns, unlike that of Modern English, depends partly on meaning and partly on form, or ending. Thus mub - mouth is masculine; tunge - tongue feminine; eage - eye neuter.. Gender will be indicated in the vocabularies by the different gender forms of the definite article, se for the masculine, seo for the feminine, and bmt for the neuter: se mub, seo tunge, bmt eage - the mouth, the tongue, the eye. All nouns ending in -dom, -had, -scipe, or -ere are masculine.Those ending in -nes or -ung are feminine” [4, p. 12].

As mentioned, in Old English articles indicated the gender of the noun, as in modern German and French. For example, abbuddom m. - abbatial jurisdiction; abbudhad m. - abbatial rank, dignity; ablysung f. - blushing, shame; b^bcere m. -bather; b^bhus n. - bathing place [12, p. 1-2; p. 29].

In Old English, nouns had strong and weak declensions depending on gender and case. The nouns with the vowels -a, -i, -o, -u in their roots belonged to the Strong Declension. In the strong declension, nouns usually took the following suffixes:

[13].

Nouns with the consonant -n in the root belong to the Weak Declension, and they usually took the following endings:

[13].

“Old English nouns belong to one of three genders: masculine, feminine and neuter. OE cyning -`king' is a masculine noun, and illustrates the general pattern of inflections for masculine nouns. For feminine nouns such as cwen ` queen', and neuter nouns such as wif `woman', the corresponding inflections are as follows with the articles according to the genders” [14].

In Old English, there were agreements for person, gender, case, and number between a noun and its determiners. The order of words in the sentence was free, and the syntactic relations between the members of the sentence were expressed by suffixes. For example, this can be seen in the following example:

Pa hi pa ferdon, pa stwyde Drihtnes engel losepe on swefnum, and pus cwmb, Aris and nim p$t cild and his modor, and fleoh on Egypta land, and beo ржг ob p$t ic be secge; toweard ys p$t Herodes secb p$t cild to forspillenne. (When they had left, then the angel of God appeared to Joseph in a dream and spoke in this way: “ Arise, and take the child and his mother and flee to the land of the Egyptians and remain there until I tell you. The time is at hand, that Herod will seek out the child to destroy him” [15, p. 9].

But Middle English, which covers the years 1100-1500, gradually began to lose its suffixes. Scientists have put forward different concepts to clarify the reason for this. However, in the profound changes in the language, after the emergence of Anglo- Saxon English on the islands, the influence of two invaders - the Vikings and the Normans - should be noted for centuries. Thus, the English language has changed a lot in terms of writing, pronunciation, grammatical structure and vocabulary due to the influence of these languages.

English, a suffixed language in the middle Ages, gradually began to lose its suffixes and become an analytical language. Although it began at different times in different parts of these islands, by the end of the Middle Ages the English grammar system had become standardized. As noted by K. Brunner, the process of grammatical gender in English leaving the language began in the 10th century in the kingdom of Nosambria. Then this process began to gradually spread to other parts of the islands and was almost completed in the 13th century.

The decrease in the number of cases of the noun caused the grammatical gender suffixes to leave the language. Leaving the language of gender articles eliminated the problem of the gender of the noun. The semantic feature of nouns began to be more important. The grammatical gender category gave way to the natural gender. K. Brunner writes about language changes: “Already in OE, to some extend even before the earliest texts, the inflexion of the various declensions had been levelled, by the assimilation of the smaller classes to larger” [16, p. 45].

K. Brunner associates the collapse of the grammatical gender category in nouns in the language with the abandonment of the case, number and personal suffixes used in the language. In this regard, the scientist notes that, “Further levelling of inflexions was hastened by the loss of grammatical gender. Levelling of forms which differed according to gender in the definite article and in the demonstrative pronouns, ... in the adjective declension with its more sharply differentiated inflexions, restricted the means of indicating grammatical gender, and eventually the gender of nouns can be identified only by the personal and possessive pronouns used with them” [16, p. 46].

The departure of the grammatical gender from the language in the Middle Ages was a historical event in the considerable change and simplification of the grammatical structure of the English language. Because in the classification of nouns according to gender, the dominant position of their semantic features led to the disappearance of contradictions related to gender in the language. Thus, according to its natural sex, the word wife - woman began to be attributed to the feminine gender, not to the neuter gender, as in Old English, the noun stan - stone, not to the masculine gender, but to the neuter gender, which does not express any gender, and the noun duru - door began to be attributed to the neuter gender, not feminine. Only in the language pronouns he for masculine, she for feminine, it for neuter (him, his, himself; her, hers, herself; it, its, itself) remained. Medieval English was in some ways similar to Modern English, and it is possible to read and understand the writings of that period. For example, this can be seen in the medieval version of the story fragment given above:

And whanne thei weren goon, lo! The aungel of the Lord apperide to Joseph in sleep, and seide, Rise vp, and take the child and his modir, and fle in to Egipt, and be thou there, til that I seie to thee; for it is to come, that Eroude seke the child to dest- rie hym. (`When they had left, then the angel of God appeared to Joseph in a dream and spoke in this way: “Arise, and take the child and his mother and flee to the land of Egyptians and remain there until I tell you. The time is at hand that Herod will seek out the child to destroy him”) [15, p. 9].

The period from the 15th century to the present is the period of the Modern English language. Modern English is currently used worldwide as an international language, as the most classic example of analytical, not synthetic, languages. Compared to other Indo-European languages, modern, standardized English is free from the category of grammatical gender and has an internal structure that is easy to master. Currently, the Modern English language is performing the task of lingua franca among the peoples of the world. In Modern English, it can be said that since the division of nouns according to gender is completely related to the natural gender (natural sex), it has become a completely gender-neutral language. For example, names of countries, ships, gentle, small animals were once feminine, and strong animals were masculine, but in Modern English, nouns that unambiguously belong to humans are masculine and feminine by natural attribute, plants and animals , and inanimate beings belong to the neuter gender. However, in Modern English, the gender category is clearly used in pronouns.

Conclusions

English, which is currently used as an international language, has changed from a synthetic language with suffixes to an analytical word rich in morphemes due to the influence of linguistic and extra linguistic factors during its three evolutionary periods - Old, Middle and Modern. Modern English is studied as the most classic example of analytical languages. During the period of evolution, the English language has undergone profound phonetic and grammatical changes, and a large number of words have entered the English language from other languages. For this reason, the vocabulary of the English language is rich in antonyms, synonyms and homonyms. It should be especially emphasized that during the development period, the grammatical gender in English collapsed and gave way to a completely natural-semantic gender.

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15. Norman Blake. The Cambridge History of the English Language. Volume II. 1066-1476. Cambridge University Press - 2006, 699 p.

16. K. Brunner. An Outline of Middle English Grammar. Oxford. Basil Blackwell. 1970, 111 p.

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