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approach, any language phenomenon is treated as part of ever-
lasting process and evolution.

In order to learn as much as possible about the language, its
necessary to analyze linguistic factors not only from the point of

the synchronic approach, but also with the help of the diachronic
one. The division between synchronic and diachronic

approaches is conventional. This division exists more in theory

than in practice.
In the diachronic approach to studying the language two

main methods are used: the comparative method and the internal

reconstruction method. The comparative method compares
variations between different languages. For example, full

cognates have similar phonetic and semantic structure and share
the same etymology: Lat. padre, Eng. father, G. vater, etc.; root

cognates have the same origin but only in their root: Lat. deus,
Sanskrit devah, Eng. divine.

The internal reconstruction method compares variant forms

within a single language under the assumption that they descend
from a single, regular form.

3. Sources of studying the HEL

The studying of the HEL is based on different English
historical documents and English texts which formed the

English language: for example, “The Song of Beowulf”; King’s

Alfred translation of Orosius’s “Universal History”; Chaucer’s
“The Canterbury Tales”; W. Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”.

4. The connection between the HEL and the history of its
people

All linguistic alterations are interconnected or closely
connected with the events which take place in the political,

economical, cultural life of people, i.e. with the history of the
country. As a result, new words and word combinations appear

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