a brief history of the english language1

7/28/2019 A Brief History of the English Language1

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A Brief History of the

English LanguageFrom Beowulfto Modern

Times


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English Language

Old English

from the earliest writtendocuments to the end of the 7thcentury

Middle English

the 7th

century to 1500Modern English

1500 to present day


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Romans 55 B.C. (Julius Caesar)

Celtic people (Britons)

400 years > a Roman colony

Wales & Scotland > unconquered

obstacle (high mountains)

410 A.D. Romans left Britain


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Anglo-Saxon Influence

5th century A.D.

New invaders - Germanic tribes:

Angles (Schleswig)

Saxons (Holstein)Jutes (Jutland)

Germanic speech family

West Germanic> Low German (English, Dutch)

> High German (German)


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Anglo-Saxon

Old English

an inflected language

five cases of nouns (Nominative,Genitive, Dative, Accusative,Vocative)

strong & weak declensions

for adjectives (each with fivecases)

a full conjugation of verbs


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England the land of the Angles

man work house

woman eat shire


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The Danish Element

The end of 8th century

> conquerors & settlers

Words common to both Saxon &Danish languages

mother father man wife

summer winter town house

come think will see


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Danish words

leg skin skull knife

sky happy law low

ugly weak wrong want

call take die lift


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Latin Influence

the 6th century AD

missionaries from Rome came tostrengthen Christianity in Britain

religion and learning

school pope monk

candle mass verse


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French (Norman) Influence

1066 Britain conquered by theNormans French became theofficial language

government, legal system, cooking

court govern *vealadvise sovereign *mutton


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Sir Walter Scott Ivanhoe

the names of animals while alive

English prepared for food > Norman

cow / bull / ox > beef

calf > veal sheep / lamb > mutton

swine / pig > pork


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French> official language

English > spoken by the commonpeople

1362 Edward III > opened Parliamentin English

French has become much unknownin this realm.


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Modification of English

For three centuries

almost entirely spoken language general grammatical simplification

dropping of grammatical gender

case endings of nouns reduced to one

simplified verb forms

although Germanic language > 50%of the words ofFrench and Latinorigin


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Vocabulary

early accepted French words

>totally anglicized

>accent on the first syllable (afeature of Old English)

virtue nature honour reason

later accepted words

>failed accentuation

campaign faade


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garage (half-way)

[gara:] [gra:] [garid] > carriage; marriagepronunciation of Gas [ d ] > rage, age, judgeas [ ] > rouge, sabotage, camouflage


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pronunciation of CHas [ ]> chief, chimney as [ ]> chef, chauffeur


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Two words > roughly the same meaning

Saxon origin vs. Norman origin

foe enemy

friendship amity

freedom liberty

Saxon words > deeper emotionalcontent

Brotherly love vs. fraternal affection Hearty welcomevs.cordial reception


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Since Norman times no otherinvader has come to England toimpose an alien tongue on the

country.

But the stream of words hasnever ceased to flow in.


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Greek and Latin Influence

Renaissance

interest in classical learninginflux of words from Greek and Latin

physics architecture history

radius phenomenon educate


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Colonies Striking Back

WORLDWIDE ENGLISH

(WORLD ENGLISH)


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Borrowings from Other

Languages

Indian:

>pyjamas, shampoo, bungalow

Persian:>caravan, jackal, bazaar

Arabic:

>admiral, alcohol, coffee, cotton


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Italian:

>piano, umbrella, balcony,corridor, monkey

Spanish:

>dispatch, cargo, cigarette

Portuguese:>verandah, parasol, firm


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Indian (New World)

>potato, tobacco, canoe,

Mexico

>chocolate, cocoa, tomato

Chinese:

>tea

Malaya, Polynesia, Australia

>bamboo, taboo, boomerang, kangaroo


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British vs. American

English


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British vs. American English

(Lexis)

American British Serbian

apartment flat stan

baggage luggage prtljag

billion milliard milijarda

can tin konzerva


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A vs. B: LEXIS contd


candy sweet slatkis

druggist chemist apotekar

elevator lift lift

fall autumn jesen

first floor ground floor prizemlje

gas, gasoline petrol benzin

subway underground podzemna zel

suspenders braces tregeri

truck lorry kamion


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Compare

American British

Joe stopped the trucknear a billboard.

Taking out hisflashlight, he checkedthe gas and thebattery, wiped the

windshields, lifted thehood, and tried totighten the sparkplug with a monkey

wrench.

Joe stopped the lorrynear the hoarding.

Taking out his electrictorch, he checked thepetrol and theaccumulator, wiped

the windscreen, liftedthe bonnet, and triedto tighten thesparking plug with a

spanner.


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Differences in spelling


behavior behaviour

color colour

favor favour

honor honour

caliber calibre

center centre

theater theatre

catalog catalogue

connection connexion


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Differences in spelling contd


judgment judgement

traveler traveller

likable likeable

lovable loveable

advisor adviser

gram gramme

ton tonne

program programme

defense defence


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Differences in pronunciation

last [la:st] [lst]

pass [pa:s] [pst]

dance [da:ns] [dns]tired [taid] [taird]iron [ain] [airn]clerk [cla:k] [cl:rk]

current [krnt] [k:rnt]

a brief history of the english language1

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