English language
English is a Germanic Language of the Indo-European Family. It is the second most spoken language in the world.
It is estimated that there are 300 million native speakers and 300
million who use English as a second language and a further 100 million
use it as a foreign language. It is the language of science, aviation,
computing, diplomacy, and tourism. It is listed as the official or
co-official language of over 45 countries and is spoken extensively in
other countries where it has no official status.
Half of all business deals are conducted in English. Two thirds of all
scientific papers are written in English. Over 70% of all post / mail is
written and addressed in English. Most international tourism and
aviation is conducted in English.
The history of the language can be traced back to the arrival of three
Germanic tribes to the British Isles during the 5th Century AD. Angles,
Saxons and Jutes crossed the North Sea from what is the present day
Denmark and northern Germany. The inhabitants of Britain previously
spoke a Celtic language. This was quickly displaced. Most of the Celtic
speakers were pushed into Wales, Cornwall and Scotland. One group
migrated to the Brittany Coast of France where their descendants still
speak the Celtic Language of Breton today. The Angles were named from
Engle, their land of origin. Their language was called Englisc from
which the word, English derives.
An Anglo-Saxon inscription dated between 450 and 480AD is the oldest sample of the English language.
During the next few centuries four dialects of English developed:
Northumbrian in Northumbria, north of the Humber
Mercian in the Kingdom of Mercia
West Saxon in the Kingdom of Wessex
Kentish in Kent
During the 7th and 8th Centuries, Northumbria's culture and language
dominated Britain. The Viking invasions of the 9th Century brought this
domination to an end (along with the destruction of Mercia). Only Wessex
remained as an independent kingdom. By the 10th Century, the West Saxon
dialect became the official language of Britain. Written Old English is
mainly known from this period. It was written in an alphabet called
Runic, derived from the Scandinavian languages. The Latin Alphabet was
brought over from Ireland by Christian missionaries. This has remained
the writing system of English.
At this time, the vocabulary of Old English consisted of an Anglo Saxon
base with borrowed words from the Scandinavian languages (Danish and
Norse) and Latin. Latin gave English words like street, kitchen, kettle,
cup, cheese, wine, angel, bishop, martyr, candle. The Vikings added
many Norse words: sky, egg, cake, skin, leg, window (wind eye), husband,
fellow, skill, anger, flat, odd, ugly, get, give, take, raise, call,
die, they, their, them. Celtic words also survived mainly in place and
river names (Devon, Dover, Kent, Trent, Severn, Avon, Thames).
In 1066 the Normans conquered Britain. French became the language of the
Norman aristocracy and added more vocabulary to English.
Because the English underclass cooked for the Norman upper class, the
words for most domestic animals are English (ox, cow, calf, sheep,
swine, deer) while the words for the meats derived from them are French
(beef, veal, mutton, pork, bacon, venison).
The Germanic form of plurals (house, housen; shoe, shoen) was eventually
displaced by the French method of making plurals: adding an s (house,
houses; shoe, shoes). Only a few words have retained their Germanic
plurals: men, oxen, feet, teeth, children.
French also affected spelling so that the cw sound came to be written as qu (eg. cween became queen).
It wasn't till the 14th Century that English became dominant in Britain
again. In 1399, King Henry IV became the first king of England since the
Norman Conquest whose mother tongue was English. By the end of the 14th
Century, the dialect of London had emerged as the standard dialect of
what we now call Middle English. Chaucer wrote in this language.
Modern English began around the 16th Century and, like all languages, is
still changing. One change occurred when the th of some verb forms
became s (loveth, loves: hath, has). Auxillary verbs also changed (he is
risen, he has risen).
The historical influence of language in the British Isles can best be seen in place names and their derivations.
Examples include ac (as in Acton, Oakwood) which is Anglo-Saxon for oak;
by (as in Whitby) is Old Norse for farm or village; pwll (as in
Liverpool) is Welsh for anchorage; baile (as in Balmoral) is Gaelic for
farm or village; ceaster (as in Lancaster) is Latin for fort.
Since the 16th Century, because of the contact that the British had with
many peoples from around the world, and the Renaissance of Classical
learning, many words have entered the language either directly or
indirectly. New words were created at an increasing rate. Shakespare
coined over 1600 words. This process has grown exponentially in the
modern era.
Borrowed words include names of animals (giraffe, tiger, zebra),
clothing (pyjama, turban, shawl), food (spinach, chocolate, orange),
scientific and mathematical terms (algebra, geography, species), drinks
(tea, coffee, cider), religious terms (Jesus, Islam, nirvana), sports
(checkmate, golf, billiards), vehicles (chariot, car, coach), music and
art (piano, theatre, easel), weapons (pistol, trigger, rifle), political
and military terms (commando, admiral, parliament), and astronomical
names (Saturn, Leo, Uranus).
Languages that have contributed words to English include Latin, Greek,
French, German, Arabic, Hindi (from India), Italian, Malay, Dutch, Farsi
(from Iran and Afganistan), Nahuatl (the Aztec language), Sanskrit
(from ancient India), Portuguese, Spanish, Tupi (from South America) and
Ewe (from Africa).
The list of borrowed words is enormous. The vocabulary of English is the largest of any language.
Even with all these borrowings the heart of the language remains the
Anglo-Saxon of Old English. Only about 5000 or so words from this period
have remained unchanged but they include the basic building blocks of
the language: household words, parts of the body, common animals,
natural elements, most pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions and
auxiliary verbs. Grafted onto this basic stock was a wealth of
contributions to produce, what many people believe, is the richest of
the world's languages.
