Do you think the modern English language would be better or worse if there was no French influence?

Answer 1

Not better, not worse, just different. Probably more like Frisian in its vocabulary. But we would still have all the words we need, just based on compounds instead of French borrowings. So instead of "cow" and "beef" being in the language we would have "cuu" and "cuumeet". The Oxford English Dictionary would be just as large. The grammar would be nearly identical to what it is now because Modern English grammar is a direct descendant of Old English grammar and French had nothing to do with the grammar. The spelling would be more like Old English spelling, "c" would always refer to the "k" or "ch" sound, "g" would always refer to the "g" (as in "good") or "y" sound. So "church" would probably be "circe". The "y" letter in Modern English is actually a version of the letter "g", so "yield" would probably be "yeeld". Other spelling differences would be "shirt" as "scirt", "edge" as "ecg", "thin" as "þin", and "this" as "ðis". There would still be a few spelling problems because all languages change over time and spelling NEVER keeps up with the sound changes, but the spelling problems that entered the language because of the Norman invasion would be gone. However, the Great Vowel Shift was independent of the Norman Invasion, so "house" and "mice" would probably be spelled "huus" and "miis", "goose" and "geese" would probably be spelled "goos" and "gees", and "name" would probably be spelled "naam". Of course, these are just educated guesses.

Answer 2

ummmm i don't really know. see i think spanish has more of more of an influence on the modern english...(cuz i know more spanish but i also no we have some french influences too so i know there are some french influence on the modern english. but i think if you kinda took french influence out of modern english ofcourse it would kinda change the way we talk. but i think we might be worse with out the influence. But you know thats just me. this was kinda of a hard question to answer but my answer makes sense in my head and it was hard to explain to the computer. So my answer is yes.

Answer 3

Hi there,
Not to go on for ever on this subject, we are entering now in an International world where all cutlures and language will eventually mingle. We travel further and more often than the past generations.
For centuries those two languages have influenced one another. In French there are a lot of English words. (Weekends, Jogging, Meeting, etc...). The more we connect to one another the more this will increase. It is not a question of liking it or not. It is not even a question of wanting it or not. It is a fact of natural evolution.

Answer 4

Well, we would probably still have a complicated case system akin to those that German and all the other Germanic languages have, and it would be more guttural and with more complex word order.

That would give us all the faults of the modern German; too complicated, not enough subtleties to be able to tell many jokes, etc.

That said, it's still very rigid and guttural to the romance language speaking world.

Answer 5

Damn those Norman bastards. I would honestly rather be speaking Anglo-Saxon, there'd be WAY less spelling errors, for one thing. And it's not like the Normans brought anything to England other than their language.

Answer 6

I don't know. I like it just fine how it is, so it doesn't really matter to me what languages influenced it.

Answer 7

Well it would have might been better or worse but sure that it would have not been so delicious.

Answer 8

what frech influence for goodness sake

Answer 9

worse

Answer 10

oui