What can you tell me about the English Language?

Question

its history, important data, etc, Thanks

Answer 1

Modern English is a mixture of Anglo-Saxon, spoken by Saxons (ancestors of modern Germans) who settled in Britain after the fall of the Roman Empire around 500AD, Norse, from the Vikings who arrived a couple of centuries later, and Old French (from the Normans, Norse people who settled in nothern France and invaded England in 1066.

Before the Saxons the language spoken in what is now England was a mixture of Latin and various Celtic languages which were spoken before the Romans settled in 43AD. Modern English still has Latin and Celtic words, as well as Greek and words picked up from many other languages (see below).

Post 1066 the Anglo-Saxon and Norse languages (spoken by commoners in the south and north respectively) and Old French (spoken by the upper classes) began to merge so that by the 14th century they had become one language, called 'Middle English'. The best known writer in this language is Chaucer who wrote the Canterbury Tales - also the first book in England to be printed, by William Caxton.

By the 16th century the English language was more recognisably like modern English, see Shakespeare and other poets and playwrights, but there were still differences in vocabulary, syntax etc.

Due to Britain having an Empire for 200 years between the 18th and 20th centuries and being the world's greatest trading nation for much of that time the English language 'borrowed' many
words from other languages. Similarly many other languages have 'borrowed' words from English.

England began the Industrial Revolution (18th century) and this had an effect on the language as new words had to be invented or existing ones modified to cope with the rapid changes in technology. This tendency soon spread e.g. when the American Samuel Morse invented a device for sending messages over long distances (1840). He called it the 'telegraph' (made up from the Greek tele=distant and graph=writing).

English is also widely spoken around the world and there are different versions of the language, the most obvious being American and British English.

Like all langauges English is still evolving and changing today and there is much debate as to correct use, grammar, etc.

Answer 2

With all due respect, you need to be more specific about what area of the English language and history you're interested in. Entire books have been written on the subject which still just barely scratch the surface. It's history really begins as far back as 499 A.D. wheh two Jute leaders, Hengest and Horsa arrived in Britain from Denmark with a mercenary army to help a Celtic British king named Vortigern fight another Celtic British king of an enemy tribe.Shortly afterwards, another Germanic people, the Anglo-Saxons arrived from northern Germany. They were probably under pressure from the Slavs who in turn, were under pressure from the Huns.

Together with the Jutish language, their language formed the basis of modern day English. It completely replaced Celtic almost everywhere in England by 750 A.D. except in Cornwall, maybe Devon, and in Cumberland, near the Scottish border where it seems to have survived until the 14th century.

Answer 3

Well English is supposedly a child of the Germanic ancestry of languages. But it has been heavily influenced by Latin and Greek. So now it seems closer to the Romance languages (French, Spanish, Italian...) than it does to like German or any other Germanic language. English is the language of trade. And is a language that makes no sense, and has no strict rules, but a lot irregularities. Even me as an English speaking native gets English wrong sometimes. It's spelling is the worst. It's spelling makes no sense at all.

My Japanese friend asked me to pronounce "globalization" and I say "Glo-buh-luh-zay-shin" and she said "luh? but there is L I...." Cuz she wanted to pronounce it as "lee." And I said "You learn to pronounce English, before you spell it, because English spelling has nothing to do with how the word is pronounced....."

Answer 4

It would take volumes.