History of the English

1
History of the English

• Language
• Adapted from Janina Malecka, J. Weston Walch Pub.

2
How Does a Language Begin?

3
Answer

• It grows and develops as people use it.
• English is part of the Indo-European language
  family.
• Name 2 words that might be similar in the
  Indo-European languages (German, Latin, English,
  Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Slavic, Gaelic,
  Iranian, Indian, etc.).

4
Answer

• Mother and Night
• Mother, mutter, madre, mae
• Night, nacht, noche, noite

5
Early People in England

• English began in 5th Century A.D.
• Englands earliest inhabitants built Stonehenge,
  a mysterious circle of huge boulders. They left
  no written record of their language.
• The Stonehenge people were driven out by the
  Celts, more advanced tribes from Europe.
• The Celts brought cattle, metal tools, the wheel
  and their Celtic language.

6
The Celts the Romans

• Romans conquered Celts who then lived on hilltops
  or became slaves.
• English adopted words from Celts, i.e., Lincoln,
  London, Trent, Thames, shamrock, galore
  (Irish), plaid, slogan, whiskey (Scottish), and
  crag, gull, and penguin (Welsh).
• How did Britain get its name?

7
Answer

• Britain got its name from the Celtic tribe of
  Britons.

8
The Jutes, Angles Saxons

• The Romans brought in Latin stayed in England
  for over 400 years.
• English got its start from the Denmark tribe, the
  Jutes, but the language really arrived with the
  Angles Saxons.
• The word Angles gradually changed into the word
  English.
• What two languages
  influenced the
• Angles, Saxons, and Jutes?

9
Answer

• They were influenced by Latin and
• Scandinavian languages.

10
Old English

• By the mid-6th century, the Celts former lands
  were settled by Angles, Saxons, Jutes.
• These Germanic tribes all spoke dialects similar
  to Dutch or Low German.
• Old English is considered the Anglo-Saxon
  language.

11
The Germanic Base of English

• English hand finger water
  house bring drink
• German hand finger wasser haus
  bringen trinken
• Germanic words make up just one-fifth of our
  vocabulary and are the foundation of English. For
  example
• Parts of the body hand, thumb, leg, ankle, hip
• Family man, wife, child
• Nature sun, moon, stars
• Relationships love, hate, friend
• Basic Needs sleep, wake, hungry, food,
  meat, milk, floor, roof

12
The Vikings

• The Vikings regained their power in England.
• The people spoke a Germanic language, and could
  not understand the Jutes, Angles, Saxons.
• The Vikings gradually began speaking English.
  They added Danish and Norse words, such as steak,
  knife, birth, dirt, fellow, guess, leg, loan,
  seat, sister, egg, happy, rotten, husband, get,
  rid, skin, wrong, want, lift, loose, low, odd,
  both, call, die.

13
The Norman Conquest

• Some Vikings settled in England others in the
  northern coast of France.
• They named it Normandy, land of the Northmen.
• They learned to speak French and were known as
  Normans.

14
England Speaks French Officially

• French became the official language of England
  used in government, law, business, by the upper
  class.
• Latin was still the language of the church
  school. For over 200 years, English was not used
  for anything important.
• The lower classes used it everyday.
• English survived because it was spoken.
• What happens to a language that
  is just
• spoken and not written down?

15
Answer

• A language that is spoken changes far more
  rapidly.
• People take shortcuts, abbreviate words, drop
  endings and sounds
• Its origin and development can not be traced.

16
Middle English A Richer Language

• In 1204, Normans lost France, moved to England.
  
• English borrowed over 10,00 words.
• Middle English (1150 1500), added 3 types of
  French words
• I. DUPLICATE
• English might, heal, wish, bough, help
• French power, cure, desire,
  branch, aid
• II. SIMILAR
• English sheep, swine, cow,
  house, board
• French mutton, pig, cattle,
  mansion, table
• III. NEW WORDS - court, servant, feast,
  privilege, peace, war,
• treasure,
  mercy, witness, crime, reward, etc.
• 
  
• The French word for
  true is vrai how do you
• use a form of vrai
  in your everyday speech?

17
Answer

• Vrai Very

18
One Written English

• During the 1400s 1500s, English expanded.
• Gutenbergs invention of printing press
• Before books were rare, expensive, in Latin.
• In the few English books that existed, the
  spelling and dialect varied widely.
• After 1477, there was written English. William
  Caxton standardized the form and spelling of
  English.

19
Questions

• By the invention of the printing press, where and
  by whom were most books copied?
• Why was Gutenbergs printing press such an
  improvement?

20
Answers

• Monks copied most books by hand and stored them
  in monasteries which were considered centers of
  learning.
• Gutenbergs press used metal instead of wood and
  each letter was movable and reusable.

21
A Wealth of Latin Greek

• Between 1400 -1600, English gained new words from
  Latin Greek.
• Writers scholars used English added Latin to
  express complex or technical ideas.
• Fascinated by the classics, people studied
  Greek, too.
• Today, English has a rich storehouse of Latin
  Greek roots, prefixes, and suffixes.
• Name 2 classical Latin
  writers
• 2 classical Greek writers.

22
Answer

• Latin writers Virgil and Cicero
• Greek writers Plato and Aristotle

23
English Travels Grows

• By 17th century, English migrated to other parts
  of world.
• American settlers devised clearing, underbrush,
  sidewalk, and groundhog.
• Opossum, raccoon, woodchuck, skunk, moccasin,
  squash, toboggan, cactus, and chipmunk were added
  from North American Indian tongues.
• Canoe, tomato, petunia, hurricane, potato,
  tobacco, chili, and chocolate came from South
  American Indian languages.
• English gained boomerang, koala, and kangaroo
  from the Australian aboriginal language.
• How is the English language
  controlled?

24
Answer

• English is controlled by dictionaries and usage.

25
Foreign Words from Everywhere

• As people from many lands settled in America,
  they learned English and added words from their
  native tongues.
• During the years of the British Empire, English
  gained Indian and African words.
• Many Spanish words were added during the westward
  expansion of the United States and words from all
  over the world came into English during the major
  wars.
• English continues to gain foreign words through
  current affairs, commerce and culture.

26
Question

• Working with a partner, list foreign words
  that have come into English.

27
Answers

• African jazz, zebra, banjo
• Italian cartoon, studio, casino, ghetto
• Arabic coffee, algebra, candy
• German halt, kindergarten, poodle, poker
• Japanese haiku, kimono, karate
• Chinese tea, ketchup, tycoon
• Spanish patio, lunch, canyon, vigilante
• French coupon, omelet, suede, menu
• Indian pajamas, loot, shampoo

28
The Leading Language

• English is made up of 1/5 Germanic, 3/5 Latin,
  Greek, French, and 1/5 from other languages
  sources.
• One of six students speaks a
• language other than English in the
  U.S.
• public school system
  (Suarez-Orozco, 2001).
• List the top 10 languages spoken in
  U.S.
• schools.

29
Answer

• According to the U.S. Department of Education,
  there are more than 384 languages spoken in U.S.
  public schools.
• The top 10 languages in order are
• Spanish, Vietnamese, Hmong, Chinese,
• Korean, Haitian Creole, Arabic, Russian,
• Tagalog, and Navajo (OELA, 2004).