An Introduction to History of the English Language

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An Introduction to History of the English Language
Welcome to HEL!
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What impact have other languageshad on the
development of English?
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What are the worlds language divisions?

• Genetic linguists such as Merritt Ruhlen and
  Joseph Greenberg have found twelve language
  phyla.
• They state that human language traces back to a
  single original source.

To which major branch does the English language
belong?
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Where is the English-language branch?

• Among Indo-European languages, English has grown
  up in the Western Germanic branch.
• The most closely related tongues to English are
  (1) Frisian, (2) German, and then (3) Dutch.

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Where did the English folk come from?

• Emerging anciently from Turkey, the Germanic
  tribes moved westward into northern Europe.
• The Romans left England in the 5th century the
  Anglo-Saxons invaded and beat back King Arthurs
  armed forces.
• Driven to the hills, the Celts became the Welsh,
  the Scots, and the Irish.
• Among the few Celtic loan words are iron, town,
  curse, cross, and crag.

• Aboriginal European loan words
• Land and sea
• Ship and sail
• Bride and groom
• House and folk
• Hand and leg
• Rise and leap
• Crippled and sick

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How did the Celts resist the English?

• King Arthurs knights fought as light cavalry
  with sword and javelin, but the Welsh were
  lightly-armed foot soldiers.
• The Celts used
• surprise dawn
• attacks and
• defended the
• river fords.
• The Celts fought
• guerrilla style from
• fortified bases
• with small groups of
• horsemen against
• scattered Anglo-
• Saxon settlements.

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What does the Old English look like?

• Below is the opening line of the 10th-century
  heroic epic poem Beowulf
• Hwæt! We Gar-Dena in gear-dagum,
• þeod-cyninga, þrym gefrunon,
• hu ða æþelingas ellen fremedon.
• Closely translated, it reads
• What! We spear-Danes in yore-days.
• People-kings glory have found out.
• How the princes arm-feats framed.
• Old English features several lost inflected
  grammar forms, especially the dual pronouns
• Wit (we two)
• Git (you two)
• Hit (he two)
• Does Appalachian still have hit?

Hollywoods popular 2007 version.
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How did Latin affect Old English?

• When Rome ruled England from 43 to 449 AD, Latin
  was the official language of law, trade, and
  learning.
• Townsmen spoke Latin and even the common farmers
  had to speak it in the marketplace.
• Latin loan words for warfare, cooking, and
  commerce entered Old English, including
• campcampus
• cheapcaupo
• kettlecatillus
• kitchencoquîna
• poundpondo
• wallvallum
• winevinum

• In the 8th-century, an Anglo-Saxon war captain
  wore this precious gold band, which carries the
  Latin inscription, translated Rise up O Lord,
  and may thy enemies be dispersed and those who
  hate thee be driven from thy face."

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How did the Vikings alter Old English?

• Many common words, including those that make up
  the following ditty, entered Old English from Old
  Norse during the 8th- century Viking invasions
• The big, clumsy, snorting fellows smiled and
  gave their ugly, scum-sniffing sister the dirty
  knife, nasty eggs, and lumpy flat bread they got
  from the odd tossed skin bags, though they will
  die name-calling, for they want but cannot take
  the skill to thrive.

A Viking helmet dug up in England.
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How did the Normans impact English?

• In 1066, Duke Williams knights beat the British
  infantry, and the Normans became lords of the
  land.
• French was the official language of the court and
  government of England for more than two
  centuries.
• Basic English was overlaid with the Romance
  terms
• Law and order
• Lord and master
• Love and cherish
• Ways and means

• The 230 foot-long Bayeux tapestry depicts the
  1066 AD Norman conquest of England, including the
  loss of the English King Harold.

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How was Anglo-Norman social contact?

• During the Norman occupation, Lady Godiva of
  Coventry begged her husband to lower the high
  taxes he imposed on the suffering Saxons, until
  at last he granted her wish, if she would ride
  naked through the town.
• Having ordered all to stay inside with shut
  windows, Godiva rode the streets, robed but in
  her long hair.
• Then her husband kept his word, and abolished the
  onerous taxes.

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How was Anglo-Norman society built?

• King William gave his 10,000 soldiers all but 5
  of the land many English lords and soldiers left
  the country.
• Almost all nobles and sheriffs were Normans, but
  most married and employed Anglo-Saxons.
• In Englands Middle Ages, French was the official
  language, but the masses, including the mothers
  and the nannies, always spoke far more plain
  English than proper French.

Domesday Book on Anglo-Norman Society
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How did the poor feel about the rich?

• Robin Hood was a 13th- century hero who stole
  from the Anglo-Norman rich and gave to the
  Anglo-Saxon poor
• In a popular ballad, Robin instructs his Merry
  Men
• Look ye do no husbond harme
• That tilleth with his ploughe
• No more ye shall no gode yeoman
• That walketh by green-wode shawe.
• Robin was a good outlawe,
• And dyde pore men moch god.

In the film, Russell Crowe as Robin Hood
resonates on justice for greedy bankers.
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How did English stage its comeback?

• In the 14th century, the clerk Geoffrey Chaucer
  revived English literature by writing the popular
  Canterbury Tales in the London dialect.
• Can you read the merchants lament?
• 'Wepyng and waylyng, care and oother sorwe
• I knowe ynogh, on even and a-morwe,'
• Quod the Marchant, 'and so doon oother mo
• That wedded been.'

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What started Early Modern English?

• In the 15th-century, William Caxton printed the
  first English books, including the Canterbury
  Tales and the Bible.
• Caxton tailored the language for the emerging
  middle class in London Standard English
• Therfor in a meane bytwene bothe I haue reduced
  and translated this sayd booke in to our
  englysshe not ouer rude ne curyous but in such
  termes as shall be vnderstanden by goddys grace

The first English printing press
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How did Shakespeare affect English?

• Overall, Shakespeares uses rich yet immediate
  language that appeals to everyman, whether high
  or low.
• In this sonnet, what is Shakespeares word order?
  
• I have seen roses damaskd,
• red and white, But no such roses see I in
  
• her cheeks And in some perfumes is
• there more delight Than in the breath that
• from my mistress reeks.
• Roses see I reverses the normal SVO order to
  OSV-- poetic license or old English?

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What affect did the KJV Bible have?

• The King James Bible has given English many
  idioms that encapsulate the wisdom of Jesus
  Christ sayings
• Man shall not live by bread alone
• The salt of the earth
• An eye for an eye
• Turn the other cheek
• Our daily bread
• O ye of little faith
• Seek and ye shall find
• Straight and narrow
• Wolves in sheeps clothing
• Out of the mouths of babes
• The signs of the times

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What was the effect of the Dictionary?

• In 1755, Dr. Johnson was paid 350,000 to produce
  the very influential Dictionary of the English
  Language.
• Each four-volume copy of the Dictionary cost
  1,100!
• Using over 100,000 literary quotations, Johnson
  aimed to fix English usage.
• OPULENCE
• Wealth riches affluence
• "There in full opulence a banker dwelt/ who all
  the joys and pangs of riches felt/ His sideboard
  glittered with imagined plate/ and his proud
  fancy held a vast estate."-- Jonathan Swift

And Johnson, well armed like a hero of yore, Has
beat forty French, and will beat forty more.
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How did Websters impact English?

• In 1828, Webster published An American Dictionary
  of the English Language.
• Featuring American spellings, the Dictionary
  included many technical terms and biblical
  references.
• AMER''ICAN, n. A native of America originally
  applied to the aboriginals, or copper-colored
  races, found here by the Europeans but now
  applied to the descendants of Europeans born in
  America.
• The name American must always exalt the pride of
  patriotism.

The Father of American Education
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How do creoles relate to English?

• Pidgins and creoles are trade or contact
  languages mixing more than one language.
• Pidgins and creoles have less grammar and
  vocabulary.
• Pidgin and Creole English are widely used in the
  Caribbean, West Africa, and the Pacific
• Nigerian Pidgin Na men, dat test hard no be
  small.
• Hawaiian Creole I no can stay run in da park,
  brah.
• The Tok Pisin circumlocution, gras bilong hed
  eyebrow.
• Creole English can be casual, informal, or even
  fairly formal
• Basilect Im ah wok oba deh suh
• Mesolect Im workin ova deh suh
• Acrolect "Hes workin' over dere

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What distinguishes Australian English?

• Australia was at first populated by criminals who
  spoke London Cockney and Irish.
• The distinguishing feature of Australian English
  is its long vowel sounds or drawl.
• Nicole Kidman speaks standard Australian.
• In his early Mad Max movies, Mel Gibson also
  spoke Aussie English.

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What marks Scotch-Irish English?

• In the 1600s, the dissenter border Scots were
  sent to colonize Ulster, Ireland.
• Hundreds of thousands migrated in the 1700s and
  became hard-drinking and fighting backcountry
  folk.
• The dialect is more nasal, faster, and
  higher-pitched than lowlands Southern English.
• Its characteristic sayings include
• Im afeared hits a fixin to
• Me kin folks are beholden.
• It sure nuf pleasures me
• Aint them slow as Christmas?
• This here young-un took sick

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What characterizes Black English?

• Black English comes from West African Creole
  English which fed Plantation Creole.
• It simplifies and drops many consonant sounds
• He workin ta bile em cabbage
• It drops be verbs and uses variant verb forms
• He workin an where you at?
• It has unique vocabulary
• Her dig dem funky freds.
• You aint bad-moufin me!