The English Language

Origins, History, Development and Samples

Mini - Quiz

How many words in English does Merriam Webster recognize? Oxford unabridged?

If you ate your chips on the coach on the way to the football game, what would you be doing in American English?

Shakespeare is:– Old English Middle English Modern English

Mini - Quiz

What 5 letter word is pronounced the same way even after removing its last four letters?

What is special about this sentence?– The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.

Answers

450,000 / 600,000

You’d be eating your french friesfrench fries on the bus bus on the way to the soccersoccer game.

Modern

Queue

It contains all the letters of the English language

What is English?

Primarily a blend of Latin, Greek, French, German and Scandinavian languages.

Evolved into what it is today

Stages: Old, Middle, Modern

Modern can be classified as early, middle and contemporary

May be on the cusp of a new era

Fun Facts about English

Who’s speaking English?

English has more words than most comparable world languages

The longest words in the English language:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/08/longest-

words-in-english_n_707544.html#s135174&title=antidisestablishmentarianism

Who Speaks English?

English has official or special status in at least seventy five countries with a total population of over two billion English is spoken as a first language by around 375 million and as a second language by around 375 million speakers in the world* Speakers of English as a second language probably outnumber those who speak it as a first language Around 750 million people are believed to speak English as a foreign language One out of four of the world's population speak English to some level of competence; demand from the other three-quarters is increasing.Source:http://www.britishcouncil.org/learning-faq-the-english-language.htm

Fun Facts, Continued

The 45 letter word PNEUMONOULTRAMICROSCO-PICSILICOVOLCANOCONIOSIS is the longest word in the English language, but is usually not found in standard dictionaries.

Can you guess what this word has to do with? (hint: look at roots, prefixes, etc.)

Fun Facts, Continued

an artificial word said to mean a lung disease caused by the inhalation of silica dust

Fun Facts, Continued

The average native speaker knows 12,000 – 20,000 words

Another mini-quiz/test your knowledge:What's a seven letter word that can be played on a musical instrument?In order, what do you suppose are the 12 most frequently used letters?What do the words purple, orange, month, and silver have in common?

Trivia question responses

Baggage, cabbage, defaced, effaced

e t a o i n s h r d l u

They have no rhymes!

Countries where English is the language spoken by natives

Antigua, Australia, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Canada, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Ireland, Jamaica, New Zealand, St Christopher and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent, South Africa, Trinidad and Tobago, United Kingdom, United States of America

Indo European FamilyMember of the Indo-European family of languages. Branches of Indo-European languages:Which one is the mother of English?

Latin languageModern Romance languagesGermanic languagesThe Indo-Iranian languages, including Hindi and SanskritThe Slavic languagesThe Baltic languages of Latvian and Lithuanian (but not Estonian)The Celtic languagesGreek.

Language Tree

History

Earliest linguistic ancestors were speaking Low German

Scattered throughout Northern Europe

400 AD Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Picts, Celts began weakening the Roman hold on Britain

600 AD first semblance of English

Old English (500-1100 AD)

Norse invaders – Vikings

West Germanic invaders

Angles (whose name is the source of the words England and English), Saxons, and Jutes

All blend into a mutually intelligible language known as Old English

Sample of Old English

We will read and listen to “The Lord’s Prayer” in Old English

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Wl-OZ3breE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=av-37L0G8lw

What did you see? What did you hear?

Old English

Spelling and Pronunciation:1. the long vowels have undergone extensive change due to the Great Vowel Shift.2. different letters.3. there were no unstressed syllables; primary stress usually occurred on the first syllable.

Nearly 85% of Old English words are no longer in use. Those remaining are basic vocabulary words like “egg” and several pronouns.

Old English - Oldest Words

10. NAME09. ONE08. HOW07. FOUR06. WE05. FIVE04. I03. THREE02 TWO01. WHOCourtesy of The Daily Mail

20. TO DIE19. HAND18. NIGHT17. TO GIVE16. STAR15. WHERE14. WHAT13.THOU12. NEW11. TONGUE

Side by side comparisons

Fæder ure þu þe eart on heofonum; Si þin nama gehalgod to becume þin rice gewurþe ðin willa on eorðan swa swa on heofonum. urne gedæghwamlican hlaf syle us todæg and forgyf us ure gyltas swa swa we forgyfað urum gyltendum and ne gelæd þu us on costnunge ac alys us of yfele soþlice. (11th Century)

Oure fadir þat art in heuenes halwid be þi name; þi reume or kyngdom come to be. Be þi wille don in herþe as it is dounin heuene. yeue to us today oure eche dayes bred. And foryeue to us oure dettis þat is oure synnys as we foryeuen to oure dettouris þat is to men þat han synned in us. And lede us not into temptacion but delyuere us from euyl.

(1384)

Middle English (1100-1500)

Norman conquest – 1066Latin influence (educated)French influence (conqueror’s language)Sometimes French words replaced Old English words. Ex: firen to crimeSometimes Old English words combined with French words to make new words.

Ex: gentle + man = gentleman

Middle English

Class distinctions could be made by use of language. Ex: beef – Norman/ cow – Anglo-Saxon

1200s Normans became estranged from French

By mid 1300s, class differences based on linguistics were virtually non-existent

Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales

Written in the 1380s, the first selection of short stories in Middle English a group of pilgrims tell stories while they travel to Canterbury, the seat of the English Church Language of Chaucer -- Middle English -- is closer to Old English, the language of the Anglo-Saxons, and Norman French, the language of William the Conqueror (invasion, 1066).a frame story (story within a story) Originally, he proposed 124 stories; he actually wrote 24.

Friar’s Tale

1265: This worthy lymytour, this noble frere, 1266: He made alwey a maner louryng chiere 1267: Upon the somonour, but for honestee 1268: No vileyns word as yet to hym spak he. 1269: But atte laste he seyde unto the wyf, 1270: Dame, quod he, God yeve yow right good lyf! 1271: Ye han heer touched, also moot I thee, 1272: In scole-matere greet difficultee. 1273: Ye han seyd muche thyng right wel, I seye; 1274: But, dame, heere as we ryde by the weye, 1275: Us nedeth nat to speken but of game, 1276: And lete auctoritees, on goddes name, 1277: To prechyng and to scole eek of clergye. 1278: But if it lyke to this compaignye, 1279: I wol yow of a somonour telle a game. 1280: Pardee, ye may wel knowe by the name 1281: That of a somonour may no good be sayd; 1282: I praye that noon of you be yvele apayd.

This worthy limiter, this noble friar, He turned always a lowering face, and dire, Upon the summoner, but for courtesy No rude and insolent word as yet spoke he. But at the last he said unto the wife: "Lady," said he, "God grant you a good life! You have here touched, as I may prosperous be, Upon school matters of great difficulty; You have said many things right well, I say; But, lady, as we ride along our way, We need but talk to carry on our game, And leave authorities, in good God's name, To preachers and to schools for clergymen. But if it pleases all this company, then, I'll tell you of a summoner, to make game. By God, you could surmise it by the name That of a summoner may no good be said; I pray that no one will be angry made.

Chaucer’s work

http://www.luminarium.org/medlit/chaubib.htmhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLbY9Fivzc0http://www.vmi.edu/uploadedFiles/Faculty_Webs/ENFA/Course_Pages/EN413/Audio/GP-Opening_Baragona.mp3

Comments?

Early Modern English (1500-1800)

Renaissance influence – revival of classical scholarship

Latin and Greek words

Great Vowel Shift – long vowels higher in mouth, silent e at end, long “e” became “i”, etc.

Printing press brought standardization

Shakespeare’s influence

Introduced over 2,000 new words:

Critical, dwindle, leapfrog, majestic

Created phrases that are now “cliché”

One fell swoop

vanish into thin air

Late Modern English (1800 on)

Distinction is vocabulary – more of it

Industrial and scientific revolutions. Ex: horsepower, nuclear, protein

Electronics and computers. Ex:

microchip, compact disc player

Late Modern English (1800 on)

Rise of British Empire introduced other words to English language. Example: shampoo, pajamas, sauna, tycoon

Military influence due to world wars. Example: radar, spearhead, landing strip

American English

Colonies of England. Preservers of older English words such as fall for autumn, trash for rubbish

Native American influence. Ex: Mississippi, Roanoke, barbecue, canoe

Spanish influence: Ex: mustang, canyon, patio, ranch, stampede, vigilante

Louisiana’s French and West Africans. Ex: gumbo, jambalaya, bayou, tote, armoire

Your thoughts…

What are five new ideas you learned?

The next time you read Shakespeare’s work, how will your assumptions have changed?

What surprised you the most about this presentation’s content? Why?

How have your views of the English language changed?

Works Cited

http://www.englishenglish.comLinguistics: Readings in…http://rinkworks.com/words/http://www.wordorigins.org/histeng.htmhttp://www.llp.armstrong.edu/5800/histno.htmlhttp://www.georgetown.edu/faculty/ballc/oe/paternoster-oe.html

Works Cited

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/lan_eng_spe_percap-language-english-speakers-per-capita

http://www.pastperfect.org.uk/sites/yeavering/archive/prayerclip.html

http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/webcore/murphy/canterbury/2genpro.pdf