UniSave – Maxixe

Subject: History of English language

English course year II

Name: Nelson Aminosse Zavale

Summary

1. The main division (branches) of the Indo-European

The ten major branches of the Indo-European family are listed here roughly in the order of their
location east-to-west at the point of their first attestation, with an indication of the oldest
representative languages in each and their earliest attestation (generally literary in nature).

1.1. Tocharian. Two closely related languages, generally referred to simply as TOCHARIAN A
and TOCHARIAN B, make up this easternmost branch of Indo-European. Though extinct by the
10th century AD, these languages were discovered in documents dating from the 6th to 8th
centuries AD that were found in the Central Asian region of Chinese Turkestan in the late 19th
and early 20th centuries.

1.2. Indo-Iranian. This branch, consisting now of hundreds of modern languages found mainly
in South Asia, is represented by two large sub-groups, IRANIAN and INDIC (also known as
INDO-ARYAN), both with important ancient testimony. The earliest-attested Iranian languages
are OLD PERSIAN, known from rock-cut inscriptions of the Achaemenid kings in the 6th to 4th
centuries BC, and AVESTAN, the sacred language of Zoroastrianism, known from orally
transmitted texts from at least as early as the 7th century BC. On the Indic side, the major
representative is SANSKRIT, which in its most archaic form, known as Vedic, is the language of
the orally transmitted sacred Hindu texts the Vedas, the oldest being the Rig Veda,
conventionally dated to about 1200 BC. A vast literature in the highly archaic Vedic Sanskrit and
in the somewhat later Classical Sanskrit, dating from the 6 th century, including detailed native
grammatical treatises, make this language especially important for Indo-European studies.
1.3. Armenian. Though showing considerable dialect diversity, this branch is represented
essentially by a single language, ARMENIAN, spoken now mainly in the Armenian Republic
and in eastern Turkey, and attested from the 5th century AD through Bible translations into what
is referred to as Classical Armenian.

1.4. Anatolian. Several of the ancient languages of Anatolia, in what is now Turkey, came to
light in the early 20th century in cuneiform archives discovered at Bo azköy, east of Ankara, and
were soon recognized as Indo-European languages. Though the oldest of these is PALAIC, an
extinct language even in the 18th century BC, the best represented by far is HITTITE, attested
from the 17th century BC up through the 13th century BC. Also important are LUVIAN,
contemporaneous with Hittite but spoken into the first millennium BC, and LYCIAN and
LYDIAN, both attested from as early as the 5th century BC. All of the Indo- European Anatolian
languages were extinct by late Hellenistic times.

1.5. Greek. Like Armenian, GREEK is essentially a single language throughout its long history,
yet constitutes a separate and distinct branch of Indo-European, though it too has considerable
dialect diversity at all points in its history. Greek is attested first in Linear B texts from (perhaps)
as early as 1400 BC, with the later Homeric texts showing considerable archaism as well.

1.6. Albanian. Attested quite late, only from the 15th century AD, ALBANIAN, in its two major
dialects Geg and Tosk, is a separate branch of the Indo-European family. Its prehistory is most
unclear, though some connection with an ancient language of the Balkans, possibly Illyrian or
Thracian, is often assumed.

1.7. Balto-Slavic. This branch consists of two well-represented subgroups, the BALTIC
languages and the SLAVIC languages. Grouping them together into a single branch is somewhat
controversial but is generally accepted and is justified by some significant innovations they
share, particularly in the accentual realm. The oldest attested representative of Baltic is the now-
extinct OLD PRUSSIAN, attested from the 14th century AD, but the most substantial
documentation for Baltic comes from LITHUANIAN and LATVIAN, both attested from the
16th century and still spoken today. The Slavic languages are attested from the 9 th century AD,
with the earliest text being a Bible translation prepared, at the invitation of the ruler of Moravia,
by Cyril and Methodius of Thessalonica writing in a southern Slavic dialect now referred to as
OLD CHURCH SLAVONIC.
1.8. Germanic. Three subgroups with important older representation make up the GERMANIC
branch of Indo-European. The earliest attested Germanic is found in the socalled “Runic”
inscriptions from as early as the 2nd century AD, though the evidence is sparse compared to the
rich literary material of later centuries. Earliest among this richer documentation is GOTHIC, the
sole (and now-extinct) representative of East Germanic, attested first through a 4th century AD
Bible translation. West Germanic is represented by OLD ENGLISH, attested from the 7th
century AD, and by OLD HIGH GERMAN, attested from the 8th century. North Germanic is
attested earliest in OLD NORSE, from the 12th century.

1.9. Italic. Along with Anatolian, Indo-Iranian, and Greek, the other branch of Indo- European
with substantial attestation from before the common era is ITALIC, covering many of the
languages spoken in ancient Italy. The primary representative of this branch is LATIN, attested
first in the 6th century BC through short inscriptions with much more extensive documentation
coming in the 3rd century BC and later (and note Latin’s modern offshoots, the so-called
“Romance” languages). Other Italic languages include FALISCAN, OSCAN, and UMBRIAN,
all somewhat spottily attested and rendered extinct in ancient times by the spread of (Roman)
Latin.

1.10. Celtic. The westernmost branch of Indo-European at the time of its first attestation is the
group of CELTIC languages. Although Celtic languages were spoken over much of the western
European continent in ancient times, with traces attested in GAULISH and CELTIBERIAN
inscriptions from as early as the 3rd century BC, the main representatives of this branch are
found in the British Isles. The most important Celtic language for Indo- European studies is OLD
IRISH, attested in short inscriptions from the 4th and 5th centuries AD and in extensive literary
documents from the 8th century; WELSH, too, is important, attested also from the 8th century.
 UniSave – Maxixe

Subject: History of English language

English course year II

Names:

-Arcénio Zunguze

-Argilência Puzane

-Deise Nhacudima

-Natércia Nhachungue

-Nelson Aminosse Zavale

Title: Verbs in Early Modern English

1. Introduction

The early modern period of English is that which is taken to have begun at the end of the middle
period, conventionally set at the year 1476 when printing was introduced by William Caxton. It
is also common to regard it as having lasted to about 1800, after which one talks of modern
English, although there is no single event, internal or external, which would justify this cut-off
point.

As the majority of new grammatical categories were already formed in Middle English, in Early
New English they become more specialized in meaning, though it was not until the period when
prescriptive grammars set the rules of their use there is much variation as far as their forms and
peculiarities of use are concerned. In this way the following article will be focused on Verbs in
Early Modern English.
 2. Verbs in Early Modern English
2.1. Classes of strong verbs

Early Modern English strong verbs have four different stems in the gradation series: the
infinitive stem (from which all present forms including the present participle and the infinitive
derive), two preterite stems (one, from which the indicative forms of the first and third person
derive and another one from which all other finite preterite forms derive) and a past participle
stem (Fichte & Kemmler 81). The stems are distinguished by different vowels: crēopan,
(‘creep’) crēap – crupon – cropen. However, the same vowel may occur twice. Bindan (‘bind’)
for example has three different vowels: bindan – band – bundon – bunden whereas faran (‘go,
travel’) has only two: faran –for- foron –faren.

According to their gradation series, Early Modern English strong verbs form six different
classes. The seventh class consists of formerly reduplicating verbs.

Each class has a recognition symbol on its own. Class 1 and 2 are quite simple:

Class 1: This class has the following gradations series ī – ā – i – i and is followed by one
consonant. An example would be scīnan – scāh – scinon – scinen (‘shine’).

Class 2: The typical series of vowels of the stems are ēō – ēa – u – o or ū – ēa – u – o. Examples

would be crēopan – crēap – crupon – cropen (‘creep’) or lucan – lēac – lucon – locen (‘lock’).

Grammatical alternation occurs in the stems of class 1 verbs like snīðan (‘cut’), stīgan (‘ascend’)
or þīon (‘prosper’) as well as in the stems of class 2 verbs, for example in cēosan (‘choose’)
sēoðan (‘seethe’) and tēon (‘draw’). Subsequently the g in stīgan changes to h in the first
preterite stem: stīgan – stāh – stigon – stigen and the s in cēosan becomes r in the second
preterite stem and in the past participle stem: cēosan – cēas – curon – coren.

Moreover, tēon and þīon belong to the Verba contracta.

Class 3 is more complicated to describe, because the vowels vary according to the consonants
preceding or following the stem. The basic vowel qualities of class 3 are e – æ – u – o. However,
there are three subclasses: In 3 a they occur as i- a/o – u – u, because they are influenced by a
nasal + consonant at the end of the stem. An example for class 3 a would be: bindan –band/bond
– bundon – bunden (‘bind’). If the vowels of the stem are followed by a liquid + consonant,
breaking occurs in West Saxon. Hence, the vowel series (of 3 b) will be like this: e/eo/ie – ea – u
– o. Examples are helpan- healp – hulpon – holpen (‘help’) and ceorfan - cearf – curfon – corfen
(‘carve’). Also in class 3 b are verbs with a palatal sound at the beginning of the stem like
gieldan, which have undergone palatal diphthongization of the stem vowel. Class 3 c shows the
series eo – ea – u –o. This sequence occurs if there is h + a stem final consonant as it is the case
in feohtan – feaht – fuhton – fohten (‘fence’/‘fight’).

Verbs of class 4 have a stem final liquid and the series is e – æ – æ – o like in beran – bær –
bæron – boren (‘bear’). The verbs brecan (‘break’) and hlecan (‘join’) also belong to class 4
although their stem final consonant is not a liquid. Further exceptions are verbs with a stem final
nasal like niman – nōm, nam – nōmon, nāmon - numen (‘take’) or cuman – c(w)ōm - c(w)ōmon -
cumen (‘come’).

Typical for class 5 is a single stem final consonant which is not a liquid or nasal. According to
phonetic developments breaking and contraction occur if the consonant is an h. Palatal
diphthongization as in class 3 occurs in West Saxon if the consonant at the beginning of the stem
is palatal. The vowel series for class 5 is e – æ – æ – e.

Examples for the different cases are specan – spæc – spæcon – specen (‘speek’), sēon – seah –
sāwon – sewen (‘see’) and giefan – geaf – gēaf – giefen (‘give’).

Furthermore biddan (‘beg’) , sittan (‘sit’) and licgan (‘lie’) , the so called j-presentia belong to
that class. They show i-mutation and gemination in their present stem as in biddan – bæd –
bædon – beden.

The gradation series for class 6 is a – ō – ō – a, like in faran – fōr – fōron – faren (‘go’/’ travel’).

In this class, also contracted verbs like slēan (‘slay’) may be found. Further peculiarities of class
6 are verbs which form their presents with a j and therefore show i-mutation and gemination like
hebban (‘lift’).

Verbs of class 7 are even less uniform. In the second and third stems of these verbs the vowel
quality is either ēa or ē but the vowels of the first and fourth stem vary.

To this class belong verbs like: hōn – hēng – hēngon – hangen (‘hang’), cnāwan – cnēow –
cnēowon – cnāwen (‘know’).
The Old English classification of strong verbs is a comprehensive system. Each verb can be
clearly assigned to one of the seven classes. There are a couple of special cases which are
somewhat difficult to assign to a distinct class at first. Knowledge of the relevant phonetic
processes of that time like breaking or palatal diphthongization is essential in order to classify
each verb precisely. Nevertheless, a morphological classification like this makes sense in Old
English. The Old English classification system is based on gradation, which is a typical
phenomenon for all Indo-European languages (Pyles 124) and therefore is a historically
meaningful system.

English verbs classes (Strong verbs)

Class 1: drive, cut, accuse.

Class 2: command, choose, boil, pull, close.

Class 3: bind, run, help, pay, adhere, throw, become, thresh, ask, tread

Class 4: bear, cur/shear, take, come.

Class 5: measure, speak, give, rejoice, eat, see, sit, lie.

Class 6: go/ journey, waken, stand, kill, lift, make/create, step, hurt, laugh, swear.

Class 7: let/allow, command/name, hang, call, blow, beat, summon, cry/weep.

2.2. Endings for person and numbers

During the Early Modern period, the verb inflections became simplified as they evolved towards
their modern forms:

o The third-person singular present lost its alternate inflections: -(e)th became obsolete, and -
s survived. (Both forms can be seen together in Shakespeare: "With her, that hateth thee
and hates us all".)
o The plural present form became uninflected. Present plurals had been marked with -en and
singulars with -th or -s(-th and -s survived the longest, especially with the singular use
of is, hath and doth). Marked present plurals were rare throughout the Early Modern period and -
enwas probably used only as a stylistic affectation to indicate rural or old-fashioned speech.

o The second-person singular indicative was marked in both the present and past tenses
with -st or -est (for example, in the past tense, walkedst or gav'st). Since the indicative past was
not and still is not otherwise marked for person or number,the loss of thou made the past
subjunctive indistinguishable from the indicative past for all verbs except to be.

2.3. Contracted forms

Contracted forms a grammatical term, it refers to short words made by putting two words
together and omitting some letters, which are replaced by an apostrophe.

For example:’’ did not ‘’is contracted to ‘didn’t’.

‘’Thomas did not enjoy his lunch’’

‘’Thomas didn’t enjoy his lunch’’

Other examples are: ‘is not ‘to isn’t’; ‘would not’ to ‘wouldn’t’.

Why do we use a contracted form?

The contracted form is typically used during informal speaking. It shortens speech by dropping
one or more letters and uses an apostrophe to replace it. A contracted form is not slang, but it’s
used in daily language to give off a friendlily tone when speaking or writing.

Long forms, contracted forms (short forms) of auxiliaries

Verb to be(am, are, is)

Affirmative Negative

Long form Contracted form Long form

I am I’m I am not

You are you’re you are not

He is he’s he is not

She is She’s she is not

It is It’s It is not

2.4. Expanded verb form

The forms of the perfect, future tense, passive voice, analytical forms of the subjunctive mood
and even continuous, though came into the language together with the Norman invasion, had
their roots within the English language.

By that time the only productive pattern of making verb forms was that of weak verbs,

the one with the dental suffix. And it was naturally used in this case, so there appeared the forms
He wisse se wej; he cude swimman; he munde his brodor. Participle II, however, had the
necessary meaning of result, and some verbs preserved it, formed by gradation and the suffix
-en, while with some other the pattern of the weak verbs was used. The verbs of this group, with
overburdened system of forms, started losing certain parts of their paradigm

or, probably, some forms were not necessary and therefore not used -nt least in the texts that
came down to our times.

The nominative (uninflected) form of the infinitive is often used with such verbs as willan,
sculan, weordan to render various grammatical meanings; these combinations served as the basis
for analytical verb forms.

Participle I is formed by means of the suffix -ende added to the stem of the infinitive: writan -
writende (to write - writing), yman-yrnende (to run - running), sprecan - sprecende (to speak -
speaking): dset scip wees ealne wej vrnende under sejle the ship was running ‘’going’’ under
sail) This participle was active in meaning and expressed present time relevance or simultaneous
with the tense of the finite verb processes and qualities. Like all nominal parts of speech, it had
the categories of number, gender and case and was declined like a strong adjective.
Apart from these there existed a whole set of analytical formations

that gave in future all the present-day analytical verb forms. The forms of

the perfect, future tense, passive voice, analytical forms of the subjunctive

mood and even continuous, though came into the language together with the

Norman invasion, had their roots within the English language. The structures

that gave rise to these forms were:

habban + P II

Originally it meant that the subject owned a thing having a certain feature as a result of an action
performed upon it.

2.5. Other verbal construction preposition

Many verbs combine with a few prepositions to express the so-called objective relations.
Frequently, a noun related to a particular verb may convey a similar idea (to answer a letter, an
answer to a letter)

A list of examples follows:

B+Accusative
To believe in victory
To look at a target
To knock at the door
To look through the window
To turn into a desert
To throw stones at someone
B+Prepositional
To take part in a play
To be short of money
To give assurance of love
To doubt the results
To repent one’s sins
To deny a request
To confess to a crime
To realize this
3a+Accusative
To worry about him
To be glad for her
To hold by the hand
To hold on to a rope
To grab by the leg
3a+Instrumental
To look after the patient
To keep order
K+ dative:
To prepare for an examination
To strive towards happiness
To get used to this
To belong to the party
To annoy everybody
To find fault with one’s helpers
Ha+ accusative:
To rely upon a friend
To hope for help
To count on him
To answer a question
To agree to a proposal
To complain about a pupil
To glance at her
To shout at the children
To look at the moon
To grumble at the neighbours
To inveigh against everybody
To be angry at a letter
 3. Conclusion

As final analysis of this written work we conclude that, From Middle English to Early Modern
English, inflection decayed further: Plural endings became zero-marked and therefore were not
distinct any longer. The meaning of a verb form has now to be suggested by the context in which
it appears. Therefore, a rigid word order is important. In Early Modern English, four distinct
singular endings remained: -st and -s/-th for the 2nd and 3rd person in the present tense as well
as -d and -dst for the 1st/3rd and 2nd person in the past tense. The –s-marking in 3rd person
singular indicative was basically used in everyday spoken language, while -th was more common
in written language and the language of the court. The morphology of verbs from Early Modern
English does not vary much from the Modern Standard English which we have nowadays. The
markings for 2nd person singular in past and present got lost so that today inflection concerning
verbs actually only indicates tense and 3rd person singular present tense.
 4. References

BARBER, Charles. 1997 [1976]. Early Modern English. 2nd edn. Edinburgh: Edinburgh
University Press

GORLACH, Manfred. 1991. Introduction to Early Modern English. Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press.

HUGHES, Geoffrey. 2000. A History of English Words. Oxford: Blackwell.

NEVALAINEN, Terttu. 2006. An Introduction to Early Modern English. Edinburgh:

Edinburgh University Press.
 UniSave – Maxixe

Subject: History of English language

English course year II

Name: Nelson Aminosse Zavale

Summary

The early Modern English Period (1500-1800): society, spellings and sounds

Early Modern English (c. 1500 – 1800)

Many exciting things happened to the English language from around 1500 until 1800.

This period of time saw the effects of the Renaissance in art and literature with its strong
influence on language growth.

Language changes also resulted from social changes brought about by The Great Plague.
Although devastating in its death toll, this event saw many interesting changes for the English
language.

An exciting phenomenon arrived during this period called The Great Vowel Shift, which
changed the way we pronounce words. Its influence is still important in English today.

There was also a further increase in Latin and Greek words, which impacted on the vocabulary
of the language.

The country and language also experienced the influence of one of the world’s greatest
playwrights – William Shakespeare.

This time is when Early Modern English began, laying the stones for the Modern English we
speak today.

The Great Vowel Shift

Between 1450 and 1750 there is a great event in the history of the English language which saw
the change from Middle English to Early Modern English – the Great Vowel Shift.

The Great Vowel Shift saw a complete change in the way people pronounced English vowels.
Vowels started to be pronounced more towards the front of the mouth.

In addition to the change in pronunciation of vowels in English, the end letter ‘e’ on many words
became voiceless.
For example, the word ‘name’ changed from using a short ‘a’ sound and a voiced ending ‘e’,
pronounced as ‘a’ in Middle English (the word ‘name’ pronounced as ‘namay’), to how we say it
today with a long ‘a’ and a voiceless ‘e’ (‘name pronounced as ‘naym’).

The Great Vowel Shift saw a movement away from its old French-style pronunciation of vowels.
The change in pronunciation can be seen even in the names of letters of the alphabet.

For example, the letter ‘a’ is pronounced with a long ‘a’ sound in modern English (‘ay’), while in
French it is pronounced with the short ‘a’ sound (‘ah’), as it was in English before the Great
Vowel Shift.

Early Modern English Phonology

Loss of /t/ or /d/ in consonant clusters with /s/castle, hasten, handsome, landscape loss of
initial /k/ and /g/ before /n/knock, knee, knight, gnome,
Loss of /w/ before /r/wreak, wrong.

Loss of /r/ before /s/

/r/ was lost in standard English before a consonant.

Grammatical Changes

All plurals for new words are regular (-s or –es)

A few irregular plurals survive
The his-genitive develops to spell out the –s in the genitive singular. By analogy a her-genitive
and a their-genitive develop.
Especially seen with proper names and especially after proper names ending in sibilants:
“characters as red as Mars his heart;” “Margery Brewys her mark;” “the House of Lords their
proceedings”

Group genitive: ‘s is added to the last word in the word group, not to the word it actually inflects
[the King of England’s army= the (King + genitive) of England army]
‘s is an enclitic ending—attached to the closest word, not to the word it morphologically
modifies.
Uninflected genitives: Ladychapel, chrissake (the elision and loss of the dental in “christ”
leading to the loss of the genitive ‘s before the sibilant in ‘sake’)
Adjectives and Adverbs

Loss of strong/weak distinction but sometimes the survival of a silent –e on the end
Only adjectives that still have to agree in number with the nouns they modify are this/these and
that/those
Increased use of analytical forms for comparatives and superlatives (more/most rather than –er/-
est); sometimes double comparison exists in EModE

Pronouns

Grammatically, the part of speech that changes most in the EModE period

I is almost always capitalized

My/mine and thy/thine (with mine/thine being used before vowel SOUNDS)
Loss of second person singular pronouns (thou, thee, thy, thine); second person plural pronouns
extend to cover the declension
No distinction like French tu/vous or German Du/Sie
Translators of KJV deliberately retained archaic pronouns thee, thou, thine
Neuter nominative singular loses its initial [h]: now it instead of hit
Second person singular agreement (you was not you were) until the schoolmastering
grammarians got hold of it in the late 18th century.

Cases of Pronouns

Example of linguistic anxiety

Attempts to regularize usage in 17th and 18th centuries
Hypercorrection often applied (“They invited Mary and me” becomes “They invited Mary and I”
I/me often shaky after forms of the verb “to be”
Who/Whom started worrying people in the late 15th century—still a great deal of variation

Relative and Interrogative Forms

Who (OE hwā) comes to be the relative referring to humans only in the 16th century
That (restrictive relative) and which (nonrestrictive relative) appear in almost equal frequencies
in speech
The that/which rule comes from Fowler’s English Usage (1905); a late example of
schoolmastering

Verbs
Virtually all new verbs borrowed in as weak verbs with 3 principal parts
Strong verbs disappearing or may develop alternate (weak) forms
Confusion over related forms such as lie/lay and sit/set (look these up in the OED)

A few inflectional endings disappear (though the silent –e spelling may be retained)
Second- and third-person singular forms start to collapse
The second person plural of “to be” is very irregular
“Do-support” (‘The lady doth protest too much’) is frequent

The Progressive Aspect

Extension of be- forms with present participles: I am working; they are dancing
Largely due to loss of on as a preposition before the participle used as gerund from phonological
levelling Happens in 16th c.
By 18th c. has extended to passive voice: The house is being built. Earliest example of this is
1762; makes it into grammar books by 1802, though still being attacked as “careless” usage into
late 19th c.
Contractions

Don’t is the mystery contraction

Ain’t (for am not—possibly with a scribal variation on minims)—originally may have been a
high-class status form
‘twill’= ‘it will’ gradually replaced with “it’ll”
‘ve for “have” an 18th century phenomenon: “He could’ve done it”
Phonological spelling “he would of done it”-- an example of eye dialect

Prepositions

Elision and leveling of unstressed prepositions leads to a- forms and some others: “aboard”=on
board; “abed” = in bed; “once a day” = once in a day
More fuss about ending sentences with prepositions, which you can’t do in Latin but can do
nicely in English—it just drives the prescriptive grammarians crazy. Another example of
schoolmastering!

Late Modern English (1800-Present)

The main difference between Early Modern English and Late Modern English is vocabulary.
Late Modern English has many more words, arising from two principal factors: firstly, the
Industrial Revolution and technology created a need for new words; secondly, the British 65
Empire at its height covered one quarter of the earth's surface, and the English language adopted
foreign words from many countries.

Varieties of English

From around 1600, the English colonization of North America resulted in the creation of a
distinct American variety of English. Some English pronunciations and words "froze" when they
reached America. In some ways, American English is more like the English of Shakespeare than
modern British English is. Some expressions that the British call "Americanisms" are in fact
original British expressions that were preserved in the colonies while lost for a time in Britain
(for example trash for rubbish, loan as a verb instead of lend, and fall for autumn; another
example, frame-up, was re-imported into Britain through Hollywood gangster movies). Spanish
also had an influence on American English (and subsequently British English), with words like
canyon, ranch, stampede and vigilante being examples of Spanish words that entered English
through the settlement of the American West.

French words (through Louisiana) and West African words (through the slave trade) also
influenced American English (and so, to an extent, British English).

Today, American English is particularly influential, due to the USA's dominance of cinema,
television, popular music, trade and technology (including the Internet). But there are many other
varieties of English around the world, including for example Australian English, New Zealand
English, Canadian English, South African English, Indian English and Caribbean.

Dialects and regional varieties

The expansion of the British Empire and—since World War II—the influence of the United
States have spread English throughout the globe. Because of that global spread, English has
developed a host of English dialects and English-based creole languages and pidgins.

Two educated native dialects of English have wide acceptance as standards in much of the world
—one based on educated southern British and the other based on educated Midwestern
American. The former is sometimes called BBC (or the Queen's) English, and it may be
noticeable by its preference for "Received Pronunciation"; it typifies the Cambridge model,
which is the standard for the teaching of English to speakers of other languages in Europe,
Africa, the Indian subcontinent, and other areas influenced either by the British Commonwealth
or by a desire not to be identified with the United States.
The latter dialect, General American, which is spread over most of the United States and much of
Canada, is more typically the model for the American continents and areas (such as the
Philippines) which have had either close association with the United States or desire to be so
identified. Aside from those two major dialects are numerous other varieties of English, which
include, in most cases, several subvarieties, such as Cockney, Scouse and Geordie within British
English; Newfoundland English within Canadian English; and African American Vernacular
English ("Ebonics") and Southern American English within American English. English is a
pluricentric language, without a central language authority like France's Académie française; and
therefore no one variety is considered "correct" or "incorrect" except in terms of the expectations
of the particular audience to which the language is directed.

Variation within National varieties

The variations that depend on people are related with where we learnt our English (regional or
geographical dialects), what cultural groups we belong to (ethnic or social dialects), and other
factors such as our sex, age, and education. The variations determined by the circumstances of
use have to do with whether we are talking or writing, formality, the subject of the discourse, the
objectives to be achieved, etc. Thus, we have various dialects and registers in English.

However, one other variety of language is Standard English. A standard language is one that is
used widely; boasts of high prestige; and it is found in dictionaries and grammar books and is
taught in schools. Standard English is standard because English speakers have agreed to use it in
many places for various purposes.

Regional Dialects

Besides the Standard English, there are various regional and ethnic dialects of the United States
and of other English-speaking countries. According to ALGEO (2010), America, has three or
four main regional dialects in the eastern part of the country: Northern, North Midland, South
Midland and Southern. The dialect boundaries are more difficult to define as one goes farther
because of the history of the country. The earliest English-speaking settlers concentrated along
the eastern seaboard; consequently, the area has had the best opportunity to develop
distinguished regional forms of late modern English (1800 - present).

Ethnic and Social Dialects

American English includes a very large number of ethnic dialects, such as, Spanish-influenced,
Pennsylvania Dutch, Jewish, Scandinavian, Cajun and Scotch-Irish. Ethnic dialects sprung up in
the United States wherever communities of immigrants from around the world have settled. One
of the most prominent ethnic groups in the United States is the language of African Americans.

English as a global language

What’s a global language?

A global language is one that is spoken internationally and learned and spoken by numerous
people as a second language. A world language is characterized not only by the total number of
speakers (native and second language speakers) but also by geographical distribution and its use
in international organizations and diplomatic relations

The most widely spoken (and likely the fastest spreading) world language today[when?] is
English

Why do we need a global language?

A global language acts as a “lingua franca”, a common language that enables people from
diverse backgrounds and ethnicities to communicate on a more or less equitable basis.
Historically, the essential factor for the establishment of a global language is that it is spoken by
those who wield power.

What are the dangers of a global language?

Dangers of Global Language

Linguistic Power. The first danger he talks about is linguistic power. ...
  Linguistic Complacency.
 Linguistic Demise.
 Linguistic Bankruptcy.
 A Feeling of Loss.
 Threat of Losing Identity.
 Threat of Social Clash.

Could anything stop a global language?

Could anything stop a global language? A global language can be stopped. If the status of global
language depends on political and economic power, a revolution in the balance of global power
can bring to a different choise. This way people can communicate using their owm languages
with a computer translating

Why English? The historical context

Origins

How far back do we have to go in order to find the origins of global English? In a sense, the
language has always been on the move. As soon as it arrived in England from northern Europe,
in the fifth century, it began to spread around the British Isles. It entered parts of Wales,
Cornwall, Cumbria and southern Scotland, traditionally the strongholds of the Celtic languages.

After the Norman invasion of 1066, many nobles from England led north to Scotland, where they
were made welcome, and eventually the language (in a distinctive Scots variety) spread
throughout the Scottish lowlands. From the twelfth century, Anglo-Norman knights were sent
across the Irish Sea, and Ireland gradually fell under English rule
America

The first expedition in 16th century turned out to be a failure. The first permanent English
settlement dates from 1607: Jamestown and the area of Virginia.

In 1620 the first group of Puritans arrived on the Mayflower, establishing in Massachusetts. The
Pilgrim Fathers were looking for a land in which found a new religious kingdom, free from
persecution.

During the 17th century, new immigrant arrived bringing an increasing variety of linguistic
backgrounds into the country. In the 18th century, instead, there was a great wave of immigration
from Ireland.

In 1790 the first census was done: the population consisted then of 4 million people, mostly
living along the Atlantic coast.

Spanish, French, German, Dutch and Africans also influenced the language in America, as result
of the slave trade.

In the 19th century immigrant started to arrive from Europe as result of ill-fated revolutions,
poverty and famine: Irish, Germans, Italians and Jews fleeing from the pogroms. Within one or
two generations they came to speak English through a process of assimilation and different
linguistic worlds were now forming within several families.
At the end of the 20th century, a conflict between the need for intelligibility and identity had
begone to grow and fueled the movement in support of English as the official language of the
USA, whose independence was declared in 1776.

Canada

The first English-language contact with Canada was in 1497. The English clashed with the
French, whose presence dated from the 1520s, with the explorations of Jacques Cartier. The
conflict came to an end only after the French defeat in Queen Anne’s war (1702-13).
The major development followed the US Declaration of Independence in 1776. Loyalist
supporters of Britain found themselves unable to stay in the USA and most of them left for
Canada, settling in what is now known as Nova Scotia.

This is the reason Canadian English has lot in common with the English spoken in North
America, but here a certain sociolinguist situation is found, not present in other English-speaking
countries. In fact, French is a co-official language, chiefly spoken in Quebec.

The carribean

A distinctive kind of speech emerged in the islands of the West Indies and the southern part of
mainland and was spoken by the incoming black population that used to work in slavery in sugar
plantation.

This practice was started in 1517 by the Spanish, who exchanged slaves for commodities as
sugar, rum and molasses.

The first 20 slaves from Africa arrived in 1619 on a Dutch shop. – They were 4 million in
number at the end of US Civil War in 1865, when slavery was abolished. Before then, slave-
traders used to bring together people from different linguistic backgrounds, to make it difficult
for them to plot rebellion among them. The result was the birth of pidgin forms, which continued
to be a means of communication even when they arrived in the Carribean.

English became stronger and stronger thanks to the political influence of Britain. This is why in
these islands we still can find a variety of English reflecting individual, political and cultural
history.

Australia and new zealand

Australia was visited in 1770 by James Cook. In twenty years Britain had established its first
penal colony in Sydney. About 130,000 prisoners were transported in the next 50 years. Free
settlers arrived from the very beginning. The British Isles provided the main source of settlers
and thus the main influence on language. Many came from London and Ireland, so their accent
influenced the local language, which also contains expressions from the Aboriginal language.
In New Zealand the story of English started later, when European whalers and traders began to
settle there in the 1790s. – Christian missionary work then began among Maori from about 1814,
which led to a rapid increase in European immigration.

Three strands of New Zealand’s social history in the present century have had especial linguistic
consequences

In comparison with Australia, there has been a stronger sense of historical understanding with
Britain, and a greater sympathy for British values and institutions, so that even the accent
displays a British influence;

• A growing sense of national identity and emphasis on the differences between New Zealand
and Australia (mainly accent and use of distinctive vocabulary);

• They took account of the rights and needs of the Maori people, who now represent 10% of the
population.

South africa

The first to arrive in South Africa were the Dutch. British involvement dates from 1795 during
the Napoleonic Wars when English was made official language of the region in 1822.

English was being used as a second language by the Afrikaans speakers. An African variety of
English developed within the black population.

Still, English has always been a minority language in South Africa, since the first language
spoken by the whites and coloured population was originally Afrikaans, always an important
symbol of identity for those of Afrikaner background. – Instead, English was used my whites of
British background.

There is a linguistic side of the South African apartheid society Afrikaans began to be perceived
by the lack majority as the language of authority and persecution, while English was perceived
by the Afrikaner government as the language of protest and self-determination.

Afrikaners now became mainly bilingual, being able to speak fluent English resembling the
British-based variety.
The 1993 Constitution names 11 languages as official. The difficulties in administering are huge
and English continues to be an important ‘lingua franca’.

South Asia

A third of the people of India can hold a conversation in English and considerable numbers of
English speakers are also in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bhutan. The varieties of
English spoken in the subcontinent are collectively called South Asian English.

The first contact with British in the region was in 1600 with the formation of the British East
Indies Company. During the period of British domination, English became a medium of
administration and education in the subcontinent and the primary medium of instruction in the
Universities of Bombay, Calcutta and Madras.

The official language is now Hindi, while English is an associate official language and is used in
legal systems, Government, education, armed forces, media, business and tourism. By the young
people of this area English is perceived as the language of cultural modernity.

The future of global English

The rejection of English

People in a country may feel so antagonistic about English to the extent that they reject to
consider English either as an official language or as a foreign language. The following are two
examples of sayings from people who have exhibited feelings of antagonism towards English.

Language is the major symbol of identity. The citations above show that people have a natural
urge to use their own mother-tongue, to see it survive and grow, and they tend to be against the
imposition of a language of another; irrespective of the values which the other language may
bring,

Contrasting attitudes: the US situation

There is a relationship between language and power. If anything disestablishes the military or
economic power of the USA, there would be inevitable consequences for the global status of the
language. All people learning English in order to have access to this power would begin to
acquire new language loyalties.

New Englishes

It is believed that if current population and learning trends continue, second-language (L2)
English speakers in the outer-circle countries will be more than first-language (L1) speakers in
the inner-circle countries. The consequence of these changes is that the language will be
unpredictably vulnerable to the linguistic mutations. This has already been shown by the advent
of the new varieties of English in the various regions where the language has developed.

The linguistic character of New Englishes

The evolution of the language in settings where most people are native speakers can differ from
that of settings where most are non-native speakers. Case studies that have been carried out
demonstrate some of the changes which are taking place.

The future of English as a world language

A linguistic fashion may be started by a group of second- or foreign-language learners, and then
spreads on among other speakers. And as the numbers grow, the second/foreign-language
speakers gain in national and international prestige; to such an extent that usages which were
previously despised as "foreign", can become part of the standard educated speech of a locality,
and may eventually appear in writing.

Consequently, the future of world English is likely to be of increasing multidialectism. The

forces of the past which have led to so many New Englishes, suggest this outcome.