Historia da Lingua Inglesa Orientation about course programme, discussion assessment methods This course is organised in a cyclical way. Its basic theme, the history and origins of the English language, is presented a number of times, each time going into more detail and at each consecutive cycle, more is explained about interesting features and events that may increase your understanding of theevents that may increase your understanding of the way in which this language developed. Unit 1 will therefore only present major historical facts and events. But as we proceed during the course, more attention will be given to (socio-) linguistic aspects and socio-economic implications of the major role English as a language has started to play in our modern world. ME) anunciosUNIT 1 Lesson 2 Short History of Origins of English Language — Old English The Anglo-Saxon Settlement It's never easy to pinpoint exactly when a specific language began, but in the case of English we can at least say that there is little sense in speaking of the English language as a separate entity before the Anglo-Saxons came to Britain. The Celts were already resident in Britain when the Anglo-Saxons arrived, but there are few obvious traces of their language in English today. Some scholars have suggested that the Celtic tongue might have had an underlying influence on the grammatical development of English, particularly in some parts of the country, but this is highly speculative. The number of loanwords known for certain to have entered Old English from this source is very small. Those that survive in modern English include brock (badger), and coomb a type of valley, alongside many place names. Little is known of this period with any certainty, but we do know that Germanic invaders came and settled in Britain from the north-western coastline of continental Europe in the fifth and sixth centuries. The invaders all spoke a language that was Germanic (related to what emerged as Dutch, Frisian, German and the Scandinavian languages, and to Gothic), but we'll probably never know how different their speech was from that of their continental neighbours. However it is fairly certain that many of the settlers would have spoken in exactly the same way as some of their north European neighbours, and that not all of the settlers would have spoken in the same way. The reason that we know so little about the linguistic situation in this period is because we do not have much in the way of written records from any of the Germanic languages of north-western Europe until several centuries later. When Old English writings begin to appear in the seventh, eighth, and ninth centuries there is a good deal of regional variation, but not substantially more than that found in later periods. This was the language that King Alfred the Great referred to as ‘English’ in the ninth century.Great reterred to as ‘English’ in the ninth century. QUESTIONS: A. About when can we say did the history of the language called “English” begin and where? B. Why do we know so little about the early period of “Old English”? C. When and who first mentioned this language in writing, referring to it as “English”? Short History of Origins of English Language — Old English Old English (450-1100 AD) So, the history of the English language really started with the arrival of three Germanic tribes who invaded Britain during the Sth century AD. These tribes, the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes, crossed the North Sea from what today is Denmark and northern Germany. At that time the inhabitants of Britain spoke a Celtic language. But most of the Celtic speakers were pushed west and north by the invaders - mainly into what is now Wales, Scotland and Ireland. The Angles came from Englaland and their language was called Englisc - from which the words England and English are derived. The invading Germanic tribes spoke similar languages, which In Britain developed into what we now call Old English. Old English did not sound or look like English today. Native English speakers now would have great difficulty understanding Old English. Nevertheless, about half of the most commonly used words in Modern English have Old English roots. The words be, strong and water, for example, derive from Old English. Old English was spoken until around 1100. The Scandinavian SettlementsIne scanainavian Settlements The next invaders were the Norsemen. From the middle of the ninth century large numbers of Norse invaders settled in Britain, particularly in northern and eastern areas, and in the eleventh century the whole of England had a Danish king, Canute. The distinct North Germanic speech of the Norsemen had great influence on English, most obviously seen in the words that English has borrowed from this source. These include some very basic words such as take and even grammatical words such as they. The common Germanic base of the two languages meant that there were still many similarities between Old English and the language of the invaders. Some words, for example give, perhaps show a kind of hybridization with some spellings going back to Old English and others being Norse in origin. However, the resemblances between the two languages are so great that in many cases it is Impossible to be sure of the exact ancestry of a particular word or spelling. However, much of the influence of Norse, including the vast majority of the loanwords, does not appear in written English until after the next great historical and cultural upheaval, the Norman Conquest. QUESTIONS: A. Who were the first speakers of this language “Old English” and where did they come from? B. _ What language(s) was this “Old English” probably quite similar to? C. When these Germanic invaders arrived in Britain who were already living there? D. Are there many traces of these older people's language left in English today? (Explain.) E. How does the English you are learning today compare to this much older form of English? F Are there any roots of this Old English left in present- day English? (Examples, please.) G. The there was a second wave of invaders. Who were they and where did they come from? es] H. Explain why the language spoken by these new invaders was quite similar to the language spoken by the first group of invaders? 1 Give examples of words in present day English that come from this second group.Short History of Origins of English Language — Middle English and Modern English Middle English (1100-1500) In 1066 William the Conqueror, the Duke of Normandy (part of modern France), invaded and conquered England. The new conquerors (called the Normans) brought with them a kind of French, which became the language of the Royal Court, and the ruling and business classes. For a period there was a kind of linguistic class division, where the lower classes spoke English and the upper classes spoke French. 1066 and after The centuries after the Norman Conquest witnessed enormous changes in the English language. In the course of what is called the Middle English period, the fairly rich inflectional system of Old English broke down. It was replaced by what is broadly speaking, the same system English has today, which unlike Old English makes very little use of distinctive word endings in the grammar of the language. The vocabulary of English also changed enormously, with tremendous numbers of borrowings from French and Latin, in addition to the Scandinavian loanwords already mentioned, which were slowly starting to appear in the written language. Old English, like German today, showed a tendency to find native equivalents for foreign words and phrases (although both Old English and modern German show plenty of loanwords), whereas Middle English acquired the habit that modern English retains today of readily accommodating foreign words. Trilingualism in English, French, and Latin was common in the worlds of business and the professions, with words crossing over from one language to another with ease. You only have to flick through the etymologies of any English dictionary to get an impression of the huge numbe: of words entering English from French and Latin during the later medieval period. This trend was set to continue into the early modern period with the explosion of interest in the writings of the ancient world QUESTIONS:Old English, like German today, showed a tendency to find native equivalents for foreign words and phrases (although both Old English and modern German show plenty of loanwords), whereas Middle English acquired the habit that modern English retains today of readily accommodating foreign words. Trilingualism in English, French, and Latin was common in the worlds of business and the professions, with words crossing over from one language to another with ease. You only have to flick through the etymologies of any English dictionary to get an impression of the huge number of words entering English from French and Latin during the later medieval period. This trend was set to continue into the early modern period with the explosion of interest in the writings of the ancient world. QUESTIONS: A. Who was responsible for the third invasion that was to change this older form of English profoundly and where did these people come from? B. _ Explain about the language they spoke (similar to..?) and how did it divide the society in Britain? C. When was the language that was spoken by the lower classes restored back to its original position of the dominant language? D. It developed into a variety that we now refer to as Middle English. Compare Old with Middle English in terms of grammar and vocabulary. (You may compare Old English with German today to explain in what way Old English was different from the variety that it developed into: Middle English.) E. Who was a great poet/writer in those days? F. Are any of the sentences in the passage from this poet comprehensible to you? Can you try to “translate” some of it in present-day English?Modern English & Varieties of English Early Modern English (1500-1800) Towards the end of Middle English, a sudden and distinct change in pronunciation (the Great Vowel Shift) started, with vowels being pronounced shorter and shorter. From the 16th century the British had contact with many peoples from around the world. This, and the Renaissance of Classical learning, meant that many new words and phrases entered the language. The invention of printing also meant that there was now a common language in print. Books became cheaper and more people learned to read. Printing also brought standardization to English. Spelling and grammar became fixed, and the dialect of London, where most publishing houses were, became the standard. In 1604 the first English dictionary was published 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 Empire at its height covered one quarter of the earth's surface, and the English language adopted foreign words from many countries. Standardization The late medieval and early modern periods saw a fairly steady process of standardization in English south of the Scottish border. The written and spoken language of London continued to evolve and gradually began to Lal have a greater influence in the country at large. For most of the Middle English period a dialect was simply what was spoken in a particular area, which would normally be more or less represented in writing - although where and from whom the Vowel cartoonMiaaie Engusn periog a uraect was simply what was spoken in a particular area, which would normally be more or less represented in writing - although where and from whom the writer had learnt how to write were also important. It was only when the broadly London standard began to dominate, especially through the new technology of printing, that the other regional varieties of the language began to be seen as different in kind. As the London standard became used more widely, especially in more formal contexts and particularly amongst the more elevated members of society, the other regional varieties came to be stigmatized, as lacking social prestige and indicating a lack of education. In the same period a series of changes also occurred in English pronunciation (though not uniformly in all dialects), which go under the collective name of the Great Vowel Shift. These were purely linguistic ‘sound changes’ which occur in every language in every period of history. The changes in pronunciation weren't the result of specific social or historical factors, but social and historical factors would have helped to spread the results of the changes. As a result the so-called ‘pure’ vowel sounds which still characterize many continental languages were lost to English. The phonetic pairings of most long and short vowel sounds were also lost, which gave rise to many of the oddities of English pronunciation, and which now obscure the relationships between many English words and their foreign counterparts. QUESTIONS: A. How and when did the pronunciation of Middle English change dramatically in a relatively short period? B. What historical events caused the adaptation of many new words? C. What caused the language to become rapidly standardised (in terms of spelling and other language features)? D. What dialect became the model for English throughout the country and why? E. How did early modern English differ from later modern English? What factors caused these changes? r UNIT 1 Lesson 6 Short History of Origins of English Language — Colonisation and GlobalisationSources: www.englishclub.com/Enc language history.htm http://www.oxforddictiona Colonization and Globalization During the medieval and early modern Man with periods the influence of English spread *~robile phone throughout the British Isles, and from cartoon the early seventeenth century onwards its Influence began to be felt throughout the world. The complex processes of exploration, colonization and overseas trade that characterized Britain's external relations for several centuries led to significant change in English. Words were absorbed from all over the world, often via the languages of other trading and imperial nations such as Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands. At the same time, new varieties of English emerged, each with their own nuances of vocabulary and grammar and their own distinct pronunciations. More recently still, English has become a lingua franca, a global language, regularly used and understood by many nations for whom English is not their first language. The eventual effects on the English language of both of these developments can only be guessed at today, but there can be little doubt that they will be as important as anything that has happened Varieties of English r 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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, Joanas 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 English. QUESTIONS: A. When did English first become to be used far beyond its original regions (the British Isles) and started to be spread by many users all over the world? B. From what other languages did English absorb new vocabulary during the period of the colonisation of America, and later Africa and parts of Asia? C. What major effect did the colonisation of America have on the language? D. Name a few other varieties of English that have become at least as important as British English today. Tépico 5 Tdépico 6