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Showing posts with label History of English Language. Show all posts
Showing posts with label History of English Language. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Rise of Standard English in England Towards the End of the Fourteenth Century

During the Middle English period English language was divided into a number of dialects. There was on standard English that the English people could follow throughout the country for written and verbal communication. But towards the end of the fourteenth century of one the local dialects emerged as a written language that in the course of the fifteenth won general recognition and has since become the recognized standard in both speech and writing. The part of England that contributed most to the formation of this standard was the East Midland district, and it was the East Midland type of English that became its basis, particularly the dialect of the metropolis, London. Several causes contributed to the attainment of this result.

In the first place, as a Midland dialect the English of this region occupied a middle position between the extreme divergences of the north and south. It was less conservative than the Southern dialect, less radical than the Northern. In its sounds and inflections it represents a kind of compromise, sharing some of the characteristics of both its neighbors. This intermediate position was one of the factors that helped the Midland dialect to gain popularity.

In the second place, the East Midland district was the largest and most populous of the major dialect areas. The land was more valuable than the hilly country to the north and west, and in an agricultural age this advantage was reflected in both the number and the prosperity of the inhabitants. The political prominence of Middlesex, Oxford, Norfolk, and the East Midlands all through the later Middle Ages is also another evidence of the importance of the district and of the extent to which its influence was likely to be felt.

A third factor, more difficult to evaluate, was the presence of the universities, Oxford and Cambridge, in this region. In the fourteenth century the monasteries were playing a less important role in the dissemination of learning than they had once played, while the two universities had developed into important intellectual centers. So far as Cambridge is concerned any influence that it had would be exerted in support of the East Midland dialect. That of Oxford is less certain because Oxfordshire is on the border between Midland and Southern and its dialect shows certain characteristic Southern features.

The influence of Chaucer was also another factor that helped the rise of the standard English. There is a controversy as how much Chaucer influenced the rise of the standard English. It was once thought that Chaucer’s importance was paramount among the influences bringing about the adoption of a written standard. But the recent studies show that though he lent support to the Midland dialect , his influence was confined to a limited circle. Chaucer was a court poet, and his usage may reflect the speech of the court and to a certain extent only literary tradition.

The Importance of London English

By far the most influential factor in the rise of Standard English was the importance of London as the capital of England. Indeed, it is altogether likely that the language of the city would have become the prevailing dialect without the help of any of the factors previously discussed. In doing so it would have been following the course of other national tongues—French as the dialect of Paris, Spanish as that of Castile, and others. London was, and still is, the political and commercial center of England. It was the seat of the court, of the highest judicial tribunals, the focus of the social and intellectual activities of the country. By the fifteenth century there had come to prevail in the East Midlands a fairly uniform dialect, and the language of London agrees in all important respects with it. In the latter part of the fifteenth century the London standard had been accepted, at least in writing, in most parts of the country. To sum up, the history of Standard English is almost a history of London English.


It would be a mistake to think that complete uniformity was attained within the space of a few generations. Even in matters of vocabulary dialectal differences have persisted in cultivated speech down to the present day, and they were no less noticeable in the period during which London English was gaining general acceptance. However, the above mentioned factors helped the rise of what has been accepted as the standard English.



Reference:

A History of the English Language. Baugh, Albert C., and Thomas Cable. 4th ed. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1993.
 

How did Latin influence Old English?



Latin is one of the languages that has most influenced English since its birth as a language. In this essay we are going to approach the Latin influence in vocabulary along the periods of the English language to see if, without the Latin influence it would be as rich as it is now with it and if the language would be impoverished or not.

In its beginnings, Old English did not have the large number of words borrowed from Latin and French that now form part of English vocabulary. Old English was a very flexible language capable of using old words and giving them new uses.

Latin has been the second great influence on English. It was the language of an educated and sophisticated civilization from which the Saxon peoples wanted to learn. The contact between these people was at first commercial and military but then it also became religious and intellectual. Before going to England the Germans had already had contact with the Romans and of course, from this contact they acquired some Latin words. When Christian was introduced in England, the people living there adopted many Latin elements.

English borrowings from Latin came in three waves that extended the resourced of their vocabulary.
“A connection between Latin and English is indicated by such correspondences as pater with English father, or frāter with brother, although the difference in the initial consonants tends somewhat to obscure the relationship” (Baugh, Cable 1993:18)

Albert Baugh and Thomas Cable, in their book ‘A history of the English language' divide the Latin influences in the vocabulary in three stages: The continental borrowing, the Latin through Celtic transmission and the Latin influence of the second period and the norman conquest.

We are going to see three occasions in which borrowings from Latin occurred ¿¿¿before the end of the old English period??:

During the continental borrowing, the words were introduced because of the contact the German tribes had had with the Romans on the continent. Some of the words introduced were already present in the early Germanic dialects because of the trading contact. The Germans coming back from the empire brought with them words apart from goods. The words they adopted indicated new conceptions related with things they did not know or for which they did not have terms. The germans in the empire dedicated themselves to agriculture and war, as some words like camp (battle), segn (banner), weall (wall), pytt(pit), strœt (road, street), mīl (mile) and miltestre (courtesan) show. Owing to the commercial relationship most words are related to trade. One of the things they traded was wine and we can observe words like wīn (wine), eced (vinegar). They also traded domestic and household articles plus clothing as in cytel (kettle L.Catillus). In the art of buildings and construction there were words like copor (copper), pic (pitch) or tigele (tile). The words the Germans borrowed reflected the kind of relationships they had.
In the Celtic transmission, which had a poor influence on old English made the Latin influence be limited too during the roman occupation. The extent to which the country had been Romanised and the use of latin by the population were not influential. Some terms could be found in placenames but a direct contact between latin and old English was not possible during this period because the Latin words came thought the transmission of the celts and their interaction with old English was weak. Words like ceaster ( L. castra. Camp) which today forms English place names as Manchester or Doncaster or words like port (harbour, gate, town) from Latin portus and porta; munt (mountain) from latin montem were introduced. The influence of the language in the first period was the slightest of all.

The Latin influence of the second period and the greatest of all was the Christianizing of Britain that started in 597. From this moment until the end of the old engliush period around 500 years later words made their way into English thanks in most cases to monasteries. It is needless to say that most of the terms introduced had to do with the new religion. Some words like church or bishop already belonged to the language because they had been introduced before but the vast majority of terms having to do with churches and their services were introduced in this period. Some examples are abbot, deacon, disciple, angel, althar, anthem, pal, pope, psalm. But the church did not only influence religiously speaking. Some terms related to the domestic life of people, clothes, food, trees, plants, education, miscellaneous things or literature were introduced. Words like cap or silk, lentil or caul (cabbage), pine or lily, the word plant itself, school, master, grammatic(al), meter, notary, anchor, sponge or elephant or calend or talent. There was a great influence in the early years of Christianity in England. As the Latin influence always came and went hand in hand with the church new words when with the Benedictine reform. The imports were different now and they expressed scientific and learned ideas. But some words were still related to religious matters antichrist, apostle or demon.

The words that predominated in this period were the literary and learned ones. Some examples are accent, history, paper, title. Plant names like coriander, cucumber, ginger. Trees like cypress or laurel, some terms related to medical matters like cancer, paralysis and some others related to animals like scorpion, tiger. Despite the introduction of all these words English did not always adopt them to express a new concept. An old word was generally applied to a new object or thing with a small adaptation in order to convey new meanings. The Anglo-Saxons, for example, did not borrow the words for which they already had a meaning.

According to Baugh, as a result of the Christianizing of Britain some 450 Latin words appear in English writings before the close of the English period (Baugh and 1993:86) In spite of this, some words did not make their way into general use until later, when they were reintroduced but others were fully accepted and incorporated into the language.

Before the Norman Conquest Latin was the language used by the church and the one of scholarship, international communication and administration but then, after the conquest, it was replaced by French.



Reference:

A History of the English Language. Baugh, Albert C., and Thomas Cable. 4th ed. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1993.
 

Discuss the influence of the German conquest on the rise of English language

The English language of today is far different from that of fifth century, or more earlier period. It is the language that has resulted from the history of dialects spoken by the Germanic tribes who came to England to be settled in. By the passage of time it has changed and modified greatly and reached today. One of the main characteristics of the English language is that it is the result of several successive linguistic “invasions”. Each of these invasions has added to the language's linguistic diversity and has had an impact on its form and structure. This, together with its readiness, both historical and current, to incorporate loanwords from other languages has led to its great richness.

Almost directly following the departure of the Romans, and perhaps as early as AD 449, an event occurred that profoundly affected the of history. In that year began the invasion of Britain by certain Germanic tribes including Anglo- Saxons, Angles and Jutes and the true seeds of English were sown. For more than a hundred years the bands of conquerors and settlers migrated from their continental homes in the region of Denmark and the Low Countries and established themselves in the south and east of the island, gradually extending the area they occupied until it included all but the highlands in the west and north. 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. They divided the territory into some 12 kingdoms and spent much of their time fighting amongst themselves.

They spoke a mutually intelligible language, similar to modern Frisian--the language of northeastern region of the Netherlands--that is called Old English. Four major dialects of Old English emerged, Northumbrian in the north of England, Mercian in the Midlands, West Saxon in the south and west, and Kentish in the Southeast.

Also influencing English at this time were the Vikings. Norse invasions, beginning around 850, brought many North Germanic words into the language, particularly in the north of England. Some examples are dream, which had meant joy until the Vikings imparted its current meaning on it from the Scandinavian cognate draumr, and skirt, which continues to live alongside its native English cognate shirt. The majority of words in modern English come from foreign, not Old English roots. In fact, only about one sixth of the known Old English words have descendants surviving today. But this statistic is deceptive; Old English is much more important than this number would indicate. About half of the most commonly used words in modern English have Old English roots.

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. In fact a page of Old English is likely at first to present a look of greater strangeness than a page of French and Italy because of the employment of certain characters that on longer a part of English alphabet. But Old English shares certain characteristics common to all Germanic languages. It means that English belongs with German and certain other languages because of features it has in common with them.

Thus, the English language owes its origin to the German conquest. The German tribes Anglo, Saxon and Jutes came to England and made it happen what is called old English. From old English gradually emerged the modern today’s  English. 



Reference:

A History of the English Language. Baugh, Albert C., and Thomas Cable. 4th ed. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1993.
 

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