Short Historical Review of the English Language

Short Historical Review of the English Language

1. English - the Language of Globalization

You can hear it being spoken everywhere. 380 million of people speak it as a native language and 2/3 of it as a secondary language. A third of the entire population of the world learns it and half of the population of the world is believed to learn it up to 2050. It is considered the language of globalization - of the international business, of the politics and of the diplomatic affairs. It can be seen in the posters in Cote d'Ivoire, can be heard in the pop music concertos in Tokyo or the official documents in Phnom Penh are also drafted in it. Bjorn, from Island sings her songs in English, The Deutsche Welle radio broadcasts in English; it is taught in economic high schools all over the world. This is the same language that was spoken only by low educated people in Britain at 1300, as Robert Gloucester said, but which passed a long, long history of transformation. This is now a language of globalization.

Is that because English is an easy language to learn? It seems that its irregular verbs, its strange grammar, the difference between its spelling and the pronunciation represent huge difficulties for its learners. It is also so highly spread all over the world, that even for the native speakers it became difficult to understand each other because of its numberless idioms. But even without it, English is a language of complexity. Because of the diversity of its roots, English is a flexible language representing its force. New words are easy to adapt. Every year dictionaries are publishing new terminology specific for different newly born professions and the so called teenspeak.

English developed rapidly at the same time with the growth of the British Colonies where the sun never sets. That was the beginning. When Germany and Japan negotiated alliance in 1940 against USA and Great Britain, their foreign ministers had their talks and speeches in.English. But it seems that its triumph as a global language is due to the successful United States. But this is also a source of misunderstandings, as a language is not only an instrument of communication, but it also deposits cultural and identity elements of a nation. But the triumphant march of the language called English towards globalization represents but the American culture.

For many peoples in the world this is defendant attitude, because it conquers lands where native languages vanish. Its last victims are Catawba (spoken in Massachusetts), eyak (Alaska), livone, (Leetonia) but most of the dead languages are situated in Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Nigeria, India, Mexico, Cameron, Australia, and Brasilia. Some specialists pretend that up to the end of this century, half of the languages spoken in the world will disappear.

It seems that this is unavoidable. The TV and radio broadcasting, although so much blamed, contribute to the life keeping of some languages, less spoken. But it is also possible that the number of several language speakers should increase, while the linguistic competence in other languages such as the Arab ones should decrease isolating their peoples.

Thus, is that a real triumph of the globalization language?

2. English - A Language of Germanic Origin

English is a language of Germanic Origin although the first inhabitants of the isles were not. It belongs to the Indo-European language family that originated probably in central or south-eastern Europe and it is composed of the following main brands:

Indian

Iranian

Slavic (or Slavonic)

Baltic

Germanic,

Celtic

Italic

Hellenic

Albanian

Armenian

Hittite

Tocharian

The Germanic language brand falls into three main groups:

East Germanic

North Germanic

West Germanic

West German brand is subdivided into High German (the roots of the languages spoken nowadays in Austria, and Switzerland), and the Low German languages that falls into

Old Saxon

Old Low Franconian

Old Frisian

Old English

This last one is a result of a mixture of several Germanic dialects brought over by the Angles, Saxons and Jutes.

The first Indo European Language that was spoken in Britain was Celtic, then, after the Roman conquest, Latin became the language of administration, army and trade, Christian

religion. It was spoken especially by the upper classes that were completely romanized. The Germanic tribes that conquered Britain after the departure of the Roman troops were Saxon, Angli and Jutes, according to Bede, the historian. As their dialect was called Enzlisc (English), the territory lived by this population began to be referred to as Engle-land (land of the Angles) and later England. The Jutes settled in Kent, Southern Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, the Saxons in the present Essex and the Angles occupied the greatest part of what is now England and Lowland. The linguistic consequences were extremely important as the languages spoken at that time account for the various English dialects. After having studied the different stages of the language evolution, the historians state that Old English was an analytic language, i.e. the relations between words are established by inflections, whereas Modern English became synthetic, i.e. the inflections have disappeared and the grammar relationship between words are established by form of words and word order. The main dialects and their specific characteristics coming from the Old English are:

Northumbrian,

Mercian,

West Saxon and

Kentish.

The language spoken in old times was enriched by affixation and composition. Although the original language of Britain was Celtic, very few language elements have survived; they are to be found mainly in place names, especially in the west. The name of Kent is derived from the Celtic Canti-Cantion, or Gloucester, Worcester, Litchfield are purely Celtic. The influence of Celtic was slight, probably because the Germanic conquerors had enough words to name various notions existing at that time.

The Roman civilization had also an important impact upon the language spoken in old times by the inhabitants of the isles. The influence began long before the English came to Britain. Some of the Latin words still in use today can be traced back to this period. 597, the introduction of Christianity into Britain started second wave of the Latin influence, and about 450 new words were adopted in Old English. Most of them were fully accepted and assimilated, as they could be converted into parts of speech or combined with native affixes or words, resulting in many hybrid derivatives and compounds.

The Norman Conquest in 1066 is considered the starting point for the second stage in the evolution of the English language. The Normans implemented feudal institutions, so, the

system here reached a higher regularity and completeness than in most other European countries. The important political, economic positions and the great estates came mostly in Norman hands. French remained the dominant language spoken for about 2 hundred years, as it was used in law courts and schools and by the feudal aristocracy in England. It also shared with Latin the fields of science, education and literature. But most of the population continued to speak English. After the conquest, the kings of England continued to be Dukes of Normandy, and many noblemen had estates on both sides of the Channel. After 1204, after the loss of Normandy, many English noblemen had to give up the lands they had there, as no economic interest was available. French continued to be used, but not as a mother tongue, but as a fashionable and nobleman language.

English of that time was enriched by adopting many French words. The Hundred Years War, the peasants' rising in 1381 and the gradual decline of feudalism, the development of the town bourgeoisie contributed to the disuse of French and steadily increasing importance of English. By the 15the century the inability to speak and even to write French became almost general. Middle Ages literature reflects fully the linguistic this situation. The only works written in English between 1150 and 1250 were almost exclusively religious, the most important being Orrmulum, the Ancren Riwle and the Genesis and Exodus. The outstanding exceptions to this kind of literature were Layman's Brut and the Owl and the Nightingale.

The establishment of the English as a national language was a long process along the one of England becoming a national state. It was the East Midland dialect that became the centre of the other dialects grouping, as it enjoyed economic, political and cultural prestige. It is particularly the dialect spoken in London, as it displayed a commercial prosperity described by Tacitus¹ in his Annals: "Londinium .copia negociatorum et commeatuum". The dialect became the standard due to the diversity of London speech and to the development of education, trade, crafts that made possible to diffuse. Even Geoffrey Chaucer contributed to its development by his works.

Renaissance brought the beginnings of the Modern English at the opening years of the 16^th century. The evolution was a gradual and continuous process in close connection with the geographical discoveries, the development of industry, commerce and the ever better means of communication due to the capital accumulation. A large number of literary works such as Wyatt and Surrey's poems, Spenser's Fairies Queen, the works of William Shakespeare, enriched the language by vocabulary and structure.

The contact with the people from the newly discovered lands, with the Italian art and literature, made possible a large scale of borrowings from Italian then Spanish later, from the languages of the American Indians, The exclusive study of Latin and Greek authors also brought new and important borrowings that met the needs of economic political, social, scientific and artistic domain of the time, in which English was very poor. But the borrowings were not approved by scholars of that time, such as Sir John Checke who protested against John Elliot who used "inkhorn" terms. In his Arte of Rhetoric (1553), Thomas Wilson recommended plain speaking, without any "straunge ynkehorne terms". But borrowings had also defenders, for the vernacular did need many new terms. But the foreign borrowings were not limited to words taken from Latin and Greek. According to the New English Dictionary, there were 50 languages as sources for the newly built language.¹

The historical events that took place on the second half of the 17^th century, the Revolution of 1648 and the industrial revolution too, represented sources to the enrichment of the English language. But these events did not bring about any profound, far-reaching linguistic transformation. They simply added a certain number of words and expressions to the English vocabulary or brought others into wide use. The Puritan ideology influenced greatly the Early Modern literature of the 17^th century by a very important linguistic document - the Authorized Version of the Bible that appeared in 1611. John Milton translated the Bible from Greek language. John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress was also a subject of biblical influences, but his language is also representative for the language used by the people at large. During the 18^th century the vocabulary of politics was enriched by the contribution of French revolution through a specific vocabulary: democratic, revolution, demagogic, diplomacy, regime, terrorism, propaganda. The language also borrowed vocabulary from German in the technical domain: bismuth, quartz, zinc, etc. The English language was also enriched by borrowings coming from the American continent: Indian words hickory (a sort of walnut), moccasin, totem, toboggan, etc., Mexican words: chili, coyote; Cuba: barbeque, guava, iguana, savannah; Peru, Brazil: condor, llama, pampas, puma, tapioca, poncho, etc or Australia: boomerang; kangaroo, wombat.

In the 18^th century grammar began to represent a subject to study. Grammarians assess the necessity of codifying the rule of the English language. George Campbell was the first to make this attempt. The 19^th century is characterized by the full development of capitalism, the World War I and the World War II determined the appearance of numberless new words in

the field of science and technology and of new field of knowledge, mirroring the evolution of human society using certain grammar ways:

a)      conversion that seems to be the most frequent:

Ape  (n) to ape (v)

Blitz (n)  to blitz (v)

Verbs with or without an adverbial particle could be also converted into nouns. Thus, people who are active are in the swim and the one well informed is in the know, or those that are active and acquisitive are on the go or on the make.

b) Composition: Different various parts of speech are easily and freely converted:

Air-man

earthquake-damaged

used-car market

hairdo

teenage

do-it-yourself project

c) shortening

cabinet   cab

moving picture movie

O. K. Amer. Adj. - She got her parents' O.K. (there are several opinions about the origins of O.K. It may come from Obadiah Kelly ( a railway goods-agent) or from Old Keokuk - an Indian chief, or from Omnis korrecta used once by teachers for marking students' examination papers; it may also come from Aux Cayes - a place in Haiti where the best rum was made; or from a Choctaw word okay , meaning it is so)

O.K. Amer. Adj. - She got her parents' O.K. (there are several opinions about the origins of O.K. It may come from Obadiah Kelly ( a railway goods-agent) or from Old Keokuk - an Indian chief, or from Omnis korrecta used once by teachers for marking students' examination papers; it may also come from Aux Cayes - a place in Haiti where the best rum was made; or from a Choctaw word okeh , meaning it is so)

In the nineteenth and twentieth century grammatical trends point out certain new synthetical features by formation of compounds, but also to an accentuation of the analytical character of the language by the ever growing importance of word order that leads to simplification and economy of effort.

There have also been developed recent approaches to sentence analysis:

the structural method (Charles C. Fries in The Structure of English - New York 1952). The author points out that the meaning of a sentence is a combination of lexical meanings, i.e. the relationship of the words to each other. He rejects analyzing the English sentence by the traditional parts of speech into "form-words" but "function-words"

the method of immediate constituents analysis developed by Barbara Strang in Modern English Structure - London, 1962, and R. E. Wells in Language. The "successive hierarchical structure" of the sentence can be understood by breaking down the sentence until it is reduced to morphemes.

The method of transformational grammar, adopted and developed by Noam Chomsky in Syntactic Structures published in Hague, 1962. It is based on Z. S. Harris' distributional analysis based on the mathematical concept of transformation (of the form but not the value of an expression)

The contemporary dialects of the English language publicly recognized and spoken in the respective regions of the country are the Scottish, the Northern, the Western, the Central, the Eastern, the Southern ones. The dialectal words and phrases reflect the life and the activity of the respective places. The meaning of certain dialectal words became archaic or has disappeared in Standard English (to admire - to wonder; proper- handsome), and other have changed their meaning (in Yorkshire cake often means bread and bread sometimes means cake)

Every profession and trade has also developed its own vocabulary and style. Partly they are known only by the specialists, but there are quite a number of terms that come into a wide use, either because they designate things and notions which come to be popularized, or because they have widened their meaning. The differences between occupational dialects or jargons are far easier to establish than those between the different social dialects. Thus the vocabulary and the style of sometimes, excessive verbal courtesy used in Law Courts is different from the one used in advertisements, for example, where sometimes a vulgar, striking, lively, concentrated language is used. These account for all sorts of derivatives, often euphemistic and modified spellings. Here are some examples:

vegemato juice = (vegetable and tomato juice)

Bar-B-Q = barbeque

Fits-U (a brand of spectacles)

U-otto-buy = used cars

3. American English

As a result of the leading position of the US in the world affairs, English has become an international language spread all over the world through advertising, tourism, telecommunications, informatics, and cinema. As a result, not only the British English, but also its idioms spoken as official in countries like Australia or New Zeeland are influenced by Americanisms. The British immigrants coming from U.K. in the 17^th century brought several dialects spoken in different regions. Then the language developed independently adding new words from the natives and from the settlers of other origins that brought also some contributions from their places: French, Dutch, and German. The English language helped the immigrants keep their country united. Changes that occurred in the English language spoken on the American territory have a historical explanation. The new settlers found new names for the surrounding plants and animals that resembled with the ones existing in their original country. The American fir tree became laurel, and birds with black feathers became blackbird. They also named the unknown plants or animals and natural phenomena from the Indian or from other settlers: tapioca, succotash (a dish of green maize and beans boiled together), blue-grass, eggplant, potato bug, catfish, mud-hen, pitch pine. Whereas early American compounds were often self-explanatory, recent ones are frequently rather elliptical. One needs to know that romances of the boy-meets-girl type of accounts, presented in never-ending installments were frequently sponsored by manufactures of toilet and laundry soaps, that brought their names of soap opera. A range of terms referring to navigation in the British Isles extended their meaning to any kind of transportation in the United States, e.g. aboard, to board, crew, freight, to ship, etc. Extension of meaning is one of the major ways of developing the American English vocabulary. Here are some examples:

clerk - shop assistant

conservative - moderate

date - appointment

fix - to arrange

to figure - to reckon, estimate, calculate

lunch/luncheon - snack

vacation - any period of holiday

Extension and narrowing of meaning are commonly based on metaphors:

colonizer - a person who casts a fraudulent vote in another district

bureau - chest of drawers

corn - maize

to commute - to travel regularly from one's home to one's place of work

politician - wire-puller

Nowadays the growing population coming from the Hispanic world that settled in the Southern states keeps using their original language making the Americans be afraid of a possible division of their country. That is why the English Only Movement appeared which wants to make English the only one language spoken on the American territory. Supporters consider that this will keep the country together and they suggest that immigrants should be taught English. But other wings consider that this is not necessary because the immigrants' children will want to learn English anyway, and that will lead obviously to social unity.

The easiness of the language to form words made possible the spread out of new vocabulary like electricity, television typewriter, etc in the English speaking world and not only.

The different spelling makes the difference between British and American English too. Thus, the use of some suffixes, the use of -z instead of -s or British irregular verbs made regular, makes the American English distinctive. Here are some samples:

British: America

flavour - flavor

centre - center

connection - connexion

traveler - traveller

realise - realize

learnt - learned

dreamt - dreamed

colour.......... ..... ...... ...........- color

There are also some words or grammar constructions used differently:

British: American: gotten: (received) I've gotten my Christmas present.

She is in hospital. She is in the hospital.

Subjunctive is more used in American English than in British English.

It is vital that they be stopped at once.

Americans use a more direct language, so that polite forms of British English may be considered formal and unnatural:

I'm afraid that.........

Would you mind if........

As for the American English, the language does not provide any information about social status or origins of the people. Still, the New Yorkers make use of their accent for judgments about their fellow citizens, while the Bostonian accent is considered to belong to the old, rich families of "New England". But there is an accent called southern drawl which is considered by professional people less acceptable from socially point of view, especially in small towns, where sensitiveness is higher to accent used by newcomers.

The American pronunciation differs from the British one only by intonation and rhythm There are also very little differences in grammar.

The General American English (GAE) is considered as a standard associated with Midwest accent and spoken across most of the northern states. There are also 4 dialects to be considered, The Northern, the Coastal Southern, the Midland and the Western. Their main difference is expressed in accent, but there are also some specific words to be encountered only in certain regions, such as grits which is particular for the Southern regions. Increasing differences can be noticed within the western dialects as they were influenced by the Mexican and Spanish. Since black slaves were brought mainly there and most of the African Americans still live there, old vocabulary is in use: hand for farmer or kinfolk for relative. But the most distinctive character for the southern drawl is the oral accent: the final r is not pronounced any more and the diphthongs are replaced with simple vowels so mine is pronounced [ma:n] and the plural for you is [y'all]. The social attitude toward the Black English and the Cajun English spoken in the southern regions reflects, in fact the hostility against the social groups they represent.

The differences between the economic, social, political, cultural traditions, customs, and mentality, led to variations between the everyday vocabulary of Britain and that of the United States.

Britain American

grilled (meat) broiled

cornmeal  Indian meal

tart  pie

fresh butter  sweet butter

dressing gown  bathrobe

trousers  pants

lounge-suit  business suit

minerals  soft drinks

wallet  billfold

banking account  bank-account

sleeping partner  silent partner

wage-sheet  payroll

rise  raise in pay

"The very few differences that appeared in American English are considered sometimes a peculiar virtue and claims to consideration, while the Britisher is often moved to look upon them as representing a degradation of the language. In fact, neither of the two varieties is superior to the other and the language and the civilizations that it represents, has gained a lot by its expansion over the American continent". (William Archer - America and the English Language, New York, 1960, p 4)

4. Differences between British, Canadian and American Spelling

Canadian English generally follows British spelling, but often the American alternative is possible too. Australian English also generally follows the British tradition.

5. English language in Commonwealth and others

The official English language spoken in Canada by the two thirds of the country's population is strongly influenced by the second official language spoken by the immigrants of French extraction. The language spoken by their descendants coming from United States after the Independence War was strengthened by the one coming from Scotland and Ireland. Briticisms are strongly found in areas of fashionable English schools and universities mainly in Ontario: summer holidays, sweets, tram, meat-pie, braces, etc. But the English spoken in areas closer to the border of the United States is certainly similar to the one spoken in this country, having only some lexical peculiarities, and also some differences in pronunciations. But Americanism are used all over: dry goods, guess, sidewalk, store, rooster, etc

As expected, the language spoken in Australia and New Zeeland borrowed and adopted linguistic elements and sometimes structures of the language spoken by the aboriginals. The inhabitants from Europe came across anew environment: different land animals, plants, phenomena, food, music instruments, customs, etc. The English language used by the new settlers improved by their native names, such as:

Kangaroos

Koala bear

Didgeridoo (musical instrument)

Billabong (small swift-flowing stream of the North East)

bush (woodland, untitled district)

Corroboberee (native dance)

The Europeans gave different meanings to existing words: cockatoo is the name of a small farmer.

Derivation and composition were forms of new vocabulary:

outback place - remote from towns

black trackers - native people used to find wanted ones

When gold was discovered, the language improved by new words too:

diggings

fossick - (to search)

mullock (refuse with no gold content)

The man that settled illegally on a piece of land was called squatter making possible the denomination of a new social group. The present vocabulary has also improved with new words used by the new settlers in their trade:

jackaroo (a trainee manager)

offsider (assistant)

rouseabout (handyman)

Some vocabulary element s may have come from old English dialects used no more in Great Britain, but with adapted meaning.

barrack (to cheer - (Irish) to brag

dinkum (honest) - Lincolnshire - fair play, genuine

There also specific Australian idioms that are not used in any other place:

to be in the gun (to be criticized)

to stage a barrel party (an informal meal)

The pronunciation of the Australian English is also specific for this geographical area. It is to be noticed the tendency that of the diphthong [ei] to become [ai]. The language is also characterized by the glottal stop and the plosive consonants into affricates. The long vowels are stressed by raising the tongue and closing the mouth, and the diphthongs become, this way, triphtongs.

tea: [tai

too:[tau]

In New Zeeland the English speaking comers preserved their language closer to the British English. There a re only few native words borrowed:

hoot (money)

kit {basket)

In South Africa the two official languages are English and Afrikaans (an artificial language combined from Dutch and all the native language that were spoken in the territory). The English spoken in this country was influenced by the language used formerly by the conquerors of that land by turn: the Bushmen; the Hottentots; the Bantus, the Portuguese, the Dutch.

Here are some Africadrisms (words borrowed from the languages spoken by the slaves coming from Africa):

trek =journey in ox-wagon, migration

vlei : valley

karoo - elevated plateau (Hottentot)

voortreker : first settler, pioneer

Gnu - a sort of an antelope

Original English words acquired new meanings according to the new lexical and linguistic environment.

camp: a part of a farm wired or fenced in

lands: the very part of a farm that is cultivated

There are also formal similar meanings of American English words.

store keeper

cookies (original Dutch)

Pronunciation has been strongly influenced by the Afrikaans language especially the vowels:

pin [pen]

cab [ceb]

and the higher pitch and the tendency to pronounce the r and give full value to unstressed syllables (extraordinary).

6. Hybrid Languages Based on English

The hybrid languages are the result of the intercourse of English with languages spoken by colonized people during the English Empire in the 18^th century. They developed in different geographical areas where the British traders used to negotiate importing and exporting goods, and became lingua franca for these regions as this one was for Levant

Pidgin English (business English, as it was pronounced by Chinese traders) is the language that is developed in the Far East ports and it was adopted even by other European traders and sailors who spread it to the uneducated Japanese or to the populations of the Pacific Islands. It is also spoken by the Chinese living in America nowadays. Its main characteristic is the simplicity of grammar: no inflections are used. The plurals are expressed by using full, plenty, all or piece (piece).Possession is expressed by using the word belong or belongy: How much belong/belongy?(What is the price?). The pronoun he is used for any gender: One girl he come. My pronoun is used for both I and me. Goods belongy my.

Another language is known under the name Beach -la-mar from the Portuguese bicho de mar. meaning sea slug, corrupted into b^eche de mar in French (sea spade). It operates with the same lack of inflections for gender or plural. No forms of tenses are used for the verbs.

Kroo is the language spoken by Kroo Negroes in Liberia and New Guinea in the Western Africa.

These languages are not studied and few materials are available.