ELT IN INDIA
Origin of English Language and Origin of UK or Great Britain
Origin
of English Language:
Ø English is West
Germanic language that originated from Ingvaeonic languages (also known as
North Sea Germanic, a subgrouping of West Germanic languages that consists of
Old Frisian, Old English, and Old Saxon, and their descendants.)
Ø It belongs to
Indo European Group.
Indo European group (IEG)
Ø Indo European
Group (IEG) has eight groups with languages still alive today: Albanian,
Armenian, Balto-Slavic, Celtic, Germanic, Hellenic, Indo-Iranian, and Italic;
another nine subdivisions are now extinct.
Ø Proto Indo
European is parent tongue which was spoken 5000 years ago by nomads of South
East Europe.
Ø It is the largest
family of language group.
Ø Over 3.4
billion people (42% of the global population) speak an Indo-European language
as a first language
Ø Three
Germanic groups are: East(gothic), North, West. (English is West Germanic.)
Note:
o Telugu is
Dravidian
o Hindi is Indo
Aryan
o Sanskrit is
Indo Iranian (branch of the Indo-European languages).
o English is
West Germanic (Indo European).
Three Ages:
Remember the code:
CRASJV
-N- WSI.
Celts -Romans - Angles - Saxons-
Jutes- Vikings- Norman- Wales - Scotland- Ireland.
I. Old English (up to 1066): 449BC-1100AD
Up to 43 AD: Celtic language
Ø
Western Europe was inhabited by Celts, they are known as Galli (in
France), Gaels (in Ireland), Celts (in England).
Ø
It is spelt as Selts or Kelts (a branch of IEG)
Ø
Celtic Words: I, we, you, old, big, good, go, eat, sing, work,
, man, woman, child, wife, father, mother, tooth, hand, feet, ear, eye,
heart, head, sun, moon, star, heaven, earth, night, fish, sheep, mouse, hound
(dog), cow, bee, tree, fire, wind, cloud, hill, snow, stone, water, house,
ship, knight, king, queen, love, sword, shirt, skirt, be, strong
43 AD: Latin Influence
Ø Romans
occupied Britain, brought their language: Latin.
Ø under the
Roman Rule British were converted to Christianity. i.e., Romanized.
Ø they gave the
name Britannia (Latin name), earlier name for them was Albion (white people).
5th Century AD: Anglo Saxon (old English)
Influence
Ø Angles (Hook
men), Saxons (Sword Men) & Jutes (Commonly Anglo-Saxons) invaded
from south of Denmark.
Ø They pushed
Celts to West & North, i.e., Wales, Scotland & Ireland.
Ø Their land
came to known as Angla land→ Engole Land→ England.
Ø The 4
dialects:
o Northumbrian, in North of
Humber
o Mercian, in Wales
o West Saxon, in South of
Thames
o Kentish, in Kent
Ø
The first epic, Beowulf, is written in Old English.
9th Century AD: Scandinavian Influence
Ø
Vikings (of Scandinavia), Danes (of Denmark) invaded
Ø
They destroyed Northumbrian school & Literature.
Ø
English Prose began under King Alfred (848-901)
Features
of Old English:
Ø
Old English has 3 genders: Masculine, Feminine, Neutral
Ø
Great proportion of strong verbs in old English, but in Modern
English they are weak verbs.
Ex: helpenà help
Ø
Spelling and pronunciation are different
Ex: wif—wife; cween—queen; ston—stone;
Ø
Largely inflectional language.
Ex: House—housen; shoe—shoen,
In modern, house—houses (French effect)
Ø
Old English is synthetic (inflections), Modern English is analytic
(extensive use of prepositions)
Ø
Letters (j, q, v) were
never used even though the sounds were.
Ø
85% words are no longer in use in Middle English.
II. Middle English (up to 14th century). 1150CE to
1450CE
1066 AD: French Influence
Ø
Norman Conquest: French invaded under the leadership of William,
Duke of Normandy.
Ø
Normandy= North men (Northern France)
Ø
They brought their language Anglo Norman (old French)
Ø
Normans are originally from Scandinavia, settled in France
Ø
Anglo Saxon + Anglo Norman= Middle English
Ø
Lower class spoke English.
Ø
Upper Class Spoke French.
Ø
With the beginning of the Renaissance, Middle English emerged
as Modern English.
Ø
Shakespeare used this in Love's
Labour’s Lost through Holofernes character. Holofernes is a
schoolmaster who embodies the Renaissance ideal of the scholar who used Greek
and Latin in everyday conversation.
Ø
Holofernes insisted that pronunciation should follow the spelling.
Ø
It can be taken as early example of ‘Great Vowel Shift’, which
is the mismatch between English spelling and pronunciation we see today.
Features
of Middle English:
Ø
Old English inflections disappeared.
Ø OE: "se
cyning giefþ þam mann his sweord"
Ø
ME: "The king gives the man his sword"
Ø
Pronunciation changed and new sounds f v s z -ing
Ø OE: cniht
(knight) → ME: knight (still knight)
Ø
OE: hlāf (loaf) → ME: lof (later loaf)
Ø
All letters were pronounced in Middle English. There are no silent
letters. In Chaucer’s time, final e
became silent.
Ø
Spellings modified due to French Effect
Ø Huge increase in usage of prefix and suffixes due to French effect
Ø Flow of French loan words into English.
Ø Gutenberg’s Printing press (1439) standardized the language.
|
Old
English |
Middle
English |
Change |
|
u → ou |
hūs → house |
"u" replaced by
"ou" |
|
h → gh |
niht → night |
"h" replaced by
"gh" |
|
c → ch |
cirice → church |
"c" replaced by
"ch" |
|
sum → some |
sum → some |
Silent "e"
added |
|
cild → child |
cild → child |
"c" softened
before "i" |
|
cw → qu |
cwēn → queen |
"cw" changed to
"qu" |
|
sc → sh |
sceap → sheep |
"sc" changed to
"sh" |
|
gg → dg |
brycg → bridge |
"gg" replaced
with "dg" |
|
c → ck |
boc → book |
"c" changed to
"ck" |
III. Modern English (After 15th century)
1536 AD: Welsh
Ø
Wales joined during the reign of Henry VIII
Ø
England became Kingdom of England & Wales".
1707 AD: Scott
Ø
Scotland joined, during the reign of Queen Anne
Ø
It became ‘Kingdom of Great Britain'.
Jan, 1st, 1801AD: Irish
Ø
Ireland joined by Act of Union 1800.
Ø
It became "United Kingdom of Great Britain &
Ireland"
Ø
Eire or Southern Ireland left the union.
1922 AD:
Ø
Eire or Southern Ireland left the union.
Note:
Are UK and Great
Britain one and same?
Great
Britain = England + Wales + Scotland.
UK=Great
Britain +Northern Ireland
Bruce- is the national poem of
Scotland - By John Barbour.
Chanson
De Roland - is the national epic poem of France
Important
changes affected English in Modern Period
1.
Modern & Middle English differs from each other in what is called
"great vowel shift” (15th–18th century):
Ø
This term was coined by Otto Jespersen (Danish Linguist);
and he is the first linguist to study it.
Ø
Transition from Middle English to Modern English.
Ø
The main difference between the pronunciation of Middle English
and Modern English is in the value of the long vowels.
Ø Before GVS,
Middle English in Southern England had seven
long vowels, /iː eː ɛː aː ɔː oː uː/. The vowels occurred in,
for example, the words mite, meet, meat, mate, boat, boot, and bout,
respectively.
Ø After GVS,
the long vowels of Middle English began changing in pronunciation as follows:
o
Diphthongisation – The two close vowels, /iː uː/,
became diphthongs (vowel breaking).
|
Word |
Diphthong
pronunciation |
|
|
Late Middle English |
Modern English |
|
|
day |
[æɪ] |
[eɪ] |
|
they |
||
|
boy |
[ɔɪ] |
[ɔɪ] |
|
point |
[ʊɪ] |
|
|
law |
[ɑʊ] |
[ɔː] |
|
knew |
[eʊ] |
[juː] |
|
dew |
[ɛʊ] |
|
|
know |
[ɔʊ] |
[oʊ] |
o
Vowel raising – The other five, /eː ɛː aː ɔː oː/, underwent an increase in
tongue height (raising). Mid vowels like /eː/ and /oː/ became
higher vowels /iː/ and /uː/
o
Vowel Fronting: The words with vowels in Middle English were pronounced from the
back of the mouth, now these words gave rise to new words, which are pronounced
from the front of the mouth in Modern English
|
Word |
Vowel pronunciation |
|
|
Late Middle English |
Modern English |
|
|
bite, wife, life |
[iː] |
[aɪ] |
|
Meet, feet |
[eː] |
[iː] |
|
meat |
[ɛː] |
|
|
mate, name |
[aː] |
[eɪ] |
|
out, house, mouse |
[uː] |
[aʊ] |
|
Boot, goose |
[oː] |
[uː] |
|
Boat, stone |
[ɔː] |
[oʊ] |
Spelling-Pronunciation Mismatch: English retained Middle English spelling, but pronunciation shifted. (recall_ Holofernes in Shakespeare in Love’s Labor’s Lost). Sounds like k, g, and w were dropped in pronunciation (became silent consonants)
|
Word |
Middle Eng |
Modern English |
|
knight |
/knixt/ |
/naɪt/ |
|
write |
/wrɪtən/ |
/raɪt/ |
|
gnaw |
/gnaw/ |
/nɔː/ |
2.
Next major change is due to Renaissance of classical learning- Latin and Greek:
Ø
The term ‘Renaissance’ means rebirth in French.
Ø
Renaissance started first in Florence, Italy
Ø
In 1564, the Italian Renaissance was over but the English
Renaissance had hardly begun.
Ø
The age of Shakespeare was the era of Renaissance in England. It
was an important movement that illuminated the whole English literature
Ø
In Renaissance, many new words were added from Greek and Latin.
Ø
Classical learning was focused.
3.
Standardization of Language:
Ø Printing
Press (1476)
o
The Gutenberg’s movable type press in Germany (1440) and William
Caxton’s first print press in England
(1476) helped to standardize spelling
and grammar.
o
Before this, words were spelled differently depending on the
writer (e.g., knight was spelled as knyghte, knyght, knicht).
Ø Dictionaries
and Grammar Books:
o
Robert Cowdrey's first dictionary Table Alphabetical (1604)
o
The most influential dictionary of English- i.e., Samuel Johnson’s
Dictionary (1755) standardized many English spellings.
o
Robert Lowth’s Grammar Book (1762) established formal grammar
rules.
Ø
King James Bible (1611) paved the
way for stabilizing the English language to a large extent It was written by
scholars in modern English for the benefit of common people.
4.
Another major change is due to Industrial Revolution, Colonialism and wars:
Ø
Industrial revolution, expansion of British Empire (Colonialism)
led to the language borrowing words from several languages.
Ø
Major factor that led to the growth of English language in 20th
century is the two world wars.
Ø
English became the operative language for allied forces and
several words of military operation became part of the common vocabulary
Ø
Ex: Camouflage, Jeep, Spearhead, Cold War, Charge, Ambush.
5.
Simplification of Grammar
English
grammar became simpler over time.
Ø Loss of
Inflections (Case Endings Disappeared). Ex: cyningà King; mann à man
Ø Loss of
"Thou" and "Thee". Ex: In Middle English: Thou art kind →
(Singular); You are kind → (Plural). But In Modern English: You are kind (both
singular & plural).
6. Globalization and
Localization of English:
Ø English is now the dominant language in business, science, and diplomacy.
Ø Besides the globalization, we can also see the localization of English as
seen in Br.E, Ame.E, Aus.E, Can.E, Ind.Eng & Caribbean
Ø In this connection it is necessary to note that it has been the cause of
death of many minor languages, So, some linguists called it as
"Bulldozer"
7.
Influence of Mass Media (20th–21st Century)
Ø
Modern technology, the internet, and social media have changed
English.
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