A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

Henry, M. (1990). Words: Integrated decoding and spelling instruction based on word

origin and word structure. Austin: PRO-ED.

Facts

Over ____ million people speak English (__________ the population of the world)

When we learn English, we are actually learning ____ languages- each with its own phonology and structure.

HERE’S WHY!

Germanic Influence

English is classified as a ____________ language However, less than ___% of the words are Germanic

The _______, _________, and _________ came from northern _________________ bringing their language with them

Later, the ______________ (known as the Danes) invaded the land and spoke a northern branch of Germanic

Germanic Words

Relatively few in number Common, everyday words in the language Includes all words on the _______ list All words on any lists of the

“_____________________” are Germanic

Features of Germanic Words

Short because over time, the endings dropped off Most of our _____________ words are Germanic

Examples: the, but, cold, sit ___________________ words in the language Least ____________________ Most difficult to ____________

Examples: they, could, was, write, old, most, thought ___________, ___________, and

_____________________ of vowels are characteristics of the Germanic strain of language

Latin Words

Over ___________ the words in the English language are based on Latin

A handful of Latin words entered during the language during the __________ era

Most of the Latin words came by way of _____________ (a _______ language) Ex. glamour

Vikings

Some of the _________ had settled in Northern France (i.e., Normandy which means “north men”) and adopted the French language

In ______, they invaded England For the next 300 years, no king of England

(keep in mind: every English king was also king of France at that time) spoke English but instead spoke ___________ (the language of the _________ and ________________)

Latin

Later, __________ in England borrowed words directly from Latin itself

_________________ (with its center in Rome) adopted Latin for its services)

As Christianity spread over western Europe, the people attending services learned Latin words

Latin was also the required language at _________ and _____________ Ex. calculus

Characteristics of Latin Words

Consist of a _________, __________, and _______ Examples: pre dic tion, in somni a

Seldom use vowel pairs Use ____________ or vowel ____________ for

long sound Examples: invade, denote

Never uses sh for /sh/; instead, the sound is spelled ti, ci, si, or xi Examples: invention, social, permission, complexion

Greek Words

_________% of the English vocabulary is based on Greek

Greek words came into the language from 2 sources:

1. _______ (as every educated Roman knew Greek)

2. Borrowed by ____________

Characteristics of Greek Words Recognized by their spelling and structure Use ___ for /f/ (Example: physics) Use ____ for /k/ (Example: chemistry) Use ___ for /i/ (Example: gym, type) Often consists of 2 elements joined by a

connecting ___ (Example: hydrogen, photograph) Scientists use Greek when they want a new word

for a __________ or _____________ Examples: neutron, electron, cardiogram Greek has become the language of _________

GREEK Specialized words used mostly in science, though some

(i.e., television) are common

ROMANCE

Technical, sophisticated words used primarily in more formal settings such as literature & textbooks

ANGLO-SAXON

Common, everyday, down-to-earth words used frequently in ordinary situations and found in school primers

More Influences

Crusaders and the trade with medieval __________ brought words such as tea, sofa, and sherbet

From ______: calico, bungalow, jungle From _________: dingo, outback,

kangaroo From __________: safari

Move to the New World

Foreign words flooded into the language The Dutch were among the first _________

which is why we have so many Dutch words (Example: cookie, landscape, coleslaw)

French explorers who settled in ____________ added chowder, pumpkin, prairie, levee, and others to the list

____________________ contributed banana, cola, goober, yam, gorilla, tote, and okra

Influence of the Native Americans

Place names of rivers, mountains, landmarks, and names of over half the states Can you think of some of these?

Other native words include: caribou, toboggan, papoose, raccoon, tobacco

Other Changes Cause New Words to Enter

Potato famine (1845) brought ____________ immigrants 1848 revolution caused Germans to settle in ______________

and the __________________ After the American Civil War came the Spanish, Italians, and

Scandinavians Czechs, Slovaks, and Poles followed Chinese were hired to build the ____________ (and they

remained) Japanese settled on the _____________________ Refugees from all over Europe fled from World War II Also, there followed a huge influx from Puerto Rico, China,

Hong Kong, Korea, & Thailand

Anglo-Saxon Layer of Language Beginning readers start out reading words from the

Anglo-Saxon base of language _________________ used short words typical in

early readers __________ are also of Anglo-Saxon origin In addition, prefixes and suffixes are added but

many of the Anglo-Saxon prefixes are __________ (forget, without, became, overlook, unhappy, understand, inside, befriend)

Anglo-Saxon suffixes: ed, er, ing, ly, s (es), able, hood, ful, less, ness, ship, ish)

Anglo-Saxon Letter-Sound Correspondences

CONSONANTS

Single Blends Diagraphsb, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x, y, z

bl, cl, fl, gl, pl, sl

br, cr, dr, fr, gr, pr, tr

sc, sk, sl, sp, st, sw …

Final: ft, lk, lt, mp, nd…

ch, sh th wh

chat ship this when

thin

(-ck, -tch, -dge, -ng)

VOWELS

Single Letter(Short/Long)

-r & -l Controlled Diagraphs

cap - capepet - Petepinning - piningrob - robecutter – cuter(y)

er, ir, ur

ar, or

arr, err

all

al

1 sound:

ee; oy, oi; oa; ai, ay;

aw, au

2 sounds:

ea, ow, ou, ie, ei, ew

Latin Layer of Language

Students encounter these words in ____rd grade Knowledge of consonants & vowels transfers directly

to these words None of the complex Anglo-Saxon digraphs are

included _______________ sound is the most notable feature

(unaccented vowel sound found in unaccented syllables) ~ Letter-sound correspondences are otherwise the same as Anglo-Saxon machine, soda, ahead, about, magazine

Latin Layer Root words: usually stressed & contain the major meaning

of the word spect, rupt, vis, aud, vent, flect, script, gress, dict, tract, lit, duct,

struct, pend, ped Prefixes: pre, re, bi, pro, mid, sub, dis, inter, intro, intra, il,

extra, per, ultra, trans Many prefixes have the schwa sound

aggressive, appearance, connect, collect, attach

Vowel diagraphs in the suffixes are ALL pronounced as schwas (nation, precious, omission) & initial consonants in the suffixes, followed by i, are pronounced as /sh/

Common Latin Prefixes

de- (from, away)

re- (back, again)

bi- (two)

tri- (three)

pre- (before)

pro- (before, forward)

co- (together, with)

dis- (separation, undo)

im- (in, not)

sub- (under)

ex- (out)

trans- (across)

mis- (wrong, bad)

con- (together, with)

in- (in, not)

non- (not)

Latin Suffixes -ist (noun, person) -ive -age -ant -or (noun) -ar (adjective) -ible -ary -ize -ance

-t(ure)

-tion

-sion

-cian

-tious

-tial

-cial

-cious

Latin Roots

rupt (to break, to burst) port (to carry) form (to shape) tract (to pull) scrib, script (to write) spec, spect (to see, watch) stru, struct (to build) dic, dict (to say, tell) flect, flex (to bend) mit, miss (to send)

cred (to believe) duc, duce, duct (to lead) pel, puls (to drive, push) pend (to hang) fac, fact (to make, do) vert, vers (to turn) jac, jec, ject (to throw,

lie)

Greek Layer of Language

Same letter-sound correspondences as those in Anglo-Saxon words, but adds 3 important patterns: ph for /f/, ch for /k/, and the use of y as a long vowel /ī/ or short vowel /ĭ/ (i.e., medial vowel)

Usually specialized words in _________, though some are ________ (___________)

Often contain silent _ (pneumonia, pseudonym) _______ as in mnemonics

Greek Combining Forms

Not called prefixes and suffixes but ___________________ since there are usually 2 parts of equal stress and importance

Greek Combining FormsBEGINNING

auto = self phono = sound photo = light hydro = water tele = distance micro = small therm = heat

biblio, hyper, chron, chrom, arch, phys, pysch, peri, bi, semi, hemi, mono, meta, mega, metro, philo, soph, theo, techni

ENDING graph, gram =

written/drawn meter = measure ology = study scope = watch, see sphere, crat, cracy, polis

Syllable Division Rules

Anglo-Saxon = VC/CV; V/CV, VC/V VC/CCV (consonant l-e) are common

Latin = Same as Anglo-Saxon but the prefixes and suffixes often consist of syllables based on these patterns (i ble, in tro)

Greek = Same as Anglo-Saxon (many v/cv such as hyper, vc/v such as hemi, also, v/cc such as hydro)

Why Students Need This Information

Students use their knowledge to decode unfamiliar words.

Teach students this process1. See if you can identify the language origin.2. Look for the morpheme units: Anglo-Saxon or Latin prefixes,

roots, suffixes. Greek combining forms, or single words making up Anglo-Saxon compound words.

3. If you can’t find a morpheme, or if you find morphemes but still can’t read the word, break the word into syllables using the common syllable division options.

4. If syllable division doesn’t work, or works for only part of the work, use letter-sound correspondences.