history, what history? is the history of modern english relevant when teaching english? michael...
TRANSCRIPT
History, what History?Is the history of Modern English
relevant when teaching English?
Michael Stuart [email protected]
English is a real Tutti-Frutti – why?
Look at “heard”, an awful word,It looks like “beard” but sounds like “bird”.And “dead”: it’s said like “bed”, not “bead”.
For goodness’ sake, don’t call it “deed”!And watch out for “meat” and “great” and “threat”;They rhyme with “suite” and “straight” and “debt”!
Contents• Why, why, why?!• A brief history of Modern English• Regular and irregular verbs – why?• An evolving language• Imported words• Even laziness plays its part in evolution!• The End?
Why, why, why?!
Have your students ever asked:
• Why are there regular and irregular verbs?• Why are there so many variations in spelling?• Why are there so many variations in pronunciation?• Why are there no accents to help with
pronunciation?
History tells us why ....
A Brief History of Modern English (1)• The Celts: were the original inhabitants of Britain (around the Iron Age). They spoke Celtic. Much of their language still survives in parts of Britain.
A Brief History of Modern English (1)• The Celts: were the original inhabitants of Britain (around the Iron Age). They spoke Celtic. Much of their language still survives in parts of Britain.Examples of Cornish (17th century) derived from Celtic:• Durdatha whye! Good day to you!• Ha soce! Hello mate.• Betho whye lowenack! Happiness to you!• Fatla gena whye? How are you?• Fatel era whye keele? How are you doing?• Vedo whye cawas badna? Do you want a drop to drink?• Vedo whye cawas tabm? Do you want a bite to eat?
A Brief History of Modern English (1)• The Celts: were the original inhabitants of Britain (around the Iron Age). They spoke Celtic. Much of their language still survives in parts of Britain.• The Romans: invaded Britain around the 1st century, displacing the Celts to Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Cornwall. They introduced Latin.
A Brief History of Modern English (1)• The Celts: were the original inhabitants of Britain (around the Iron Age). They spoke Celtic. Much of their language still survives in parts of Britain.• The Romans: invaded Britain around the 1st century, displacing the Celts to Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Cornwall. They introduced Latin.
• The Jutes, the Saxons, and the Angles: invaded Britain around the 5th century. They introduced Jutish (an old form of German), Saxon and Anglo. The Angles came from “Englaland” and their language was called “Englisc”. The languages from these Germanic tribes developed into what we call “Old English”.
The Lord's Prayer in Old EnglishMatthew 6:9-13
Fæder ure þu þe eart on heofonumSi þin nama gehalgodto becume þin ricegewurþe ðin willaon eorðan swa swa on heofonumurne gedæghwamlican hlaf syle us todægand forgyf us ure gyltasswa swa we forgyfað urum gyltendumand ne gelæd þu us on costnungeac alys us of yfele soþlice
• The Vikings: invaded Britain in the 8th century. They introduced (apart from a good deal of rape and pillage) Norse vocabulary.
A Brief History of Modern English (2)
• The Vikings: invaded Britain in the 8th century. They introduced (apart from a good deal of rape and pillage) Norse vocabulary.• The Normans: conquered England in 1066. They brought Norman with them (an ancient form of French, not a man). Shortly after, it became the language of the ruling & upper classes. Around the 14th century, the middle and lower classes spoke what we now call “Middle English”.
A Brief History of Modern English (2)
Psalm 23 in Middle English
• Lord my steres, not want shall me:In stede of fode there me looked he.He fed me ouer water of fode,My soul he turns in to good.He lead me ouer sties of righteousnessFor his name, as holy is.For, and if I go in mid shadow of dread,For thou with me while iuel shall I not dread;Thy yherde, and thy staff of might,They are me roned day and night.Thou graithed in my sight borde to be,Ogaines thas that droued me;Thou fatted in oil my head yhite;And my drink dronkenand while schire is ite!And filigh my shall thy mercyAll days of my life for-thyAnd that I wone in house of lord isIn length of days al with bliss
Origins and Influences (1)
Origins and Influences (2)
• Celtic: loch, whisky, trousers, penguin / regular verbs• Latin: drama, animal, doctor, triangle / regular verbs• Anglo-Saxon: always, beach, drink, teach / irregular verbs• Jutish: blitz, milk, kindergarten, finger, horse / irregular verbs• French: fragrance, attraction, certain, definition / regular verbs• Norse: cake, ugly, husband, awkward, egg, give / irregular verbs
• Due to international trade during the 16th century, other languages such as Sanskrit, Urdu, Russian and Polish also played a role in augmenting the vocabulary of the English language.
A Brief History of Modern English (3)
• Due to international trade during the 16th century, other languages such as Sanskrit, Urdu, Russian and Polish also played a role in augmenting the vocabulary of the English language.• The expansion of the British Empire in the 19th century also assisted in the adoption of numerous foreign words and phrases.
A Brief History of Modern English (3)
• Due to international trade during the 16th century, other languages such as Sanskrit, Urdu, Russian and Polish also played a role in augmenting the vocabulary of the English language.• The expansion of the British Empire in the 19th century also assisted in the adoption of numerous foreign words and phrases.• Not to mention various attempts to attack and conquer England by the French (1216, 1545), the Spanish (1588), the Dutch (1688) and the Germans (1940).
A Brief History of Modern English (3)
If Hitler had won the war....
• Cheers mate! Danke mate!
• What the f*#% ! Donner and Blitzen!
15th century: The Great Vowel Shift (1)
15th century: The Great Vowel Shift (1)• The Great Vowel Shift refers to the change in pronunciation
of long vowels that occurred in England. After the Great Vowel Shift, vowel pronunciation changed dramatically, generally getting shorter. For example, the long “i” sound in Middle English had a long “e” sound, as in the word “sweet”. After the Great Vowel Shift, it was pronounced as in the word “life”.
15th century: The Great Vowel Shift (1)• The Great Vowel Shift refers to the change in pronunciation
of long vowels that occurred in England. After the Great Vowel Shift, vowel pronunciation changed dramatically, generally getting shorter. For example, the long “i” sound in Middle English had a long “e” sound, as in the word “sweet”. After the Great Vowel Shift, it was pronounced as in the word “life”.
• Example: “fine” (from French) Middle English: pronounced feen Modern English: pronounced fahyn
15th century: The Great Vowel Shift (1)
• The Great Vowel Shift refers to the change in pronunciation of long vowels that occurred in England. After the Great Vowel Shift, vowel pronunciation changed dramatically, generally getting shorter. For example, the long “i” sound in Middle English had a long “e” sound, as in the word “sweet”. After the Great Vowel Shift, it was pronounced as in the word “life”.
• Example: “fine” (from French) Middle English: pronounced feen Modern English: pronounced fahyn• Note that words like “bit” and “sit” came from a Germanic
language and already had a short vowel sound.
15th century: The Great Vowel Shift (2)
The Great Vowel Shift occurred over a longperiod, which may account for the many differentand creative spellings and pronunciations whichnow exist in English. For example, compare thepronunciation of these letters of the alphabet: A/B/C/D/G/J/K vs. F/L/M/N/S.
15th century: The Great Vowel Shift (3)
• Some linguists think that the Great Vowel Shift occurred due to the disenchantment of French rule. To distance themselves from French occupation, the English may have deliberately changed pronunciation and removed accent marks in writing, to reflect that theirs was a language different from French.
15th century: The Great Vowel Shift (3)
• Some linguists think that the Great Vowel Shift occurred due to the disenchantment of French rule. To distance themselves from French occupation, the English may have deliberately changed pronunciation and removed accent marks in writing, to reflect that theirs was a language different from French.
• After the Great Vowel Shift the English spoke “Early Modern English” (Shakespeare’s day).
Shakespeare: Sonnet XVIIIShall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,And summer's lease hath all too short a date:Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest,Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st;So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
Regular Verbs
These came from Celtic, Latin and French.
The general rule was: add “ed”
The origin of this is believed to be: “did”
Example: “paint did” “painted”
Irregular VerbsThese came from Scandinavian and European (mostly Germanic) languages.
The rule was: replace one vowel with another:drink/drank blow/blew keep/keptsink/sank know/knew sleep/sleptshrink/shrank grow/grew weep/weptstink/stank throw/threwsing/sangring/rang drive/drovespring/sprang dive/doveswim/swam write/wrotesit/sat
So, why not....?
• If “sink–sank”, why not “wink–wank” or “think–thank”?• If “speak–spoke”, why not “seek–soke” or “leak–loke”?• If “steal–stole”, why not “kneel–knole” or “feel–fole”?• If “freeze–froze”, why not “sneeze–snoze” or “squeeze–
squoze”?• If “sit–sat”, why not “hit–hat” or “fit–fat”?But of course the origin of a word dictates its being
regular/irregular.
A Special Case:Why “went” as the past of “go”?
(Donner and Blitzen!)
A Special Case:Why “went” as the past of “go”?
The words “go” and “went” stemmed from two different verbs in Middle English (prior to 1200):
go (to advance) / gode / godenwend (to proceed or turn) / wente / went
and, for some unknown reason, around 1200 the past of “go” (gode) was replaced with the past of “wend” (wente), perhaps through common usage. Later on, the “e” was dropped. Today, “wend” still exists but is a regular verb.
An Evolving LanguageThrough common usage, some irregular verbs
are becoming regular:
• dream• burn• learn• tread• strive
• dwell• rend• slay• smite• wend
An Evolving LanguageThrough common usage, some irregular verbs
are becoming regular:
• dream-dreamt ( dreamed)• burn-burnt (burned)• learn-learnt (learned)• tread-trod ( treaded)• strive-strove ( strived)
• dwell-dwelt ( dwelled)• rend-rent ( rended)• slay-slew ( slayed)• smite-smote ( smited)• wend-wente ( wended)
P.S. Wouldn’t it be easy if they all changed ?!
Words taken from other languages• Arabic: alcohol• Celtic: penguin, maggot• Czech: robot• Dutch: lottery• French: ambulance, diplomat, parachute• Jutish: blitz, quartz• Hebrew: kosher• Hindi: jungle, shampoo• Japanese: judo, karate, tycoon• Latin: data, maximum, uniform• Mandarin: kung fu, typhoon• Norse: fjord, ski• Portuguese: massage, pickaninny, piranha, savvy, embarrass, cashew• Russian: vodka, cosmonaut• Spanish: orange, negro• Swahili: dengue• Thai: siamese• Turkish: caviar, kebab, tulip, yoghurt
(source: http://www.krysstal.com/borrow.html)
An ExampleOranges were originally imported from a Spanishspeaking country and were called “naranjas”.However, through a misunderstanding,a change occurred:
a naranja an aranja an orange
Even Laziness Creates Changes
Even Laziness Creates Changes
• Letters changed through mispronunciation. For example, in some words “f” changed to “v” due to laziness (e.g. ofer over). This is because it’s easier to use a sequence of sounds which are “voiced-voiced-voiced” (as in “o-v-er”) than “voiced-unvoiced-voiced” (as in “o-f-er”).
Even Laziness Creates Changes
• Letters changed through mispronunciation. For example, in some words “f” changed to “v” due to laziness (e.g. ofer over). This is because it’s easier to use a sequence of sounds which are “voiced-voiced-voiced” (as in “o-v-er”) than “voiced-unvoiced-voiced” (as in “o-f-er”).
• Other examples: knifes knives, lifes lives, etc. (therefore introducing some irregular plurals to the language)
Even Laziness Creates Changes
• Letters changed through mispronunciation. For example, in some words “f” changed to “v” due to laziness (e.g. ofer over). This is because it’s easier to use a sequence of sounds which are “voiced-voiced-voiced” (as in “o-v-er”) than “voiced-unvoiced-voiced” (as in “o-f-er”).
• Other examples: knifes knives, lifes lives, etc. (therefore introducing some irregular plurals to the language)
• Remember that some English words have two pronunciations. For example:
I have a chicken for dinner (pronounced ‘hav’)I have to kill the chicken for dinner (pronounced ‘haf’)
Is this the end?
• Absolutely not!• Languages constantly evolve:
Is this the end?
• Absolutely not!• Languages constantly evolve:– New vocabulary through new technology (e.g. laptop,
twitter, tweet, cloud, thumbo, vook)
Is this the end?• Absolutely not!• Languages constantly evolve:– New vocabulary through new technology (e.g. laptop,
twitter, tweet, cloud, thumbo, vook)
– New vocabulary through common or new usageExamples: gay = happy (prior to 1960/70) / homosexual (since 1960/70)
mad = crazy (Old English) / angry (Modern English)to be like = deleb =
Is this the end?• Absolutely not!• Languages constantly evolve:– New vocabulary through new technology (e.g. laptop,
twitter, tweet, cloud, thumbo, vook)
– New vocabulary through common or new usageExamples: gay = happy (prior to 1960/70) / homosexual (since 1960/70)
mad = crazy (Old English) / angry (Modern English)to be like = to say (I was like “You didn’t!”, he was like “I
did!”)deleb =
Is this the end?• Absolutely not!• Languages constantly evolve:– New vocabulary through new technology (e.g. laptop,
twitter, tweet, cloud, thumbo, vook)
– New vocabulary through common or new usageExamples: gay = happy (prior to 1960/70) / homosexual (since 1960/70)
mad = crazy (Old English) / angry (Modern English)to be like = to say (I was like “You didn’t!”, he was like “I
did!”)deleb = dead celeb(rity)
Is this the end?
• Absolutely not!• Languages constantly evolve:– New vocabulary through new technology (e.g. laptop, twitter,
tweet, cloud, thumbo, vook)
– New vocabulary through common or new usageExamples: gay = happy (prior to 1960/70) / homosexual (since 1960/70)
mad = crazy (Old English) / angry (Modern English)to be like = to say (I was like “You didn’t!”, he was like “I did!”)deleb = dead celeb(rity)
– New vocabulary through laziness (e.g. gonna, wanna, lotta, gotta)
Who says History is not Relevant?
So, if one of your students should ever ask:
“Teacher, why is English so different / crazy / inconsistent / etc.?”
at least you can offer some explanations!
“Vai com Deus”
God be wi ye* (1600) Godbwye (1800)
Goodbye ** (1900)
* Means “God be with you” (“Deus esteja com você”)
** “God” changed to “Good” possibly due to the existence and influence of “Good day” and Goodnight”
Bibliography
• “The Language Instinct” by Steven Pinker• Childrens’ Stories (various books) by Tony
Mitton and Ant Parker• www.krysstal.com/borrow.html • http://www.englishclub.com/english-language-his
tory.htm• http://www.angelfire.com/la2/timeline/• http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2010/04/07/new-te
ch-words-vocabulary/
