the origins of the english language
TRANSCRIPT
The Origins of the
English Language
María F.RojasVictoriano
The linguistic geography of Europe
Western Europe
Germanic-Speaking North
Speakers move into Roman territory
Celtic-Speaking South
Overlaid by the spread of Latin
The linguistic geography of Europe•At the beginning of the Christian era...
Language groups
Celtic Latin
Germanic
Celtic
Leaving as a result
• Gaelic (Irish Celtic)
• British Celtic (spoken in
Britain)
Celtic-speaking groups colonized both Britain
and Ireland
Latin
Growth of the Roman Empire Latin spreads to modern Italy, Spain, Portugal, part of Britain, France, Germany and other countries.
Decline of the Roman Empire
Latin disappeared as a spoken language is several parts of the
world, but survived in the central areas of continental Europe
‘Originally the language of Latium, then it became the dialect of Rome’
Latin changed into
different varieties
which became the
Romance Languages.
‘Latin as the international language of scholarship’
‘Major languages of Europe have been profoundly influenced by Latin, not only in vocabulary, but also in grammar’
Germanic
Modern Germanic languages derive from the dialects of different
tribal groups
German: a mixture of the dialects of the south of
Denmark.
Dutch and Flemish: derive from dialects from the North Sea and island in the area of
Weser and Rhine.
Frisian: comes from the coastal dialects.
Language contact in Europe
‘The language spoken by a tribe could change as the result of contact and conquest’
When a native population adopts a language, they do not become ethnic
speakers of that language.
e.i. When a native population
adopted Celtic, they did not
become ethnic Celts, but Celtic-
speaking members of their
tribe.
Contributing factors associated to language changes within a tribe.
Contact between tribes influenced their
languages.
Military contact. e.i. German mercenaries
recruited in Rome adopted Latin.
Food trade and exchange of a variety
of products.
Language in Britain
Britain and Ireland
Britannia in Latin
Britain in English
Prydain in Welsh
Pretanic Islands IVc
B.C
Germanic migrants settled on the east and southern coasts of Britain.
Early English
‘We need to make inferences about the
spoken language from the written language’
Anglian
Early English Dialects
Kentish
Northumbrian Mercian
West Saxon
Both become
Northumbrian
Mercian
West Saxon
Kentish
Written English
Germanic tribes used an alphabet called
RUNES
Inscriptions, texts on wood and magical
purposes
Which was used forBy the second century
as
Christianity is introduced to the
Anglo-Saxons
where
A new literacy culture is introduce
with it
Known as
Latin
Which influenced each other with
so
Conventions between
languages start to develop
To make the earliest glosses
A way must be found to use Latin letters
Which leads to
to Represent English sounds
Another solution is foundDigraphs Group of
letters representing
one sound
Which
are