English was the language
spoken by Germanic tribes
who settled in England in
the course of the 5th century
comparitive reconstruction =
hypothisis that some languages
are related
you compare related words
systematically and you then
reconstruct the earlier forms from
which the recorded ones must have
been descended (abstammen von)
The Indo-European
Family of
Languages
Indo European -> Germanic ->
West-Germanic (German, English,
Dutch) or North-Germanic -> (Danish,
Norweign)
Indo European -> Italic -> Latin ->
Romance -> Portuguese, Spanish,
French, etc.
Indo European -> Celtic -> Insular (->
Goidelic -> Irish or Brittanic -> Welsh,
Cornish) or Continental -> Gaulish
Relation of languages
genetically
related languages -> related
words (father, Vater)
dialects became daughter languages in
their own right
own language if: they
have a written
standard, do the
speakers feel that
theirs is a language?
language contact ->
borrowings (Latin: vinum,
English: wine)
The British Isles before the Arrival of English
England and Wales were part of Roman Empire
inhabitants were Celts, spoke
varieties of celtic and in the parts
occupied by the Romans Latin
Anglo-Saxons arrived, found Romanized Celts
Celts were conquered (besiegt) and driven
westward -> thats why Celtic languages are
spoken in western parts of the British Isles
(Welsh in Wales)
The Celtic languages and
Latin have left hardly any
traces in English. Only in
river names or topographical
terms
later loanwords:
slogan, whiskey
Insular Latin: place
names ending in -chester
(Manchester), -caster
(from castrum) -> Anglo
Saxons added the Latin
suffix
External and Internal History
External History of a language:
History of the people who speak
it
Example Norman Conquest:
French speaking Normans
came and banished the
Anglo-Saxons
French was official language of England
(150 years not written but spoken by
almost everyone)
elite spoke French, many texts in
French -> large-scale borrowing
(10'000 words from French)
Internal History of a language:
developments which cannot be
explained by historical events