The Development of English from Old English to Modern English
English is a language that is widely used all over the world, and English as a language has developed through history, and it has changed from its basic origins, when it was referred to as 'Old English' to the modern English that is used today, which is referred to as 'Modern English'. What is important is that the language displays continuity through the ages, and this adds to the interest about the evolution of English as a language. It must be remembered at the very outset that English is a member of the Indo-European family of languages, which is a family that includes a large number of European languages being spoken today. The branches of this Indo-European language include Latin and the modern Romance languages, the Germanic languages, the group of Indo-Iranian languages, which would include Hindi and Sanskrit, the various Slavic languages, the Baltic languages of Latvian and Lithuanian, but not Estonian, Greek, and other Celtic languages. The influence that the original Indo-European language is obvious even today, even though there is no written record to substantiate the fact. For example, when the word for 'father' in English is taken, it is 'pitr' in Sanskrit; it is 'vater' in German, 'pater' in Latin. These words a
Language Continuity and Transfers. Retrieved From Here we can have a lot of useful information about he origins of the English language, and the three periods, Old, Middle and Modern English into which the development of English is divided for convenience. This article is about the continuity and the discontinuity of the English language. This article mentions about the evolution of the English language. In addition, the French and the Norman influences on the English language during the Middle English period cannot be underestimated, and the sphere of influences extended to the Royal Courts, Law, Church, and education. This in turn meant that words from these spheres would inevitably creep into general usage of English during those times, like for example, the French words for certain farmed animals, like beef, pork, and mutton, were used alongside the native English words like swine, cow, and sheep. Interestingly, while the words that had been borrowed from foreign languages were indicative of the meat of these animals, perhaps because they were mostly eaten by the wealthier French speaking people, while the words that had been inherited form Old English would refer only to the living animal, and not to their meat. Norman influence is seen even in the way in which English was written, and certain words were respelled, like for example, 'is' in Old English became 'ice' in Middle English, and 'cwen' became 'queen' later. However, it must be noted that these influences started to wane by the fourteenth and the fifteenth centuries, and the new language that evolved in later years was the Modern English as we know it today. (From Old English to Modern English) Latin and Greek have contributed thousands of words that have become integrated into English Vocabulary. Retrieved From http://www.wordfocus.com/ Accessed 26 March, 2006
Some common words found in the essay are:
Modern English, Middle English, History English, Continuity English, Law Church, William Shakespeare, English Language, english language, Thoreau Language, Holstein Britain, English Spelling, modern english, march 2006, middle english, history english, continuity english, english modern, english modern english, continuity english language, march 2006 article, accessed 25, 25 march 2006, words phrases, 2006 article, accessed 25 march,
Approximate Word count = 4921
Approximate Pages = 20 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
