Introduction To Linguistics

Introduction To Linguistics

|TOPIC 1             |HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE                                                                             |

1.0   SYNOPSIS

Topic 1 introduces you to the History of the English language.   It provides an overview of the origin of the English language and how it spreads all over the world.   It also aims to help you understand better the varieties of English spoken in the world.

1.1   LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of Topic 1, you will be able to:

    • trace the origin of English language
    • define the terms World Englishes and   World English
    • name the varieties of English used

1.2   fRAMEWORK OF TOPICS

[pic]

CONTENT

SESSION ONE   (3 Hours)

History of the English Language

English is a member of the Indo-European family of languages.   This broad family includes most of the European languages spoken today.

1.2.1   Indo-European Language Family Tree

The Indo-European family includes several major branches: Latin and the modern Romance languages (French etc.); the Germanic languages (English, German, Swedish etc.); the Indo-Iranian languages (Hindi, Urdu, Sanskrit etc.); the Slavic languages (Russian, Polish, Czech etc.); the Baltic languages of Latvian and Lithuanian; the Celtic languages (Welsh, Irish Gaelic etc.); Greek.

The influence of the original Indo-European language can be seen today, even though no written record of it exists.   The word for father, for example, is vater in German, pater in Latin, and pitr in Sanskrit. These words are all cognates, similar words in different languages that share the same root.   Of these branches of the Indo-European family, two are, as far as the study of the development of English is concerned, of paramount importance, the Germanic and the Romance (called that because the Romance languages derive from Latin, the language of ancient Rome).

The Germanic Family of Languages

English is a member of the Germanic family of languages. Germanic is a branch of...