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Derek
GI Certificate
Welcome Number
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Historical background of the English Language (A span longer than 54
Kings and Queens)
See a
PowerPoint
presentation here.
English Education?
See a PowerPoint
presentation here.
In the
beginning: Theories about
the origins of language:
1.
The mama theory. Language began with the easiest syllables attached
to the most significant objects.
2.
The ta-ta theory. Sir Richard Paget, influenced by Darwin, believed
that body movement preceded language. Language began as an unconscious
vocal imitation of these movements -- like the way a child’s mouth will move
when they use scissors, or a tongue sticks out when you try to play a guitar.
3.
The bow-wow theory. Language began as imitations of natural sounds
-- moo, choo - choo, crash, clang, buzz, bang, meow... This is more
technically referred to as echoism.
4.
The pooh-pooh theory. Language began with interjections,
instinctive emotive cries, such as oh! for surprise and ouch! for pain.
5.
The ding-dong theory. Some people, including the famous linguist
Max Muller, have pointed out that there is a rather mysterious correspondence
between sounds and meanings. Small, sharp, high things tend to have words
with high front vowels in many languages, while big, round, low things tend to
have round back vowels! Sound symbolisms are as follows: itsy bitsy
teeny weeny with moon.
6.
The yo-he-ho theory. Language began as rhythmic chants, perhaps
ultimately from the grunts of heavy work (heave-ho!). The linguist D. S.
Diamond suggests that these were perhaps calls for assistance or cooperation
accompanied by appropriate gestures. This may relate yo-he-ho to the
ding-dong theory, as in such words as cut, break, crush, strike...
7.
The sing-song theory. Danish linguist Jesperson suggested that
language comes out of play, laughter, cooing, courtship, emotional mutterings
and the like. He even suggests that, contrary to other theories, perhaps
some of our first words were actually long and musical, rather than the short
grunts many assume we started with.
8.
The hey you theory. A linguist by the name of Revesz suggested that
we have always needed interpersonal contact, and that language began as sounds
to signal both identity (here I am!) and belonging (I’m with you!). We
may also cry out in fear, anger, or hurt (help me!). This is more commonly
called the contact theory.
9.
The hocus pocus theory. Language may have some roots in a sort of
magical or religious aspect of our ancestors' lives. Perhaps it began by
calling out to game animals with magical sounds, which became their names.
10.
The eureka theory.
Language was consciously invented. Perhaps some ancestor had the idea of
assigning arbitrary sounds to mean certain things. Clearly, once the idea
was had, it would catch on like wild-fire!
11.
Nature. Nature
sows its seeds and instincts. Basic sounds of fear, love and passion are also
born. From the first cry of a baby to its crying for needs, laughing at fun, and
snuggling with contentment and sounds of affection. These things are natural and
the brain learns very quickly to make a sound to communicate. To make a sound,
to show pleasure, or displeasure, and to learn to mimic is natural. So is born a
way of communicating. Such a communication is called 'a language'. Prof. Derek R
Allen. 1985 refers.
Among highlights in the history of the English language, the following stand out most clearly: the settlement in Britain of Jutes, Saxons, and Angles in the 5th and 6th centuries; the arrival of St. Augustine in 597 and the subsequent conversion of
England to Latin Christianity; the Viking invasions of the 9th century; the Norman Conquest of 1066; the Statute of Pleading in 1362 (this required that court proceedings be conducted in English); the setting up of Caxton's printing press at Westminster in
1476; the full flowering of the Renaissance in the 16th century; the publishing of the King James Bible in 1611; the completion of Johnson's Dictionary of 1755; and the expansion to North America and South Africa in the 17th century and to India, Australia, and New Zealand in the 18th.
All of these issues had an impact on the English language as it is today.
The traditional phrase,
"Anglo-Saxon," is the common name for the various peoples who
migrated from Denmark and Northern Germany to Britain about AD 450. The land was
inhabited by Roman settlers and those who had been living there since the
"Stone Age" (for example those who built Stonehenge). Different
warlords conquered pieces of the land, so by the 7th century England was divided
into several Germanic kingdoms, as you can see on the map. The Anglo-Saxon rule
ended with the Danish King Swein (Svend) and his son Canute's (Knud) conquering
of most of England in 1014. The three kingdoms of Mercia, Northumbria and
Wessex, not only were competing between themselves, but they were also under
sustained attack from Viking raids. The Viking incursions culminated with a
"Great Army" landing in East Anglia in 865 AD. It made wide
territorial gains, and by 875 the kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria had
succumbed. Only Wessex remained as Anglo Saxon.
Their Religion: After the Norman invasion (1066), Anglo-Saxon tradition
slowly died, but their faith had already changed. Originally, the Anglo-Saxon
tribes had practiced a polytheistic Nordic religion. But the Anglo-Saxons,
influenced by the Celtic missions, became Christian. The Irish church had set up
a diocese at Lindesfarne
in Northumbria. As you will see below, this was only a beginning to a
distinctive English Church.
Their Historical Record:
"449 In [the] year
Mauricius and Valentinian obtained the Kingdom and reigned seven years. In
their days Hengest and Horsa, invited by Vortigern, King of the Britons, came
to Britain at a place called Ebbsfleet at first to help the Britons, (To
this day you can read the historical information and see the ancient documents
in the local museum) but later
they fought against them. The king ordered them to fight against the Picts,
and so they did and had victory wherever they came. They then sent to Angeln;
ordered them to send them more aid and to be told of the worthlessness of the
Britons and of the excellence of the land. They sent them more aid. These men
came from three nations of Germany: from the Old Saxons, from the Angles, from
the Jutes." I personally believe this period had the greatest impact
and influence to the English language. My readings and comparisons with the
English and German language show many similar, though distorted words.
Old English
The Jutes, Angles, and Saxons lived in Jutland, Schleswig, and Holstein,
respectively, before settling in Britain. (Nowadays called Schleswig Holstein) According to the Venerable Bede, the first historian of the English people, the first Jutes, Hengist and Horsa, landed at Ebbsfleet in the Isle of Thanet in 449; and the Jutes later settled in Kent, southern Hampshire, and the Isle of Wight. The Saxons occupied the rest of England south of the Thames, as well as modern Middlesex and Essex. The Angles eventually took the remainder of England as far north as the Firth of Forth, including the future Edinburgh and the Scottish Lowlands.In both Latin and Common Germanic the Angles' name was Angli, later mutated in Old English to Engle (nominative) and Engla (genitive). “Engla land” designated the home of all three tribes collectively, and both King Alfred (known as Alfred the Great) and Abbot Aelfric, author and grammarian, subsequently referred to their speech as Englisc. Nevertheless, all the evidence indicates that Jutes, Angles, and Saxons retained their distinctive dialects.
The River Humber was an important boundary, and the Anglian-speaking region developed two speech groups: to the north of the river, Northumbrian, and, to the
south, Southumbrian, or Mercian. There were thus four dialects: Northumbrian, Mercian,
West Saxon, and Kentish (see Figure 13). In the 8th century, Northumbrian led in literature and culture, but that leadership was destroyed by the Viking invaders, who
ransacked Lindisfarne, an island near the Northumbrian mainland, in 793. They landed in
strength in 865. The first raiders were Danes, but they were later joined by Norwegians from Ireland and the Western Isles who settled in modern Cumberland, Westmorland, northwest Yorkshire, Lancashire, north Cheshire, and the Isle of Man. In the 9th
century, as a result of the Norwegian invasions, cultural leadership passed from
Northumbria to Wessex. During King Alfred's reign, in the last three decades of the 9th century, Winchester became the chief centre of learning. There the Parker Chronicle (a manuscript of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle) was written; there the Latin works of the priest and historian Paulus Orosius, St. Augustine, St. Gregory, and the Venerable Bede were translated; and there the native poetry of Northumbria and Mercia was transcribed into the West Saxon dialect. This resulted in West Saxon's becoming “standard Old English”; and later, when Aelfric (c. 955–c. 1010) wrote his lucid and mature prose at Winchester, Cerne Abbas, and Eynsham, the hegemony of Wessex was strengthened.
In standard Old English, adjectives were inflected as well as nouns, pronouns, and verbs. Nouns were inflected for four cases (nominative, genitive, dative, and
accusative) in singular and plural. Five nouns of first kinship—faeder, mxdor, brxthor, sweostor, and dohtor (“father,” “mother,” “brother,” “sister,” and “daughter,” respectively)—had their own set of inflections. There were 25 nouns such as mon, men (“man,” “men”) with mutated, or umlauted, stems. Adjectives had strong and weak declensions, the strong showing a mixture of noun and pronoun endings and the weak following the pattern of weak nouns. Personal, possessive, demonstrative, interrogative, indefinite, and relative pronouns had full inflections. The pronouns of the 1st and 2nd persons still had distinctive dual forms:
There were two demonstratives: sA, sAo, thaet, meaning “that,” and thes, thAos, this, meaning “this,” but no articles, the definite article being expressed by use of the demonstrative for “that” or not expressed at all. Thus, “the good man” was sA gxda monor plain gxd mon. The function of the indefinite article was performed by the numeral (n“one” in (n mon “a man,” by the adjective–pronoun sum in sum mon “a (certain) man,” or not expressed, as in th¨ eart gxd mon “you are a good man.”
Verbs had two tenses only (present–future and past), three moods (indicative, subjunctive, and imperative), two numbers (singular and plural), and three persons (1st, 2nd, and 3rd). There were two classes of verb stems. (A verb stem is that part of a verb to which inflectional changes—changes indicating tense, mood, number, etc.—are added.) One type of verb stem, called vocalic because an internal vowel shows variations, is exemplified by the verb for “sing”: singan, singth, sang, sungon, gesungen. The word for “deem” is an example of the other, called consonantal: dAman,dAmth, dAmde, dAmdon, gedAmed. Such verbs are called strong and weak, respectively.
All new verbs, whether derived from existing verbs or from nouns, belonged to the consonantal type. Some verbs of great frequency (antecedents of the modern words “be,” “shall,” “will,” “do,” “go,” “can,” “may,” and so on) had their own peculiar patterns of inflections.
Grammatical gender persisted throughout the Old English period. Just as Germans now say der Fuss, die Hand, and das Auge (masculine, feminine, and neuter terms for “the foot,” “the hand,” and “the eye”), so, for these same structures, Aelfric said sA fxt, sAo hond, and thaet AaJe, also masculine, feminine, and neuter. The three words for “woman,” wYfmon, cwene, and wYf, were masculine, feminine, and neuter, respectively. Hors “horse,” s1Aap “sheep,” and maeJden “maiden” were all neuter. Eorthe “earth” was feminine, but lond “land” was neuter. Sunne “sun” was feminine, but mxna “moon”was masculine. This simplification of grammatical gender resulted from the fact that the gender of Old English substantives was not always indicated by the ending but rather by the terminations of the adjectives and demonstrative pronouns used with the substantives. When these endings were lost, all outward marks of gender disappearedwith them. Thus, the weakening of inflections and loss of gender occurred together. In the North, where inflections weakened earlier, the marks of gender likewise disappeared first. They survived in the South as late as the 14th century.
Because of the greater use of inflections in Old English, word order was freer than today. The sequence of subject, verb, and complement was normal, but when there were outer and inner complements the second was put in the dative case after to: SA biscop h(lgode BadrAd tx cyninge “The bishop consecreated Edred king.” After an introductory adverb or adverbial phrase the verb generally took second place as in modern German: N¨ bydde i1 (n thing “Now I ask [literally, “ask I”] one thing”; Thµ ilcan gAare gesette AelfrAd cyning Lundenburg “In that same year Alfred the king occupied London.” Impersonal verbs had no subject expressed. Infinitives constructed with auxiliary verbs were placed at the ends of clauses or sentences: HYe ne dorston forth bYthære Aa siglan “They dared not sail beyond that river” (siglan is the infinitive); I1 wolde th(s lytlan bxc (wendan “I wanted to translate this little book” ((wendan is the infinitive).The verb usually came last in a dependent clause—e.g., (wrYtan wile in gif hw( th(s bxc (wrYtan wile (gerihte hA hYe be thære bysene) “If anyone wants to copy this book (let him correct his copy by the original).” Prepositions (or postpositions) frequently followed their objects. Negation was often repeated for emphasis.
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Alfred
The Great
871-899
King Alfred the Great (849,
ruled 871-899) was one of the best kings ever to rule mankind. He defended
Anglo-Saxon England from Viking raids, formulated a code of laws, and
fostered a rebirth of religious and scholarly activity. His reign exhibits
military skill and innovation, sound governance and the ability to inspire
men and plan for the future, piety and a practical commitment to the
support of religion, personal scholarship and the promotion of education.
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Edward
Elder
899-924
He was the son of Alfred the Great and became
King of Wessex upon his father's death in 899. Edward arguably exceeded Alfred's
military achievements, restoring the Dane law to Saxon rule and reigning in
Mercia from 918, after the death of his sister,
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Athelstan
924-939
was the eldest son of Edward the Elder. The great
event of his reign was the battle of Brunanburg, at which he won a
complete victory over Anlaf son of Sihtric, and the Anglo-Danes with
their allies the Northmen, the Scots, and the Welsh. This battle was
fought in 937. Athelstan acquired great influence abroad, and his
alliance was sought by several European sovereigns. He ruled wisely,
added to the laws left by his grandfather Alfred, and favoured trade,
education, and religion. Died unmarried, 940.
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Edmund
I
939-946
Son of Edward the Elder, succeeded his brother
Athelstan in 941. He subdued Northumbria and Cumbria, and was almost
constantly engaged in war with the Danes that settled in England. He was
killed in 946, while at a banquet, by an outlaw named Liofa, who entered
among the guests, and provoked the king to a personal attack upon him.
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Edred
946-955
Son of Edward the Elder he succeeded his brother
Edmund I. in 946. He suppressed a revolt of the Northumbrians, received
from them oaths of fidelity which they immediately broke, and again he
subdued them. Edred was of feeble health, and inclined to an ascetic
life. He had for chief adviser, during the latter part of his reign, the
celebrated Dunstan. Died, 955.
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Edwy
955-959
or Eadwig, king of England, son of Edmund I., succeeded his uncle Edred in 955. He opposed the temporal power of St. Dunstan, called him to account for his share in the administration of the preceding reign, and banished him. A revolt broke out soon after in Mercia and Northumbria, promoted probably by the influence of Dunstan and his party, and Edgar was chosen king of those provinces. Edwy, by his marriage with Elgiva, who was related to him, deeply offended the clerical party, and Archbishop Odo, with the approval and support of Dunstan, separated them, not without acts of terrible cruelty. Elgiva was put to death, and Edwy, not 19 years of age, died soon after
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Edgar
959-975.
King of England (known as the Peaceful or
Peaceable) was born in 944 and was the younger of the two sons of Edmund
I. During the reign of his brother Edwy, he
was chosen king of Mercia and Northumbria, and succeeded Edwy in
959. He recalled Dunstan
(previously exiled by his brother Edwy), made him bishop of
Worcester, of London, and, on the death of Odo,
archbishop of Canterbury, and gave himself up to his direction. His
reign was notable for the establishment of national consolidation,
reformation of the clergy, improvement of the judiciary system. The
reign of Edgar was peaceful, the Northmen making no descents on
England, perhaps in consequence of the large fleet kept up by the
king. Monasteries were restored, and many new ones built; the
married clergy expelled, and church power raised to a higher point
than before, which made Edgar a favourite and got him a good name
with monkish historians. Edgar was not crowned till 973, and the
same year took place the stately ceremonial on the Dee, when six or
eight subject kings attended him. Edgar is said to have imposed on
the Welsh an annual tribute of 300 wolves' heads, instead of a money
tax. Died, 975. He left two sons, Edward(the
Martyr) and Ethelred, who both
succeeded to the crown.
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Edward
The Martyr
975-978
Edward was the eldest son of King Edgar the
Peacemaker by his first wife, the beautiful Ethelflaeda Eneda
(White-Duck). The lady died shortly after the birth of her son and,
after her death, Edgar remarried Aelfthrith, daughter of Ealdorman
Ordgar of Devonshire. She bore him two sons, Edmund, who died young,
and Aethelred. Edward was thirteen years old when his father died in
AD 975. An admirable youth, upright in all his dealings and fearing
God, he was elected to the throne by the Witan, largely under the
influence of St. Dunstan and Ealdorman Aethelwin of East Anglia
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Ethelred
978-1016
King of
England
, the son of Edgar, succeeded his brother, Edward the Martyr, in
979, and, for his want of vigour and capacity, was surnamed the
Unready. He paid a tribute to the Danes, raised by a tax called
Danegelt, levied on his subjects. To free himself from this
oppression, he caused all the Danes in
England
to be treacherously massacred in one day (Nov.13, 1002). On this
Sweyn, king of Denmark, invaded his kingdom and compelled him to fly
to Normandy, but Sweyn dying soon after, Ethelred returned and
resumed the government. He died in 1016
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Edmund
II
1016
Edmund II or Eadmund II (c. 988/993 –
November 30, 1016), surnamed "Ironside" for his efforts
to fend off the Danish invasion led by King Canute, was King of
England from April 23 to November 30, 1016.
Edmund was the second son of King Æthelred
II (also known as Ethelred the Unready) and his first wife, Ælfgifu
of Northumbria. He had three brothers, the elder being Æthelstan,
and the younger two being Eadred and Ecgbert. His mother was dead
by 996, and his father remarried twice.
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Canute
1016-1035
Canute was a son of the Danish king Swegen
Forkbeard and the Slavic princess, Saum-Aesa,[5] (in accord with
the Monk of St Omer's, Encomium Emmae[6] and Thietmar of
Merseburg's contemporary Chronicon[7]), daughter to Mieszko I of
Poland, and lent the Scandinavian name Gunnhilda by the Danes.[8]
Canute, was an heir to a line of Scandinavian rulers central to
the unification of Denmark [9], with origins in the shadowy figure
of Harthacnut, founder of the royal house, and the father to Gorm
the Old, its official progenitor.
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Harold
I
1035-1040
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Harthacnut
1040-1042
Harthacanute was the
eldest son of Canute and his second wife Emma. When Canute died in
November of 1035 Harathacanute was in Denmark and could not return
to England because his claim to the (Danish/Norwegian ?) throne
was being contested by Magnus I of Norway. Harthacanute appointed
his mother Emma and Harold (I) Harefoot as regents to look after
the affairs of England. Harold was also the son of Canute but by
Canute's first marriage to Aelfgifu.
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Edward
The Confessor
1042-1066
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Harold
II
1066
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William
I
1066-1087
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William
II
1087-1100
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Henry I
1100-1135
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Stephen
1135-1154
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Henry
II
1154-1189
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Richard
I
1189-1199
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John
1199-1216
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Henry
III
1216-1272
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Edward
I
1272-1307
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Edward
II
1307-1327
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Edward
III
1327-1377
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Richard
II
1377-1399
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Henry
IV
1399-1413
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Henry
V
1413-1422
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Henry
VI
1422-1461 / 1470-1471
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Edward
IV
1461-1470 / 1471-1483
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Edward
V
1483
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Richard
III
1483-1485
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Henry
VII
1485-1509
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Henry
VIII
1509-1547
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Edward
VI
1547-1553
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Mary I
1553-1558
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Elizabeth
I
1558-1603
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James
I
1603-1625
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Charles
I
1625-1649
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Charles
II
1660-1685
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James
II
1685-1688
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William
III & Mary II
1688-1702
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Anne
1702-1714
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George
I
1714-1727
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George
II
1727-1760
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George
III
1760-1820
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George
IV
1820-1830
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William
IV
1830-1837
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Victoria
1837-1901
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Edward
VII
1901-1910
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George
V
1910-1936
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Edward
VIII
1936
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George
VI
1936-1952
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Elizabeth
II
1952-
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Nowadays Received Pronunciation is the accent of the Home
Counties of England. It's also the BBC's preferred pronunciation. An RP speaker
is normally thought of as someone who speaks the Queen's English with a Home
Counties accent.
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