Topic: The History of the English Language
Audience: People who want to learn about how English was developed.
Purpose: To inform people why this language is the world language in the actuality.
Tone: Formal
The History of the English Language, by Lucy Rucker.
“English language seems to be the more complex of the other languages of the world” (Rucker)The Old English itself was a reflection from the Anglo-Norman-French. Still ancient English is spoken in other forms of words, since the old English would be rather difficult to read and understand now we have progressed through the years.
Then Middle English derived between the twelfth and the fifteenth centuries. Grammar had changed along with the spelling of the words. Actually there are some words that disappeared across the time because they don’t have any meanings.
Modern English is what we like to use more often now in days, in the same way depending on where you live, words can still mean different things. The North, South, West as well as the East have their own system of words. Just as the British have their own dialect and words to use, so it is possible to find two persons that speak English and maybe they will not understand each other, this can be a result of a frustration to those who try to learn English as another language. This happened to me when I went to USA, even though I knew that every single word I was using were correct, they do not understand me because of my Mexican style of speaking, in fact they do understand me, but they had to make a big effort.
English has come all the way from England and through the centuries to come, it will continue to change. Now imagine how the language will be in the future, and how people will see our English as a primitive language. English is a challenging language and will always be the most changing, I believe in our history and in our future.
Topic: The History of the English Language by Laura Howard.
Audience: Interested people who want to learn how they English was created.
Purpose: Demonstrate how English was changing across the time.
Tone: Formal
The History of the English Language by Laura Howard
Do you know how English came to be the English that you speak in these times? Well, the English language is one of the most popular languages on this Earth, and then the Mandarin Chinese. In fact, the English language is the default language of the internet , and also it is the most studied dialect of the world, also this dialect have 418 million people studying the language. English is spoken by some of the mother countries across the globe including Canada, United States, England Australia, and many other countries.
Mentioning a curious fact would be that the English language did not start on England! It started on what it is now Germany.
To understand how the English language came to be, we must divide the history in categories that are: Old English period, Middle English period, Early Modern English and English today
Old English period:
The old English was originally spoken by the west Germanic people such as the Angles, Saxons and the Jutes, who invaded Britain in the 5th Century AD. The Jutes invaded first, occupying the north of England, this invasion pushed the native Britons to the North and the West.
Middle English period:
Here we have something interesting, an invasion of the Normans in 1066 dramatically changed the language. This event mixed French and English together. However, in the 14th century the English became the dominant language again, but know with a lot of French words included in the dialect. However if you read Middle English you would have some problems because of the degree of difficulty.
Early Modern English:
1500-1800, Europe brought many Greek and Latin words to the now flourishing English language. Another factor that affected the influenced the development of the English is the Great Vowel Shift, this brought a change in pronunciation of words that began at around 1400.
The final factor of this period is the invention of printing press, this were cheap to produce, which mean a significant opportunities for people to read.
English today:
English today, as the name says, is the language we use now in days, this English is changing and will continue changing.
Topic: The History of the English Language by Ray Cook
Audience: Students who will like to learn more about their mother language
Purpose: Show the different important events that changed the English dialect
Tone: Formal
English is considering as the global language. This can be an interesting fact when you realize that this dialect come from the North West Europe. Only Mandarin Chinese has more speakers but is confined largely to mainland whereas English is spoken as a first or second language in every part of the world.
Now talking about the origins of the English language
The prevalent story is that in the wake of the demise of the Roman Empire in the 5th century, Britain was invaded and colonized by Germanic peoples from Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein. These people speak many different languages and they settled in some parts of English.
Whichever the truth is, by the middle of the first millennium of England had been settle by the Anglo-Saxons. The language spoken was not homogeneous, there were a number of different dialects as the history and many periods testify. The Old English period has left its marks is some parts of our latest English now in days.
The Middle English is still a Germanic language, that’s why all the basics and much of Middle English vocabulary is Anglo-Saxon, as well as the Modern English.
Shakespeare’s English
By the 16th century we have what is recognizably Modern English as typified by Shakespeare. Of course, English, like all languages, has changed and will continue changing, but this English essentially is the same language that the one of the past. Shakespeare added to the dialect and idiom of English so many different things, that even today we are quoting him daily.
The rise of the British world dominance from the 17th century onwards spread English to the New World and the Antipodes, there is no doubt that the English is the global language because of the dominance all over America, on the same way, the simplicity of English with its limited inflection and gender neutral nouns makes it a relatively easy language to dominate.
Modern English is fully replete with thousands of words derived from other languages which it has gathered easily throughout the world.
With this, I can conclude that speaking English is a very good advantage and to be fortunate indeed to be part of the most “powerful” dialect in the globe.
