The English Language Essays - English Languages, English Language

The English Language The history of the English language The English language is very complex. What one may not know is that the creation of English goes back many years. Throughout time English has developed greatly by adapting words and meanings from different eras in time and is still constantly growing today. This marvellous language has four major generations, Old English, Middle English, Modern English, and Canadian English. Through each era English has grown into the beautiful language it has become today. Old English dates back all the way to 450 A.D, when the Jutes, Angles, and Saxons invaded Britain. Just in Old English itself, there are three dialects, West Saxon, Kentish, and Anglian. Old English has been influenced the most over the years due to being the oldest generation of the language. Most of this apparatus was lost and English became the analytic language it is today. There were no silent letters in Old English. The Danish court was a great influence on the English language towards simplification. Inflections were slowly dropped so that communication could become easier since the stems of the English and Danish words were similar. Latin was introduced by Christian missionaries forming the alphabet which was used to write our Old English texts. All of these concepts intensely altered Middle English. The Norman Conquest set French as the official language of England. French, with its Latin vocabulary, was the language of the English court, of English government, and of English art, society, and literature for three hundred years. In Middle English the Anglo-Saxons had to learn French terms, but they retained their own vocabulary too. English was continuously influenced by Large-scale borrowing of new words. This language became less synthetic and more analytic in grammar. The language mixed to form Norman-English as time passed. Wycliffe and Chaucer's writing helped make Norman-English the official language of England. The English language wasn't done growing yet. Modern English was formed during the Renaissance where new words multiplied including many Romance words and a large proportion of Greek. Words meanings changed as the language grew, meat now meaning animal flesh used as food, but back then it meant any solid food. Anglo-Saxon words have vanished from everyday speech and writing because they words aren't used anymore due to their older, out date meanings. Words are added to our language as political, economic, and social institutions change and develop. As inventions are created they are given new names, which are added to our vocabulary. Specific names are created for just Canadian English as well. Canadian English's base is in the eighteenth century of North America. The language was also changed by immigration of refugees of the Revolutionary Wars into Canada. Distinct languages are created because of geographic or social separation. The settlers and native peoples language added to Canadian English. Speaking patterns from early immigrants also influenced our language as did the difference of language in Upper and Lower Canada and the eighty percent of Americans living in Upper Canada during the war of eighteen twelve. Upper and Lower Canada were more affected by the loyalists. All together the languages reflect the way Canada functions and grows.