History of English Language

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A HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE 1. English – Present and Future 1. Language and Culture Among other things, one thing which distinguishes man from animal is ‘taking interest in his past’. As we feel that our education is not complete without some basic knowledge of economics, every day science and history, so we have a keen desire to discover how our mother tongue (or any other language) started and developed into the present shape. We are keen to study the details about the medium through which we communicate with our family and friends, the tool with which we conduct our business and the vehicle by which science, philosophy and poetry have been transmitted to us. Thus an educated man must know something of the structure of his language, its position in the world, its relation to other tongues, the richness of its vocabulary; and political, social and cultural influences on his mother tongue. 2. Influence on Language While political and social events of history have deeply affected the English people’s life, they have extremely affected their Language also. Christianizing of Britain in 597 brought England into contact with Latin civilization and made significant additions to the vocabulary of English language. The Scandinavian invasions resulted in a considerable mixture of the two peoples and their languages. After Norman Conquest, English language for two centuries remained the language of the lower class; while the nobles used French language all the time. And when the English once again came to power, English language became the language of all population. But it was now an English greatly changed both in form and vocabulary from what it was in 1066. Similarly, the Hundred Years’ War, the rise of middle class, Renaissance, maritime power of England, expansion of British Empire, and growth of commerce, industry, science and literature all have
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