History of the English Language

How many distinct languages are there?

6800

definition of language

organized, systematized combination of sounds which have meaning in a cultural community

All languages develop from older languages. Many langauges with familiar sounds and similar structure may be grouped into

families

Why is it impossible to say exactly when the history of English begins?

Language isn't born, it develops

What is the name of our ancestral language?

Indo-European

One trait that the Indo-European language handed down to its descendants is

inflection

What is the definition of inflection?

changing the meaning of words by adding sounds to the end

State two examples of inflection

s/es and ed

What does the "Engl" part of the word mean?

Angles (Germanic)

What does the "ish" part of the word mean?

belonging to

Name the three tribes that made barbarian migrations to Britian

Angles(Germanic), Saxons, Jutes

Present day English descends directly from speech of the

Anglo-Saxons

Whose French speaking court influenced English mostly from the top down?

William the Conqueror

despite many french loanwords, english didn't become a _________ of french

dialect

English grammar, as opposed to ___________ remained virtually unaffected by French

vocabulary

Today the grammatical structure of English resembles that of ________ far more than it resembles that of French

German

The year that was given as the division between Old English and Middle English is

1066

Two characteristics of Middle English are

greater French vocab and loss of inflections

Approximately how many years did the Middle English period last

410

What year marks the beginning of Modern English?

1476

Name the man who set up the first printing press in England

William Caxton

Printing had a decisive effect on spelling because until the development of printing all books were

copied by hand

Priot to who transcribes (copied) books by hand

copyist of scribe

Why were these hand copies of books different in their spelling?

no two copyists spoke exactly the same way

Aside from occasional modifications and reforms, printers have followed the same ______ ________ that Caxton used in the late 15th century London

spelling system

Two far-reaching changes that had nothing to do with the printing press are

great vowel shift and loss of the final "e"

What has been a leveling of differences in the pronunciation of English?

communication equipment

What seems to be happening to the word whom?

becoming extinct

What two languages have more speakers than English

Spanish and Mandarin/Chinese

Why is English considered the international language?

secures the widest audience

Two reasons why English is considered a difficult language to learn are

many irregularities and excepetions to the rule

Where is American Englsih spoken?

USA

What are the essential differences between British English and American English?

voice timbre, pitch, rhythm, stress

What is the definition of Americanisms?

words we speak that Brits don't

Name the Bristish writer and lexicographer

Samuel Johnson

Name the American author and lexicographer

Noah Webster

Name four words and their original and their American version

honor-honour, traffic-traffick, music-musick, center-centre