New perspectives about "old English" and "Modern English"

[Hello]

I'm looking for new perspectives about " old English " and "Modern English" ??

Hope you're on track now ..

[Happytofita]

Hello,

The English language started with German tribes. That's why it is called a Germanic language. The dialects of those tribes became Old English. Later, Old English turned to Middle English when the Normans came to England in 1066, which is an interesting date in the English history. William the Conqueror stopped people from teaching English for 300 years. Then, English borrowed many words from French. That's why there are similarities between the two languages, but genetically speaking, they are different. English is a Germanic language whereas French is a Romance language or a Romanic language. They are similar for historical reasons. The English continued to borrow words from different languages. Then Elizabethan English came, which is the language found in Shakespeare’s writings. I think they call it early modern English.

Take care,

Mouhcine

PS: There is something called Great Vowel Shift, but I do not have much know how about it. May be we can discuss it here…

[Jamie (K)]

[Happytofita]

That's what English sources say. : o)

Thank you for the information.

Mouhcine

[Hello]

Don't worry Mouhcine.We are invited to create our own topics of discussion here and share our views with fellow netters.

Thank you for your understanding and participation.

[Alan]

Hi Mouhcine,

I think it's worth adding that the arrival of William in England during the Normandy invasion together with his court, army and followers proved to be a great benefit to what has developed as the English language. English is a genuine magpie in its acquisition of words from other languages and with Norman French on the doorstep English went to town in absorbing what it could from this invasion. Great news for the native speakers but I know it makes life more difficult for learners of English as another language.

Alan
_________________
English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Don't bank on it

[Jamie (K)]

Another factor in the language's acquisition of large numbers of foreign words was the advent of the printing press. In order to have enough literature to print and sell, the printers had to turn to translations of foreign books. Because English had been confined to the farm for three centuries while the rest of Europe developed, it was missing words for many newer concepts in science, philosophy and other subjects. The printers had to borrow, adapt or make up thousands of new words in order to be able to print foreign books in English. This gave rise to the first dictionaries also, which originally just contained "hard words".

The languages with the largest vocabularies are generally those that freely borrow from other languages. English and Russian are examples. You can really see the difference if you learn a language whose speakers are paranoid about keeping the language "pure". Those languages have to resort to a lot of circumlocutions to express many simple ideas.

[Hello]

Thank Sir Alan..
Thank Sir Jamie..
Sir Jamie , could you please tell me about the intl. language with the largest vocabulary --in your opinion- ?