- English originated as a Germanic language spoken in England that has been heavily influenced by Latin and French over time. It has evolved from Old English to Middle English to Modern English, changing sounds, words, and grammar. English is now spoken around the world and has diversified into many regional varieties while also continuing to borrow words from other languages.

1. English as a word has different meanings:
-People from England
-English language
-It is Germanic in origin
-Approximately a half of its words derive from French and
Latin

2. •Irish and
Scottish English
are varieties of
English
influenced by the
Celtic
languages.

3. Roman Empire ruled much of Europe until 476.

4. LATIN Influence on ENGLISH
and GERMANIC.
Words as:
-wall Were borrowed from Latin
-kitchen into Germanic (and through
-wine Germanic into English)
-mil
-street
Its influence continues through Medieval and
Renaissance times, through the catholic church,
Humanism and Renaissance.
English starts when the Germanic tribes and their
languages reach the British Isles (449)

6. The word ENGLISH
derives from the
Angles.

7. Started as a Germanic dialect spoken in small part of England, nowadays it
is spoken by over a billion people all over the world.
-English has adopted -approximately a half of the
words from other vocabulary of English comes from
languages French and Latin

8. Differences on three levels: Caedmon’s Hymn:
Sounds
Words
Sentences
-Hefaen Heaven (no leter “v”) -English has 25
consonants, other
-uard guard (“u” is pronounced differently) languages have
-Lack of grammatical words as of, the, and we different quantities.
-OE sentence (1) contains less words than the -The most unusual
modern one (this additional words have a consonant is the “th”
grammatical function) (It represents 2
different sounds)
-There are many differences!

9. English syllable -One of the functions of the language is to
structure is indicate who does what to whom
COMPLEX Languages differ in how they mark these
There are words as: functions through:
a) Endings on the verbs and nouns
Strikes and split
b) Word order and grammatical words
(prepositions and pronouns)
3 consonants at the c) Old English- synthetic/Modern E.Analytic
beginning
Have almost no endings they
-In Spanish we adapt use word order and
grammatical words to mark the
the sound “sk” to element’s function
“esk” as in School to -Whereas many languages of the Americas have:
ESchool Prefixes on the verb and the verb can represent an entire
sentence
Navajo nanishté has 3 prefixes and a stem (na-ni-she-té)
“arround yo I carried”

10. VARIETIES They are different,
even though they are
English in their
grammars
External changes: Internal changes:
-Language contact (between -occur when speakers stop using endings
speakers of different languages) (or inflections) and start to rely on words
such as of, for, the and have.
-Innovations by speakers
-more predictable
-issues of political or social -Change a vowel or a consonant:
identity
Old English hamhome
-Unpredictable
skip ship
-have to do with social, -prepositions start being used to introduce
economic, geographical, political, sentences.
and historical reasons.

11.  Prescriptive rules:
-Are taught in school
-include “don’t split infinitives” and “don’t end sentences
with a preposition”.
-Are based on Latin, on logic, or on an attempt to conserve
an older stage of the language.
-Internal changes can be markers of identity.
e.g.: “eh” as a marker of identity in Canada.

12. OLD ENGLISH (OE)
450 - 1150
H
8th and 10the century
the Scandinavians
J
influenced on the
Latin words: grammar.
Year 450, Germanic •Abbot Some words such as:
-egg, keel, leg, ill, add,
dialects pushed out •Altar bask, call, crave,
screech and thrive
Celtic Languages to the
periphery, e.g. Wales •hymn

13. Words such us:
Judge,
government,
authority