The Normans, on the other hand, were kind of like Romans in a sense, and they had a big impact on the language. they left before the English language began developing. So getting back to your comments, the Romans really had nothing to do with English at all. Most people got by knowing only English, though since “history is the history of the ruling classes,” eventually things got muddled and this great big stew became Modern English after a few hundred years. French was the court language, spoken by the upper classes in part as it was a bit trendy! English (after the Normans, “Middle English”) was the common language, spoken by most people, but without much clout, little literature and no prestige. Latin was the language of the Church and “higher” learning. Though the Normans were (in essence) Vikings, they had previously conquered parts of what is now France and had adopted a predecessor of modern French for their language.Īt this point, one could say that three languages were in force. The BIG step occurred when the Normans conquered England in 1066. The language changed, but was still Old English as such. Though still Germanic in origin, the language of the Vikings was “North” Germanic. The next step was several hundred years later, when the Vikings invaded, their language became an influence on Old English too. These people brought their “West” Germanic languages with them, and this was the first step in the creation of an English language – “Old English” had begun. That’s because after the Romans left, the British Isles were attacked and settled by Saxons, Angles and Jutes. You probably know that English is considered a “Germanic” language. English did not exist yet the people in Britain spoke Celtic languages. The Romans invaded the British isles, stayed for about 400 years and eventually left circa 410 A.D. Still, an interesting piece anybody have any thoughts on linguistic developments in Switzerland? (Thanks to Sidcup for the link.) Of course, they include the standard “on the other hand” balance: “But the Forum Helveticum report may be pushing the pendulum back toward standard German with educators insisting it once again be the language of classroom instruction beginning this year.” Not to mention the standard self-interested quotes (“‘Young people are limiting themselves in their contact with the outside world…,’ said Pablo Barblan, director of the Forum Helveticum, which encourages communication among Switzerland’s diverse language communities”) and idiotic statements about language (“Unlike high German, dialects have simple grammar”) furthermore, they say “to mark this year’s 60th anniversary of The Little Prince, a translation has appeared in Bernerdeutsch under the title Dr Chyl Prinz,” but I couldn’t help but notice that in the picture accompanying the story the title is clearly Der Chly Prinz. For young Swiss Germans dialect has become the language of text messaging, e-mail and even poetry and rap music… Standard German remains the written language for the federal government, banking, school instruction, newspapers and literature.īut now fewer Swiss Germans speak proper German and are increasingly turning to dialect even in written form. “This trend was only strengthened after the Second World War and later during the 1970s it became fashionable for radio and television programs to broadcast in local dialect.” The break with standard German came after World War I when Swiss Germans wanted to separate themselves from what was going on in Germany, according to Roy Oppenheim, a former director at the Swiss national broadcaster SRG/SSR. “I would not marry outside my language group for example and most of us are reluctant to take jobs in other Swiss towns.” “It’s true we Swiss Germans are becoming more isolated,” Marianne Junger, a 30-year-old English language instructor from Bern.
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