Join the new world

Yesterday, we touched on the Japanese language. Beautiful and elegant with a complicated upbringing. But today, today we touch on one of the most important languages in the modern world. Used by all Airlines, used in all international industries and native to two strongholds of history: The English Language. This language is known for its contractions, odd grammar, and generally complicated nature. But did you know English hasn't always been like this?

Let's go back to the birth of English. English was established in circa 5th century CE. Before I continue, it's important to understand that languages form naturally unless forced into creation (we'll talk about Hebrew one day). There have been moments in linguistic history that languages have been manipulated-- I'm looking at you French-- but they're usually of natural births. With that out of the way, English's birth. Originally on Britannia, people spoke one of two language family trees: Goidelic (Irish, Scottish, and Manx) or Brittonic (Welsh, Cornish, and Breton). These, like Romantic and Germanic languages, are part of the Indo-European family tree. They share characteristics, but they have distinct differences. Over time, three main Germanic tribes found their way to Britannia: The Angles, The Saxons, and The Jutes. Often times, you'll hear the term "Anglo-Saxon" be used for some medieval British peoples. This is because the Angles and the Saxons were two of the most prolific influencers on the island. But, to go back to the three, they all spoke a similar language. Nowadays, we call this language "Old English". Here's an example: Wes hāl (Hello). As you can probably tell, you can't actually understand what that says. This is because Old English effectively died in c. 1100 CE. After this came Middle English.

Before Middle English, Old English was almost entirely Germanic. It held some Celtic influences, but nothing had a major effect on the Germanic language. Well, not until William the Conqueror. In 1066, William the Conqueror invaded and conquered England. What was once owned by the Anglo-Saxons became Norman. But with this new ownership came a new influencer: French. French became the language of Royalty, businesses, and any ruling party. And during this time, there was a distinct class system set up to separate those who spoke French and those who spoke this Old English. Due to this melding of cultures, a new language was birthed : Middle English. Now we'll enter some categorization terminology regarding languages. There are three main categories of languages: Creole (a mixture of two languages forming a new language), a Pidgin (a grammatically simplified language which is typically used for two people not holding a similar language, typically seen between tribes who have separate languages), and a Vernacular (a language/dialect spoken by ordinary people). Initially, English started off as a Vernacular, a language where everyone could understand it fine with zero issues. But as the French got comfortable on English soil, English quickly shifted into a Creole language. I know what you must be thinking, "But Yaakmo, isn't Creole a language? How could English be a Creole?" Well, do I have the answer for you!

English is classified as a Germanic Language, this is apparent in the lack of verb conjugation, specific Germanic tenses/cases, and an obvious similarity to languages like German, Dutch, and Afrikaans. But, even though English is directly a Germanic Language, it also has a Romantic language influence heavily implemented on it. When you look at the vocabulary of English, you can notice several similarities to that of French (Funny, it's almost like France controlled a part of Britannia...). Here are a few examples: Incredible vs. Incroyable, Perfect vs. Parfait, Stupid vs. Stupide. This is mainly due to a relationship between the "intelligent" being French speakers and using French in a lot of texts. People wanted to come off as intelligent, not as idiotic. So, over time, they began using French words in their speech. Once English became dominant on Britannia again, they were left with a Creole, Middle English: Flyht (Flight), Cycene (Kitchen).

Finally, the Modern Englishes. Yes, there are two, not just one. We enter the 1500s, Shakespeare is prominent and becomes an important playwright. But how did English change? Well, something called "The Great Vowel Shift" started. This caused vowel sounds to become shorter and shorter, mainly caused by the British having direct contact with several different peoples. Alongside this, the Renaissance of Classical learning had a huge impact. This was aided by the invention of printing forcing English to standardize their spelling, grammar, and dialect differences. Looking at pamphlets from the early 16th-century show a lot of variety, until it all became an agreed-upon spelling structure... Or was it agreed upon? Now we hit the 1800s: Britain lost their North American colonies, and they lost Australia. Well, now there are three landmasses speaking the same language. But over time, this separation formed dialectal changes affecting standardization. American English formed new words, Native American influence, and alterations of spelling; Australian English formed new words, Aboriginal influence, and alterations of speech patterns; and British English became a more "refined" version of English, adding the elegance of French back into common speech.

Although there were fewer examples this time about, I believe this is as short of a pamphlet I could make while still covering the historical and influential experiences of the English Language. To conclude this post, I'll show side-by-side references of the same sentence in English throughout the evolution of the language:



Like always, please let me know of any feedback, suggest languages you want me to talk about, and let me know of any questions you may have!