Language is a perpetual orphic song - Percy Bysshe Shelley 
Vrsta: Seminarski | Broj strana: 11

"LANGUAGE IS A PERPETUAL ORPHIC SONG
WHICH RULES WITH DAEDAL HARMONY A THRONG
OF THOUGHTS AND FORMS, WHICH ELSE
SENSELESS AND SHAPELESS WERE"
* PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY*
"OUR FAIR"ENGLISH LANGUAGE HAS GONE THROUGH A LOT OF CHANGES IN ITS DEVELOPMENT.IT'S BEEN SHAPED BY MANY LANGUAGES OVER THE YEARS.LATIN AND GERMAN WERE OF GREAT IMPORTANCE FOR THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.BUT,THE INFLUENCE OF FRENCH,AT LEAST IT SEEMS SO,HAS BEEN UNDERESTIMATED.
THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE WAS BORN OUT OF TWO DIALECTS OF THREE GERMAN TRIBES-THOSE ARE:ANGLES,JUTES AND SAXONS.THESE TRIBES SETTLED IN BRITAIN IN ABOUT 450 A.D.THE GROUP OF THE THREE DIALECTS IS OFTEN PRESENTED AS ANGLO-SAXON AND WHICH,AT ONE POINT ,DEVELOPED INTO A STRUCTURE WE NOW KNOW AS OLD ENGLISH. THE GERMANIC BASE OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE WAS INFLUENCED BY:CELTIC,LATIN AND SCANDINAVIAN-WHICH ARE ALL LANGUAGES OF INVADING ARMIES.
"KILL" THE PEOPLE-AND YOU "KILLED" THE LANGUAGE
THE NORMAN CONQUEST FROM 1066 A.D. IS ALSO KNOWN AS "THE FINAL CATACLISM WHICH AWAITED THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE".IN THIS YEAR,WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR OR SIMPLY WILLIAM I (DUKE OF NORMANDY)DEFEATED THE ENGLISH AT THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS."NORMAN" WAS THE TERM FOR"NORTH MAN"BECAUSE THE NORMANS WHO HELD THE AREA OF NORTHERN FRANCE,KNOWN AS NORMANDY,CAME FROM THE NORTH,FOR THEY ORIGINALLY SCANDINAVIAN VICINGS I.E.GERMANIC PEOPLE.OF COURSE,THE LANGUAGE THE NORMANS SPOKE WAS FRENCH WITH GERMANIC ACCENT.WHEN "THE CONQUEROR"BECAME THE KING OF ENGLAND,FRENCH BECAME THE OFFICIAL LANGUAGE OF COURT,ADMINISTRATION AND CULTURE.IT HELD THIS POSITION FOR ABOUT 300 TEARS.MEANWHILE,ENGLISH KEPT ITS UNPRESTIGIOUS USE WHICH WAS THAT OF EVERYDAY LANGUAGE OF THE POOR.THE TWO LANGUAGES CO-EXISTED SIDE BY SIDE WITH NO SPECIAL DIFFICULTIES.ENGLISH WAS IGNORED BY THE GRAMMARIANS BUT IT TURNED OUT THAT THIS WAS AN ADVANTAGE RATHER THAN AN OBSTACLE.THE LOWER STATUS OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE LED TO SIMPLIFICATION OF THE SAME LANGUAGE.AFTER ONLY 70-80 YEARS OF COEXISTENCE,OLD ENGLISH BECAME MIDDLE ENGLISH.
DURING THE PERIOD OF OCCUPATION,THE ENGLISH ADOPTED ABOUT 10000 FRENCH WORDS.SOME THREE-FOURTHS ARE STILL IN USE TODAY.WE CAN SEE THAT THERE ARE FRENCH WORDS IN EVERY DOMAIN-GOVERNMENT,LAW,ART,LITERATURE......
ENGLISH PRONAUNCIATION OWES A LOT TO FRENCH.WHEREAS OLD ENGLISH HAD THE UNVOICED FRICATIVE SOUNDS,AS IN THIN, SKIN-FRENCH INFLUENCE HELPED TO DISTINGUISH THEIR VOICED COUNTERPARTS,AS IN THE , MIRAGE AND ALSO CONTRIBUTED THE DIPTHONG-BOY (Oi) .
ANOTHER REMNANT OF FRENCH INFLUENCE IS IN THE WORD ORDER OF EXPRESSIONS LIKE:SECRETARY GENERAL OR SURGEON GENERAL,WHERE ENGLISH HAS RETAINED THE NOUN + ADJECTIVE WORD ORDER TYPICAL FOR FRENCH, RATHER THAN THE USUAL ADJECTIVE + NOUN USED IN ENGLISH.
HOWEVER,NEITHER ENGLISH NOR FRENCH HAS PROVED ENTIRELY RESISTANT TO EXTRALINGUISTIC INFLUENCES,WHICH IN FURTHER MANIFESTATIONS,RESULT IN INTERLINGUAL CHANGES.THIS PROCESS OF THE DEVELOPING OF THE DEVELOPING OF THE ENGLISH LEXICON BY THAT OF FRENCH,HOWEVER SLOW IT SEEMED,REACHED ITS PEAK DURING THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY AND THE FIRST HALF OF THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY,ONLY TO BEGIN TO DECLINE BY THE END OF THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY.

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