1. History of the English Language
Lesson 2

2. Review What is language? A system of communication
What is oral language?
Listening and speaking
What is written language?
Writing and reading

3. Communication Oral Written Symbols Phone Speaking Radio Theater
Television
Letters
Books
Print
Billboards
Signs
Sign language
Gestures
Pictures
Facial expressions

4. Review What language do we use to communicate? English
What is our system of written communication?
English alphabet
Who gave us the beginning of our alphabet?
The Romans

5. English Romans Egyptians Greek The Sinaitic The Phoenicians
Most powerful people - took their alphabet (based on Greek letters) with them everywhere they went
Egyptians
Used written symbols (hieroglyphics)
Greek
Borrowed that alphabet and changed the shape of most of the letters - added a few of their own
The Sinaitic
Borrowed those symbols and made an alphabet of 18 letters
English
The Phoenicians
Borrowed that alphabet and added two more letters

6. Introduction to the Language Layers
English Decoded by Reading Horizons

7. Where do you think English began?
England

8. Europe

9. England

10. When do you think English began?
About 1600 years ago, around 400 AD

11. 400 AD - Celts
The Celts were the first people to live in England and were ruled by the Roman Empire
The Romans brought excellent roads and new things that made the Celt’s very simple lives better.
395 AD - The Roman Empire began to crumble, so Roman soldiers and officials withdrew and left the Celts to their fate.

12. 450 AD - Anglo-Saxon
Tribes such as the Angles and Saxons took advantage of the Roman departure and began to invade England.
(The name England is derived from the word Angle.)
The Anglo-Saxon were the first people to put their words on paper.
The Anglo-Saxon gave us names of the days Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday from their pagan Gods.

13. 597 AD -Saint Augustine
Saint Augustine was a Christian monk brought by missionaries to England to convert people to Christianity.
Christians brought the Bible and other religious texts written in Latin. This gave us words such as alter, angel, candle, minister, noon, nun, purple, rule, and temple.

14. 787 AD - The Vikings
Viking invaders from Denmark, also known as Norsemen, began to arrive.
The Vikings mixed with the Anglo-Saxons, marrying the Anglo-Saxon women and teaching them their Scandinavian language, called Norse. The resulting mix of Anglo-Saxon and Norse is called Old English.
Old English gives is a lot of our common words, such as at, brother, but, eat, man, and sleep.

15. 878 - Alfred the Great
Alfred the Great was an Anglo-Saxon king who defeated the Vikings.
As the King of England, Alfred built new towns, improved the government, and kept a record of current events called The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, the best source of Anglo-Saxon history.

16. Modern English Language Layers
Anglo-Saxon
20-25%
French/Latin
(Romance) 60%
Greek
10-12% (Other 3-4%)
Old English

17. Modern English Language Layers
Anglo-Saxon
20-25%
French/Latin
(Romance) 60%
Greek
10-12% (Other 3-4%)
Old English AD
400 AD - Celts
450 AD - Anglo-Saxon
597 AD - St. Augustine
787 AD - Vikings
878 AD - Alfred the Great
Words
Days of the week - Tuesday
Numbers
Colors - red, blue
Family - mother, father
Animals - deer, sheep
Religion - deacon, angel
one syllable (short words)

18. Review
Where did English begin?
England
When did English begin?
400 AD

19. Review
Who are some of the groups who influenced our language during the Old English Layer?
Celts, Anglo-Saxons, and Vikings
What specific people influenced our language during the Old English Layer?
St. Augustine and Alfred the Great

20. Just for Fun!
Grinnell College, Spring 2014, ENG 230: English Historical Linguistics. Tim Arner, Associate Professor of English, and Emily Johnson '14 designed an assignment in which students in the course translated "Call Me Maybe" into Old English.