EL1102
Studying English in Context
Lecture No. 8 (Part 1)

I will use a video to convey most of the information; the notes are for you to read and digest. You can view the video through the NUS intranet: click on 
http://ivle.nus.edu.sg/ivle/search/template.asp?courseid=EL1102

Click on ‘videos’ on the left. You will be asked for your user ID and password. (Your user ID must be in the form NUSSTU/xxxxxs for students or NUSSTF/xxxxxx for staff.) Then click on ‘The Mother Tongue’, and you should be off.

If your computer hasn't got a player installed, you can go through the following steps:


A table is distributed with this lecture, dealing with the peoples discussed in this lecture: http://courses.nus.edu.sg/course/elltankw/EL1102-wk8c.htm

Go to the time chart: http://courses.nus.edu.sg/course/elltankw/EL1102-wk8a.htm

There are lots of Web pages with information on the external history. Here are some useful links: http://courses.nus.edu.sg/course/elltankw/EL1102-wk8b.htm


At this point now, we are ready to discuss some aspects of the external history of English and we can relate some of it to the internal history. Please consult the time chart. Because we will discuss the external history, I will give a quick sketch of the salient events through a series of maps. Our main interest will be in the relationship between the external history and the language.
 

Phase 1. Pre-English Days (AD 1–450)

Map for Phase 1

Notice that there was no such thing as ‘English’ during this period. The inhabitants of Britain — the Britons — did not speak English, but various Celtic languages. We mentioned in the last lecture that modern Welsh, Irish Gaelic and Scots Gaelic are Celtic languages and ‘survivors’ of the original languages in Britain. In Northern France, a Celtic language that remains to be spoken is Breton. Some of you might be aware of Celtic legends (eg King Arthur and the knights of the round table) or of the Asterix comics set in the Roman period.

Julius CaesarThis was also the time when the Roman Empire was dominant, and continued expanding until the second century. For much of this period, Britain was a Roman colony. The language of the Roman Empire was Latin. Some form of Latin would have been spoken by at least part of the local population in Britain and other Roman colonies. However, the dominant languages continued to be the Celtic languages. This is unlike Gaul (‘France’), another Roman province, where Latin to a large extent replaced the local Celtic languages. (Modern French is derived from the variety of Latin spoken in Gaul.)

(Please note that during this period, it is meaningless to talk about ‘England’. There was no such entity then. We can only refer to the whole island — Britain.)
 
 

Phase 2. Anglo-Saxon invasions and consolidation in Britain (449 onwards)
Map for Phase 2

The OE extract from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle tells us that the Romans faced many problems from attacks by various tribes, including the Huns. In 410, the last of the Roman legions left Britain, which meant that the island was left open for attack or occupation by various tribes. From about 449, these so-called Germanic tribes started attacking and migrating to Britain. They were originally from around present-day Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands (Holland). The original Celtic tribes were chased off to the northern, western and south-western extremities, and it is therefore not surprising that it is in these places where some Celtic languages (Welsh, Scots Gaelic) survive. Those who remained in the central areas would probably have been overwhelmed by the Germanic tribes, and have merged in with them, and we can perhaps think of this as the centripetal force at work. It is interesting that there are in fact very few Celtic borrowings into the English language.

The tribes that set up their kingdoms in Britain are collectively known as the Anglo-Saxons. Bede, an 8th century historian, tells us these tribes included the Jutes and Angles (both from present-day Denmark), and Saxons (northern Germany and the Netherlands). A fourth tribe, the Frisians (from present-day Netherlands), also came to Britain. Their language existed in several dialects — generally each tribe (Angle, Saxon, Jute, Frisian) had its own associated dialect. Their language is often collectively known as Anglo-Saxon or Old English. Sometimes the term Saxon is used on its own because the ‘standard’ that developed was based on the West Saxon (or Wessex) dialect in south-west England.

Latin texts of the time used the terms Angli and Anglia to describe the country, and local writers describe their language as Englisc (English). These terms derive from the name of the Angle tribe (in OE Engle). The people and the land, collectively, were known as Angel cynn (‘Angle-kin’), and it was not until around 1000 that the name Englaland (Angles’ land) was used.

By and large, they were well-known for their military prowess, and not for their sophisticated culture. They were concerned with ordinary day-to-day living, and there was a lot of in-fighting until they were united by King Alfred the Great (871–899). As a result of this a standard began to be developed based on the Wessex (‘West Saxon’) dialect. Writing was very, very limited (first text: around AD 700), and generally, only specially trained scribes (usually monks) could write. Writing was only used for special records. Therefore, whatever writing there was tended to have the feel of conversation — we referred to the paratactic structures in our discussion of the OE passage. Additionally, we can consider the down-to-earth vocabulary as reflecting the comparatively unsophisticated nature of the Anglo-Saxons.
 
 

Phase 3. Viking invasions (787 onwards)

Map for Phase 3
 
 

A Viking longboatThe Scandinavian attacks on Britain took place between 787 and 850. These people were commonly known as the Vikings and they were Germanic inhabitants in presently Denmark, Norway and Sweden. What is interesting therefore is that they were originally also neighbours of the Anglo-Saxons, and therefore spoke a closely related language (Old Norse) that they would have understood a lot of. We can call Old Norse and Old English cognate or related languages.

The Scandinavians raided towns and monasteries; they captured towns and cities and then proceeded to settle in these places. The army of Alfred the Great resisted them for seven years before taking refuge in the marshes of Somerset. However, fresh troops enabled him to attack the Scandinavians, under Guthrum, and defeat them convincingly. Alfred and Guthrum signed the Treaty of Wedmore in 878, and the Scandinavians (‘Danes’) agreed to settle on the east of the line, running roughly from Chester to London. This region would be subject to Danish law, and is therefore known as the Danelaw. The Danes also agreed to become Christians and Guthrum was baptised. This began the process of the fusion of these two peoples, coming to a head in the next period of history.

This, however, was not the end of the battles. There were more Scandinavian attacks later on, and in the new millennium, England was ruled by Canute (or Cnut), the Danish king.

After taking over the land, the Scandinavians often lived peaceably with the English, and there were many intermarriages. They adopted English customs, and the English accepted them. More important for our purposes, however, is the language contact situation resulting in the English language accepting Old Norse (ON) words and forms. For example, the personal pronouns they, them and their come from ON. So does the 3rd person inflexion for verbs –s. Words that are borrowed from ON include anger, cake, egg, loan, root, skirt, steak, take and window. There was no obvious centripetal or centrifugal force at work.

Many suggest that the contact between OE and ON might have led to the loss of many inflexions. Because the inflexions were different in OE and ON, they were often unhelpful in conversation between OE and ON speakers. They suggest that speakers might have deliberately not used the inflexions to facilitate communication. In situations of intermarriage, the children might grow up learning this ‘simplified’ version of English. Some would even say that the English language had undergone a process of pidginisation and creolisation.
 

Phase 4. The Norman Conquest (1066 onwards)

Map for Phase 4Meanwhile, there were also Scandinavians who settled in northern France, and they came to an agreement with the king of France. They acknowledged the French king, but they had a duke from among their people in this region, called Normandy. They would, from then on, be known as Normans. (The adjective is Norman, as in ‘Norman army’.) Like the Scandinavians in Britain, the Normans were also highly adaptable, and very quickly adopted French culture and civilisation, and, it would appear, willingly gave up their native language and spoke French as their mother tongue, although their dialect, Norman French, was distinct from Parisian (Central) French.

William the ConquerorThere was already a certain amount of contact between the Normans and the English at the turn of the millennium. It was through the contact between the English king Edward that the duke of Normandy, William, believed that he was to succeed the English throne. When Edward died, an English earl, Harold, was elected king instead. Furious as this decision, William sailed across to an unprepared English army. After Harold was killed in battle, the English army became disorganised and soon retreated. On Christmas day in 1066, William (‘the Conqueror’) was crowned king.

William brought along with him his followers, and key positions in the government and in the church were taken over by Normans. The original English lords had either been killed in battle or been executed as traitors. The Normans continued to speak French in England, and therefore, almost overnight, English was relegated to the status of a ‘peasant language’. For several generations after the conquest, all the important positions were taken by Normans, or foreign men. As they had continued contact with France, the nobility continued to speak French, and did not bother to learn English.

The position of the English and the Scandinavians as conquered people helped the process of fusion between them, described above, so that the English language continued to change under these circumstances. Doubtless, some English speakers learnt French (the centripetal force) to gain the advantages from aristocracy; and some Normans – perhaps officials sent to far outposts – learnt English through their contact with local communities (accommodation perhaps?) Later on, after some 150 years, the enmity and distinction between the English and the Normans became less pronounced, and intermarriages became common.

From the 13th century, there was a change in the political climate. King John of England fell out with King Philip of France. Philip demanded that John should appear in Paris to answer some charges against him. John replied that as king of England, he was not subject to the jurisdiction of the French court. Philip, however, replied that as duke of Normandy, he was. John therefore demanded safe conduct to Paris, but Philip gave out terms that he could not accept. The result was that John did not appear on the day of the trial. Philip promptly invaded Normandy and in 1204, Rouen surrendered, and the English lost Normandy. Subsequently, any Norman lords in England had their lands in France confiscated by the French king. The Normans now had to choose between their French estates and their English estates. Those who remained in Britain, therefore, began to lose their continental connexions and began to identify themselves with England. As a result of this, the use of English began to spread, even among the upper classes.
 
 
 
 

Chart: French words borrowed into EnglishThe antagonism between the English and the French grew, leading to the Hundred Years’ War (1337–1453). National feeling was against the French and things associated with the French — including the French language (the centrifugal force?). In 1362, English was used for the first time at the opening of Parliament. By about 1425, English was widely used in England, in writing as well as in speech.

The Norman period brought about new spelling conventions (scip became ship; boc became booc), but most importantly, some 10,000 French words came to be borrowed. Notice that the peak of the borrowing came at around 1375, when French was on its way out.
 

Phase 5. The Reformation, the Renaissance, the rise of science, and the establishment of colonies (1500 onwards)

Map for Phase 5

The English Reformation has to do with Henry VIII’s breaking away from the (Roman) Catholic church. This saw the rise of the notion of nationhood and nationalism. Some saw the development of an English language capable to cope with all kinds of situations as being necessary for nationhood. The English language therefore took over Latin as the language of learning. The notion of a standard language also began to gain importance. (The notion of a standard language will be discussed in a later lecture.)

The Renaissance has to do with a renewed interest in the Classics (essentially Latin and Greek Classics). Many thought that in order for the English language to be capable of dealing with the new way of doing things in science, English had to borrow from Latin – both the lexis as well as the structure (hypotaxis). This is linked to the notion of standardisation mentioned above, in that one way of achieving a language that is capable of coping with the new circumstances is to adapt it towards other languages (in this case, Latin), that has served as standard languages.

The British also began to establish colonies abroad, and by so doing, took the English language out of the continent of Europe. The result is that there are speakers of English in every continent today. In 1600, around the time of Shakespeare, there were about 6 million speakers of English. Today, it is used by at least 750 million people, if not more. If you look at the time chart, you will notice that the events to do with the history of English take place not only in Europe, but in other parts of the world. It is not possible to do justice to a description of all places where English is spoken, so this module has chosen to focus on some of the developments in North America and in South-east Asia, particularly Singapore.

The transportation of English to new areas led to new kinds of language contact. In America, the contact was often with the languages of the other European immigrants rather than with the native American Indians. In other places, the contact was with the existing languages.

We can make a distinction between immigration (settlement) and colonisation, because in the case of immigration (North America, Australia, New Zealand, etc.), the Anglo-Saxon culture of the original speakers have also been brought over. In the case of colonisation (Jamaica, Nigeria, Zambia, India, Malaysia, etc.), English is transported to a new socio-cultural situation.

The English-speaking World

The external history of the language adds a further dimension to our consideration of English, and throws up certain patterns of change in the language.
 
 

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© 2001 Peter Tan