THE HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LAGUAGE
About 2.000 years ago the British Isles were inhabited (населены) by the Celts who had been arriving from Europe from the 8th century BC. , mixed with the peoples who were already there. A lot of people and tourists come to the South of England just to see the ancient circle of stones, so-called Stonehenge, one of the most famous and mysterious archaeological sites of the world, built between 2500 and 1500 BC (before Christ, до нашей эры). It was used by the Druids for their ceremonies.
During the next 1.000 years there were many invasions (набеги). The Romans came in 43 AD, calling the country “Britania”.
In the 5th century London , the capital of the United Kingdom was founded by the Romans in 43 A.D. (лат. нашей эры) and called Londinium. In 61 A.D. the town was burnt down and when it was rebuilt by the Romans it was surrounded by a wall. That area within the wall is now called the City of London. For many centures it is London's commercial and business and financial centre and contains the Bank of England, the Stock Exchange (фондовая биржа) and the head offices of numerous companies and corporations.
Chester is very important town in the north-west of England. In the past it used to be a Roman fort; its name comes from the Latin word “castra”, meaning «fortified camp». In Chester there is a famous museum which contains over 5000 ancient and modern toys.
There are plenty of other historical and cultural cities and towns in England: Kent, Bristol, Bath, Brighton, Bournemouth, and many others.
The history of the English language really began in the 5th century with the arrival to the British Isles of three Germanic tribes (племена): the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes, who crossed the North Sea from what today is Northern Germany. Most of the Celtic speakers were pushed west and north by the invaders - mainly into what is now Wales, Scotland and Ireland. The Angles who came to England gave birth to the language called “English”.
The invading Germanic tribes spoke similar languages, which developed into what is now called Old English. Old English did not sound or look like English today and English speakers of today would have great difficulty in understanding it. Nevertheless, about half of the most commonly used words in Modern English have Old English roots. The words be, strong and water, for example, are derived from Old English. Old English was spoken until around 1100.
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In 1066 the Duke of Normandy (Northern France), invaded and conquered England after a well-known the Battle of Hastings. As a result of this the Norman leader became the King of England “William the Conqueror”, who built Tower and Salisbury Cathedral. He was crowned at Westminster Abbey. Salisbury Cathedral is a splendid example of an English Gothic architecture; inside there is one of four copies of Magna Charta (the agreement made in 1215 between King John and feudal barons) and the oldest clock in England.
The Normans brought with them the French language, which became the language of the Royal Court (королевского двора), and the ruling and business classes. For about 300 years there was a kind of linguistic class division, when the lower classes spoke English and the upper classes lords and barons spoke French. The English are the descendants (потомки) of all the invaders, and learners of English can find many words in the English language which originated fro French.
In the 14th century so-called Middle English became dominant in Britain. It was the language of the great poet Chaucer (1340-1400). Towards the end of Middle English, a change in pronunciation (the Great Vowel Shift) started, with vowels being pronounced shorter. Since the 16th century the British had contacts with many nations from around the world. This, and the Renaissance (Bозрождение) of Classical learning, meant that many new words and phrases entered the language.
The invention of printing brought standardization to English spelling and grammar. Books became cheaper and more people learned to read. In 1604 the first English dictionary was published. A southern English accent (the dialect of London) became generally accepted and most easily understood.
Hamlet's famous "To be or not to be" lines were written in Early Modern English by Shakespeare. The main difference between Early Modern English and Late Modern English (1800-Present) is vocabulary. Late Modern English has many more words, arising from two principal factors: firstly, the Industrial Revolution and technology created a need for new words; secondly, the British Empire at its height covered one quarter of the earth's surface, and the English language adopted foreign words from many other countries and the parts of Great Britain.
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Wales is the country in the west of Great Britain. It is mainly a mountainous land with a chiefly agricultural economy and an industrial and coal-mining area in the south. The landscape is really beautiful. Cardiff, a large city in the south, was chosen as the capital of Wales in 1955, mainly because of its size. Since 1536, Wales has been governed by England and the heir to the throne of England has the title of Prince of Wales. The Welsh language is an ancient Celtic language, similar to Breton, spoken in Brittany, France.
Scotland is in Highlands. The capital of Scotland is Edinburgh, well known for its castle. Glasgow is the industrial capital of Scotland. It is the third largest city in Great Britain. The typical products of Scotland are timber, whisky, and salmon. Golf is the Scottish natural sport and it seems to have originated in this country. Scotland is also the land of myths and mysteries; every castle has “its ghost”. And of course everyone knows about so-called “the Loch Ness Monster”. «Nessie» is said to be about six meters long, with a long, thin neck. The first report of the monster in Loch Ness was in 565 A.D.
One third of the population of Northern Ireland (Ulster) lives in and around the capital Belfast - the most important port, commercial, industrial and cultural centre with theatres, orchestras, ballet and opera companies.
A lot of British customs and habits as well as the language phrases are connected with the English weather.
The common ideas foreigners have about the weather in Britain are: "It rains all the time, it's very damp"; "There's a terrible fog in London, just like in Sherlock Holmes'...", 'The sun never shines in July or August". But contrary to popular opinion, it does not rain all the time. Indeed, the weather changes so frequently that it is difficult to forecast and it is not unusual for people to complain that the “weathermen” were wrong.
Answer the following questions.
1. What were the origins of Old English?
2. What is the Great Vowel Shift?
3. What definition can you give to English as the global language?
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