2 English in the world

There’s a difference between language as a human faculty and a language such as English, Kiswahili or Japanese. Language (the faculty) is an abstract concept. English, Kiswahili and Japanese are concrete entities. They have their own specific histories and are used by particular communities who nearly always have a strong relationship with ‘their’ language. In Section 1, you looked at language as a general faculty of humankind. Something that’s innate to people in New Zealand, Tanzania or Japan, and everywhere else in the world. In this section, you’re going to look at a particular language, English. And you’ll start by looking at its history: at where it came from, how it developed, and how it has come to be the global force it is today.

What we call ‘English’ today is very different from the English that was spoken 1,500 years ago. In fact, the English language had been around for about 400 years before it even started to be called ‘English’. Its origins lie with a group of Germanic tribes from north Europe – who today we collectively refer to as the Anglo-Saxons – arriving on the island of Great Britain sometime during the fifth century AD. It took root in the country and began to be spread across the population there. But it wasn’t until the ninth century that the term ‘English’ began to be regularly used to refer to the language.

So how did the unnamed language that was originally spoken by a few tribes on a small island off the coast of continental Europe develop into the world’s pre-eminent lingua franca? And how has the language itself changed over the centuries as it’s been spread around the globe?

The next animation addresses all these questions, while also looking at how contact between English and other languages and cultures has had an influence on how the language is used in different parts of the world today.

Activity 2

While watching the video, look out for:

• the way that historical events have played a vital role in how English developed
• examples of how the form of English has changed from the period referred to as Old English to the language as it’s spoken today
• examples of words which have been introduced into the vocabulary of English from other languages (what are known as ‘loanwords’) as English speakers came into contact with speakers of other languages as a result of the historical events mentioned above.

Make some notes in the text box below and save your answer. There is no comment for this activity.

Download this video clip.Video player: Video 2 English in the world

Show transcript | Hide transcript

Transcript: Video 2 English in the world

NARRATOR

English in the World. The English language has existed for a little over one and a half thousand years, which in the grand scheme of things is just a blip in the history of human language, and an even smaller blip in the history of human kind. The language is called English because of its associations with England, which sounds straightforward enough. Although, it’s actually a bit more complicated than this. English had its roots here in the North of Europe. Although, of course, it wasn’t called English then. There were a number of Germanic tribes: the Angles, Saxons, and the Jutes, who crossed the channel. It wasn’t called the English Channel until the 18th century. And fanned out across the island of Great Britain, which at the time was inhabited by Britons who spoke Celtic languages, the ancestors of Welsh, Scottish, Gaelic, and Cornish. Before the Anglo-Saxons arrived, the Romans had also colonised large parts of the island, along with people from various parts of the Roman Empire. Later, the Vikings came, and then the Normans all speaking their own languages, and also mixing their languages with English.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

It wasn’t until the 14th century that English became properly established as the language of England and was used for the first time in parliament and in the law. The first King of England to speak English as his native language was Henry IV. Henry came to the throne in 1399, almost 1,000 years after the Anglo-Saxons arrived. But once English was established, it also began to spread, or more accurately, it began to be spread. The most important driver for this was colonialism. In lots of countries, English pushed out the local language and Indigenous forms of English developed. In other countries, English existed alongside the local languages and new forms developed. In the 20th century, it continued to spread through the entertainment industry, politics, the media, and technology, so that today it’s a truly global language.

Throughout its history, it’s always changing

[MUSIC PLAYING]

and will continue to do so far into the future.

End transcript: Video 2 English in the world

Download

Video 2 English in the world

Interactive feature not available in single page view (see it in standard view).

To use this interactive functionality a free OU account is required. Sign in or register.

Interactive feature not available in single page view (see it in standard view).