English language ppt
- 1. English Language –origin and transformation
- 2. • English is a West Germanic language that was first spoken in early medieval England and is now a global bridge language. • It is an official language of almost 60 sovereign states. • Most commonly spoken language in the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, Ireland, and New Zealand • It is the third most common native language in the world. • English has developed over the course of more than 1,400 years
- 3. ORIGIN • The earliest form of English is called Old English or Anglo-Saxon (c. 550–1066 CE). • Old English developed from a set of North Sea Germanic dialects originally spoken along the coasts of Frisia, Lower Saxony, Jutland, and Southern Sweden • Spoken by Germanic tribes the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes. • Most closely related to English are the Frisian languages, and English and Frisian form the Anglo-Frisian subgroup within West Germanic. • Old Saxon and its descendent Low German languages are also closely related, and sometimes Low German, English, and Frisian are grouped together as the Ingvaeonic languages
- 4. Phylogenetic tree showing historic relations with Germanic languages
- 5. LANGUAGE FAMILY •Indo-European •Germanic • West Germanic •North Sea Germanic •Anglo-Frisian •Anglic •English
- 6. WRITING SYSTEM • Since the 9th century, English has been written in a Latin alphabet (also called Roman alphabet). • Earlier Old English texts in Anglo-Saxon runes are only short inscriptions. The great majority of literary works in Old English that survive to today are written in the Roman alphabet. • modern English alphabet contains 26 letters of the Latin script.
- 7. TRANSFORMATION Transformation of English Language occurred in 3 stages I. Proto-Germanic to Old English II. Middle English III. Modern English
- 8. PROTO-GERMANIC TO OLD ENGLISH • Old English developed from a set of North Sea Germanic dialects. • In the fifth century, the Anglo-Saxons settled in Britain and the Romans withdrew from Britain. • By the seventh century, the Germanic language of the Anglo-Saxons became dominant in Britain, replacing the languages of Roman Britain • Old English is very different from Modern English and difficult for 21st-century English speakers to understand. • Its grammar was similar to that of modern German.
- 9. MIDDLE ENGLISH • In the period from the 8th to the 12th century, Old English gradually transformed through language contact into Middle English. • Middle English is often arbitrarily defined as the beginning of 1066. • By the 12th century Middle English started developing apace. • It developed further in the period from 1200–1450. • In the Middle English period the use of regional dialects in writing proliferated, and dialect traits were even used for effect by authors.
- 10. MODERN ENGLISH • Middle English continued to be spoken until the transition to early Modern English around 1500. • Early Modern English was characterised by the Great Vowel Shift • In the late 18th century the Thirteen Colonies in North America achieved independence , and the subsequent period saw English become a global, pluricentric language. • In the 20th century the growing economic and cultural influence of the United States and its status as a global superpower since the Second World War have significantly accelerated the spread of the language across the planet. • By the 21st century, English was more widely spoken and written than any language has ever been.
- 11. THREE CONCENTRIC CIRCLES OF LANGUAGE • Braj Kachru distinguishes countries where English is spoken with a three circles model. • In his model, the inner circle countries are countries with large communities of native speakers of English. • The outer circle countries have small communities of native speakers of English but widespread use of English as a second language in education or broadcasting or for local official purposes in countries like the Philippines, Jamaica, India, Pakistan, Singapore, and Nigeria.
- 12. Continued • The expanding circle countries are countries where many learners learn English as a foreign language in countries like Poland, China, Brazil, Germany, Japan, Indonesia, Egypt.
- 13. ENGLISH -A GLOBAL LANGUAGE • English has ceased to be an English language in the sense of belonging only to people who are ethnically English. • Use of English is growing country-by-country internally and for international communication • Modern English, sometimes described as the first global lingua franca, is also regarded as the first world language. • English is the world's most widely used language in newspaper publishing, book publishing, international telecommunications, scientific publishing, international trade, mass entertainment.