Chapters 1 & 2 Flashcards
Where did the Roman Empire extend in the second century CE?
Euphrates River in the east, Britain in the West, everywhere in Europe, and North Africa
Why did everyone have to know at least a little Latin in the earliest centuries?
Because the Romans were conquering almost everything
When did the Germanic (more specifically the Anglo-Saxon) tribe become the dominant political and linguistic power in Europe?
After they invaded the southern parts of Britain in 449 CE. Latin had all but disappeared as a spoken language
When were the Anglo-Saxons converted to Christianity? Why is this important?
597 CE. Latin was reintroduced as the language of the Church
What language derived from the Anglo-Saxons at the time Latin became the language of the Church?
Old English (i.e. Beowulf)
What date did William the Conquerer become the King of England and Normandy? Who did he defeat?
1066 CE. He defeated Harold.
What was the new class William brought in with his reign?
French-speaking Normans
What was the language of the government for 150 years after 1066 CE?
French
Deterioration between France and England caused English to become increasingly an expression of nationalism. Because of this, what languages started to mix together to form a newer form of English? What was this newly evolved language called?
French, Latin based language or directly Latin. It was called Middle English
What was the single greatest influence on the formation of Modern English?
The printing press
What happened to the Modern English language because of the printing press?
The standardization of spelling, usage, and pronunciation, growth of literacy, increased the number of schools
Vernacular
The language that is native to a country, but is also a term to describe ordinary, or everyday, language as opposed to literary language and expression
Englishmen though that adding new vocabulary made them sound more sophisticated. What languages did they use?
These new vocabulary words would also contain mostly Latin and Greek
Lexicography
The practice of compiling dictionaries
What was the first permanent English-speaking settlement?
Jamestown, Virginia 1607
Creole
A language that has been formed by the mixing of two or more “parent” languages and that as become the first language of a community.
Anglicized
Made to conform to specific English forms and patterns
Etymology
The study of the history of a particular word; the derivation or origin of a word
Lexicon
A dictionary
Linguistics
The science of language, including history, formation, and structures of languages
Orthography
Correct spelling
Philolgy
The study of written records; linguistics
Phonology
The science of speech sounds, speech elements, and pronunciation
Sematics
The study of linguistic meaning and form
Syntax
The rules or patterns of the formation of sentences
Branches of the Indo-European family
Indic, Iranian, Italic, Hellenic, Germanic, Batlo-Slavonic, Celtic
What are the languages that derive from Indic?
Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi, Romany, Sinhalese, Urdu, Sanskrit
What are the languages that derive from Iranian?
Baluchi, Kurdish, Pashto, Farsi (Persian). Avestan
What are the languages that derive from Hellenic?
Ancient Greek > Medieval Greek > Modern Greek
What are the languages that derive from Germanic?
German, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Flemish, Yiddish, Icelandic, Dutch, Afrikaans
Anglo-Saxon (Old English) > Middle English > English
What are the languages that derive from Balto-Slavonic?
Russian, Belorussian, Latvia, Lithuanian, Czech, Polish, Slovak, Slovene
What are the languages that derive from Celtic?
Breton, Gaelic, Irish, Scots, Welsh, Mans, Cornish
lingua franca
any language that is used as a means of communications among speakers of different languages that are mutually incomprehensible
Where are most languages belonging the Sino-Tibetan branch spoken?
China
How many varieties of Chinese are there? And how are they all united?
- By a common writing system.
There are 300 languages in the Tibeto-Buman branch, spoken in parts of where?
Burma, Tibet, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos
There are over 250 languages Afro-Asiatic (Hamito-Semetic). Where are they spoken?
North Africa, Southwest Asia, Amharic, Hausa
What are the major branches of the Human Languages?
Sino-Tibetan, Afro-Asiatic, Austro-Asiatic Dravidian, Niger-Congo, Uralic, Altaic, Caucasian, and North and South American Languages
What do the Semitic languages include?
Arabic, Hebrew, and languages of the Ancient Near East
What is the largest branch of the Austro-Asiatic branch? Where is it mostly spoken?
Mount-Kemr. Vietnam, Laos, Combodia, and parts of Burma and Malayaisa
Where are the three branches of Austro-Asiatic spread across?
Southeast Asia
Dravidian is composed of more than 70 languages and is spoken by 23 million people. Where is it spoken?
Throughout Southern India, Eastern India and Southern and Eastern regions of Africa.
What is the most diffused language of Dravidian? Where is it spoken?
Tamil. There are speakers in India, Pakistan, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Indian and South Pacific Oceans
There are 1,000 to 3,000 languages spoken in Africa by 4 million people. Niger-Congo encompasses about a thousand languages and several thousand dialects. Within this family, there are approximately 700 languages belonging to what branch? What type of language does it include? Where is it spoken?
Benue-Congo. Bantu languages are spoken in Swahili, Rwanda, Khongo, Xhosa, and Zulu
What two languages are often used as lingua franca throughout Africa?
Swahili and Arabic
What and where are the two branches of the Uralic language spoken in?
Fino-Urgic is spoken throghout Central and Northern Europe and Samoydic is spoken in Siberia and the Arctic
What are the languages of Uralic? (Fino-Urgic)
Finnish, Estonian, Hungarian, Lapp
Where is the geographic distribution of Altaic?
Balken Peninsula and Central Asia
What are the 3 groups from which 40 languages of the Altaic branch are divided into?
Turkic, Mongolian, Manchu
The region of the Caucus Mounts between the Capsian and Black seas contains the highest concentration of languages in the world. More than 20 different languages are spoken there, especially what language? What language is the vocabulary heavily influenced by?
Georgian. Russian
When Europeans arrived, there were 300 languages spoken by the indigenous inhabitants of North America. Half of these have disappeared leaving fewer than 300, 000 speakers. There are approximately 11 million speakers of the Amerindians, where? What is Quecha the official language of?
South and Central America. Quecha was the official language of the Incas.
Anglo-Saxon is a synonym for which language?
Old English
What event introduced a Latin based vocabulary into English?
The Roman Occupation of Britain (First Century - 410 CE)
Who wrote the Canterbury Tales? To which period of English does it belong?
Geoffrey Chaucer. The Anglo Saxon and Old English Period
List the periods of english from the first century till now?
The Roman Occupation of Britain The Anglo-Saxon and Old English Middle English Modern English American English Westward Expansion Since the Civil War
Who was Dr. Samuel Johnson?
Wrote “A Dictionary of the English Language” in 1755
Who was James Murray?
He wrote the “Oxford English dictionary”
Who was Noah Webster?
He wrote “An American Dictionary of the English Language” in 1838
What languages derived from Italic?
Latin>
French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian
appetite
Latin verb
appeto
apple
Old English: apricock
Portuguese: albricoque
Arabic: al birquq
Latin: praecoquum
