Lecture 4 and 5 Flashcards
major language families are:
- INDO-EUROPEAN
- URAL-ALTAIC
- AMERICAN INDIAN – the indigenous languages of the Americas
- DRAVIDIAN - historically limited to the south of the Indian subcontinent and some areas to the north
- HAMITIC - Egyptian, Berber (spoken over North Africa and the Sahara)
- SINO-TIBETAN – the most extensive language family in eastern Asia
- AUSTRONESIAN – includes the indigenous languages of the Philippines, of Taiwan, of Micronesia and Polynesia, and most of those in Indonesia and Malaysia.
- SEMITIC
URAL-ALTAIC
- Ural: Finnish, Hungarian, Estonian
- Altaic: Turkish, Mongolian
DRAVIDIAN
- Tamil
- Telugu
- Kannada
HAMITIC
- Egyptian, Berber
SINO-TIBETAN
a. Tibeto-Burman
b. Chinese
SEMITIC
includes Arabic, Hebrew, Amharic (the official language of Ethiopia), Syrian.
Others were important in antiquity, especially Akkadian (spoken especially in Assyria and Babylonia), Aramaic and, Phoenician.
THE INDO-EUROPEAN FAMILY
- The most extensively spoken group of languages in the world
- PIE gave rise to several language families
- These are often classified as:
a. centum languages
b. satem languages, according to the development of the PIE
word for hundred (with a k sound as in Latin centum or an s sound as in Sanskrit satem).
Proto-Indo European (PIE)
= common source
Centum languages
- Celtic Languages
- Hellenic
- Italic Languages
- Germanic Languages
Celtic Languages
- Continental Celtic
2. Insular Celtic
Insular Celtic
Gaelic or Goidelic
Cymric or Brittanic
Germanic Languages
East, West, North Germanic
Continental Celtic
a range of unwritten and extinct languages, the best known of which is Gaulish
Gaelic or Goidelic
Scots Gaelic, Irish Gaelic, Manx
- Cymric or Brittanic
Welsh, Cornish
Hellenic dialects
Aeolic, Doric and Ionic
became the basis of a standard dialect for the Greek world
Attic
major dialects in the ancient Italy
Oscan, Umbrian and Latin
East Germanic languages
Gothic is the only East Germanic language of which we have any detailed knowledge
North Germanic languages
Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Icelandic, Faroese
West Germanic languages
English, Dutch, German, Flemish (Dutch spoken in Belgium), Frisian
Satem languages
- Balto-Slavic
- Albanian
- Armenian
- Indo-Iranian
Baltic languages
Lithuanian, Lettish, Prussia
Slavic languages
(East) Russian, Ukrainian; (West) Polish, Czech, Slovak;
(South) Bulgarian, Slovenian, Macedonian, Serbo-Croat
they were the earliest inhabitants of the British islands; their influence spread to Britain and Ireland in the late Bronze Age and Iron Age
THE CELTS
a name for the parts of Britain where many people are descended from Celts,
such as Scotland, Ireland, Wales and Cornwall. The phrase is used mainly by people of England, who feel that they have a different way of life
the Celtic fringe
They occupied Britain from around 55 BC to AD 410
THE ROMANS
Julius Caesar came to Britain in
55 BC and 54 BC, defeating the local Celtic tribes
The Celtic tradition is also known for decorating texts from the Bible such as
the Book of Kells and the Lindisfarne Gospels
in AD 43 the emperor Claudius ordered an invasion and southern Britain became …
Britannia, a province of the Roman Empire which was ruled by a Roman governor
the Romans founded over 20 large towns called coloniae, including
Colchester, Gloucester and Lincoln
the Picts lived in northern Scotland between….
the 1st and 9th centuries AD
ANGLES, SAXONS, JUTES – these Germanic invaders came to the island (not as allies, but as conquerors) in…
449
VIKING INVASIONS – the Vikings attacked parts of northern and western Europe, including Britain and Ireland, in the…..
in Britain they were also known as…..
8th – 11th centuries
Danes or Norsemen
Germanic invaders called the native Celts ……
Wealas (foreigners); today Welsh.
The native Celts called the Germanic invaders….
Sassenachs (Saxons)
the term (Angles) was used in the …
6th century
the Latin name for the country was Angli or Anglia in the..
7th century
Angli/Anglia became Engle (OE) then….
Engleland (10th century)
the name of language was
Englisc (sc=sh)
PERIODS IN THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH
- OLD ENGLISH PERIOD (450 - 1066)
- MIDDLE ENGLISH PERIOD (1066 - 1500)
- MODERN ENGLISH PERIOD (1500 - )
the literary age (of OE) began
after the first Christian missionaries from Rome came (597 AD);
glossaries of Latin words were translated into OE- the most important work
Beowulf (1000)
OE spelling had some features:
- absence of capital letters;
- some letters were absent (f, j, v, x, z);
- numbers were written in Roman symbols
(oe) language was characterized by the frequent use of…..
e. g. banhus (bone house) for ‘a person’s body
coinages (aka kennings)
early materials are of limited value; they were written in French or Latin
middle english
language is characterized by leveling of endings/losing of inflections
middle english
Caxton sets up the printing press in Westminster in ..
in 1476
Inner Circle
where English is the primary language
Outer Circle
English is used in institutions; India, Nigeria, Singapore
Expanding Circle
English has no special status; China, Japan, Poland, Sweden, Romania
