About the background of English

Early Germanic tribes (Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Frisians) immigrated to England, and English was passed down from their language changes. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, around 449 AD, King Votigan of the British Isles invited "Anglo-Saxon relatives" to help him fight against the Picts. In return, he gave the territory to the southeast corner. Then he sought further support, and Saxons, Angles and Jutes came one after another. Chronicles record that these "immigrants" eventually established seven kingdoms: Northumbria, Mercia, East Anglia, Kent, Essex, Sussex and Wessex.

After the Germanic invasion, they ruled the local Celts, and the local languages mainly remained in Scotland, Wales, Cornwall and Ireland. The language of these invaders gradually formed "Old English", which is very similar to modern Frisian. English, England and East Anglia are three words developed from the vocabulary describing the Angles: English, Angelcynn and English Alan.

1066 for 300 years after the Norman conquest, the king of England only spoke French. So a large number of French words entered Old English, and Old English itself lost most of its twists and turns and evolved into Middle English. The vowel movement around 1500 transforms Middle English into modern English. The most famous literary work in Old English is Beowulf, while the most famous literary work in Middle English is Canterbury Tales.

Modern English began to flourish in Shakespeare's time. Some scholars divided it into early modern English and late modern English, and the dividing line was about 1800. With the British occupation and colonization of most parts of the world, the local language has greatly influenced the development of English.

Division of historical periods

Old English period-449 AD to 1 100.

There are four main dialects in Old English:

(1) Northumbria dialect-a dialect north of Humber River.

② Mercia dialect-a dialect between Humber River and Thames River in central England.

(3) Kent dialect-the dialect of people living in southeast England.

④ West Saxon dialect-the dialect south of the Thames. Northumbria and Greece are also called Anglian dialects, which are dialects in areas where Angles live.

Middle English period-A.D. 1 100 to 1500.

Modern English (MOD E.) Period-A.D. 1500 to the present.

The modern English period is subdivided into:

(1) Early modern English period-noon 1500 to AD 1700.

(2) Late Modern English-1700 till now.

Early Old English Literary Works

Early Old English literary works were written in Northumbria dialect. Due to the invasion of Sta Danawi, the cultural center of Britain moved from Northumbria to Greece, and in the ninth century, it moved to Wessex, the capital of the western secret zone. On the one hand, King Alfred the Great of West Saxony resisted Danish aggression by force, on the other hand, he strongly advocated literature and education, personally organized and participated in the translation of foreign literary works and academic works, as well as the sand writing and revision of domestic literature. Through the efforts of western Saxon scribes, old English poems have been preserved. During the period of Alfred the Great, the prose works of Old English developed greatly, which were mainly written in West Saxon dialect. The vocabulary of old English is different from that of modern English, and most of them are inherent in West Germanic languages. There are also some words borrowed from other languages in old English vocabulary. . It can be seen from these words that the influence of early Roman merchants was great. With the introduction of Christianity into Britain, more Latin words entered the old English vocabulary. Kyle, who once lived in England, mastered the people's language. Few numbers enter English vocabulary, and some words held by Kyle are preserved in British place names.

Almost all Germanic etymological words (including all basic words, such as pronouns and conjunctions) are relatively short and informal. Words derived from Latin usually represent more elegance or education. But excessive use of Latin source words will be considered pretentious or deliberately confusing. George Orwell's article Politics and English describes this in detail.

When English users choose words, they can usually choose synonyms from Germanic and Latin sources, such as sight and vision, freedom and liberty. There are subtle differences between these synonyms, and users can freely choose combinations to express different opinions.

In daily life, most of the words used are Germanic etymology. Most words from Latin are usually used in more formal speeches and articles, such as court speeches or encyclopedias.

English is famous for its huge vocabulary, and it is easy to introduce technical terms and enter new words in daily use. In addition, slang gives new meanings to old words. This flexibility is very obvious, and it is usually necessary to distinguish between correct formal usage and daily general usage; Primary education teachers in Britain and the United States generally remind students of words that are widely used in daily life but are not correct in formal occasions.

English sentence structure is relatively simple and natural, which conforms to the natural order of logical thinking, that is to say, English word order is relatively natural. Different from German or Russian, the sentence structure of English is not too complicated, and the word order is not too reversed. The grammaticality and naturalness of English are consistent, unlike Russian and Latin, which divide all nouns into masculine, feminine and neuter according to grammaticality. In this way, modern English avoids the complicated case changes of nouns and adjectives, while German and Russian still retain these changes in large quantities. Therefore, the first point of English is that the structure is relatively simple, and it is easier to understand and learn. The second feature of English is its rich vocabulary, so its expressive ability is particularly strong. It is estimated that English vocabulary includes more than one million words, ranking first among all languages in the world. There are many ways of word formation in English, so English constantly produces new words. Another phenomenon is that the meaning of English is constantly changing, and the original words can get new meanings, and this change of meaning is natural and effortless. For example, the original meaning of sophistication is "very experienced, sophisticated and sophisticated", and the basic meaning is "lost simplicity". The process from this basic meaning to "complexity and exquisiteness" is also natural and effortless. In this way, it can be used to modify weapons and get the new concept of "cutting-edge weapons". In this way, the original word "s-knock-histica-fast-d" has become two words, because it has gained a completely different new meaning. In addition, there are a large number of phrasal verbs in English, which are composed of verbs and adverbs. These verb phrases make English more flexible in expression, approachable and lively. English itself has the above two characteristics: simple structure and strong expressive ability. Coupled with other historical reasons and international needs, it is no wonder that English has become the common language of international communication.

The development of English

The first generation of English British English began in 160 1 year, and the founder Shakespeare laid the foundation of modern English.

American English, the second generation of English, began with Webster's standard modern English in 183 1 year.

Third Generation English International English World English began with the development of 1995 New World International Modern English-the third milestone in the history of the development of modern English in the world!