The Adventure Of English

The history of English development can be traced back to around 500 BC. The earliest language recorded in historical materials about Great Britain is Celtic around 500 BC. In 55 BC, the Romans invaded Great Britain and occupied it for about 500 years. Latin entered the region and became the official language, while Celtic declined. Around 449 AD, three Germanic tribes living in Denmark and northern Germany took advantage of the decline of the Roman Empire to invade the island of Great Britain. They are Angles (invading central Jutland), Saxons (invading southern Jutland) and Jutes (invading northern Jutland). In terms of language, they replaced the Celtic language used there at that time. With the development of society, these three Germanic tribal dialects have gradually merged into a new language, namely Anglo-Saxon, which is the basis of English. By 700 AD, people called the language formed by the mixture of three tribes on the island of Great Britain English. By 1000, the whole country on the island was called England. These two words later evolved into English and England, which is the historical origin of English and England.

At the end of the 8th century, a large number of Danes invaded Britain and established a Danish area in its northeast, which lasted for nearly 300 years. The Scandinavian language they brought at that time had a great influence on the development of English. In A.D. 1066, the Duke of Normandy invaded Britain, was crowned King of England, and established the Normandy Dynasty, which lasted until 1 154. During Normandy, Britain actually had three languages, and French was the official language. Latin is a religious language, which is used for reading the Bible and church religious activities. English is the secular language used by lower-class workers. The special status of French in Britain lasted until14th century. Courts, schools and courts stopped using French in 1362, 1385 and 1399 respectively. 1382 The appearance of the Bible written in English ended the status of Latin as a religious language. Only then did English become the national language of Britain. Therefore, there are a large number of French words (such as age, air, brush, crying, bourgeois) and Latin words (angel, candle, monk, pope) in English.

During the "Renaissance" period (14th century-16th century), due to people's strong interest in the study of ancient Greek and Roman culture, English absorbed a lot of the ancient social and cultural essence of the European continent at that time, and its vocabulary increased greatly. Such as geometry, astronomy and botany; Derived from Greek; Comrade, alloy, transcendence; In French; Spanish bananas, cocoa, mosquitoes; ; Italy violin square

/kloc-After the 0/8th century, the industrial revolution rose in Britain, and the struggle for colonies made English go to the world with the development of the empire. Therefore, a large number of new words have been absorbed in the communication with various places. Such as zebra, chim-pazee；; From Africa; Shampoo; , cashmere, India; Tea, litchi; From Chinese; Kangaroo boomerang; From Australia; Man-eating canoes in the West Indies. Due to the development of British colonies and a large number of overseas immigrants, English has also spread from home to abroad (such as BBC English Radio).

At present, English is the first language (that is, mother tongue). The countries whose mother tongue is Ireland, America, Australia, New Zealand, Guyana, Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, Jamaica, St. Christopher and Nevis, Trinidad and Tobago, and most people in Canada speak English; Countries that use English as an official language include Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Singapore, India and the Philippines. As a second language, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Iceland and other countries. English has gradually developed into a world language, and its diplomatic status has also replaced French, becoming the most important language for political, economic, scientific and cultural exchanges in the world today. Although several English-speaking countries are listed above, we still recommend the United States, Canada and Britain as the main foreign teachers.

English also has regional differences. In Britain, because the Angles, Saxons and Jutes who first came to Great Britain from jutland settled in different places, there were regional differences in the development of English from the beginning. With the development of industry and city, London has not only become the largest city in China, but also absorbed residents from various dialect areas in China, and various dialects have merged with each other. The languages used in Oxford and Cambridge, with London as the national cultural center, became the standard languages of Britain, and then spread to the whole country and abroad through radio and television, thus gradually unifying the domestic language and overseas English.

2. History of English development: the spread and development of English.

Outside Britain, the distribution of English has gradually expanded through immigration and politics. At the same time, foreign dialects of English mainly include American English, Australian English, South African English and Indian English. Due to the objective reasons of being far away from home and receiving place. Among them, American English is the most widely used and important English dialect outside Britain. Generally speaking, American English is also the most popular in China.

/kloc-in the 0 th and 7 th centuries, British immigrants began to colonize North America (now the east coast of the United States). Later, immigrants increased, and 13 colonies were established along the coast. After the independence movement, these 13 colonies established the United States and became the original 13 state in the United States. They broke away from the affiliation with Britain, so the English spoken by immigrants at that time became the language of the United States.

Because there is an Atlantic Ocean between the United States and Britain, the personnel exchanges and language exchanges between the two sides are affected, and the English between the two places is gradually different. American English dialects are mainly divided into three types: New England, central and southern Atlantic coast. New England dialect area is the northeastern United States with Massachusetts as the center. The residents there are all British immigrants, two-thirds of them are Puritans from East Anglia, and a few are from northern England. They are relatively pure British. The dialect area in the middle of the Atlantic coast is centered in Pennsylvania. In the early days, they were immigrants from northern England, and later they were mostly immigrants from Scotland and Ireland. In addition to settling in Pennsylvania, it also spread to New Jersey and Delaware. Later immigrants included Dutch, Germans and Swedes.

Virginia is the earliest core area of southern dialect area. Immigrants come from England, and about half of them come from southwest England. Later, as the United States crossed the Appalachian Mountains and developed westward, the progress of the three dialect areas was different. In addition to surrounding the south bank of the Great Lakes, New England dialect has three language islands centered on Seattle, San Francisco and Salt Lake City. Dialects in the middle of the Atlantic coast enter Ohio and other places westward, reaching the north-south border, becoming the largest dialect area in the United States.