Origin of English language

In modern English, we can often express the same idea in different words. This is because English has over the centuries absorbed words from many different languages. English developed from Anglo-Saxon, the language brought to Britain by Germanic tribes in the fifth century AD. These invaders gave England its name, The Land of Angles, and provided the language with many common basic terms.

At the end of the sixth century, a group of monks came as missionaries from Rome to strengthen Christianity in Britain. The words which came into English from Latin at this time are mainly connected with religion and learning. In the ninth and tenth centuries, invaders came from Scandinavia and occupied a large part of Eastern England.

Many everyday words in modern English came from their language. When Britain was conquered by the Normans in 1066, French became the language of the ruling classes. Many words in modern English which describe the government and the legal system, as well as terms connected with cooking, came from French at this time.

Many words of Latin origin came into English through French, but the renaissance of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries brought a new interest in classical learning and an influx of words from Latin and Greek. Latin and Greek are still used as a source of new words, particularly in the field of science, but English speakers today take words from a wide variety of other languages for phenomena that have no existing English name.

English is a West Germanic language that originated from Anglo-Frisian dialects brought to Britain in the mid 5th to 7th centuries AD by Anglo-Saxon migrants from what is now northwest Germany, southern Denmark and the Netherlands.

Although English has been largely Germanic, it has retained a number of key characteristics which distinguish it from Old English and Old Dutch. For example, English retains the scholar, an interjection which dates to Old English and still exists today as an interjection in Dutch and German, as well as Old Norse and Old German, where it simply translates as "huh?"

The English language is a linguistic creation of the English and French-speaking settlers in the British and French colonies in North America. In North America, English eventually replaced French as the language of commerce and commerce replaced French as the language of instruction in colleges and universities. That shift happened gradually.

A few thousand words in the language were borrowed from the French language in the early 16th century, but it took another 50 to 100 years for the language to absorb that many new words. English borrowed a significant number of words from French in the mid to late 18th century and since then, the exchange has been continuing.

Today, most dictionaries list English as a language of origin of only about 12% of words used. English itself is a language of origin for only about 21% of words in English-speaking Canada and the United States.

Etymology

Historical linguistic scholarship suggests that Old English had evolved before the time of the Romans, but there is no contemporary record of an earlier Germanic language. The earliest records, from the 5th century AD, show that the language was already Germanic in origin, but there is debate as to the degree of that evolution. It is possible that certain English dialects are largely derived from Old English, but that the language in which most native English speakers now use as a lingua franca today may be closer to Middle English, a language that has existed for much longer.

The origin of the word English is debated. The Oxford English Dictionary states: "The dictionary dates the origin of the English language to the 16th century with the arrival of the first European settlers in England; the earliest English usage occurs as early as the 5th century when a Germanic word is recorded in England, though there may have been earlier uses.

Other sources say English is a language of origin that arose in Britain in the early 7th century from the Anglo-Saxon immigrants from northwest Germany and southern Denmark. Other sources, such as the Oxford Dictionary of English, say the origin of English is based on an extensive linguistic study of Old English and the foundation of the modern English language was laid in the early 5th century.

The debate is unlikely to be settled any time soon, but the evidence suggests that there was no language of origin before the early 7th century and that English's evolution was not completed until the mid 8th century.

English spelling

English spelling, like many languages, changed over time as it evolved. One of the most recent changes to English spelling came with the spelling reforms of the 2000s. An earlier reform by Parliament in 1870 had ended the system of spelling using the Roman alphabet. Although it was much more costly and time-consuming for publishers to write all English words using the Roman alphabet, it had several advantages:

English spellings could be changed relatively easily by the standardising of such words as "cat" to "kitty" and "new" to "new-old".

Spellings could be changed relatively easily for foreign languages. Errors in written English were easier to correct than in other languages. English spelling became much less specific to particular regions. The two-part spelling of English words took longer to develop than the two-part spellings of some other languages, such as French and Spanish. English spelling standards can still change. English spelling can be changed through spelling reforms and through education.

The most notable spelling reforms were instituted in the early decades of the 20th century. The abolition of the Roman alphabet had not been completed before World War II, and in the 1940s, Americans adopted a relatively uniform system for spelling and grammar. The reforms of this period eliminated the double "l" of words like once, was, mistake, dripped, dish, tore, tore up and dish. They changed the spelling of letter pairs that had been widely used before the reforms, such as expression (question) and presented (obtain), cause (cause) and accumulated (occurred), memory (memory) and background (background).

English spelling still has its critics, and spelling is not always consistent. For example, many English words with the spelling of present (that is, one of the twenty-six letters of the modern English alphabet), are spelt with "preceding" (preceding) (e.g., preparing, presenting).

Spelling was also reformed in the 2000s. Some spelling reforms come about as a result of a linguistic influence on the language. For example, the term algorithm has the same spelling as the algorithm (from Arabic), though the Arabic word algorithm is not related to mathematical algorithms.

English spelling by dialect

English spelling does vary, not only by dialect and community but also by geographical region. The English spelling of spellings from one region can differ dramatically from the spelling of the same spelling in other regions of the country. The English spelling of spellings from one region can differ greatly from that of the same spelling in other regions of the country. This can occur because of a variety of factors, including:

1. The languages and dialects of the areas in which English words are written.

2. The local accents of the speakers of English.

3. Local vocabulary, including words that are common in the area.

4. The geographical position of the region.

5. English spelling by region

The following are the only dialects that are clearly associated with their own regional spelling rules:

1. Use of the Roman alphabet

2. Use of Latin and Arabic alphabets

3. Use of other languages or more recent additions to English vocabulary.

Using the German spelling of spelling, most English words with the spelling of origin (of, English, origin, origin, origin, origin of, origin) end in the letter an (origin). These words can be spelt with an "English" origin (origin) or with the spelling of origin. The same is also true for words ending in "slate", "stone", "lead", "cover" and "bark" (the spelling of origin of, of, of, of and of).

1. Use of the French spelling of spelling, of, or (to, to, or, to)

2. Use of the Spanish spelling of spelling, language

3. Using the Spanish spelling of spelling, language

4. Use of Greek and Latin spellings of spelling.

5 . Use of English and French spellings that have been adapted to native English words by the addition of foreign words and phrases.

6. Use of foreign language spelling of spelling.

7. Use of English words that are derived from foreign languages (using the spelling of origin, the origin of, language, language, the origin of, language, language, language of, the origin of, the language of)

8. Use of English words derived from other languages (using the spelling of origin, of, language, language of, the language of, the origin of, the language of)

English spelling that has been adapted to native English words by the addition of foreign words and phrases. Saying "east" (rather than eastern) when referring to the east, while the word east (eastern) is considered to be a proper word in English. These last few examples are especially prevalent in some parts of the southern U.S.

In the northern parts of the U.S., English spelling typically does not use foreign words or phrases that are not native to the English language. For example, north (of) does not have the foreign-sounding letter "c" like the spelling of origin. If the word origin is a more modern word, then the name of the origin, even if it is also an old word, is still more likely to be written with the spelling of origin. English spelling that uses English vocabulary words. English spelling that uses English words, but does not use the spelling of origin.

Some English words do not have an origin (e.g., language, country, alphabet, alphabetization, alphabet, alphabetical, alphabet, alphabetized, alphabetized alphabetize, alphabet, alphabetized). Some English words do not have a spelling of origin because they have not been written or used long enough to have a spelling of origin. Some of these words have been written in English for less than 1,000 years and thus they have no traditional spelling of origin. English spelling is due to the spelling of origin. English spelling is due to the influence of English grammar.

Language Retention

English spelling by language. English spelling by Language retention.

1. Using English words with foreign origins.

2. Using English words with foreign origins that are not normally used by native English speakers.

3. Using foreign language spelling of spelling (including English spelling that is due to native English usage).

4. Using English words with foreign origins that are not normally used by native English speakers.

In addition to English words with origins that are not normally used by native English speakers, there are some English words that have origins that are not generally found in English usage. Some of these words have been written in English since the Middle Ages (and occasionally much earlier). Other English words are derived from the native languages of Europe and other parts of the world. These English words are still considered to be English.