The History of the English Language

The History of the English Language

How we got to where we are now.

What country does English literature come from?

England!

In what language is English literature written?

English!

Did you know that….

• English did not exist when Julius Caesar landed in Britain 2000 years ago.

• 500 years ago, Englisc, was spoken by about the same number of people that now speak Cherokee.

• By the end of the 16th century (Shakespeare’s day) English was the native speech of 5-7 million Englishmen.

Amazing!

• The English language has gone from being a relatively obscure to a language that is “more widely scattered, more widely spoken and written, than any other language has ever been.”

• It has become “the language of the planet, the truly global language.”

What do you think?

Agree or disagree?Provide evidence.

True or False

• English has the largest vocabulary of any language.

• True

• English has 500,000 words catalogued in the dictionary

• German has 185,000.• French has less than

100,000.

True or False

• Only English can count more speakers than Chinese.

• False

• Only Chinese can count more speakers than English.

True or False

• Half of the world’s mail is in English.

• False

• Three-quarters of the world’s mail is in English.

True or False

• More than half of the world’s technical and scientific magazines are in English.

• True

True or False

• Sixty percent of the information stored in computers is in English.

• False

• Eighty percent of the information stored is in English.

True or False

• English is the official language of the the Olympics and the Miss Universe competition.

• True

Where Did Language Originate?

• What were the first words ever spoken?

Back to the Beginning

• The Bible says, “In the beginning, the Lord created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1)

• But HOW did God create the world?• He SPOKE. He used words to form the “face of

the deep” and to “separate the waters.”• What language did He use?• We don’t know!

Back to the Beginning

• What we do know is that everyone on the whole earth spoke the SAME language.

• What changed?

Events

-Creation-Humans become wicked-Flood-Noah and his family are saved-Noah’s descendants build the tower of Babel

The Tower of Babel

After the Tower of Babel

• Earth now has approximately 6,000 different languages.

• Where did they all come from?

• Only 3-4 “root” languages were created at the Tower of Babel.

• All other languages can be traced back to these languages.

Indo-European Language

• One of the original root languages• Spoken by people that were scattered into the

European continent, India, and parts of the Middle East

The Language Tree

• They’re all related

How Do We Know?

• Sir William Jones, a lawyer, discovered the language connection between Sanskrit (an ancient Indian language), Greek, and Latin , while conducting research.

• He discovered that the common source were the Indo-European roots that extend to fully one third of all the world’s languages.

Take a Look

English Latin French Spanish Italian Greek

one unus un uno uno oinos

two duo deux dos due duo

three tres trois tres tre treis

father pater pere padre padre pater

mother mater mere madre madre meter

Not So SimilarEnglish Latin Greek Slavic Sanskrit Chinese Japanese

six sex heks sesti sat liu muttsu

seven septem hepta sedmi sapta chi nanatsu

eight octo okto osmi asta ba yattsu

nine novem ennea deveti nava jio kononotsu

ten decem deka deseti dasa shih to

Decide for Yourself

• Read the account of the Tower of Babel.• Write a thoughtful paragraph (7-8 sentences)

explaining whether you agree or disagree with this explanation of the origin of multiple languages. Provide logical arguments to defend your position.

• Be prepared to discuss the handout in class.