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Historical Background of British and American English
The history of the English language is divided into three periods: The period from 450 to 1150 is known as the Old English. It is described as the period of full inflections(词尾变化), since during most of this period the case ending of the noun, the adjective and the conjugation(结合) of the verb were not weakened. Old English was a highly inflected language. It had a complete system of declensions(变格) with four case and conjugations. So Old English grammar differs from Modern English grammar in these aspects(方面). The period from 1150 is known as the Middle English period. It is know as the period inflections. This period was marked by important changes in the English language. The Norman Conquest was the cause of these changes. The change of this period had a great effect on both grammar and vocabulary. In this period many Old English words were lost, but thousands of words borrowed from French and Latin appeared in the English vocabulary. In the Middle English period grammatical gender(性) disappeared, grammatical gender was completely replaced by the natural gender.
Modern English period extends from 1500 to the present day. The Early modern English period extends from 1500 to 1700. The chief influence of this time was great humanistic(人文主义的) movement of the Renaissance. The influence of Latin and Greek on English was great. The nineteenth and twentieth centuries are a period of rapid expansion(扩张) for the English vocabulary in the history of the English language.
The development of the English language in America can be separated into three periods: The first period extends from the settlement of Jamestown in 1607 to the end of colonial times. In this period the population in America numbered about four million people, 90 of percent of whom came from Britain. The second period covers the expansion of the original thirteen colonies. This time may be said to close with the Civil War, about 1860. This period was marked by the arrival of the new immigrants(移民) from Ireland and Germany. The third period, since the Civil War, is marked by an important change in the source from which the European immigrants came. They came from northern and southern Europe in large numbers.
As time went on, the English language gradually changed on both sides of the Atlantic. The Americans adopted(接纳) many words from foreign languages and invented large number of new words to meet their various needs.
American English began in the seventeenth century. At the beginning of the 17th century the English language was brought to North American by colonists from English. They used
the language spoken in England, that is, Elizabethan English,
the language used by Shakespeare, Milton and Banyan. At first
the language stayed the same as the language used in Britain,
but slowly the language began to change. Sometimes, the
English spoken in American changed but sometimes the language
spoken in the place stayed the same, while the language in
England changed.
Following American independence, famous persons like
Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Webster began to consider
that the country should have a language of its own. English in
America has developed a character(特点) of its own, reflecting
the life and the physical and social environment of the
American people.
Selected from An Introduction to English Lexicology by Lin
Chengzhang
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A Brief Look at the History of English
赵宝斌 摘选 注释
The history of English is conventionally(按惯例), if perhaps
too neatly(巧妙地), divided into three periods usually called Old
English (or Anglo-Saxon), Middle English, and Modern English.
The earliest period begins with the migration of certain
Germanic tribes from the continent to Britain in the fifth
century A. D., though no records of their language survive
from before the seventh century, and it continues until the
end of the eleventh century or a bit later. By that time
Latin, Old Norse (the language of the Viking invaders), and
especially the Anglo-Norman French of the dominant(占优势的) class
after the Norman Conquest in 1066 had begun to have a
substantial impact(冲击) on the lexicon(词法), and the
well-developed inflectional(词尾变化的) system that typifies(代表)
the grammar of Old English had begun to break down. The
following brief sample of Old English prose illustrates
several of the significant ways in which change has so
transformed(转化) English that we must look carefully to find
points of resemblance(相似) between the language of the tenth
century and our own. It is taken from Aelfric's "Homily on St.
Gregory the Great" and concerns the famous story of how that
pope came to send missionaries(传教士) to convert(使...改变信仰) the
Anglo-Saxons to Christianity after seeing Anglo-Saxon boys for
sale as slaves in Rome.
A few of these words will be recognized as identical(一致)
in spelling with their modern equivalents(对应词) -- he, of, him,
for, and, on -- and the resemblance of a few others to
familiar words may be guessed -- nama to name, comon to come,
wære to were, wæs to was -- but only those who have made a
special study of Old English will be able to read the passage
with understanding. The sense of it is as follows: "Again he
[St. Gregory] asked what might be the name of the people from
which they came. It was answered to him that they were named
Angles. Then he said, 'Rightly are they called Angles because
they have the beauty of angels, and it is fitting that such as
they should be angels' companions in heaven.' " Some of the
words in the original have survived in altered form, including
axode (asked), hu (how), rihtlice (rightly), engla (angels),
habbað (have), swilcum (such), heofonum (heaven), and beon
(be). Others, however, have vanished from our lexicon, mostly
without a trace, including several that were quite common
words in Old English: eft "again," ðeode "people, nation,"
cwæð "said, spoke," gehatene "called, named," wlite
"appearance, beauty," and geferan "companions." Recognition of
some words is naturally hindered by the presence of two
special characters, þ, called "thorn," and ð, called "edh,"
which served in Old English to represent the sounds now
spelled with th.
Other points worth noting include the fact that the
pronoun system did not yet, in the late tenth century, include
the third person plural forms beginning with th-: hi appears
where we would use they. Several aspects(方面) of word order
will also strike the reader as oddly unlike ours. Subject and
verb are inverted(倒装) after an adverb -- þa cwæð he "Then said
he" -- a phenomenon(现象) not unknown in Modern English but now
restricted to a few adverbs such as never and requiring the
presence of an auxiliary verb like do or have. In
subordinate(复合句) clauses the main verb must be last, and so an
object or a preposition may precede it in a way no longer
natural: þe hi of comon "which they from came," for ðan ðe hi
engla wlite habbað "because they angels' beauty have."
Perhaps the most distinctive difference between Old and
Modern English reflected in Aelfric's sentences is the
elaborate(细微) system of inflections, of which we now have only
remnants. Nouns, adjectives, and even the definite article are
inflected for gender, case(格), and number: ðære ðeode "(of)
the people" is feminine(女性的), genitive(属格的), and singular,
Angle "Angles" is masculine(男性的), accusative(宾格的), and plural,
and swilcum "such" is masculine, dative(与格的), and plural. The
system of inflections for verbs was also more elaborate than
ours: for example, habbað "have" ends with the -að suffix
characteristic(特性) of plural present indicative verbs. In
addition, there were two imperative(祈使) forms, four
subjunctive forms (two for the present tense and two for the
preterit, or past, tense), and several others which we no
longer have. Even where Modern English retains(保留) a
particular category(范围) of inflection, the form has often
changed. Old English present participles ended in -ende not
-ing, and past participles bore a prefix ge- (as geandwyrd
"answered" above).
The period of Middle English extends roughly(大概) from
the twelfth century through the fifteenth. The influence of
French (and Latin, often by way of French) upon the lexicon
continued throughout this period, the loss of some inflections
and the reduction of others (often to a final unstressed(非读的)
vowel spelled -e) accelerated(加强), and many changes took place
within the phonological(音韵的) and grammatical systems of the
language. A typical prose passage, especially one from the
later part of the period, will not have such a foreign look to
us as Aelfric's prose(散文) has; but it will not be mistaken for
contemporary writing either. The following brief passage is
drawn from a work of the late fourteenth century called
Mandeville's Travels. It is fiction(小说) in the guise(外观) of
travel literature, and, though it purports(主旨) to be from the
pen of an English knight, it was originally written in French
and later translated into Latin and English. In this
extract(摘录) Mandeville describes the land of Bactria,
apparently not an altogether inviting place, as it is
inhabited(居住) by "full yuele [evil] folk and full cruell."
The spelling is often peculiar by modern standards and
even inconsistent(不一致) within these few sentences (contré and
contree, o [griffoun] and a [gret hors], þanne and þan, for
example). Moreover, in the original text, there is in addition
to thorn another old character 3, called "yogh," to make
difficulty. It can represent several sounds but here may be
thought of as equivalent to y. Even the older spellings
(including those where u stands for v or vice versa) are
recognizable, however, and there are only a few words like
ipotaynes "hippopotamuses" and sithes "times" that have
dropped out of the language altogether. We may notice a few
words and phrases that have meanings no longer common such as
byttere "salty," o this half "on this side of the world," and
at the poynt "to hand," and the effect of the centuries-long
dominance(统治) of French on the vocabulary is evident in many
familiar words which could not have occurred in Aelfric's
writing even if his subject had allowed them, words like
contree, ryueres, plentee, egle, and lyoun.
In general word order is now very close to that of our
time, though we notice constructions like hath the body more
gret and three sithes more þan is the water of the see. We
also notice that present tense verbs still receive a plural
inflection as in beren, dwellen, han, and ben and that while
nominative(主格的) þei has replaced Aelfric's hi in the third
person plural, the form for objects is still hem. All the
same, the number of inflections for nouns, adjectives, and
verbs has been greatly reduced, and in most respects
Mandeville is closer to Modern than to Old English.
The period of Modern English extends from the sixteenth
century to our own day. The early part of this period saw the
completion of a revolution in the phonology(音韵学) of English
that had begun in late Middle English and that effectively
redistributed(再分散) the occurrence(发生) of the vowel
phonemes(音素) to something approximating(接近) their present
pattern. (Mandeville's English would have sounded even less
familiar to us than it looks.) Other important early
developments include the stabilizing(固定) effect on spelling of
the printing press and the beginning of the direct influence
of Latin and, to a lesser extent, Greek on the lexicon. Later,
as English came into contact with other cultures around the
world and distinctive(不同的) dialects(方言) of English developed
in the many areas which Britain had colonized, numerous other
languages made small but interesting contributions(贡献) to our
word-stock.
The historical aspect of English really encompasses(包括)
more than the three stages(阶段) of development just under
consideration. English has what might be called a
prehistory(史前的) as well. As we have seen, our language did not
simply spring into existence; it was brought from the
Continent by Germanic tribes who had no form of writing and
hence left no records. Philologists(语言学家) know that they must
have spoken a dialect of a language that can be called West
Germanic and that other dialects of this unknown language must
have included the ancestors(祖先) of such languages as German,
Dutch, Low German, and Frisian. They know this because of
certain systematic similarities which these languages share
with each other but do not share with, say, Danish. However,
they have had somehow to reconstruct what that language was
like in its lexicon(词法), phonology(音韵学), grammar, and
semantics(语义学) as best they can through sophisticated(先进的)
techniques of comparison developed chiefly(主要地) during the
last century. Similarly, because ancient and modern languages
like Old Norse and Gothic or Icelandic and Norwegian have
points in common with Old English and Old High German or Dutch
and English that they do not share with French or Russian, it
is clear that there was an earlier unrecorded language that
can be called simply Germanic and that must be reconstructed
in the same way. Still earlier, Germanic was just a dialect
(the ancestors of Greek, Latin, and Sanskrit were three other
such dialects) of a language conventionally designated
(指定)Indo-European, and thus English is just one relatively
young member of an ancient family of languages whose
descendants(后代) cover a fair portion of the globe.
Selected from homepage by Eleston
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English History
These pages provide a quick tour of the English language and
the some of the changes it has seen. Included for your reading
pleasure is a brief tour of Old English and Middle English. In
addition, I have some Items of Interest and Related Links at
the end.
Below is an excerpt of The Nativity according to Luke, first
in Old English, then in Middle English (two translations,
about 225 years apart). If you look at them carefully, you can
see the similarities -- and the striking(明显) differences.
Those who know German or a Scandinavian language can see why
English is called a sister language of German. Also, there was
a time back in the Old English period when the Scandinavian
languages (Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Icelandic) and English
were mutually understandable. English is certainly the one
that has broken further away from the other four
(Scandinavians can still pretty much understand each other's
dialects), but the strong influence of Latin (mostly through
the church and scholars) and the Norman invasion(入侵) of
England brought about significant changes in the language, as
did a host of smaller influences.
The Nativity was chosen because the gospels are available in
all three "languages".
Old English
Sotlice on tam dagum w?s geworden gebod fram tam
casereAugusto, t?t eall ymbehwyrft w?re tomearcod. Teos
tomearcodnesw?s ?ryst geworden fram tam deman Syrige Cirino.
And ealle hig eodon,and syndrige ferdon on hyra ceastre. Da
ferde Iosep fram Galilea of t?receastre Nazareth on Iudeisce
ceastre Dauides, seo is genemned Bethleem, for tam te he w?s
of Dauides huse and hirede; t?t he ferde mid Mariante him
beweddod w?s, and w?s geeacnod. Sotlice w?s geworden ta hi tar
w?ron, hire dagas w?ron gefyllede t?t heo cende. And heo cende
hyre frumcennedan sunu, and hine mid cildclatum bewand, and
hine on binne alede, for tam te hig n?fdon rum on cumena huse.
And hyrdas w?ron on tam ylcan rice waciende, and nihtw?ccan
healdende ofer heora heorda. TA stod Drihtnes engel wit hig,
and Godes beorhtnes him ymbe scean; and hi him mycelum ege
adredon. And se engel him to cw?e, Nelle GE eow adr?dan;
sotlice nu ic eow bodie mycelne gefean, se bie eallum folce;
for tam to d?g eow ys H?lend acenned, se is Drihten Crist, on
Dauides ceastre. And tis tacen eow bye: GE gemetae an cild
hr?glum bewunden, and on binne aled. And TA w?s f?ringa
geworden mid tam engle mycelnes heofenlices werydes, God
heriendra and tus cwetendra, Gode sy wuldor on heahnesse, and
on eorean sybb mannum godes willan.
Middle English
(translation by John Wycliffe, c. 1380-83)
And it was don in tho daies, a maundement wente out fro the
emperour August, thatal the world schulde be discryued. This
firste discryuyng was maad of Cyryn, iustice of Sirie. And
alle men wenten to make professioun, ech in to his owne citee.
And Joseph went vp fro Galilee, fro the citee Nazareth, in to
Judee, in to a citee of Dauid, that is clepid Bethleem, for
that he was of the hous and of the meyne of Dauid, that he
schulde knouleche with Marie, his wijf, that was weddid to
hym, and was greet with child. And it was don, while thei
weren there, the daies were fulfillid, that sche schulde bere
child. And sche bare hir first borun sone, and wlappide hym in
clothis, and leide hym in a cratche, for ther was no place to
hym in no chaumbir. And scheepherdis weren in the same cuntre,
wakynge and kepynge the watchis of the nygt on her flok. And
lo! the aungel of the Lord stood bisidis hem, and the
cleernesse of God schinede aboute hem; and thei dredden with
greet drede. And the aungel seide to hem, Nyle ye drede; for
lo! Y preche to you a greet ioye, that schal be to al puple.
For a sauyoure is borun to dai to you, that is Crist the Lord,
in the citee of Dauid. And this is a tokene to you; ye schulen
fynde a yong child wlappid in clothis, and leid in a cratche.
And sudenli ther was maad with the aungel a multitude of
heuenli knygthod, heriynge God, and seiynge, Glorie be in the
higeste thingis to God, and in erthe pees be to men of good
wille.
(King James version, c. 1604)
And it came to passe in those dayes, that there went out a
decree from Cesar Augustus, that all the world should be
taxed. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was
gouernor of Syria) And all went to bee taxed, euery one into
his owne citie. And Joseph also went vp fro Galilee, out of
the citie of Nazareth, into Judea, vnto the citie of Dauid,
which is called Bethlehem, (because he was of the house and
linage of Dauid,) To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife,
being great with child. And so it was, that while they were
there, the dayes were accomplished that she should be
deliuered. And she brought foorth her first borne sonne, and
wrapped him in swadling clothes, and laid him in a manger,
because there was no roome for them in the Inne. And there
were in the same countrey shepheards abiding in y field,
keeping watch ouer their flocke by night. And loe, the Angel
of the Lord came vpon them, and the glory of the Lord shone
round about them, and they were sore afraid. And the Angel
said vnto them, Feare not: For behold, I bring you good
tidings of great ioy, which shall be to all people. For vnto
you is borne this day, in the citie of Dauid, a Sauiour, which
is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a signe vnto you; yee
shall find the babe wrapped in swadling clothes lying in a
manger. And suddenly there was with the Angel a multitude of
the heauenly hoste praising God, and saying, Glory to God in
the highest, and on earth peace, good wil towards men.
Copyright 1996-2002 Shelley Hatfield.
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