Quote:
Originally Posted by StGeorge
(Post 3356737)
If as we can ascertain, that the Irish/Celtic language was influenced by the introduction of Latin, then i would say that the Roman influence in the land to become England would also be heavily Latin. So the Celtic language as such at the time the Saxons came was probably not much related to the original natives of the land now known as England. It too was probably an evolved language.
|
Again no. I can see why you would assume that but Irish and Latin were very separate. The Romans never
fully conquered the Celts, but drove them back - so we have pockets of uninfluenced Celtic languages surviving. The Irish clerical men (and Scots and Welsh clerical in Ireland, e.g. St.Patrick himself) spoke both Latin and various forms of Gaelic but did not merge the two. The population at large spoke only the various forms of Gaelic.
Latin was a written language, a scholarly thing and when a word was borrowed into general use it was pronounced as per the Gaelic pronunciation.
http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/...esources/98104
Quote:
Originally Posted by StGeorge
(Post 3356737)
As you say, those natives left behind with the saxons would take up the Germanic influence....which is basically what i said. The other influences from Vikings and Normans also had a massive effect.
|
The difference in what is now England, and with the Germanic language spoken there, is the Germanic invaders
ruled there, they settled. The British people (Celts) living there had been ruled by the Romans, but not assimilated. When the Angles, Saxons and Jutes came over they settled and assimilated those Celts that remained. The Celtic languages in the Anglo-Saxon ruled kingdoms (Mercia [midlands], East Anglia [as is], Northumbria [up to Hadrian's wall] and Wessex [modern south west excluding Cornwall]) died out. The Latin influence on Old English is very much as a spoken language. A language of trade and negotiation between mostly illiterate people. Therefore the majority of Latin words borrowed into Old English would have preserved the continental pronunciation.
http://www.orbilat.com/Influences_of...d_English.html
Quote:
Originally Posted by StGeorge
(Post 3356737)
The Vikings are known to have had a massive settlement and influence in the North East which is how Geordies have evolved. The main Saxon settlements only really established in the middle to south of England. Another influence, funnily enough, was via Scotland and Christianity, which had come to Scotland via Ireland seeing as the Scots are Irish and overtook/influenced the Pics.
|
That's Pic
ts. And while the influences you state are completely true the areas you refer to didn't evolve there languages separately. Yes, there are regional variations of
dialect coming from these different influences - but the language now call 'English' has a coherent evolution across the entire geographical region.
Quote:
Originally Posted by StGeorge
(Post 3356737)
At the end of the day, the languages of the peoples of the British Isles have gone through various changes and influences over centuries and centuries, and if you look at what the kids of today in London sound like, then it hasnt stopped evolving yet.
Come back in 100 years and we English speakers will be the minority.lol.
|
I agree with the first part - I don't agree with the second. English is the second most widely spoken language on the planet. It is the 3rd most spoken first language and the most spoken second language. It has long since replaced French as the language of diplomacy and I think can safely be considered the
lingua franca of this planet (as Mandarin Chinese is more geographically confined).
English is the Latin of the modern age and it will take it a good deal more than a 100 years to be replaced by something else.