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English Methodology

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History of English Language

English belongs to Indo-European family of languages.

English originated from Germanic branch of Indo European language family.

The history of English language can be studied in three different periods.

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Viz: 1. Old English (500 - 1100 AD)

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2. Middle English (1100 - 1500 AD)

3. Modern English (1500 - Present)

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Salient features of the different periods of English Language:

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Old English: In the 5th century two important tribes namely 'Angles' and 'Saxons'
settled in the British islands.

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The people of these two tribes developed a friendship and the common language
they spoke was called 'Anglo - Saxon'.

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This 'Anglo - Saxon' language gradually came to be called as Englisic' and the
land where this language was spoken came to be recognised as 'Engla - land'
and now called as England.

Old English had four major dialects:

1. North Umbrian

2. Mercian

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3. West Saxon

4. Kentish

Old English did not sound or look like the English of present day.

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Example:

Old English /

Modern English

Middle English

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Today

at present

hu:s

haws

house

wi:f

wayf

wife

spo:n

spu:n

spoon

'Beowulf' is the only source available written in old English.

R-25-12-14

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Middle English Period: In 1066 William, the Duke of Normandy (part of modern
France) conquered England. The new rulers called Normans, spoke
Anglo - Norman.

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After the invasion of England the rulers and the upper class spoke Norman

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French where as the ruled (common people) spoke Anglo - Saxon (old English).

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Thus a blending of Anglo - Saxon, the language of the ruled and

Anglo - Norman, the language of the rulers gave birth to Middle English.

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The most famous example of Middle English is Chaucer's "Prologue to

Canterbury Tales".

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Modern English Period: Modern English period can be studied in two phases
namely Early Modern English and Late Modern English.

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In the period of Early Modern English, the Renaissance Movement brought a

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tremendous change in the English language. Many classical Latin and Greek
words found place in the language.

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William Shakespeare in his play "Love's Labour's Lost" had used early Modern

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English.

Example:

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Great Vowel Shift was the distinct feature of the early Modern English phase.
Great Vowel Shift distinguishes Modern English from Middle English.

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The Middle English has words with Vowels which are pronounced from the back
of the mouth, where as the words in Modern English are pronounced from the

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front of the mouth.

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The Great Vowel Shift was first studied by Otto Jesperson, a Danish linguist and
he coined the term.

In the phase of modern English the first purely English Alphabetical dictionary
"A Table Alphabeticall" was written by Robert Cawdrey in 1604. Later in 1755,

Samuel Johnson's dictionary was published.

In the late Modern English phase, the Industrial Revolution and expansion of
British empire resulted in the development of English language borrowing many
words from several languages. It is still in progress and continues to progress.

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Important Definitions

Language is purely human and non-instinctive method of communicating ideas,

emotions and desires by means of a system of voluntarily produced symbols .

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- SAPIR

Language is a system of arbitrary symbols used for human communication.

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- WARDHAUGH

Language is a set of human habits the purpose of which is to give expression to

thoughts and feelings and to import them to others.
- OTTO JESPERSON

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Origin of Language

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It is almost difficult to say anything about the origin of language. Several

theories have been expounded in support of its origin and nature but all are based on
speculation and guess.

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According to 'Divine Gift theory', language is the gift of god. Not only in India
but in many countries the people believe that divine is the source of origin of
language.

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Another view is that the cries of animals, noises of birds served as a source of
inspiration to the primitive man to express himself, through speech. This theory
is known as 'Bo-bo theory'. It is also called imitation theory.

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Another theory with regard to the evolution of language concerned is

'Ding-dong theory'. The sound ding-dong is associated with the ringing of the
bell. This theory believes that there is an inherent quality in certain objects to
force the man to elicit certain sounds resembling the sounds of those objects.

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The Yo-he-Ho theory' is one which assumes certain kind of physical exertions
produce certain sounds which give a feeling of relief to our system. The uttering
of sounds like 'Hayi-sha' helped the man to evolve the language.

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Distinctive Features of Language

A clear understanding of various features of language is necessary for the

understanding of the nature of language. The following are some distinctive features:
a)

Language is systematic: Language is a kind of code. It has a complex system

with many subsystems.

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Language
Phonology

Morphology

Syntax

Semantics

deals with
phonemes
(sounds)

system of
words

system of
structure,
word order

system of
meaning

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Just as various systems of our body - heart, lungs, hands, eyes etc. though
different, yet work in coordination. Similarly the system of language functions
with the coordination of sounds, words, structures and finally gives a message.

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Language is arbitrary: The meaning of the term, 'arbitrary' can be understood

as illogical. Language chooses its own system of speech sounds and has words
for different objects. There is no direct connection between the sound or form of
any word and the object it represents. The following illustration reflects the
arbitrariness of language.

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'CAT' in Different Languages:

Language

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Name

Telugu

Pilli (Lx)

Kannada

Bekku

Tamil

Punai

Arabic

Quitte

Chinese

Miu

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It is evident from the above illustration that English name 'Cat' given to that
animal is not the same in other languages. Hence words and their meanings have
no natural connection and so it is arbitrary.

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Language is creative: The word 'creative' refers to the capacity of language

users to produce and understand an indefinitely large number of sentences of
which we have not heard or used before.

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Language exhibits redundancy: The repetition of the same idea or item of

information with in a phrase or clause of a sentence is called redundancy in
language. Language has the ability to repeat an idea without using the same
words and structures.

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e.g.: Cut it out! ('out' is redundant)
advance planning ('advance')

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added bonus ('added')

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Displacement: Language exhibits displacement. Displacement means an ability

to express or speak about things that are not physically present. We can talk about
fairies, angels, heaven, hell etc. which we have never seen and learnt only from
the scriptures.

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Language transmits culture: Language is said to be an agent or custodian of

culture. It is the most important tool for transmitting culture from one generation
to the other. Infact culture and language are intrinsically intertwined that the loss
of one leads to the loss of the other. We have all learnt English and hence we use
terms / phrases like - thank you, sorry, yes, no, ok, sure etc. frequently than
others who have not learnt English. Using expressions like these is a sign of
acquiring the culture of language we have learnt.

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g)

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Language exhibits prevarication: Language helps us to be imaginative and

creative. We can tell fairy tales and fables which are not really true. Lot of
imagination and creativity take place while narrating these type of stories. Hence
we can assume that human languages provide a scope to give false messages.

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Key Points Of The Topic

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English belongs to the Germanic branch of Indo-European family of languages.

Old English is the other name for Anglo-Saxon language.

A combination of Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Norman gave birth to Middle

English.

Great Vowel Shift - a change in the pronunciation was studied by Jesperson. He

was instrumental to coin the term.

"A Table Alphabeticall' - the first English dictionary was written by Robert
Cawdrey.

Language is primarily speech, human and non-instinctive.

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Language is a macro system consisting of four micro systems - Phonology,

Morphology, Syntax and Semantics.

Language has many distinctive features - such as - creativity, asbitrariness,

redundancy and prevarication.

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Nature of Language:
"The most impressive of human abilities is that of language" - John D. Barrow.

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Language is an integral part of human life. It serves as a means to express our

thoughts, beliefs, ideas and emotions. Language is an outstanding trait of human
beings.

Model Questions with Answers

1.

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2) Indo-Iranian

3) Afro-Asian

3.

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The first English dictionary .....

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2) A Table Alphabeticall

3) Random House dictionary

4) Oxford dictionary

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"Beowulf" was written in .....

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2) Middle English

4) Modern English

3) Anglo-Norman

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4) Austro-African

1) Merriam - Webster's dictionary

1) Old English

4.

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English belongs to ..... family of languages.

1) Indo-European

2.

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Many Greek and Latin words found a place in English during ..... period.
1) Old English

2) Middle English

3) Early Modern English

4) Late Modern English

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'Great Vowel Shift' stands for .....

1) Reformation in English

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2) Flow of words from other languages

3) Transition of words from other languages

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4) Change in the pronunciation.

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The term 'Great Vowel Shift' was coined by....

1) Palmer

7.

2) Jesperson

3) Michael West

4) Edward Sapir

The linguistic ability of human beings to describe the things in the past and the
future denotes .....
1) Language is arbitary

2) Language is an agent of culture

3) Language exhibits redundancy

4) Lanuage exhibits displacement

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8.

The 'system of sounds' pertaining to language can be termed as .....

1) Semantics

9.

2) Syntax

3) Phonology

4) Morphology

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The popular theory with regard to the evolution of language is .....

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1) Divine gift theory

2) Bo-bo theory

3) Ho-ho theory

4) Ding-dong theory

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10. Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols was propounded by .....

1) Sapir

2) Wardhaugh

3) Barbara

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ANSWERS

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4) Jesperson

1-1; 2-2; 3-1; 4-4; 5-4; 6-2; 7-4; 8-3; 9-1; 10-2.

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Writer: S. Rahamathulla

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