5/18/2010

WHY YOU ARE HERE

You're here because you speak English and you think it's
more than just another language. Maybe you even love it
ENG 4820 like I do.
Historyy of the English
g Language
g g IfIf you don
don'tt love it,
it you should! And if you don
don'tt love it by
the time this course is over, then either you or I will have
Dr. Michael Getty | Spring 2010 failed horribly.
INTRODUCTION

THERE HAS NEVER BEEN

A LANGUAGE LIKE ENGLISH
With every single thought we utter, our words are
drenched in thousands of years of human history.
Empires rising and falling. Massive invasions, heroic
battles forbidden love!
battles,
And traces of every major development in Western
thought and culture for the last three thousand years.
ENGLISH TODAY
English today is the native language of almost 400 million
people living throughout the Americas, Europe, Asia, and
Africa, the shared global language of finance, aviation,
medicine, the sciences, and engineering.
It is a crucial language to hundreds of millions more.
The largest volume of published literature in human history
is in modern English.

1500 YEARS AGO? NOT SO MUCH. A CAUTIONARY TALE …

What we now call Europe, 5th Century CE. Population:
about 30 million, not much more than the population of
Missouri and Illinois.
Mostly a tribal society apart from the crumbling Roman
Empire: No organized governments, no large settlements,
no borders, dozens of different languages, cultures, and
religions, limited agriculture and technology.
What we now call 'Britain':
A backwater island populated by Celtic tribes and vulnerable Roman
outposts
Circa 450 CE, a Roman-Celtic chieftain named Vortigern is having
trouble fighting off the Picts, a menacing group of tribes from the
north so he hires some mercenaries from among tribes living in what
north,
we now call the Netherlands, Germany, and Denmark.
These people call themselves Angles, Saxons, and Jutes, and they
are related to the tribal groups the Romans are dealing with on the
continent in an area they call 'Germania.'

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BE CAREFUL OF
A SHORT TIME LATER…
THE BARGAINS YOU MAKE!  By the early 7th century, the invaders have settled down, converted
Vortigern's hired thugs to Christianity, and modeled themselves after a remembered Roman
like the country so much
that after they fight off the culture. They call themselves, more or less interchangeably, by the
Picts, they decide to names of the two dominant tribes, the Angles and the Saxons.
invade it themselves.
Within a hundred years,  They call their language Engelisc, and here's approximately what it
they basically run the
place, and the Celtic looked and sounded like, ca. 750 CE.
cultures, long abandoned
by Rome, are pushed
back to what we now call
Scotland, Ireland, and
Wales.
Source: David Crystal, The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language (1995: 1)

BRACE YOURSELVES! ENGLISH: A LANGUAGE OF INVASIONS

WHAT THE HELL
IS THIS?
This language is totally
alien to our ears!
 The last person who
would have understood it
without college-level
coursework died over a
thousand years ago.
 And yet we still call it
English, the name it has
carried every day since
then. This is change on a
scale that is rare and
troubling in its vastness.
Source: David Crystal, The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language (1995: 11)
 While there are limits on our ability to explain everything in the past,
two big events account for much of the shocking change in English
over the past thousand years.
Scandinavian settlers, speaking a closely related but distinct
Germanic language, which became Danish/Norwegian/Swedish
b k hhome. Th
back They overran the
h northern
h andd eastern centrall areas
of England from the 8th to the 10th centuries before blending into
the local population.
In the late 11th century, the French-speaking ‘Normans,’
themselves descendants of Scandinavian invaders (‘North men’)
who had settled in France in exchange for a promise to stop
attacking the place.

DISTANT EVENTS. VERY MUCH ALIVE. DISTANT EVENTS. VERY MUCH ALIVE.
 When two languages are in prolonged contact, they tend to simplify  Centuries of invasion and co-habitation left English more
over time to a greater degree than languages in isolation. open to foreign influences than its more isolated
 English lost a huge amount of grammatical complexity in the centuries counterparts
following the Scandinavian and Norman invasions. A simple phrase like
‘the stone’ would have had any of the following forms in the 8th century,  More than half of modern English vocabulary consists of
d
depending
di on iits position
i i iin a sentence: se stan, thaes
h stanes, tham
h words imported from other languages in the past 1500 years.
years
stane. Most significantly:
 Each wave brought a mass importation of words from the invaders’ Latin!
language:
From the Scandinavians: they, are, egg, ill, skin
French!
From the Normans: dine, beef, government, courtesy

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LATIN ON OUR TONGUES LATIN ON OUR TONGUES

 Latin was the language of the Roman Empire, whose cultural and In the course of the Middle Ages, local varieties of
linguistic legacy we live with every single day as part of organized civil
society: documented systems of laws and procedures, offices, streets, Latin evolved into what we now call the Romance (in
plumbing, medicine, state-sponsored religion, almost everything else we other words, Roman) languages: French, Spanish,
take or have taken for granted at any point in our own history. Portugese, Italian.
 Hint:
Hi All these
h words
d were imported
i d from
f Latin.
L i
All of these languages, and especially French in a very
big way, play roles in the story of English, alongside
their mother, Latin, which continues as the language of
the Church.

LATIN ON OUR TONGUES THIS IS WHAT IT’S ALL ABOUT!

For two centuries, French was the language of the upper classes of The history of English is a story of diverse and
England, and every day, we use their words to talk about the areas they
dominated: powerful influences playing out over centuries,
as evidenced by the French loan words that now describe them: punctuated by sudden and convulsive changes tied to
• Warfare battle, siege, combat, army, defense, treason events on the ground.
• Building
B ildi construction,
t ti masonry, castles, tl bbuttress,
tt pillar
ill
• Law justice, justice, jury, legality, courts, testimony, attorney
It is easy to imagine these influences playing out even
• Government mayor, officer, judge, council, rule, prince, baron a little bit differently. Then we would have no English.
• Fashion embroider, satin, velvet, fur, jewel, adorn Or it would be another Celtic or Romance language. Or
• Art paint, color, music, letter, poetry, prose, tragedy, comedy something more like German or Swedish.
• Learning treatise, logic, music, grammar, substance, manner

THIS IS WHAT IT’S ALL ABOUT!

For something so fragile, so accidental to

have come so far, taking the spotlight at
this unique moment in human experience,
how could you not love it?!

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What is Linguistics? What is Linguistics?

Things I Get All the Time
•“Oh, I’d better watch what I say around you! Wouldn’t want We study what happens
you to know how much I butcher English!”
when people use language.
•The Reality: We study what is and what happens
when people use language – any language, however Pure Structure:
theyy use it. Which sounds
sounds, pieces of words
words, words
words, and groups of
•We are not in the business of telling anyone what words occur under which conditions?
they should or should not say or write. People who do
that are not linguists. They are grammarians, stylists, Which sounds, pieces of words, words, and groups of
or, in some cases, just tiresome people. words never occur?
•I will spend considerable time convincing you that
Language as a Social Construct
common sorts of ‘grammar policing’ are wrongheaded,
illogical, and, at their worst, a way of masking social Which sounds, pieces of words, words, and group of
bias behind objective-sounding pseudo-observations. words do people use in various social contexts?

What You Already Sorta Know What You Already Sorta Know
Look at this list of words. Going just on the sounds suggested Look at this list of words. Going just on the sounds suggested
by the letters you see, which of them are English? by the letters you see, which of them are English?
bilk iblk libk kilb bilk iblk libk kilb
bikl ibkl likb kibl bikl ibkl likb kibl
bkil ilbk lbik kbli bkil ilbk lbik kbli
bkli ilkb lbki kbil bkli ilkb lbki kbil
blik ilkb lkbi klib blik ilkb lkbi klib
blki iklb lkib kbli blki iklb lkib kbli

•bilk – to cheat someone out of something

•kibble – round food pellets, mostly for pets

What You Already Sorta Know What You Already Sorta Know
Now look at the list again.Which of them could be English? Now look at the list again.Which of them could be English?

bilk iblk libk kilb bilk iblk libk kilb

bikl ibkl likb kibl bikl ibkl likb kibl
bkil ilbk lbik kbli bkil ilbk lbik kbli
bkli ilkb lbki kbil bkli ilkb lbki kbil
blik ilkb lkbi klib blik ilkb lkbi klib
blki iklb lkib kbli blki iklb lkib kbli

• “ I bought a blik today!” -- “What’s a blik?”

• “I bought a kbli today!” -- “Huh?”

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What You Already Sorta Know What You Already Sorta Know
Now look at the list again.Which of them could be English? •Put your fingers or a thin piece of paper up close to your lips.
•Now say these words, slowly and with a little emphasis:
bilk iblk libk kilb •T a k e
bikl ibkl likb kibl •S t e a k
bkil ilbk lbik kbli •You should feel or see a puff of air after the sound cued by the
letter T in take but not as much in steak.
bkli ilkb lbki kbil
•Try other pairs: pair-spare, Pam-Spam, kin-skin, kit-skit
blik ilkb lkbi klib •If you’re a native speaker of English, you’ve been getting this
Blki iklb lkib kbli right with almost 100% predictability every day since you were
I could give you millions of random combinations of sounds, and about five years old.
as a native speaker, you would know, with a level of certainty
approaching 100%, which of them are potential English words.

What You Already Sorta Know What You Already Sorta Know
•Put a finger directly under your nostrils and then say these •Suppose I teach you a new word, blim, which means to
words very slowly: touch your elbows together. How would I say I did this
•S e e d yesterday?
•S e e n •I blimmed.
•You
Y should
h ld feel
f l warm, moist
i t air
i on your finger
fi when
h you hit •Suppose
S I teach
h you a new word,
d skrid,
k d which
hi h means a
the vowel sound in seen but not in seed. piece of hardened belly button lint. How would I tell
•Congratulations! You just manipulated your velum. you I have two of them?
•Your velum: A fleshy muscle in the middle of your head •Skrids.
between your oral and nasal cavities. When it’s relaxed, air
•How do you know how to say blimmed and skrids if
comes out of your nose. When it’s flexed, the air only comes
out of your mouth. you’d never heard these words before? Why not blum
•If you’re a native speaker of English, you’ve been doing this
and skridden?
with almost 100% accuracy since you were about five years old.

What You Already Sorta Know What You Already Sorta Know
Maybe you recall this Not long after Why
book, which explored Cats Paint, there was
the instinct some this …
common house cats
have to dip their
paws in paint and go
wild …

Source: Amazon.com Source: Amazon.com

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What You Already Sorta Know What You Already Sorta Know
Why is this funny? •Itdoesn’t have to be this way!
•Because everyone knows •Consider Latin, commonly spoken from about 500
that now it’s the cats that BCE to about 500 CE, the parent language of present-
are being painted, and day Portugese, Spanish, French, Catalan, Italian, and
Romanian (but not English!)
we’re not used to that sort
•All of these sentences mean ‘Marc
Marc loves Anna.’
Anna.
off thing
thi happening
h i to
t live
li
animals. •Marcusamat Annam.
•All that just from flipping •Marcus Annam amat.
two words around? •Amat Marcus Annam.
Cats Paint  Paint Cats •Amat Annam Marcus.
•Annam amat Marcus.
•Annam Marcus amat.

Source: Amazon.com Source: Amazon.com

What You Already Sorta Know What You Already Sorta Know
But what if the relationship is different? What if it’s But what if the relationship is different? What if it’s
Anna who loves Marc? Anna who loves Marc?
‘Marc loves Anna’ ‘Anna loves Marc’ ‘Marc loves Anna’ ‘Anna loves Marc’
Marcus amat Annam. Marcum amat Anna. Marcus amat Annam. Marcum amat Anna.
M
Marcus Annam
A amat.
t M
Marcum Anna
A amat.
t M
Marcus A
Annam amat.
t M
Marcum A
Anna amat.
t
Amat Marcus Annam. Amat Marcum Anna. Amat Marcus Annam. Amat Marcum Anna.
Amat Annam Marcus. Anna asinus Marcum. Amat Annam Marcus . Anna asinus Marcum.
Annam amat Marcus. Anna amat Marcum. Annam amat Marcus . Anna amat Marcum.
Annam Marcus amat. Anna Marcum amat. Annam Marcus amat. Anna Marcum amat.

So in Latin, the shape of a word – and not its So in Latin, the shape of a word – and not its
position – tells you who’s doing what to position – tells you who’s doing what to
whom… whom…

What You Already Sorta Know What You Already Sorta Know
Why doesn't English work this way? Look at these sentences…

Spoiler: It used to, as recently as about 1000 years ago.

We see the remnant in phrases like ‘… who loves whom.’ John showed Mark a portrait of himself.
Who’s looking at the portrait?  Mark
Butt when
B h people l lament
l t the
th decline
d li off English,
E li h Who’s
Wh ’s in the portrait
rtrait  Mark OR John
which they do with alarming regularity, hardly John asked Mark to look at a portrait of himself.
anyone brings this up. Who’s looking at the portrait?  Mark
Who’s in the portrait?  Only Mark
The truth is, languages do decline and die off, but for reasons
that have nothing to do with the many factors influencing the
development of English today…

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What You Already Sorta Know What You Already Sorta Know
People often criticize redundancy in other people’s speech People often criticize redundancy in other people’s speech
and writing – usage like irregardless or continue on… and writing – usage like irregardless or continue on…
But the truth is, language is filled with necessary But the truth is, language is filled with necessary
redundancy. redundancy.
Try to read the sentence I’m
I m about to flash on the
Y DS TXTNG WRK? IT SMS LK U CAN TK OUT HLF THE
screen…
LTRS IN A SNTNS & STL B UNDRSTD MST OF THE TM. SO
Y WRT THEM AT ALL?
John and Mary tried convince Mark
Spoiler: What you see here has much in common with a that should leave, but Mark said
number of the world’s major writing systems, including Arabic
and Hebrew.
couldn't.

What You Already Sorta Know
People often criticize redundancy in other people’s speech
and writing – usage like irregardless or continue on…
But the truth is, language is filled with necessary
redundancy.
Your brain filled in words that weren’t there…
What You Don’t Know You Know
Just like you can identify words you've never heard as
either consistent or not consistent with the English
language, you can do the same for sentences you've
never heard ... and probably never will again.
* = This is not English
?? = This is weird English

WARNING:
John and Mary tried to convince Mark For linguists, dirty words are just words. I’m going
that he should leave, but Mark said he to show you a bunch of them now to illustrate
couldn't. something important.

What You Don’t Know You Know What You Don’t Know You Know
Here are some patterns you’ll hear often in non-native speech,
especially from speakers of Germanic and Slavic languages.
Screw you!
•Sorry, I can't talk now. *I drive.
Go screw yourself!
• I'm driving.
g
Y go screw yourself!
You lf! •I understand a little Russian. *I've taken a class last year.
• I took a class last year.
•I’ll drop by your place on the way home. *I'm there at five.
*Go screw you.
• I'll be there at five.
*You go screw you! •*Sorry I didn't answer the phone! *I went to the bathroom
when you called.
• I was going to the bathroom

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What You Don’t Know You Know
Native speakers of English apply all sorts of rules to compress
casual speech, but they're sensitive to context in ways that
people would be hard-pressed to explain:
I'm going to go shopping.  I'm gonna go shopping.
I'm going to a party.  *I'm gonna a party.
I've got to get going.  I gotta get going.
I've got two tickets.  *I gotta tickets.
I should have slept in.  I shoulda slept in.
I should have breakfast.  *I shoulda breakfast.
What Is This Course Good For?
Okay. Does the world really need more people schooled in
linguistic analysis?
Maybe, maybe not. But understanding how language works at
a deep level will nourish your understanding of what it means
to be human.
Hint: It’s all language.
Every other characteristic we've thought of as distinguishing us
from other beasts has fallen by the wayside in recent decades.
Other primates can use tools, scheme, lie, and learn sign language.
Birds have regional accents. Dogs can do basic math. Smart birds
can reason abstractly. Only humans have language.
What Is This Course Good For?
Here’s the kicker.
I’m going to give you a live reading of what William Caxton, owner of the
first English printing press in 1490, had to say about the language of his day.
Ignore the weird spellings. English spelling wasn’t systematized until well
into the 17th and 18th centuries.
I’ll be using the results of decades of scholarship in language change and
English history to model late fifteenth-century English for you, which is
going to sound a little like pirate speak, for reasons we’ll explore later.
The vowels are going to sound very strange to you. Caxton lived in the
first decades of a massive reorganization of the English vowel system that
didn’t really end until the 18th century.
Listen for what Caxton has to say about the fact that English speakers of
his time had two words for the tasty thing that comes out of a chicken: egg,
which was used in roughly the North of England, and ey in the South.
And above all, listen for Caxton’s version of present-day ask.
5/18/2010
What You Don’t Know You Know
If you had to right now, could you explain any of these patterns in
clear, consistent, and context-independent ways?
Probably not yet, despite the fact that as a native speaker, you get
them right virtually 100% of the time.
Understanding the systems at play in all these examples is going to
b a diffi
be difficultl game off abstract
b concepts andd structures. B
But iin
principle, you won’t be learning anything you don’t already know.
You acquired all of this, your knowledge of the complex, interacting
systems of your native language, in roughly the first five years of
your life. And you did it without formal instruction or the kind of
training in linguistic analysis you’re going to receive in this course.
How amazing is that?
What Is This Course Good For?
Understanding how language works at a deep level can help
you become a better citizen and neighbor.
People often decry variation and change in language as sure
signs of chaos and decay.
Linguists understand that variation and change in language
just are – they are neither intrinsically good or intrinsically bad.
What matters is how we act towards one another.
another
Centuries ago, many African-American varieties of English adopted a
version of the word ask that puts the two consonants in a different
order, ax.
In formal and informal studies, property owners screening potential
renters over the phone have been observed steering conversations
in such a way as to get applicants to use that word. When the ax
pronunciation comes out, renters are disproportionately told that
properties are no longer available or have become more expensive.
Link
William Caxton, ca. 1490
And certaynly our langage now used varyeth ferre from
that whiche was used and spoken whan I was borne ... And mercer = salesman
that comyn englysshe that is spoken in one shyre varyeth mete = food
Ferre from a nother. In so much that in my dayes happened wyf = woman
That certayn marchauntes were in a shippe in Thames for to
Have sayled ouer the see ... and for lacke of wynde thei ...
wente to lande for to refreshe them.
And one of theym named Sheffelde, a mercer, cam into an eyren = plural
hows and axed for mete, and specyally he axyd after egg[e]s. of ey
And the good wyf answerde that she coude speke no frenshe.
And the marchaunt was angry, for he also coude speke no
frenshe, but wold have hadde egges, and she understode hym not.
And thenne at last a nother sayd that he wolde have eyren.
Then the good wyf sayd that she understod hym wel. Loo, what sholde
a man in thyse days now wryte, egges or eyren?
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What Is This Course Good For?

What should you take away from this?
Both ask and ax were around in Caxton’s time and in the
centuries after. In 1490, though, ax was a perfectly good
choice for an esteemed gentleman such as Mr. Caxton.
Over the centuries, one of them became associated -- for
no good reason -- with lower socioeconomic statusstatus.
In a little over 500 years, English has changed in ways so
profound that Caxton, given how much he worried about
having two words for ‘egg,’ would find very distressing.
Was he wrong? We would have to say he was; otherwise
we’d be holding ourselves in very low esteem. By
extension, anyone who lives in the present and sees
change as decline would also be wrong, or at the very
least, bear the burden of proof.