FROM THE HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

Genetically, English belongs to the Germanic or Teutonic group of languages, which is one of the twelve groups of the Indo-European (IE) linguistic family. Most of the area of Europe and large parts of other continents are occupied today by the IE languages, Germanic being one of their major groups.

The Germanic languages in the world are as follows:

English - in Great Britain, Ireland, the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the South African Republic, and many other former British colonies and dominions; German - in Germany, Austria, Luxem­burg, Liechtenstein, part of Switzerland; Ne­therlandish - the Netherlands and Flanders (Belgium) (known also as Dutch and Flemish respectively); Afrikaans - in the South African Republic; Danish - in Denmark; Swedish - in Sweden and Finland; Norwegian - in Norway; Icelandic - in Iceland; Frisian - in some regions of the Netherlands and Germany, Faeroese - in the Faeroe Islands.

It is difficult to estimate the number of people speaking Germanic languages, especially on account of English, which in many countries is one of two languages in a bilingual community, e.g. in Canada. The estimates for English range from 250 to 300 million people who have it as their mother tongue. The total number of people speaking Germanic languages approaches 440 million. To this rough estimate and indefinite number of bilingual people in over 50 countries where English is used as an official language could be added.

From the British Isles English spread all over the world, but English has not always been the language of the inhabitants of those islands. When the Romans colonized England in the 1^st century of our era, the country was inhabited by Celtic tribes, and until the 5^th century only Celtic languages were spoken by the people of Britain.

 

Составьте вопросы к тексту в соответствии со схемами, данными ниже. Из десяти вопросов только три построены правильно. Ответьте на вопросы.

1. Group of languages does English belong to?

2. What other languages belong to this group?

3. How many people Germanic languages speak?

4. What you know from the history of the English language?

5. When Romans colonized England?

6. Who colonized England in the 1^st century of our era?

7. What Celtic tribes language spoke?

8. Where English spread from the British Isles?

9. Has been English always the language of those islands?

10. Were Celtic languages spoken by the people of Britain until the 5^th century?

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Структура специального вопроса

Вопросительное слово (When, Where, What, Why, How…)

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Найдите в каждом предложении главные члены (подлежащее и сказуемое). Переведите предложения на русский язык и поставьте вопросы к подлежащему английского предложения. Пользуйтесь схемой.

Вопросительное слово (на месте подлежащего) Who, Whose

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1. During the fifteen hundred years that have passed since the Anglo-Saxon invasions in the middle of 5^th century, the English language has changed considerably.
2. English was influenced by the language of the Danish invaders in the 8^th -10^th centuries.
3. The third period starts after 1066, the year of the Norman Conquest.
4. Under Norman rule the official language in England was French, or rather its variety called Anglo-French or Anglo-Norman.
5. For several hundred years court procedure was conducted entirely in French, so that to this day native English words in this sphere are rare.
6. The English language of the 19^th and 20^th centuries represents the seventh period in the history of English.
7. The 20^th century witnessed considerable intermixture of dialects.

8. By the end of the period (the 12^th – half of the 14^th centuries), grammatical alterations had transformed English from highly inflected language into a mainly analytical one.

1. In the 14^th – 16^th centuries new words continue to be made up from Latin and Greek roots for new inventions and scientific discoveries.

10. In the 19^th and 20^th centuries the English vocabulary has grown on unprecedented scale reflecting the rapid progress of technology, science and culture.

 

7. Пользуясь таблицей, определите функцию местоимения “it”в предложениях. Переведите предложения.

Функция	Пример	Перевод
Личное местоимение	Where is my book? – It is on the desk.	Где моя книга? – Она на столе.
Указательное местоимение	Itis an English magazine. I know it.	Это английский журнал. Я знаю это.
Формальное (безличное) подлежащее	It is dark. It is necessary to understand it.	Темно. Необходимо понять это. (не переводится)
Усилительная конструкция	It was Bell who got the first patent on telephone.	Это (именно) Белл получил первый патент на телефон.

 

 

1. The fourth period was from the later 14th century until the end of the 15^th century. It is called Classical Middle English. It was the time of restoration of English to the position of the state and literary language.
2. It was Thomas More who first used numerous Latin and Greek words in the early 16^th century.
3. It is also important to note that in the early of 18^th century the English language extended its area for beyond the borders of the British Isles, first of all to North America.
4. It is now almost impossible for us to fully participate in the global village that we live in, without “knowing” a common world language.
5. It is estimated that more than a billion people in the world use English either as their native, second or foreign language.
6. It is well said that “the human heart is like a box and language is the key”.

7. English is part of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European family of languages. It is spoken as a native language by around 377 million and as a second language by around 375 million speakers in the world. Speakers of English as a second language will soon outnumber those who speak it as a first language.

 

Расскажите, что Вы узнали об истории английского языка по плану, представленному ниже.

The text is about ____________

The English language belongs to ___________

The total number of people speaking ___________

There are ________ periods in the development of the English language.

They are

1. ______ starting from _____

2. ______ starting from _____

……………….

English was influenced by many languages during its history: ____________

Nowadays the English language is ______________