Evolutions of the English
Language
Gary Anderson
2 1/2 pages
The English language has gone through many mergers and transitions before becoming what
it is today. English, as a language, has many "ingredients" that has [subject/verb disagreement--ingredients/has should be ingredients/have]
brewed for thousands of years. Even today, there are ethnic groups contributing to the
English language, such as the Blacks of the inner cities. Mainly, the English language has
been through three "linguistic movements," the Old English (600-1000), Middle
English (1000-1400), and the Modern English (1400-present) movements. It is hard to prove
the evolution of the English language before 600, but it probably originated where all the
other languages did, with grunts and moans. English history officially starts around 600
AD. At this time in England there were many tribes that mainly used variations of the
Celtic language. These tribes, mainly Angles, Saxons, and Jutes (Anglo-Saxons), were very
primitive civilizations [in what sense?]. During this time of
Old English[insert a comma] theRoman Empire was at it's [its, not it's] height of power [actually,
the Western Roman Empire was at its height during the age of Augustus about 600 years
before--it fell to Germanic invaders in 476 A. D. and to the Ostrogoths a couple of
decades later, so by 600 A. D. it was already pretty well destroyed]. When the
Anglo-Saxons encountered the Roman merchants and statesmen they adapted some of their
Latin words [so, English is a Romance language and not a Germanic
language? clarify]. This is the beginning of the evolution of the English
language. [identify your source on this--did the language have to
wait until the Romans before it could start evolving?--give me a thesis statement, some
central point you can prove using these following associated ideas]
Oddly enough, Latin did not become the primary language of the Anglo-Saxons [why is that odd? what sort of factors went into play to force
Latin upon them?]. The people of England took what they could use from the Latin
language and integrated it into their Celtic [do you mean the
language of the Celts was native to the Angles and Saxons, too? clarify, weren't
they Germanic speakers?] language to become Old English. After the decline of the
Roman Empire, the Anglo-Saxons began to gain power as a nation. During this time [insert a comma] the English began to establish the English
Language [clarify--written or spoken]. Books were being
translated into English and many schools were teaching the youth of England the English
language [for example--which books? which schools?].
Therefore, it could be argued that the English language thrived with the economy of the
country [that's true of any language, why is it particularly true
for English in this case?]. For the next few hundred years the English language
brewed in England. The people used Celtic and Latin roots in their English dialect. [start the next paragraph with this sentence--The English language
was about to go through another transformation. It was a political event that sparked the
move from Old English to Middle English. "The political event which facilitated these
changes was the Norman Conquest" [quotes should not be used if
they are redundant with the point you just made, but only if they reinforce that point
with supporting information--this is the type of sentence that can be paraphrased--a
sentence with a statistic or an original idea by another author would be a more likely
candidate to be quoted--and then you should never end a paragraph in a quote, as quotes
are generally new information and therefore do not bring closure to the idea being
advanced in the paragraph] (Roberts 93). [never end a
paragraph with a transition--bring closure by telling me why this idea of linguistic mix
is important to the thesis]
In1066A.D. the Normans invaded England from northern France. This is where the next
ingredient of the English language was thrown in, French. It was fortunate for the English
that the Normans only sent statesmen and nobility to England [didn't
the Norman occupying force constitute something more than statesmen and nobility?].
If there had been a major migration of Normans [insert a comma here]
the English language may have been completely replaced with French [would it have been? or would there have just remained a heavier influence
of the language? if this is what you think Roberts means, do you agree or disagree
with him? analyze the quote after you reference it, even if it's an indirect quote
(Roberts 93). Only certain groups used French as their first language, [replace the comma with a dash or a period] "French became
the language of the court, the language of the nobility, the language of polite society,
the language of literature. But it did not replace English as the language of the
people"(94). [now analyze this quote in context with the idea
it supports, then bring closure by telling me how that idea supports, or is significant
to, the thesis]
The English language has gone through many changes throughout the centuries. The Old and
Middle English stages of development have produced a new English[lose
'English' here], Modern English. Modern English started in the 1400's, around the
time of Shakespeare. It may be hard for the modern man to decipher the English of
Shakespearian time, but the language is generally the same. [you're
making too great a leap here in your transition] Modern English is ever-changing.
There are new words introduced into the English language every year. It is difficult to
explain Modern English because it is happening now [shouldn't that
make it easier?]. What we know as Modern English is beginning to branch off into
many directions. One example of this "branching off" is Ebonics, or Black
English. Ebonics is a branch of the English language that has a fairly short history [500 years is short? that's a third of the time it took the entire
English language to develop according to your argument--clarify]. Many people
ignore Black English and say that it is "lazy English". [put
the period inside the quotes] There are also many people, such as Dorothy Z.
Seymour, that [who, not that] believe it is a language in
it's self [in its own right, not in it's self--'it's self' is not an
English expression--that's like saying "it is self"]. This concept is not
entirely hard to believe. Remember [lose the imperative], the
Anglo-Saxons adapted Celtic, Latin, and eventually French languages to create English, so
the "language of Ebonics could very well be it's [its, not
it's] own language. The Black, [lose the comma, it's a
restrictive element] English-speaking people of today have simply substituted
vowels and sounds to create their own language, as did the Anglo-Saxons. Ebonics is a good
example of Modern English, [use a coordinating or adverbial
conjunction here, or a semicolon] it shows that it takes one language to create
another. Language is an ever-changing means of communication, [use a
coordinating or adverbial conjunction here, or a semicolon] the English language is
a good example of this. Our language as we know it has come to us all the way from the
Anglo-Saxons nearly 1500 years ago. It is probable that even our language will be
considered primitive someday. As I said, the English language, or language in [as a whole, not in whole] whole, is a stew of ideas and time [awkward syntax, rephrase] that keeps getting better [have you proven these changes are for the better? how so?] the
longer it cooks. [break this concluding paragraph into two
paragraphs--all the stuff about Ebonics is new to the paper, and you can never introduce
new information in a conclusion--focus in this conclusion on telling me the impact of this
issue of change to society]
Evolutions of the English Language
Annotated Bibliography
Thesis Statement: The English language has gone through many mergers and transitions
before becoming what it is today. [strengthen this thesis--what
exactly is it that you want to prove? that English has changed? that might be a
non-argument--proving that the changes in English are politically inspired or culturally
inspired might be a better angle for you--give me your annotations on each of these
sources. Who were the editors of this text? Underline the book's title.]
1) Seymour, Dorothy Z. "Black Children, Black Speech." Language Awareness. New
York: St. Martins Press, 1994: 122-128
2) Roberts, Paul. "A Brief History of English." Language Awareness. New York:
St. Martins Press, 1994: 89-98
3) Crystal, David. "The Precriptive Tradition." Language Awareness. New York:
St. Martins Press, 1994: 101-106
4) Naylor, Gloria. "The Meanings of a Word." Language Awareness. New York: St.
Martins Press, 1994: 305-307
Revision: [Not Micro-Edited] Grade: C
Evolutions of the English Language
The English language has gone through many mergers and transitions before
becoming what it is today. English, as a language, has many "ingredients" that
have brewed for thousands of years. Even today, there are ethnic groups contributing to
the English language, such as the Blacks of the inner cities. Mainly, the English language
has been through three "linguistic movements," the Old English (600-1000),
Middle English (1000-1400), and the Modern English (1400-present) movements. It is hard to
prove the evolution of the English language before 600, but it probably originated where
all the other languages did, with grunts and moans.
English history officially starts around 600AD. At this time in England there were many
tribes that mainly used variations of the Celtic, or Germanic languages. These tribes,
mainly Angles, Saxons, and Jutes (Anglo-Saxons), were very primitive civilizations. During
this time of Old English, the Roman Empire was still in power. When the Anglo-Saxons
encountered the Roman merchants and states men they adapted some of their Latin words.
This merger was one of the first "ingredients" of the English language. Even
though the Roman Empire was the dominant power at this time, Latin did not become the
primary language of the Anglo-Saxons. The people of England took what they could use from
the Latin language and integrated it into their Germanic language to become Old English.
After the decline of the Roman Empire, the Anglo-Saxons began to gain power as a nation.
During this time, the English began to establish the English Language, both written and
spoken. Books were being translated into English and many schools were teaching the youth
of England the English language. Therefore, it could be argued that the English language
thrived with the economy of the country. The English began to spread and prosper, as did
their language. For the next several hundred years the English language brewed in England.
The English language was about to go through yet another transformation; it was a political event that sparked the move from Old English to Middle English. The political event which facilitated these changes was the Norman Conquest (Roberts 93) In 1066A.D. the Normans invaded England from northern France. This is where the next ingredient of the English language was thrown in, French. It was fortunate for the English that the Normans mainly sent statesmen and nobility to England. If there had been a major migration of Normans, the English language may have been completely replaced with French (Roberts 93). This is the second time the English language was threatened to be replaced by another language. Only certain groups used French as their first language, "French became the language of the court, the language of the nobility, the language of polite society, the language of literature. But it did not replace English as the language of the people"(94). It is probable that the English people of this time had developed strong roots of "their" language, the English language. Ultimately, instead of being a threat, the Norman Conquest proved to be a major influence on the English language.
The English language has gone through many changes throughout the
centuries. The Old and Middle English stages of development have produced a new, Modern
English. Modern English started in the 1400's, around the time of Shakespeare. It may be
hard for the modern man to decipher the English of Shakespearian time, but the language is
generally the same as today's English. Modern English is ever- changing. There are new
words introduced into the English language every year. It is difficult to explain
Modern English because it is happening now; as soon as we define Modern English a new
development occurs and we must re-evaluate our ideas. What we know as Modern English is
beginning to branch off into many directions.
Ebonics, or Black English, is one example of how the English language has branched
off. Many people ignore Black English and say that it is "lazy English." There
are also many people, such as Dorothy Z. Seymour, who believe it is a language in it's own
right. This concept is not entirely hard to believe. The Anglo-Saxons adapted Germanic,
Latin, and eventually French languages to create English, so the language of Ebonics could
very well be it's own language. The Black, English-speaking people of today have simply
substituted vowels and sounds to create their own language, as did the Anglo-Saxons.
Ebonics is a good example of Modern English; it shows that it takes one language to create
another.
Language is an ever-changing means of communication, the English language is a good
example of this. Our language as we know it has come to us all the way from the
Anglo-Saxons nearly 1500 years ago. It is probable that even our language will be
considered primitive someday. The English language has overcome many transitions and
threats on the way to becoming the most prominent language today.
Evolutions of the English Language
Annotated Bibliography
Thesis Statement: The English language has gone through many mergers and
transitions before becoming what it is today.
1) Seymour, Dorothy Z." Black Children, Black Speech."
Language Awareness. Ed. by Paul
Eschholz, Alfred Rosa, and Virginia Clark. New York: St. Martins
Press, 1994
2) Roberts, Paul. "A Brief History of English."
Language Awareness. Ed. by Paul Eschholz,
Alfred Rosa, and Virginia Clark. New York: St. Martins Press,
1994
3) Crystal, David. "The Precriptive Tradition."
Language Awareness. Ed. by Paul Eschholz,
Alfred Rosa, and Virginia Clark. New York: St. Martins Press,
1994
4) Naylor, Gloria. "The Meanings of a Word." Language
Awareness. Ed. by Paul Eschholz,
Alfred Rosa, and Virginia Clark. New York: St. Martins
Press, 1994