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1、ABriefHistoryoftheEnglishLanguage EnglishisamemberoftheIndo-Europeanfamilyoflanguages.ThisbroadfamilyincludesmostoftheEuropeanlanguagesspokentoday.TheIndo-Europeanfamilyincludesseveralmajorbranches:LatinandthemodernRomancelanguages(Frenchetc.);theGermaniclanguages(English,G
2、erman,Swedishetc.);theIndo-Iranianlanguages(Hindi,Urdu,Sanskritetc.);theSlaviclanguages(Russian,Polish,Czechetc.);theBalticlanguagesofLatvianandLithuanian;theCelticlanguages(Welsh,IrishGaelicetc.);Greek.TheinfluenceoftheoriginalIndo-Europeanlanguagecanbeseentoday,eventhough
3、nowrittenrecordofitexists.Thewordforfather,forexample,isvaterinGerman,paterinLatin,andpitrinSanskrit.Thesewordsareallcognates,similarwordsindifferentlanguagesthatsharethesameroot.OfthesebranchesoftheIndo-Europeanfamily,twoare,asfarasthestudyofthedevelopmentofEnglishisconcer
4、ned,ofparamountimportance,theGermanicandtheRomance(calledthatbecausetheRomancelanguagesderivefromLatin,thelanguageofancientRome).EnglishisamemberoftheGermanicgroupoflanguages.ItisbelievedthatthisgroupbeganasacommonlanguageintheElberiverregionabout3,000yearsago.Bythesecondce
5、nturyBC,thisCommonGermaniclanguagehadsplitintothreedistinctsub-groups:·EastGermanicwasspokenbypeopleswhomigratedbacktosoutheasternEurope.NoEastGermaniclanguageisspokentoday,andtheonlywrittenEastGermaniclanguagethatsurvivesisGothic.·NorthGermanicevolvedintothemodernScandinav
6、ianlanguagesofSwedish,Danish,Norwegian,andIcelandic(butnotFinnish,whichisrelatedtoHungarianandEstonianandisnotanIndo-Europeanlanguage).·WestGermanicistheancestorofmodernGerman,Dutch,Flemish,Frisian,andEnglish.OldEnglish(500-1100AD)CLICKHERETOSEEAMAPOFANGLO-SAXONENGLANDWestG
7、ermanicinvadersfromJutlandandsouthernDenmark:theAngles(whosenameisthesourceofthewordsEnglandandEnglish),Saxons,andJutes,begantosettleintheBritishIslesinthefifthandsixthcenturiesAD.Theyspokeamutuallyintelligiblelanguage,similartomodernFrisian-thelanguageofthenortheasternregi
8、onoftheNetherlands-thatiscalledOldEnglish.FourmajordialectsofOldEnglishemerged,Nor
