The History of English

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1、TheHistoryofEnglish(THEME)VOICEONE:ThisisSteveEmber.VOICETWO:AndthisisShirleyGriffith.TodaywepresentthesecondofourtwoprogramsaboutthehistoryoftheEnglishLanguage.(THEME)VOICEONE:Lastweek,wetoldhowtheEnglishlanguagedevelopedasaresultofseveralinvasionsofBritain.Thefirstinvolvedthreetribesc

2、alledtheAngles,theJutesandtheSaxons.AmixoftheirlanguagesproducedalanguagecalledAnglo-Saxon,orOldEnglish.ItsoundedverymuchlikeGerman.OnlyafewwordsremainedfromtheCeltswhohadlivedinBritain.TwomoreinvasionsaddedwordstoOldEnglish.TheVikingsofDenmark,NorwayandSwedenarrivedinBritainmorethanone

3、thousandyearsago.Thenextinvasiontookplaceintheyeartensixty-six.FrenchforcesfromNormandywereledbyamanknownasWilliamtheConqueror.TheNormanrulersaddedmanywordstoEnglish.Thewords“parliament,?“jury,?“justice,?andothersthatdealwithlawcomefromtheNormanrulers.VOICETWO:Overtime,thedifferentlangu

4、agescombinedtoresultinwhatEnglishexpertscallMiddleEnglish.WhileMiddleEnglishstillsoundssimilartoGerman,italsobeginstosoundlikeModernEnglish.VOICETWO(cont):HereWarrenScheerreadstheverybeginningofGeoffreyChaucer’sgreatpoem,“TheCanterburyTales?asitwaswritteninMiddleEnglish.(“TheCanterburyT

5、ales?VOICEONE:Chaucerwrotethatpoeminthelatethirteenhundreds.Itwaswritteninthelanguageofthepeople.TherulersofBritainatthattimestillspoketheNormanFrenchtheybroughtwiththemintensixty-six.ThekingsofBritaindidnotspeakthelanguageofthepeopleuntiltheearlyfourteenhundreds.Slowly,NormanFrenchwasu

6、sedlessandlessuntilitdisappeared.VOICETWO:TheEnglishlanguagewasstronglyinfluencedbyaneventthattookplacemorethanonethousandfourhundredyearsago.Intheyearfiveninety-seven,theRomanCatholicChurchbeganitsattempttomakeChristianitythereligionofBritain.ThelanguageoftheCatholicChurchwasLatin.Lati

7、nwasnotspokenasalanguageinanycountryatthattime.Butitwasstillusedbysomepeople.LatinmadeitpossibleforachurchmemberfromRometospeaktoachurchmemberfromBritain.EducatedpeoplefromdifferentcountriescouldcommunicateusingLatin.LatinhadagreataffectontheEnglishlanguage.Hereareafewexamples.