Science > Linguistics

English language

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endescent:
Language has always fascinated me. A few months ago, I became curious about how modern English came to be. I dug around Wikipedia for awhile and came up with several articles that really put things in perspective for me. I linked directly to subsections that I felt focused on exploring this strange language I was raised on.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_English#Sample_text
Let’s start with comparison of Late Middle English and Early Modern English
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germanic_languages#Diachronic
Then look at the evolution of Germanic languages
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frisian_languages#Comparative_sentence
Then look at the same sentence written in many Germanic languages
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-European_vocabulary#Notes
Many European languages are thought to have the same roots in a Proto-Indo-European language
 
Fascinating stuff.

Laura:
Even more fascinating is the theory of Stephen Oppenheimer in his book "The Origins of the British."  A lot of food for thought there.

endescent:
That is very interesting Laura. There's a review of Oppenheimer's book here where the reviewer says:


--- Quote ---Stephen Oppenheimer shows us, in his meticulous analysis, that there is in truth a deep genetic line dividing the English from the rest of the British people but that, fascinatingly, the roots of that separate identity go back not 1500 years but 6,000.The real story of the British peoples is one of extraordinary continuity and enduring lineage that has survived all onslaughts.
--- End quote ---

Well, they could just be extremely resourceful or hardy peoples, right?


--- Quote ---Session October 18th, 1994
[...]
Q: (L) Are the Aryan/Celts who came to this planet from the
other one that was destroyed, were they, when they came, in
any way superior to the humans already here?
A: Somewhat.
Q: (L) What was the nature of this superiority?
A: Durability.
Q: (L) Physical or mental?
A: Physical.
Q: (L) Well, blond haired, blue-eyed people seem to be
somewhat more delicate or thin-skinned compared to, say,
the blacks.
A: In this environment on surface.
[...]
--- End quote ---

It makes a little more sense now, but maybe we can go further...


--- Quote ---Session October 7th, 1995
[...]
Q: (L) I have thought about my question from the last session
and I want to ask it this way: You have said that Hitler
received instructions from higher density beings about creating
a 'Master Race.' Why were the Aryan genetic types seen to
be more desirable for creation of this Germanic 'master race?'
A: Both, similarity and ancestral link most unblemished from
Orion 3rd and 4th density stock.
Q: (L) So they were essentially trying to breed a group of
people like themselves?
A: Yes.
[...]
Q: (L) Okay. They were preparing this breeding ground, so to
speak. Obviously this was for the introduction of some other
genetic strain. What was this?
A: Nephalim.
[...]
Q: (L) Okay, what is it about the Semitic genes that was
considered to be so undesirable in the creation of this 'Master
Race?'
A: Would blemish genetic characteristics inclined to
ruthlessness and domination.
[...]
--- End quote ---

Perhaps the enduring qualities of the Aryan/Celtic peoples is genetic, the so-called "durability." Is it possible that this gene pool was also, shall we say, "favored" by the Lizzies for these qualities of ruthlessness and domination? Looking at the geo-political dominance of the English-speaking Western world, I think there is probably a very good reason why the "British peoples" were so successful.

One period that seems to have drastically altered the English language is the Norman conquest. David Cowley wrote a book called "How We'd Talk If The English Had Won in 1066", which you can read a sample of here. If they HAD won, English might still be the de facto language of business in our world, but it would probably sound a lot more Germanic.

P.S. I think that English would be a little less strange if it were closer to its original roots, but I wouldn't really call myself an English language purist, nor do I cry for a "purging" of loanwords from Modern English to return the language to it roots, as some people have done.  :P

-Drew

Laura:
Well, Drew, you've made some interesting points.  I've been digging into this stuff as far back as I can go for the past few years and there really is something strange about the English.   I do encourage you to read Oppenheimer's book, but there is so much more and if I can get some rest and relief from daily chores, I'll be writing it down.  Do a search here on the forum for any discussions about Neanderthals.  Keep in mind the skull morphology and then think about the fact that most language processing in psychopaths goes on in the occiput. 

Avala:
To me, as a non-native English speaker (if I can even now say that I am "English speaking person"), English was interesting from the moment when I started to learn it. Not because of the beauty of the language (to be honest English sounds very ugly), but because it looks fake, conglomerate, made up from the pieces of other languages, franken-language. Some words seems to be French, some German, and many of them looks latin.

On top of that comes vocal pronunciation of the English, which to me, as someone who natively speaks phonetic language sounded very strange and unnatural. Teacher in elementary school told us that if we want to speak English good, we must imagine that we speak with the hot boiled potato in our mouth, and that there is no letter in English that sounds clear as we have used to speak.

Many times I wanted to wrote something but I couldn't find the words in English to translate precisely and in full sense what I want to say (and thanks god for that  :lol: ). That of course could be because of my limited english vocabulary.

Anyway, I think that English is useful because of it's simplicity. Almost anyone can learn it. Although there is really a chance for this said by spyraal, but ironically by native English speakers in the first place.


--- Quote ---Anyway, at the moment, and perhaps more than ever before, a rich and accurate language is a much needed tool for understanding and objectivity. There is wonderful literature and ideas expressed in the English language. But i am afraid that while English is becoming a global language, it's future or the so-called "International English",  has the potential to become what George Orwell dreamed in his book: A language to facilitate the necessary minimal communication between a global crowd of uneducated and subservient people. A horrific thought indeed...
Just my 2cc FWIW. Thank you.
--- End quote ---

One interesting thing. I was searching what "Liberum Arbitrium" means, and came to this, I suppose medieval English text, which when read phonetically is much clearer than modern English.

_http://books.google.com/books?id=_yizjxMGowIC&pg=PA278&lpg=PA278&dq=liberum+arbitrium+plowman&source=bl&ots=vyhQ2UtQgE&sig=52zWMn084QhSPpMWBfX4JkCJGQs&hl=en&ei=FhP0TLWJJYroOcbltc0K&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CCIQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=liberum%20arbitrium%20plowman&f=false

_http://www.humanitiesweb.org/human.php?s=l&p=c&a=p&ID=16522&c=157

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