Unit 2 - History of The English Language Part II (Student Version)
Unit 2 - History of The English Language Part II (Student Version)
Unit 2 - History of The English Language Part II (Student Version)
https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/lindisfarne/lindisfarnepriory/index.html
As their armies were moving towards the south of England,
the Vikings destroyed schools, libraries and books of the
Anglo-Saxons, making sure they did not leave much behind.
This brought a great threat to Old English, the language
which was still in its infancy. At this point in history, English
was on the verge of extinction.
(Bragg, 2003)
In 878 AD, Alfred, who
ruled Wessex, the last
surviving independent
kingdom, eventually
defeated King Guthrum The Danelaw
of the Danes in a battle.
https://www.royal.uk/alfred-great-r-871-899 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danelaw
The statue of King Alfred the Great in downtown Winchester
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_the_Great
What impact did the Danelaw
have on English?
loose
Emma Watson
Louis Tomlinson
But it is the influence of the Vikings on the names of
places that might give us non-Brits a bit of trouble.
Activity U2-4
3… 2… 1… GO!
• Huthwaite
• Lowestoft
• Derby
• Ormskirk
• Scunthorpe
Huthwaite
Ormskirk Scunthorpe
Derby
Lowestoft
http://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/exhibitions/vikings/vikings_live/old_norse_origins.aspx
So, it is not surprising that the UK is full of places with
strange names that outsiders often have a hard time
figuring out. Can you pronounce the names of these cities?
https://youtube.com/shorts/QCzEeOH67TA?feature=share
Lastly, through the Anglo-Saxons’
contact with the Danes, Old English was
made simpler so that it could be easier
for them to understand each other.
Inflection started to lose its significance in
the late Old English. For the first time,
prepositions came in. Word endings were
dropped. And therefore, the order of words
became very important. People started using
–s with plural nouns and –ed became more
popular as the past tense verb form.
(Bragg, 2003; Viney 2003)
As things were looking up for our
English language, another big event
occurred and English was again put
through another test.
Activity U2-5
French became a part of people’s life. The
Germanic names began to fall out of fashion.
And they were replaced by French names such as
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVG77xTPH6E
The end of Part II