英语发展史（用英语介绍）

ABriefHistoryoftheEnglishLanguage(英语语言简史)

OldEnglish,until1066

ImmigrantsfromDenmarkandNWGermanyarrivedinBritaininthe5thand6thCenturiesA.D.,speakinginrelateddialectsbelongingtotheGermanicandTeutonicbranchesoftheIndo-Europeanlanguagefamily.Today,EnglishismostcloselyrelatedtoFlemish,Dutch,andGerman,andissomewhatrelatedtoIcelandic,Norwegian,Danish,andSwedish.Icelandic,unchangedfor1,000years,isveryclosetoOldEnglish.Vikinginvasions,beguninthe8thCentury,gaveEnglishaNorwegianandDanishinfluencewhichlasteduntiltheNormanConquestof1066.

OldEnglish

TheAnglescamefromanangle-shapedlandareaincontemporaryGermany.TheirnameAnglifromtheLatinandmonly-spoken,pre-5thCenturyGermanmutatedintotheOldEnglishEngle.Later,EnglechangedtoAngel-cynmeaningAngle-racebyA.D.1000,changingtoEngla-land.SomeOldEnglishwhichhavesurvivedintactinclude:feet,geese,teeth,men,women,lice,andmice.Themodernwordlikecanbeanoun,adjective,verb,andpreposition.InOldEnglish,though,thewordwasdifferentforeachtype:gelicaasanoun,geicasanadjective,licianasaverb,andgeliceasapreposition.

MiddleEnglish,from1066untilthe15thCentury

TheNormanInvasionandConquestofBritainin1066andtheresultingFrenchCourtofWilliamtheConquerorgavetheNorwegian-DutchinfluencedEnglishaNorman-Parisian-Frencheffect.From1066untilabout1400,Latin,French,andEnglishwerespoken.EnglishalmostdisappearedentirelyintoobscurityduringthisperiodbytheFrenchandLatindominatedcourtandgovernment.However,in1362,theParliamentopenedwithEnglishasthelanguageofchoice,andthelanguagewassavedfromextinction.Present-dayEnglishisapproximately50%Germanic(EnglishandScandinavian)and50%Romance(FrenchandLatin).

MiddleEnglish

ManynewaddedtoMiddleEnglishduringthisperiodcamefromNormanFrench,ParisianFrench,andScandinavian.NormanFrenchimportedintoMiddleEnglishinclude:catch,wage,warden,reward,andwarrant.ParisianFrenchgaveMiddleEnglish:chase,guarantee,regard,guardian,andgage.ScandinaviangavetoMiddleEnglishtheimportantwordoflaw.EnglishnobilityhadtitleswhichwerederivedfrombothMiddleEnglishandFrench.Frenchprovided:prince,duke,peer,marquis,viscount,andbaron.MiddleEnglishindependentlydevelopedking,queen,lord,lady,andearl.GovernmentaladministrativedivisionsfromFrenchincludecounty,city,village,justice,palace,mansion,andresidence.MiddleEnglishincludetown,home,house,andhall.

EarlyModernEnglish,fromthe15thCenturytothe17thCentury

Duringthisperiod,EnglishbecamemoreanizedandbegantoresemblethemodernversionofEnglish.Althoughthewordorderandsentenceconstructionwasstillslightlydifferent,EarlyModernEnglishwasatleastrecognizabletotheEarlyModernEnglishspeaker.Forexample,theOldEnglishTouspleasessailingbecameWelikesailing.Classicalelements,fromGreekandLatin,profoundlyinfluencedworkcreationandorigin.FromGreek,EarlyModernEnglishreceivedgrammar,logic,arithmetic,geometry,astronomy,andmusic.Also,thetele-prefixmeaningfarlaterusedtodeveloptelephoneandtelevisionwastaken.

ModernEnglish,fromthe17thCenturytoModernTimes

ModernEnglishdevelopedthroughtheeffortsofliteraryandpoliticalwritings,whereliteracywasuniformlyfound.ModernEnglishwasheavilyinfluencedbyclassicalusage,theemergenceoftheuniversity-educatedclass,Shakespeare,themonlanguagefoundintheEastMidlandssectionofpresent-dayEngland,andananizedefforttodocumentandstandardizeEnglish.Currentinflectionshaveremainedalmostunchangedfor400years,butsoundsofvowelsandconsonantshavechangedgreatly.Asaresult,spellinghasalsochangedconsiderably.Forexample,fromEarlyEnglishtoModernEnglish,lyfbecamelife,deelbecamedeal,hoombecamehome,monebecamemoon,andhousbecamehouse.

AdvantagesandDisadvantagesofModernEnglish

ModernEnglishisposedofseverallanguages,withgrammarrules,spelling,andwordusagebothplimentingandpetingforclarity.ThedisadvantagesofModernEnglishinclude:analphabetwhichisunabletoadequatelyrepresentallneededsoundswithoutusingrepeatedorbinedletters,alimitof23lettersofthe26inthealphabetwhichcaneffectivelyexpresstwicethenumberofsoundsactuallyneeded,andasystemofspellingwhichisnotbaseduponpronunciationbutforeignlanguagewordoriginandcountlesschangesthroughouthistory.TheadvantagesofModernEnglishinclude:singleconsonantswhichareclearlyunderstoodandusuallyrepresentthesamesoundsinthesamepositions,thelackofaccentmarksfoundinotherlanguageswhichpermitsquickerwriting,andthepresentspellingdisplaysEuropeanlanguageoriginsandconnectionswhichallowsEuropeanlanguagespeakerstobeeimmediatelyawareofthousandsof.

ModernEnglish

BritishEnglish,knownasStandardEnglishorOxfordEnglish,underwentchangesasthecolonizationofNorthAmericanandthecreationoftheUnitedStatesoccurred.BritishEnglishchangedintoAmericanEnglish,suchascentretocenter,metretometer,theatretotheater,favourtofavor,honourtohonor,labourtolabor,neighbourtoneighbor,chequetocheck,connexiontoconnection,gaoltojail,thestoreyofahousetostory,andtyrefortire.Since1900,withconsistentspellingbutdifferentmeaningsfromBritishEnglishtoAmericanEnglishinclude:toletfortorent,dualcarriagewayfordividedhighway,liftforelevator,amberforyellow,toringfortotelephone,zebracrossingforpedestriancrossing,andpavementforsidewalk.

AmericanEnglish,fromthe18thCenturyuntilModernTimes

Untilthe18thCentury,BritishandAmericanEnglishwereremarkablysimilarwithalmostnovariance.ImmigrationtoAmericabyotherEnglishpeopleschangedthelanguageby1700.NoahWebster,authorofthefirstauthoritativeAmericanEnglishdictionary,createdmanychanges.The-reendingsbecame-erandthe-ourendingsbecame-or.SpellingbypronunciationandpersonalchoicefromWebsterwereinfluences.

Cough,Sought,Thorough,Thought,andThrough

Whydotheseoughhavethesamecentralspellingbutaresodifferent?ThisisacharacteristicofEnglish,whichimportedsimilarlyspelledordefinedfromdifferentlanguagesoverthepast1,000years.

Cough

FromtheMiddleHighGermankuchenmeaningtobreatheheavily,totheFrench-OldEnglishcohhian,totheMiddleEnglishcoughenisderivedthecurrentwordcough.

Sought

FromtheGreekhegeisthaimeaningtolead,totheLatinsagiremeaningtoperceivekeenly,totheOldHighGermansuohhenmeaningtoseek,totheFrench-OldEnglishsecan,totheMiddleEnglishsekken,isderivedthepasttensesoughtofthepresenttenseoftheverbtoseek.

Thorough

FromtheFrench-OldEnglishthurhandthuruhtotheMiddleEnglishthorowisderivedthecurrentwordthorough.

Thought

FromtheOldEnglishthencan,whichisrelatedtotheFrench-OldEnglishwordhoht,whichremainedthesameinMiddleEnglish,isderivedthecurrentwordthought.

Through

FromtheSanskritwordtarati,meaninghecrossedover,cametheLatinword,transmeaningacrossorbeyond.BeginningwithOldHighGermandurh,totheFrench-OldEnglishthurh,totheMiddleEnglishthurh,thruh,orthrough,isderivedthecurrentwordthrough.(