Language Human faculty -Creative expression -Face to face communication -Scientific inquiry --Many other purposes

The origins and history of English Its origin History English can be defined through

History Celtic Languages influence -Irish English -Scotish English Roman Empire Latin Words such as wall, kitchen, wine, mile and street were borrowed from Latin into Germanic and throuh Germanic into English

English officially starts when the Germanic tribes and their languages reach the British Isles

Even though it is a Germanic language, English has adopted a large number of words from other languages. BorrowingsEuphemisms  Half of vocabularycomes from French and Latin Make things better than they are. Ex. Filing a property irregularity report means having to tell an airline that it lost your bags.

Modern English compared to earlier English and other languages Old English Modern English Has 13 to 14 vowels At least 25 consonants English syllable structure is complex –> many consonants together

To make sense, sounds need to be combined into words and words into sentences

Language One of the major functions of language is to indicate who does that to whom. Languages differ in how they mark these functions through endings of the verbs and nouns or through word order and grammatical words

One of the major changes that occurred between Old and Modern English is the change from synthetic to analytic

Sociolinguistics regionSocial class Register or level of formality The branch of linguistics that is particularly interested in varieties

External and Internal change Are brought about by language contact, or innovations by speakers, or issues of political or social identity External changes Occur when, for instance, speakers stop using endings and start to rely on words such as of, for, the and have. Internal changes

Periods of English