Language and cultural Identity.

Language and cultural Identity.

1. Language is a fundamental means of preserving, transmitting and enriching achievements of human culture. Not only it is very delicate in structure, but it is capable of indefinite modification and expansion as society evolves and becomes even more complex. (M. Schlauch).

Language is dynamic, only dead languages are static.

· All steps of the country’s historical development are reflected in the language formation and development. Language is inseparably connected with people and their culture.

· The notions “nation” and “language” make an integral unity.

· Studying a language, you can’t avoid the cultural aspect, the traces of which can be observed at all language levels.

· Sometimes it is difficult to find explanation of certain phenomena neglecting the historical processes.

· Historical approach helps to find roots (in parent languages) and parallels (in cognates – a language belonging to a certain family group), which might be useful for people studying several languages.

· Language history gives an opportunity to see present day changes in the language and their prospective.

1. Origin of the English language (parent language, family tree, cognates).

English is a West Germanic language that arose in England and south-eastern Scotland in the time of the Anglo-Saxons. Historically, English originated from several dialects, now collectively termed Old English, which were brought to the eastern coast of the island of Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers. English was further influenced by the Old Norse language of Viking invaders. After the time of the Norman conquest, Old English developed into Middle English, borrowing heavily from the Norman-French vocabulary and spelling conventions. Modern English developed with the Great Vowel Shift that began in 15th-century England, and continues to adopt foreign words from a variety of languages, as well as coining new words.

The English language belongs to the Anglo-Frisian sub-group of the West Germanic branch of the Germanic family, a member of the Indo-European languages. The closest living relatives of English are the Scots language, spoken primarily in Scotland and parts of Ireland, and Frisian, spoken on the southern fringes of the North Sea in Denmark, the Netherlands, and Germany.

2. Practical application of knowledge in the field of language history.

Mr.Schlauch writes that language is a fundamental means of preserving, transmitting and continuously enriching the achievements of human culture. It concerns not only its structure, but it also reflects in the capability of language modification and expansion as society evolves and becomes even more complex.

Historical development made its contribution in the evolution of the English language. It concerns not only the growth of its vocabulary, but also its phonetic structure, spelling, and grammar. Modern English reflects many centuries of development. This is the subject of the history of the language.

Дата добавления: 2015-11-04