UFN - LANGUAGE COURSE - ENGLISH LANGUAGE: CULTURE AND IDENTITY

2 The Indo-European Family of Languages

Book ‘A History of the English Language’ pages 16 to 33
1) Why do languages change? Pg.16
Because of the written form of languages, people tend to see it as something ____________________________.
But writing is only a conventional device for recording _____________________.
The language we have today is the product of centuries of ________________________ and that as long as it lives and is in actual use is
in a _______________________________.

2) Why is speech regionally distinguished? Pg.16

Speech: the product of certain__________________________. Sound production: the passage of a _____________________ controlled
by___________________.
Any voluntary muscular movement when constantly repeated is subject to _______________________. Which may result in a difference
in the ______________________. General similarity: members of a local group _______________________________ one another.

3) How can we recognize the evolution of pronunciation with poetry analysis? Pg.16, 17
Eighteenth Century, Alexander Pope:
Good-nature and good-sense must even join;
To err is human, to forgive, devine… (so ‘join’ was pronounced ‘jine’)

4) How may one language become two? And, how is it possible to track a single origin for distinct languages? Pg.17
In a community: conformity prevails because of ________________________ and individual differences _________ in the general speech.
In separate communities: ________________________. If separation is slight- difference is _____________. If separation is lengthy- the
language of one district may become _________________________ to the speakers of another.
Tracking a single origin: between English and German- Milch and milk, brot and bread, fleisch and flesh, wasser and water > words that
have diverged __________________________ . Latin and English- pater and father, frāter and brother.
Common origin: father corresponds to Dutch vader, Gothic fadar, Old Norse faðir, German vater, Greek patēr, Sanskrit pitar-, and Old Irish
athir (with loss of the initial consonant), or that English brother corresponds to Dutch broeder, German bruder, Greek phrātēr, Sanskrit
bhrātar-, Old Slavic bratŭ, Irish brathair.

5) What does the discovery of Sanskrit represent for identifying the origin of European languages? Pg.17
The language of ancient India - being it so old and yet with similarities: bhrātar - brother.

6) Explain how the Grimm’s Law works. Pg.19

Correspondences: between consonants- Greek, and Latin to Germanic languages
- The original voiceless stops (p, t, k) were changed to fricatives (f, þ, h).
- A ‘P’ was changed to an ‘F’ in the Germanic languages. Latin ‘piscis’ or ‘pēs’ > English ‘fish’ and ‘foot’.
- A ‘T’ was changed to a ‘TH’: Latin trēs=English three,
- A ‘K’ was changed to a ‘H’: Latin centum=English hundred.
A similar correspondence can be shown for certain other groups of consonants: Sanskrit bhárāmi (Greek )=English bear, Sanskrit
dhā=English do, Latin hostis (from *ghostis)=English guest.
- The original voiced stops (b, d, g) changed to voiceless ones in the Germanic languages
- A ‘C’ was changed to an ‘H’: Latin cannabis=English hemp (showing also the shift of initial k to h)
- A ‘G’ was changed to a ‘K’: Latin decem=English ten, Latin genu=English knee.
In High German some of these consonants underwent a further change, known as the Second or High German Sound-Shift.
The English ‘open’ and the German ‘offen’, the English ‘eat’ and the German ‘essen’.
Cause of the change: the segregation of the Germanic from_______________________________________________________ .

7) What is a family of languages? Pg.20

The languages in relationship by ______________________________________________ from a parent speech.

8) What languages belong to the Indo-European family? Pg.20

Eleven principal groups: Indian, Iranian, Armenian, Hellenic, Albanian, Italic, Balto-Slavic, Germanic, Celtic, Hittite, and Tocharian.
*Non-Indo-European languages in Europe: a) Uralic languages- Finnish, Estonian and Hungarian. ‘Uralic’ comes from _________________
b) Basque language- parts of northern ____________________________________.

9) Where was the Germanic branch spoken?Pg.28

Three groups: East Germanic, North Germanic, and West Germanic.
- East Germanic: main languages- Gothic and Vandalic. Where- the Black Sea and Crimea.
- North Germanic: main language- Old Norse. Where- Scandinavia, Denmark, Iceland, and the Faroe Islands.
- West Germanic: main languages- Old Saxon, Old Franconian, Old Frisian, Old English. Where- Germany, Netherland, Denmark, England.

10) Since English comes from the West Germanic group of languages, explain its evolution. Pg.29
West Germanic is divided into __________________________ High and Low German, by the operation of a Second (or High German)
Sound-Shift analogous to that described as _____________________ . This change, by which West Germanic p, t, k, d, etc. were changed
into other sounds, occurred about A.D. 600 in the southern or mountainous part of the Germanic area but did not take place in the
_______ __________________. In early times we distinguish as Low German tongues Old Saxon, Old Low Franconian, Old Frisian, and
_________.

11) When were the people of the Indo-European language a single group with a single language?
- Physical character: ____________________. Continuity in language and culture does not imply _______________________________.
- Language adoption: a people may give up their own language and _______________________________________________________.
- The Indo-European languages are spoken today by people of ______________________________________ biological heritages.
- Their common existence somewhere between ___________________. Where- _____________________________________________.

12) How do philologists investigate the possible geographical origin of the Indo-European people? Pg.33
- The original word-stock: vocabulary which all or a considerable number of the branches of the family ___________________________.
- An original cold place: generally have a common word for ___________________________
- No ancient common words for: elephant, rhinoceros, camel, lion, tiger, monkey, crocodile, parrot, rice, banyan, bamboo, palm.
- Ancient common words for: for snow and freezing cold, for oak, beech, pine, birch, willow, bear, wolf, otter, beaver, polecat,
marten, weasel, deer, rabbit, mouse, horse, ox, sheep, goat, pig, dog, eagle, hawk, bee.

Video -
History of English - From Indo-European to Old English https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlercYYY_VA