The people of England did not originally speak English. And the land called England was not called England in former times. It is the operation of historical circumstances that have changed and also improved some of the major languages used in the world today.
This article was originally written and presented at a meeting of Instructors in English from some of the Universities and Secondary Schools in Ghana in the middle of 2012 at the British Council Hall in Accra. The number of languages in many African countries and the necessity for reducing at least the number of the major languages in African countries has made it necessary to update the original presentation into an article for the Africa Supreme magazine.
We start with the growth of a common Chinese language and the Malay language, before discussing the growth of the English language which passed through elaborate historical processes spanning nearly two thousand years. Because of the breadth and length of the languages we have to discuss, this paper will form Part 1 covering the development of the three languages mentioned. Learning from the English language and the other two languages will form Part 2 to be presented in the May edition of Africa Supreme.
National or smaller number of languages and positive social change
There could not have been any type of development and growth in any of the societies of the world unless aspiring societies had a common national language or at least a few languages in which the majority of their populations could communicate. A language is the essential vehicle for expressing our thoughts and for communicating our thoughts with other members of society. We think mostly in pictures and then use a language to give expression to our thinking. The language we use can facilitate the pace of learning and the rapid growth of our societies or could slow down learning and societal growth.
A dynamic language is one that facilitates a society in expressing its literature, history, economic, scientific and all its thoughts. A society whose language does not provide the appropriate medium for self-expression will not be able to create a culture that will be capable of dealing with present ideas and concepts, and neither will it be able to deal adequately with the ideas, concepts and development issues of the future. Societies that have developed faster have encouraged the development of national languages, leaving existing ethnic languages to be spoken or used in their respective family homes. Some of the reasons for fewer languages with greater percentage of speakers in a country or a national language are as follows:
Fosters greater national unity since ethnic groups within a country can now communicate with each other in one or at least in one of a few existing major languages in the country.
Speeds up the national development process since most citizens of the country can speak and understand the one, two or three major languages used in the country.
Helps in faster and more effective non-formal education and training.
Helps quicker instruction and dissemination of information in schools.
Significantly reduces the cost of printing learning materials since printing costs decline as number of copies to be printed increases.
Reduces the expense involved in the training of language teachers. The training of a larger body of teachers in one language is far cheaper than training smaller numbers of teachers in more than twenty languages.
Reduces the expense involved in setting up teams of examiners, revisers, editors and markers for the examination papers for the different national languages.
We look at the development of a common Chinese language, The Malay language, and the English Languages to help us create a model that could help African countries to reduce and develop their own major national languages.
Development of a Common Chinese language
China had an estimated 2,600 ethnic languages in their earlier history. This number of ethnic languages was rather unwieldy for purposes of development. Attempts were therefore made, as far back as the fourteenth century, to promote a common Chinese language but without much success. In the seventeenth century, an academy was set up with the task of developing a common language with common pronunciation. The attempt was not successful.
However, by 1850, the Mandarin Chinese which was spoken in the principal city of Beijing had emerged as the dominant language used in business and in official matters. In 1932, a National Language Unification Committee was set up. The committee adopted the Beijing Mandarin language as the official and national language for the country. Since then a standard Chinese language, based on the Beijing Mandarin language, has been developed and adopted for school learning and business, cutting across over 80 and more languages in a country with population of 1.4 billion people. Fifty-six ethnic groups are recognized in the country and these are allowed to be used for teaching and learning at the lower primary school level and then make the transition to the standard Mandarin Chinese language from then onwards.
The long period of Chinese history did not help the economic and financial fortunes of the country with its multiplicity of languages. In 2010, China overtook Japan to become the second largest producer after USA in terms of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), that is, after 78 years of adopting the use of a common national language for school learning and for the conduct of business in 1932. In 2014, China overtook USA in GDP, measured in purchasing power parity (PPP). In 2015, USA regained its premier position as the world’s largest producer moving China to second place. China is nonetheless, projected to overtake USA in 2030 to become the world’s largest economic power. This is the power of one national language effectively used for national production and development.
Development of the Malay Language
Malay, the national language of Malaysia has developed over many years by the addition of words from its former colonizers: the Portuguese, the Dutch and English, and from the Japanese during the Second World War. Other words have come into the Malay language from Chinese, Indian, Arab and other merchant nations that have traded with the various countries in the Malaysian archipelago over the years. The list of the major languages that have influenced the development of the Malay language includes the following:
Portuguese
Dutch
Chinese
Hindi
Sanskrit
English
Japanese
Arabic
Development of the English Language
The people of England today were originally called Britons who spoke the Celtic language, a language that is still spoken in present-day Wales, Cornwall and in the southern part of Scotland. it was essentially the successive invasion of different language nations into Britain that eventually resulted in the development of the English language of today, and also changed the name Britain, the name of the land on which the Britons lived, into England.
Roman forces under Julius Caesar first invaded Britain in 55BCE and continued periodic invasions until 43CE when they decided to colonize Britain. The Romans introduced Latin as the governing language and ruled Britain till 410CE, withdrawing after 367 years of occupation. The withdrawal of the Romans from their provinces in Western Europe at the beginning of the fall of Roman Empire created room for the invasion of Britain by Germanic ethnic groups from the east of Britain.
Latin words and terms that were added to the Celtic language during the Roman occupation of Britain mainly dealt with government and legal matters. Examples of other English words that were derived from Latin were alacrity from alacer, algae from alga, and animal and animate from anima.
More Latin words were introduced into what is known as Old English by missionaries. Greek words and terms that came indirectly to the Celtic language from Latin dealt essentially with scientific, technical, medical and theological matters.
Greek words and terms
Words such as the following came from Greek:
Democracy
Athletics
Evangelist
Physics
Purgatory
Divide
Lunatic
Geometry,
Architect,
Microscope
Arrival of the Jutes Frisii and the Franks: 5th Century
The map below shows the location of the Jutes, the Frisii and the Franks in the Northern part of Germany.
The first invasion of Britain after the departure of the Romans came in the late 5th century by people from the northern part of Germany and from the Netherlands. The Germanic invaders were made up of ethnic groups that included the Jutes, Frisii and the Franks. The Jutes came from Denmark, while the Frisii or Frisians came from the low lands of Northern Germany.
Arrival of the Anglo-Saxons: 5th Century
Anglo-Saxons from Northern Germany made their first invasion attempt on Britain in the 4th Century but were beaten back by the Romans.
The next Anglo-Saxon invasion of Britain came in 450 CE after the departure of the Romans from Britain. The Angles, who formed the dominant group, came from a country called Englaland and spoke a language called Englisc from which the modern-day words “England” and “English” were easily created. Another writer contends that the name England was created from Angle and land (Angleland); but this may be disputable. Arrival of the Anglo-Saxons
Arrival of the Vikings: 8th and 9th Centuries
Boat Scandinavians started their raids on Britain from 789CE and throughout the 8th and 9th centuries. The Scandinavians, whose warriors were known as the Vikings, were a broad group of people from Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Iceland. In the period between 865-896CE, the Vikings decided to settle in Britain and protect Britain from other Viking raiders. As a condition for their stay, the Vikings demanded “Protection Money.” The Vikings introduced the Norse Language in Britain. The Norse language is estimated to have added some 2000 words to the growing English language. Examples of words that were added to the English language include the following:
The Vikings also introduced new grammatical structures that have influenced how the English language is spoken and written.
Defeat of the Vikings
In the late 9th century to the early 10th century, a wave of Saxons, with superior weapons, military and numerical strength, liberated the Angles by assisting them to defeat the Vikings. The defeat ended the domination of Vikings in England. Many Vikings left England after their defeat. Those who remained were forced to leave England in 1066CE when William the Conqueror arrived with his French forces.
William did not wish to have the remnant of Vikings in England and negotiated a settlement. As a condition for the settlement, some of the Vikings left; but some still stayed in England and became part and parcel of the British populace.
By the support the Saxons gave in defeating the Vikings, the Angles came to accept the Saxons as their Kings, with the two ethnic groups becoming unified at this point. The Anglo-Saxon rule and the dominance of the Anglo-Saxon language in Britain started from this period onwards. The majority of Britons consequently abandoned their language and culture for the Anglo-Saxon language and culture.
The Anglo-Saxons influenced the language spoken in Britain by introducing new Germanic words and terms into the Celtic language of the region replacing the indigenous Celtic language and pushing it to Scotland, Wales and Ireland. The English language from that period had already developed substantially by addition of Latin and Greek words, by Scandinavian words, terms and grammatical structures, and by the dominant Anglo-Saxon language.
Arrival of the French
Military Men In 1066CE, Britain was again invaded by people from Normandy in France. The invading band consisted of Normans, Bretons, Flemish and other people form the provinces of France led by the Duke of Normandy, also called William the Conqueror. The aim of the invasion was to claim the throne of England for William. William became successful in his bid for the English throne in 1072.
The Normans added a lot of French vocabulary to the languages spoken in England. Words that came from the French language include the following:
Cinema
Bureau
Garage
Glacier
Entrepreneur
1100 – 1500: Middle English
Modern English is considered to have had its beginnings from 1400 CE, the early period of the renaissance. The Renaissance (14th–16th centuries) was a period in which the Anglo-Norman language, which had only partially replaced the Anglo-Saxon language, continued to acquire new words from German, Dutch, Latin, Greek, and French sources.
Arrival of the Italians
The Italians arrived in England in the 16th and 17th centuries, that is, in the period 1550-1603.
The Italians were mostly made up of merchants, craftsmen, scholars, musicians and evangelists. Italian words added to the English language were mainly on evangelism and music.
Some of the words the Italians added to the English language include the following:
Balcony
Umbrella
Fascism
Creation of new words and terms from Greek and Latin
It was during the industrial revolution (1750-1850) that the English found it necessary to create new names for the machines and processes that were being invented and developed. Names for the new machines and processes were essentially coined by joining words and terms from Greek and Latin.
Greek words such as tele, anti, dia and hyper became used as prefixes for forming new words.
Telephone
By adding the Greek word tele (meaning far or far away) to phone (voice or sound) a new word telephone was created.
Television
Similarly, the word television was created by adding vision from the Latin word “to see” (video, vidi, visum; meaning I see, I saw, I have seen, in the Latin language) to the Greek word tele. The English word video used presently means “I see” in Latin.
Alphabet
The word “alphabet” itself was formed from the Greek words “alpha” and “beta”.
From the Greek words anti, dia and hyper the English language obtained the following words:
Anti-bacteria
Diameter, diagramme
Hyperactive
New words and terms from other cultures
When England became a world power with colonies in many parts of the world beginning from the 16th century and ending in the 20th century, the English language adopted new words from many of the countries and regions the English had administrative and trade relations with.
Spanish words
Spanish words such as the following have become part of the English language:
Chocolate,
Guitar,
Cargo,
Plaza
Guerilla
Arabic words
Arabic words that have become part of the English language include the following:
Sugar,
Coffee,
Jihad,
Nadir
Khebab
Arabic words that came into the English language indirectly from Latin include the following:
Alcohol,
Alkali
Algebra
Dutch words
Dutch words that have come into the English language through trade and navigation include the following:
Skipper
Boss
Indian words
Indian words that have become part of the English language include the following:
Pyjamas
Shampoo
Verandah
Japanese words
Some of the Japanese words that are found in the English language include the following:
Tycoon (English: Tycoon)
Kitchin. (English: Kitchen)
Homu (English: Home)
Hausu. (English: House)
Basurumu (English: Bathroom)
It is estimated that the English language is composed of the following percentages of words from the languages indicated:
Latin: 29%
French: 29%
Germanic: 26%
Others: 16%
Although most of the words of the original Celtic language are lost in the present English language, what the Celtic language has contributed to the English language is the grammatical arrangement of words in a sentence to form perfect tense, past perfect, continuous tense etc.
The English language, referred to as a “borrowing language”, has grown from its original Celtic roots by a system of diffusion, borrowing and creation of new words from over fifty languages consisting of the languages of many of the cultures of former British colonies and from the cultures of British trade partners across the world. Words from Africa such as kwashiorkor, a disease that previously affected malnourished children is found in the English vocabulary. Other African words and terms in the English vocabulary include the following:
Danfo: Friend
Chop-chop: May refer to food as in “they are bringing some chop-chop:’ or the act of eating such as in “I am going to have some chop-chop.”
Flag-off: To give a sign for an event to start
Okada: A system of transportation in West Africa in which a motorcycle rider transports people on their motorcycle through heavily congested traffic areas of the city for a fee. Okada can also be used for transporting goods of not more than 200 kg. Okada can something also have some carriage for transporting goods.
To put to bed: To put an end to an issue, especially a contentious issue. Example: We have discussed this matter for the last three months; Let’s try and put the matter to a bed today.
English now has over one billion words to express any new idea or concept. It is the language with the largest vocabulary and the language spoken by an estimated 1.35 billion people in the world.
