Post 1066 English Language Narrative, Essay Example

Introduction

The languages that are spoken today are not perfect communication systems, unchanged since they first came into usage. They are the results of interactions between multiple other languages through interactions of the speakers of the languages. The methods that cause the interactions and mixings of language can include trade, conquest, or immigration. For this reason, the history of a language can often reveal insights towards the history of a land where that language is spoken. The history of the English language is no different, as it was formed through the interactions of the initial Celtic settlers of Britain, Scandinavians, Roman Catholic missionaries, and French invaders.

Languages evolve through language contact. When speakers of different languages interact, they can leave imprints on each other’s languages through many different ways. Single morphemes, entire words, alphabetical characters, grammatical systems, and pronunciation can all be influenced somehow by the surrounding languages. The extent of influence the languages have on one another comes from how much contact there is between them. This means that an introduction of a few foreign language speakers will have considerably less impact than the introduction of thousands of new speakers. Also, the dominant language will not be determined solely by the numbers of native speakers of each, but also by the pressure speakers of each language are put under to learn the new one.

Development of English Before the Normans

The beginning of the English language comes with the language contact of different peoples on the island of Great Britain. Language contact is when two groups speaking different languages interact with one another and the two begin to influence one another. The first was between the original inhabitants who spoke Celtic languages and Roman soldiers and missionaries who came with the Roman conquest of the island within the first century after Christ. While there was obviously contact between the two groups, Latin remained a language of the elite with few native speakers (Kastovksky 317-318). Approximately five hundred years later the Germanic people from Scandinavia, such as the Anglos and the Saxons, settled on Britain. Their interactions with those previously on the island produced Old English, the earliest recognizable predecessor to the modern day language.

The Norman Influence on English

Perhaps the most pivotal event in the history of the English language and the nation itself was the Norman conquest of 1066. The Normans were a group initially from Scandinavia, but came to England after having settled in Northern France. When in France, they acquiesced to those around them and began speaking French, the language they brought to England with them. While initially after the successful invasion, the situation was one where the ruling class and the rulers were speaking different languages, this quickly changed. Within a century of the invasion, the aristocracy was almost all bilingual. French speaking was not limited just to Norman ancestors, but a language that marked an educated person (Townend 67).

Multilingual England and the Survival of English

These waves of conquests and settlements put England into a mostly unique linguistic situation during the medieval period. Brittonic Celtic, Latin, Old Norse, and French all existed in Britain around the developing English language. The Celtic languages were largely confined outside of the sphere of influence of the English language. Latin and French were rarely spoken as first languages, but were for the educated to read and write for international communication and religious purposes. Old Norse represented an entirely oral language that was almost never written down in Britain (Townend 66). This is the setting where English developed.

It is quite unique that English developed at all in this setting. Britain was an island isolated from the continent at the time and in cases such as the Americas and Australia, three isolated continents that eventually came under European rule, their native languages died out in favor of the colonizing tongue. The situation in England looks quite similar, so how did they avoid becoming a French speaking nation? For one, the written tradition of Old English was firmly entrenched.. Yet, the most important issue was probably that Normans never made up over one percent of the population in Britain (Crystal 124), lowering the amount of language contact with French. Most of these were men, meaning that within several generations the number of pure Normans in England must have been astonishingly small.

Ironically, another reason that French did not become the language involves Latin, a language spoken by practically no one as a first language at the time. With French as the language of the educated, the aristocracy, and the clergy that could have been a route for it to take over as the dominant language. Those wishing to be educated would have certainly had to learn how to read it. Yet, this did not happen because official business was usually written in Latin. Masses were generally conducted in English, meaning there was no room for French to make headway there. While the clergy had to speak French to be appointed, they had to know English to be effective. The pressure was on those seeking education to learn Latin and those with religious interests to learn English. There was very little pressure on anyone to learn French, so no one did.

Another issue that allowed English to overcome French was related to the aristocracy. When the English and Normans were linked, very few Norman aristocrats ever came over from France, with William I, the first king after the invasion, ruling almost entirely from across The Channel (Crystal 122). Quickly, there was a split between Normandy and England and when Normandy was conquered by other French kingdoms England became firmly its own country with a sense of national pride that would never have allowed it to speak a language from a different country. The chances of French becoming the dominant language on the island died permanently with the Hundred Years War where the ability to speak French became a sign of a traitorous mind.

Each new wave into Britain changed the language, yet the most conclusive conquest of the island was the only one that did not change the linguistic demographics on the island significantly. While the Norman invasion and occupation of England certainly changed the language, the introduction of French did not lead to increased French speaking, but an only temporary French speaking elite that was out of power within a few centuries of their initial invasion. Oddly, the invasion pushed English aristocracy and therefore the English language into Scotland, which had avoided the Anglo-Saxon and Latin influences while retaining more Celtic languages. An invasion that could have been expected to wipe out English on the island actually spread it to the northern region that had previously resisted it. The reason for French’s inability to become the dominant language is that there were too few Frenchman in the country for it to become the spoken word and the prominence of Latin in official documents where French could have some headway.

Despite the fact that English remained the vernacular in southern Britain, French made its impact on the language there. Huge numbers of new words came into use in the language, especially in the areas of life directly influenced by the new Norman ways of doing things, such as law or architecture. New French pronunciations required new spellings, overhauling the way the language was written. The Normans also increased record keeping in the country, meaning that writing became more important in the country. These shifts were responsible for the development of Old English into Middle English.

Conclusion

The story of the English language can largely be told through the various migrations of new people into Britain, specifically the areas that came to be England as opposed to Wales and Scotland. Sometime later, when the English became the dominant global power, the story of the language became a reflection on the spread of the British Empire around the world, creating the Anglosphere, a group of countries in all areas of the world that spoke English, each putting their own spin on the language. However, until the time of Middle English the story was very much set on the island of Britain, where people such Celtics, Romans, Scandinavians, and Normans each moved through the country, leaving their mark on its language.

Works Cited

Crystal, David. “Chapter Six: A Trilingual Nation.” The Stories of English. Woodstock: Overlook, 2004. 121-39. Print.

Townend, Matthew. ‘Contacts and Conflicts: Latin, Norse, and French’, in Lynda Mugglestone (ed.), The Oxford History of the English Language (Oxford University Press, 2006)