The Influence of Other Languages on English
How many native speakers of English realise the influence (0) ... ?
Many
of the common features of the English (1) ... owe a huge
debt to Scandinvian,
French, Greek and Latin, for example.
The Scandinavian invasions between the
8th and 10th centuries
left their mark upon the English language. It is well-documented
that phrasal verbs, (2) ... is a considerable source of frustration
for
many an EFL learner, are a common feature of the
Scandinavian language. An
equally strong consequence of the
invasion was the gradual 'wearing away'
of the inflectional endings
that characterised Old English. This simplification
of English led to
the commonly-held view today (3) ...
The influence of
French (and Latin) in the three centuries following
the Battle of Hastings
in 1066 was no less significant. Modern
English has many pairs of words and
expressions (or 'doublets'),
(4) ... but a slightly different connotation.
Would you prefer to
receive a cheerful 'hearty welcome' the next time you visit
a friend,
or a more formal 'cordial reception'?
Speakers of English today
may wonder why it is (5) ... derive from
Greek. This influence can be traced
back to the time when Athens
led the world in philosophy, art and science.
Conversely, it could
be argued that Greek words are so commonplace in English
(6) ... .
In the field of medicine alone we find many Greek suffixes, such
as
'-itis', which originally meant 'disease' but narrowed its meaning to
describe
the part of the body that is inflamed.
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