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Peculiarities of the english languageTricky pronunciations, bizarre and inconsistent spellings of words, perplexing paradoxes, problems understanding and using idioms, unusual and contradictory rules are some of the problems people cite in learning english. To appreciate this manifestation of the various peculiarities and oddities found in the english language, it is essential, if not incumbent on the student of english to understand its’ history.
The evolution of the english language stemmed from the early ages when england was inhabited by the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes. Although the Celts were already resident in England when the Anglo-Saxons arrived, there are few obvious traces of their language in today’s english, however, some scholars have speculated that the Celtic tongue might have had an underlying influence on the grammatical development of english. The scarcity of written records gives little indication as to the linguistic situation in this period following the invasion of the Germanic language. english continued to be affected by the Germanic language with a perpetual settlement, particularly in the northern and eastern regions, of Scandinavian invaders (Norsemen).
The most significant changes in the english language occurred following the Norman Conquest in 1066, during what is referred to as the Middle english period, culminating into a system closely resembling the english of today. Middle english also acquired, during this period, the prolific habit of borrowing and adopting words from other languages, initially from french and Latin. This propensity to absorbing foreign words into english grew enormously over the ensuing centuries, compounded to a large degree, by the complex processes of exploration, colonization and overseas trading undertaken by Britain.
When words from one language are received into, and become part of another langage, they are apt to lose many marks by which their foreign origin can be detected, and by a process of assimilation assume an indigenous appearance. Their pronunciation as english words leads to a change in the spelling, which not only conceals their origin, but often results in a deviation from the norm. The growth of the english vocabulary has been huge and continues to evolve to this day.
An interesting quote: “The statistics of english are astonishing. Of all the world’s languages (now numbering some 2,700), it is arguably the richest in vocabulary. The compendious Oxford english Dictionary lists about 500,000 words with a further half-million technical and scientific terms that remain uncatalogued. According to traditional estimates, neighbouring Germany has a vocabulary of about 185,000 and french fewer than 100,000, including such Franglais as le snacque-barre and le hit-parade.”
As the language grew, no single entity existed that established, maintained, or enforced a strict adherence to a given ‘set of rules’. In fact, the first endeavours in standardizing english spelling and phrases is thought to be a result more to the invention of printing than to any other single cause. Prior to the introduction of printing into England by William Caxton in 1475, most people were not concerned with spelling. Reading and writing were activities carried on only by monks and other learned men. As long as people communicated solely by speech, spelling was no problem; but when printing came in, some standards had to be set up. It is further believed by some scholars that a major regulatory and controlling influence on the language came from early dictionary-makers. The first english dictionary in 1603 spelled and briefly defined a little more than two thousand words.
english continued to mature over the years. To read the works of Chaucer (1342 – 1400) and Shakepeare (1564 – 1616) provides a clear evidence of the change in the language when comparing to present day english. It is no wonder the english language has acquired its’ own uniqueness, considering the history and external influences to which it has been exposed, culminating in a myriad of peculiarities and oddities.
