ENGLISH LANGUAGE: THE ROOTS; THE LANGUAGE SITUATION IN ENGLAND BEFORE ENGLISH;

THE ROMAN CONQUEST

English came to England only at about the middle of the 5th century, whereas men had
inhabited Britain for thousands of years before then. Of course you cannot imagine a place
where people live without a functional language. So there must have been at least one
language and its varieties, with which people communicated with one another. The first people
known to have inhabited the island that was later to become England were the Celts and they
spoke ‘Celtic’. The Celtic language and its varieties were another branch of the Indo-European
family. The Celtic languages were the most extensive groups in the Indo-European family to be
spoken in England at that time and up till today a good number of people in some parts of
Wales and Highlands of Scotland still speak it. When Latin was later introduced in Britain, Celtic
remained the language of the populace, especially of the rural dwellers.

How the Celts came to England is not really known but history confirms that at the beginning of
the Christian era, the Celts were found in Spain, West Germany, Italy and Great Britain. In fact
they covered some greater part of Western Europe. Some centuries earlier they were said to
have gained entry to Greece and Asia Minor. But how the Celtic languages increasingly declined
over time is still quite surprising.

Today Celtic languages are found only in some remote areas of France and Britain as we said
earlier. The impact of Celtic on modern English however, has survived mainly on place-names.
Names of cities like Belfast, York, London, Glasgow or Cardiff are Celtic. Names of rivers such as
Avon, Clyde, Dee, Don, Forth or Usk also have the Celtic origin. Others are names of regions like
Devon, Glasmorgan, Kent, Cumbria, and Argyll. The Celtic ‘cumb’ (i.e. a deep valley) is traceable
in names like Dumcombe, Holcomb or Winchcombe. What the original Celtic meaning for these
place names are cannot be said for sure. Celtic remained the predominant language of England
until the occupation of the Romans when Latin was introduced.

The Roman Conquest

The Romans under Julius Caesar first invaded Britain in 55B.C, but the actual conquest was in
AD 43 under Claudius when the Celtic warriors could no longer resist the much stronger Roman
army. The Roman occupation of Britain lasted from about AD 43 until 410. This was a very long
period which invariably planted much of Roman occupation, civilization and culture in Britain.
Latin was the language of the Romans so it became the official language, in the Roman Britain
especially in towns and cities. Celtic was spoken in the rural areas. In some localities outside the
cities, Latin was spoken; workmen and artisans were familiar with the language as they often
scratched Graffiti on tiles and some pieces of pottery. At this time, English had not come. Since
Latin was not wide spread enough it could not survive the later Germanic invasions. Latin began
to wane around AD 410, the time the last of the Roman troops were officially withdrawn from
Britain.

However, the Roman conquests have some linguistic contributions to the present day English
lexicon. For instance, the old English “Caestar” (an enclosed place) is from the Latin “casta”
(camp). Today we have some English place-names like Chester, Dorchester, Manchester and
Lancaster. The Latin ‘portus’ (gate) gave English the following names: Newport, Port sea,
Portsmouth; from Latin ‘mons’ (mountain) we have Larchmont, and Oakmont, while the Latin
‘turris’ (tower) gave rise to Torrington, Torbridge. So you can see that Latin contributed to the
development of English.

CONCLUSION

You can see that English has its root from among the dialects of Germanic tribes in North-
western Europe. This is the area where you find the modern Germany, Poland, Russia or
Denmark. It belongs to the Indo-European language family and is grouped along with German,
Dutch, Flemish, and Frisian as the West-Germanic. Before English was planted in Britain, the
Celtic tribes who lived in the Isles then spoke their language Celtic and that became the first
language in Britain. The Celts were defeated by the Romans and Britain came under the Roman
government and for a very long time Latin, the Roman language was then planted as the
language of communication and politics. But the Celtic language still survived especially in the
rural areas.

ANGLO-SAXON CONQUEST; THE ORIGIN AND STATUS OF OLD ENGLISH; SOME FEATURES OF
THE OLD ENGLISH
Anglo-Saxon Conquest

The Romans occupied Britain for more than 300 years. But the power of the Roman Empire
began to decline due to series of attacks from Northern Europe and the Romans needed to
protect their territories. Consequently the Roman soldiers in Britain were withdrawn to fight
subsequent battles. This left the Celts unprotected. There were two tribes from Northern
Britain which the Romans did not conquer, known as the Picts and Scots. These people saw the
withdrawal of the Romans as an opportunity to attack and plunder the much vulnerable Celts.
The Celts then appealed to the Germanic warriors - the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes for
help. They came in great numbers and at different times. The Angles from the modern state of
Schleswig-Holstein, Germany came in AD547 and settled in the north and central England. The
Saxons (AD 477) also from modern Germany occupied the south of the island; while the Jutes
occupied Kent. The Jutes were the first to arrive in AD 449 driving the indigenous Celtic
speaking people notably the Britons to the North and West – the present day Wales. The Jutes
were from modern Denmark or Northern Germany; their territory bordered that of Saxons.

These Germanic tribes helped the Celts defeat the attacking Picts and Scots, but then turned
around to loot, and destroy their host country and eventually occupied it. The Celts realized too
late that their friends had become their conquerors. Although wars to resist the Germanic
tribes continued for the next 200 years, the Celts could not drive the Germanic tribes out. Some
of the Celts were rather driven to places like Wales, Cornwall and the Scottish highlands. Those
who remained were forced to accept the government of the new comers and became absorbed
through inter-marriages. After a few centuries, the Celts lost their identity within the Anglo-
Saxon society.

The Germanic tribes had a lot of things in common: they were seminomadic (they moved from
place to place) warlike, sea-faring but land loving. The Angles and the Saxons were more in
number than the Jutes, and were also more persistent. The Celts called the invaders
“Sassenachs” i.e. “Saxons” regardless of their specific tribes. By the end of the 6th century the
term “Angles” was used. During the seventh century the Latin name for the country was Angli
or Anglia. This became “Engle” in Old English, while the name of the language was called
“Englisc”. It was around the 10th century that the word “Englaland” or “Aegle-land”, (land of
the Angles) appeared; this later became England.

The Origin and Status of Old English

Old English was the language the three Germanic tribes spoke as they settled in England. It was
more of a fusion of the dialects of the Germanic tribes and it is difficult to say how much the
speech of the Angles differs from that of the Saxons or that of the Jutes. However, it was never
a uniform language. Four main dialects of the Old English were spoken during this period
namely, Northumbrian, Mercian, WestSaxon and Kentish. These dialects were spoken in
different parts of Britain and Scotland. For instance, Northumbria and Mercian were spoken in
the region north of the Thames where the Angles occupied.

Some Features of the Old English

Let me remind you once again that the period from AD450 to 1150 is referred to as Old English.
The grammar of the Old English took after the Latin grammar. One of the features of Latin is
that it is heavily inflected. This means that the Latin words are full of inflections; what you may
call affixes today. That is why the Old English period is sometimes called the period of full
inflection, because during this period, the endings of nouns, adjectives and verbs had
inflections. A noun for example is described in terms of cases, Latin has six (6) cases,
Nominative (subject), Genitive (possessive), Accusative (objective), Dative (indirect object)
Ablative and Vocative. The Latin “Nauta” (sailor) for example has its singular form (nominative)
as ‘nauta’, plural “nautae”. Remember in its grammar, Old English resembled Latin. The nouns
and adjectives are inflected for up to four or five cases.

Old English vocabulary is almost entirely lifted from the Germanic languages. A large part of this
vocabulary has disappeared today. When the Northern conquest introduced French to England
as the language of the upper classes, much of the Old English vocabulary for literature and
education gave way to words borrowed from French and Latin. Those that survived were very
few, with such words as ‘mann’ (man), ‘wif’ (wife) ‘cild’ (child) ‘hủs’ (house) etc.
One of the most important events in the history of the English language is the Anglo-Saxon
conquest, which is responsible for the birth of English in Britain. Old English, which is the
language of the conquering Germanic tribes, was influenced by Latin due to the long
occupation of Britain by the Romans and their long contacts with the Germanic tribes. The old
English was the national language of Britain during this period, though it had other varieties or
dialects.

INFLUENCES ON THE OLD ENGLISH: RELIGION, THE DANISH INVASION AND THE AGE OF THE
VIKINGS

Religious Influence on Old English Christianity was introduced in England at about AD597. And
from this time to the close of the Old English period (around AD1100) is over 500 years. So you
can imagine how great impart this would have on language. The dominant church then was the
Roman Catholic and the religious zeal that greeted the 7th century was responsible for building
churches and monasteries. And Latin being the primary language of religion was once again
rapidly imported. The temporary decline Latin experienced earlier with the coming of the
Anglo-Saxons was overtaken by this religious revival.

The missionaries from Rome did not only introduce Christianity, they came with classical
civilization, education and the Latin language, which was the universal language of the church
and education. Many of the Latin words were adopted early, while some were adopted towards
the end of the tenth and eleventh centuries. These words also found their way into the
literature of the time. Normally, it is expected that the new words would express new ideas and
concepts. So the new religion introduced words about the church, and explained its internal
and external organization. Remember that the Anglo-Saxons were not Christians, so the church
and pagan ideas and customs survived side by side. But much of paganism was absorbed by the
church.

The Danish invasion and the age of the Vikings

Towards the end of the Old English period, another invasion of England took place, this time by
the Danes from Denmark. Also called the Vikings, their contact with English constituted another
major influence on the language. Denmark, Sweden and Norway are among countries that
come from the Scandinavian region.

The Scandinavians, i.e., the Swedish, and the Norwegians were actually neighbours to Anglo-
Saxons and were even related in language and blood. Their plundering activities started from
the 8th century to the beginning of the 11th century. The climax of their achievement came in
the 11th century when the King of Denmark took over the throne of England, conquered
Norway and rule the greater part of the Scandinavians world. The period of the Danish activities
and influence from 1014 -1039 is known as the Viking Age.

The Danish attacks were in three stages: the first early stages were characterized by plundering
of towns and church facilities. This was between AD787 and 850. The second stage was in 850
when the Danes came in a fleet of 350 ships. They invaded and captured Canterbury, London,
York and East Anglia. By 878 they had overrun almost the whole of Britain. The third stage of
the Scandinavian invasion was more of political adjustment and assimilation from 878 to 1042.
In 1042 the English king was sent on exile and for the next 25 years England was ruled by the
Danes.

As the Vikings became permanent settlers in England they gradually got absorbed in the native
population and accepted the Anglo-Saxon religion and language. Their adoption of the
language, though very similar with theirs, altered the Old English in some noticeable ways,
especially its influenced on place names. More than 1,400 places in England bear Scandinavian
names. Their early acceptance of Christianity can also be seen in the Scandinavian names found
among the Monks, Priests and Bishops. The Danes settled mainly in Northumbria, and the West
Coast of Ireland.

Middle English Period: The Norman Conquest (1066-1200)

You may want to know who the Normans were. The Normans were made up of the Danes and
other settlers from Northern Europe that occupied Normandy in the 9th and 10th centuries.
Normandy was a district on the Northern coast of France. The civilization of Normandy was
essentially French, and the Normans were among the most progressive and advanced of the
people of Europe at this time.

Before the conquest, England and Normandy had enjoyed a fair long standing relationship. For
instance, one of the English kings (Ethelred) married a Norman wife and when he was driven to
exile by the Danes, he took refuge with his brother-in-law, the duke of Normandy. His son
Edward, then brought up in France was more of French than English. In 1042, the Danish
government declined in England and Edward known as the confessor was restored to the
throne from which the Danes had earlier expelled his father. He came back with his Norman
friends, enriched them and gave them important positions in his government, thus a strong
French atmosphere reigned in the English court during the 24 years of Edward’s government.
Edward died in 1066 without a son to succeed him. William the Duke of Normandy was a
second cousin of the late King Edward and had nursed the ambition of succeeding the king. His
relationship with Edward however, didn’t give him any right to the English throne. So he
decided to take the throne by force. This he did, and at the battle of Hastings, his forces killed
the reigning king Harold and defeated his army. William was eventually crowned king of
England on the 25th December 1066. With the possession of the English crown, William
introduced new nobility. Most of the English higher class died in the war at Hasting and those
that escaped were treated as traitors. By 1072, the Old English nobility was practically wiped
out, and their places were filled with Norman followers of the king. What the Norman
settlement in England meant to language was that French, which was the language of the
Normans, was introduced as a second official language in England. And it functioned
particularly as the language of the upper class. Unlike the Anglo-Saxons language that came to
replace the existing Celtic language, French was adopted to be used side by side with English
but the two languages were to perform different roles.

Sources of New Words

You will recall that the greatest radical changes in the history of English have taken place in the
vocabulary. The events and developments in Europe and England are usually reflected in the
English language by the number of new words that are introduced following the events. Can
you remember any Old English words that came with the Anglo-Saxon invasion or words that
were introduced as a result of the Danish invasion, or French words that the Normans brought
with them as they conquered England in 1066?

In the Modern periods new words that came into the English lexicon did not come with military
conquest, rather they came from common sources such as borrowings from other modern
European languages; creation of words through self-explaining compounds, prefixes and
suffixes; coinages; forming of words from Greek and Latin elements; common words from
proper names; slang and old words that assumed new meanings. We shall discuss each of these
briefly:

(i) Borrowings from Modern European Languages: The English language has further extended
its vocabulary with new words like aperitif, chauffeur, garage etc (French).

(ii) Forming Words through Self-Explaining Compounds: Compound words such as fire-
extinguisher, finger-print etc. (often with hyphens) represent the old method of creating words
in English language.

iii) Compounds from Greek and Latin Elements: Latin and Greek are familiar classical languages
whose elements have been in the English language for a long time. In modern times, they
remain a favourite source of scientific terms in the language.

(iv) Prefixes and Suffixes. Another method for forming words has been by adding familiar
prefixes and suffixes to existing words. Thus in the Modern period, words such as transatlantic,
transcontinental, transformer, transmarine, post classical, postgraduate, prenatal, preschool,
preview, counterattack, superman, neoclassical, stardom, gangster, profiteer etc came into the
language.

(v) Coinages. Some new words in the language are as a result of deliberate coinages during this
period. Many of such words came from the media and advertising.

(vi) Words from Proper Names. Some words in the language are actually adopted from proper
names with which the idea expressed by the words is associated.
(vii) Slang. Slang could be said to be common words or expressions that do not belong to the
standard variety but are generally used in some informal contexts, with some special meaning.

(viii) Old Words with New Meanings. The process of extending the vocabulary of a language
also involves attaching new meanings to old-familiar words. Words like mouse, boot, click,
navigate as used today in computing are examples of old words with new meanings.

VARIETIES OF MODERN ENGLISH

Introduction

The English language continued to grow during the modern period both in the enlargement of
its vocabulary and in its spread. The first signs of the progress of English as a world language
began to manifest towards the latter part of the 16th century. At that time, the number of
mothertongue English speakers in the world was estimated at between five and seven million,
all living within Great Britain. In the period between the end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I
(1603) and the beginning of the reign of Queen Elizabeth II (1950), the number of English
speakers rose to between one and half billion to two billion, spread throughout almost all the
countries of the world. Presently there are approximately 75 territories where English is spoken
either as the first language, L1 (mother-tongue) or as an official language, L2 (second language).
Countries where English is spoken as a native language (first language) are mainly the UK, USA,
Australia, New Zealand and South-Africa.

The dispersals (or diasporas) of English are of two types, first is the first Diaspora involving the
migration of about 25,000 people from the South and East of England to America and Australia,
resulting in new mother tongue varieties of English. The second Diaspora, involving the
colonization of Africa and Asia, led to the development of a number of second language
varieties, often referred to as “New Englishes”.

English in West Africa

There were no strong British settlements in these territories, but with British colonial
administration, English became the lingua franca (or the official language), in these countries.
Pidgin and creoles which developed from English contact were now spoken by many people
along with hundreds of local languages. Right now the English spoken by many of these
countries have developed certain features which make it possible to identify such varieties of
Nigerian English, Ghanaian English or Gambian English. However it is difficult to say whether
some features that are distinct to some countries are also available in others. But one thing is
clear; distinct features of these varieties can be found mainly on the amount of loan-words
from local languages and some coinages that identify national institutions and practices. But in
many cases standard West African English varieties are similar to British Standard English
especially in grammar and speech sounds. And standard is also to be found in the lexicon
except in cases where English words assume new meanings to reflect the local context.
Interestingly some words are used in two or three countries mentioned above, with exactly the
same form and meaning examples are ‘chop’, meaning food in Sierra Leone, Ghana, and the
Gambia. In the Nigerian pidgin it is also used as eat (verb). Kola is used as fruit for stimulant,
traditional symbol of unity, and bribery, especially in Ghana and Nigeria. Stranger is used for
guest in Sierra Leone and in non-standard Nigeria English. Aunty (aunt) is used to address any
woman older than you are, or a friend of your parent in Nigeria. Danfo (minibus), globe (bulb),
machine/okada (motor-cycle), yellow-fever (traffic warden) cash-madam (wealthy woman),
area-boys (street urchins), go-slow (traffic jam) in Nigeria; rentage (rent) in Sierra Leone; slowly-
slowly in Ghana etc. All these comparisons show us that countries have developed full-fledged
varieties that explain the influence of the environment and culture on the language. However it
will be difficult to identify particular West African standard varieties since varieties differ from
country to country.