The Story of English
CHAPTER 1: AN ENGLISH SPEAKING WORLD
2000 years ago Julius Ceasar English did not exist.
500 years later Englisc was spoken by a few people.
Nearly a thousand years later at the end of the 16th century English was the native speech
(Shakespeare was in his prime).
400 years later today!
English is used by 750 million people. Barely half of them are native.
English is the first global language!
English is the language with the most vocabulary.
Oxford English Dictionary 500,000 words.
English is the official language of the air, the sea and Christianity.
English as a foreign language in countries where it is backed up by a tradition of English teaching
(like in the Netherlands).
The Queen’s English
First English dictionary 18th century move towards written standardization.
Victiorian England realized the idea of ‘the Queen’s English’ a spoken standard.
Despite influence of TV/radio still a lot of regional varieties of spoken English.
Early 19th century regional differences were even more distinctive industrial towns and
improvement in literacy improved the standard of written English.
Received Pronunciation (RP) sign of belonging to the professional middle class.
RP had a special and wider role to play in society, to provide the British army and imperial Civil
Service with well-spoken recruits.
‘Nation shall speak peace unto nation’
1922 first radio broadcasting service (BBC) milestone for the English language.
The establishment of a uniform BBC English was partly designed to promote a sense of
impersonality and impartiality.
The BBC helped the spread of RP within the British Isles.
, Even in the United States a refined pronunciation of the King’s English became desirable.
Two types of RP:
1. Unmarked RP the mainstream version.
2. Marked RP elite version (‘posh English’).
‘The best kind of English’
An accent has two vital functions:
1. It gives a clue about the speaker’s life and career.
2. It will give a good indication of the speaker’s community values and what he identifies with.
Speakers of RP tend to be credited with qualities such as honesty, intelligence, ambition, etc.
They have a better chance of asserting his rights in any situation where credibility is at a
premium.
Language is always on the move, significant language changes will occur even in the course of a
lifetime.
1960’s and 1970’s the use of modified RP became much more widely acceptable.
Even RP itself has changed there were clear differences between RP of fifty years ago and the RP
of today.
Levelling out people with very posh accents don’t want to be seen as very different. Anyone with
an upper-class accent would change it very quickly. They get levelled out to a general middle-class
accent.
The voice of America
After 1945 the dominant voice in the English-speaking world has no longer British but American.
The enormous strategic, economic and cultural interests of the US ensured that the English language
would survive.
Once peace was declared after WWII Americans became deeply involved with the European
economy (Marshall Plan).
After the Cold War:
US and Sovjet Union were the superpowers (American) English was ‘the language of
democracy’.
English was the language of ideals ‘life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness’.
Throughout history English was ‘the language of the common man’.
Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II first event to capture a mass television audience across the
world.
CHAPTER 1: AN ENGLISH SPEAKING WORLD
2000 years ago Julius Ceasar English did not exist.
500 years later Englisc was spoken by a few people.
Nearly a thousand years later at the end of the 16th century English was the native speech
(Shakespeare was in his prime).
400 years later today!
English is used by 750 million people. Barely half of them are native.
English is the first global language!
English is the language with the most vocabulary.
Oxford English Dictionary 500,000 words.
English is the official language of the air, the sea and Christianity.
English as a foreign language in countries where it is backed up by a tradition of English teaching
(like in the Netherlands).
The Queen’s English
First English dictionary 18th century move towards written standardization.
Victiorian England realized the idea of ‘the Queen’s English’ a spoken standard.
Despite influence of TV/radio still a lot of regional varieties of spoken English.
Early 19th century regional differences were even more distinctive industrial towns and
improvement in literacy improved the standard of written English.
Received Pronunciation (RP) sign of belonging to the professional middle class.
RP had a special and wider role to play in society, to provide the British army and imperial Civil
Service with well-spoken recruits.
‘Nation shall speak peace unto nation’
1922 first radio broadcasting service (BBC) milestone for the English language.
The establishment of a uniform BBC English was partly designed to promote a sense of
impersonality and impartiality.
The BBC helped the spread of RP within the British Isles.
, Even in the United States a refined pronunciation of the King’s English became desirable.
Two types of RP:
1. Unmarked RP the mainstream version.
2. Marked RP elite version (‘posh English’).
‘The best kind of English’
An accent has two vital functions:
1. It gives a clue about the speaker’s life and career.
2. It will give a good indication of the speaker’s community values and what he identifies with.
Speakers of RP tend to be credited with qualities such as honesty, intelligence, ambition, etc.
They have a better chance of asserting his rights in any situation where credibility is at a
premium.
Language is always on the move, significant language changes will occur even in the course of a
lifetime.
1960’s and 1970’s the use of modified RP became much more widely acceptable.
Even RP itself has changed there were clear differences between RP of fifty years ago and the RP
of today.
Levelling out people with very posh accents don’t want to be seen as very different. Anyone with
an upper-class accent would change it very quickly. They get levelled out to a general middle-class
accent.
The voice of America
After 1945 the dominant voice in the English-speaking world has no longer British but American.
The enormous strategic, economic and cultural interests of the US ensured that the English language
would survive.
Once peace was declared after WWII Americans became deeply involved with the European
economy (Marshall Plan).
After the Cold War:
US and Sovjet Union were the superpowers (American) English was ‘the language of
democracy’.
English was the language of ideals ‘life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness’.
Throughout history English was ‘the language of the common man’.
Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II first event to capture a mass television audience across the
world.
