{"id":406,"date":"2023-11-09T14:48:49","date_gmt":"2023-11-09T14:48:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/verbalizenow.com.br\/?p=406"},"modified":"2024-02-07T15:27:56","modified_gmt":"2024-02-07T15:27:56","slug":"learn-why-english-is-truly-the-worlds-language","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/verbalizenow.com.br\/index.php\/2023\/11\/09\/learn-why-english-is-truly-the-worlds-language\/","title":{"rendered":"Learn Why English Is Truly the World\u2019s Language"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

English has over 170,000 words, most of which were borrowed from other languages over various times in history. In addition, English has more phonemes<\/a> (or, units of sound) than a lot of other languages\u2014 44 in fact. Of those 44, 20 of them are vowel phonemes. The trouble begins when you realize that you have to make those 20 vowel sounds with only five letters: A, E, I, O, and U. (Luckily, Y occasionally steps in to help out, like in the word rhythm<\/em>.) This is a big reason why business English learners have such a hard time when it comes to pronouncing and spelling English words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A good example of this confusion can be found in the simple sound \/f\/, which can be heard in the word \u201cfish.\u201d Usually, the letter \u201cf\u201d is the letter we all associate with this sound. Unfortunately, English isn\u2019t that simple. The \u201cgh\u201d in tough<\/em> also makes the \/f\/ sound, as does the \u201cph\u201d in pharmacy<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why does this happen? The answer is simple\u2014 English is a tangled web of influences made up of words from lots of other languages\u2014 many of them dead\u2014 and often, those words keep the spellings, pronunciations, and grammar rules from their original languages. Retracing this linguistic history is a journey that will span 1,500 years and take us to five continents\u2014 and you won\u2019t even have to book a plane ticket!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Old English<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The English language as we know it started its life as Old English, which is was a language that was spoken by Germanic (or, Anglo-Saxon) tribes that settled in what is now the United Kingdom around the year 400 AD. The largest of the Germanic tribes that arrived in the British Isles are the people who gave \u201cEngland\u201d its name. They were called the Angles<\/em>, and the place they settled became known as Angles Land<\/em>\u2014 which naturally became \u201cEngland\u201d over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just so you can get an idea of how much English has changed in the last 1,000 years, take a look at this excerpt from Beowulf<\/a>, which is the oldest surviving literary work written in English:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hw\u00e6t. We Gardena in geardagum,
\u00feeodcyninga, \u00ferym gefrunon,
hu \u00f0a \u00e6\u00feelingas ellen fremedon.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you couldn\u2019t make out a single word of that, you\u2019re in good company. No native English speaker can either, unless they\u2019re a linguistics professor!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Old English began to evolve into Middle English (the language of Shakespeare) when the Normans conquered England in 1066. However, Old English left some words behind that we still use today. In fact, you don\u2019t even have to leave your kitchen to find them\u2014 butter<\/em>, pepper<\/em>, spoon<\/em>, and fork<\/em> are all remnants of Old English!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Old Norse<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Did you happen to notice the weird \u201c\u00f0<\/em>\u201d letter in that 1,000 year-old sample from Beowulf<\/em>? That letter is called \u201cthorn,\u201d and serves as proof that Old Norse and Old English were close linguistic buddies. Old Norse was the language of the Vikings, whose invasion and 300 year occupation<\/a> of the British Isles put a firm stamp on the development of the English language.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For this reason, Old Norse continues to provide Modern English with a lot of common words, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n