The Sami, who live in the northern tips of Scandinavia and Russia, have as many as 1000 words for reindeer. The english language, however, has far less. This stark difference is due to the fact that languages are shaped by the people who use them daily. People who live in colder climates like northern Russia see reindeer more often and have more of a use for them , while someone in New York may have never seen them in their entire lives. Therefore, they would need more words to describe different attributes of reindeer, like the shape of their antlers, personality, and fitness. Since languages change based on who is using them, it makes sense that the English language has changed so much throughout its existence. Even though the English language
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It would be safe to assume that if there was such a change in the way people speak in just a year, the language that we use now would be very different from what we used 2000 years ago. That assumption is correct, with Old English containing letters that we do not use anymore, let alone words. One of these archaic letters is the thorn. Shaped like a p and b put together, the thorn has a sound of a “th,” and appears in Old English as well as early Middle English. The letter is used in The Bible in very old translations, specifically in Matthew 6:9-13. The third word in the first line illustrates what the thorn means. The word þat, if translated knowing that a thorn makes a th sound, means that. Therefore, the first sentence translated out of Old English and into Modern English would mean “Our father who art in heaven.” From 1066 to the 1400s, otherwise known as the Middle English time period, the thorn is not used and is replaced with a th, which is what we use to write with today. Eventually, though the thorn was used for a much longer period than most of the other extinct letters, it became counterproductive through the use of Gothic style printing and the French printing press. Using the thorn when writing in a gothic font just made the letter look like a y, which led to phrases like “ye old printing press.” In addition, French printing presses didn’t even have a …show more content…
Through the conquering of other countries, English assimilated with the original language in the countries that English speakers were conquering, continuing to shape the English language to be what it is today. Additionally, English has become immensely popular, which is especially surprising since the language is so young. This could be due to the fact that Great Britain conquered over half of the world, but it could also be because English has so many ties with different languages. Though English is not considered a romance language, a lot of the main words that we use are derived from Latin just like other languages, including mutation, foliage, and plumbing. With the constant addition of new words and phrases from other countries’ languages, English is always changing and will always change to properly suit the new English speaker that are created each day. With all of this information in mind, it seems to hold true that the only thing throughout the English language that remains constant is change
It would be safe to assume that if there was such a change in the way people speak in just a year, the language that we use now would be very different from what we used 2000 years ago. That assumption is correct, with Old English containing letters that we do not use anymore, let alone words. One of these archaic letters is the thorn. Shaped like a p and b put together, the thorn has a sound of a “th,” and appears in Old English as well as early Middle English. The letter is used in The Bible in very old translations, specifically in Matthew 6:9-13. The third word in the first line illustrates what the thorn means. The word þat, if translated knowing that a thorn makes a th sound, means that. Therefore, the first sentence translated out of Old English and into Modern English would mean “Our father who art in heaven.” From 1066 to the 1400s, otherwise known as the Middle English time period, the thorn is not used and is replaced with a th, which is what we use to write with today. Eventually, though the thorn was used for a much longer period than most of the other extinct letters, it became counterproductive through the use of Gothic style printing and the French printing press. Using the thorn when writing in a gothic font just made the letter look like a y, which led to phrases like “ye old printing press.” In addition, French printing presses didn’t even have a …show more content…
Through the conquering of other countries, English assimilated with the original language in the countries that English speakers were conquering, continuing to shape the English language to be what it is today. Additionally, English has become immensely popular, which is especially surprising since the language is so young. This could be due to the fact that Great Britain conquered over half of the world, but it could also be because English has so many ties with different languages. Though English is not considered a romance language, a lot of the main words that we use are derived from Latin just like other languages, including mutation, foliage, and plumbing. With the constant addition of new words and phrases from other countries’ languages, English is always changing and will always change to properly suit the new English speaker that are created each day. With all of this information in mind, it seems to hold true that the only thing throughout the English language that remains constant is change