The History of the English Language by Risa

Just think that you’re reading the poem of Mio Cid, written in Old Spanish. Would you understand every single word? Maybe just a few words similar of those you use every day in a modern era.  Well, that case it’s similar with Old English and how words shifted in the meaning and even in the stress when pronounced.

Even though English had changed a lot through centuries, it’s not old at all. Actually, Risa wants to demonstrate this getting deep into the origin and evolution of the language in different regions, but also emphasizing on the specific changes related to the pronunciation of syllables and the meaning of certain words in certain phrases.

And actually, this is the main topic of her article, with no more purpose but to inform English learners, and also native speakers about origin and evolution of English. She makes a statement that is interesting “Only dead languages do not change”, and that let us to think that not just English but every living language changes in a certain amount of time, but of course, the core still would be the same.

Modern English derived from the dialect spoken in Mercia, but the origin of old English remains to the late seventh century, with documents written in Common Germanic Futharc. But a couple centuries before, English arrived to England and was spoken for Angels and Saxons that called this dialect “englisc”, because in that time, England was considered the land of the Angels, an interesting cultural knowledge that explain why English is called in that way.

But talking more about the specific shifts and changes in the grammar and spelling, Risa mentions two of them. One is related to the tendency to move stress back the pronunciation of a word through years, and actually I agree with her in the example of the word “folk’s”, what if in the future, the apostrophe of ownership disappears? It’s a living language, so it’s a possibility. It would be a huge change but we would get understand it and apply it, just as the “great vowel shift”.

Finally, I agree with her in the point of several but normal changes in living languages, but as an English learner, the point is that is easier to understand how word had changed when you are acquainted with it for being part of your mother tongue than one that you are actually learning. It’s difficult, because the vocabulary is extensive and we can’t know how had change all the words, and also how would them change in a future.