Essay On English Language

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The Foreign elements in English Language English is a West Germanic language brought to Britain by Germanic invaders. A majority of the words used in English today are of foreign origin. English still derives much of its vocabulary from Latin and Greek, but we have also borrowed words from nearly all of the languages in Europe. A large portion of the modern English vocabulary has come from the Anglo-Norman languages. English is considered as a ‘’borrowing’’ language. English has gone through many periods in which large numbers of words from a particular language were borrowed. Borrowed words are words taken over from other languages. Borrowing refers to the process of speakers adopting words from a source language into the native language. On the other hand native word is a word that was not borrowed from other language, but was inherited from an earlier stage of the language, a word that is not a loanword. The major foreign elements in English language are from Latin, French, Greek and Scandinavian languages. Latin has four phases of borrowings: The Anglo-Saxon period denotes the period of English history after their initial settlement through their creation of the English nation, up to the Norman Conquest that is, between about 550 and 1066. The Old English period (from 450-1150) is an early form of the English language that was spoken and written by the Anglo-Saxons and their descendants in parts of what are now England and southern and eastern Scotland between at least the mid-5th century and the mid-12th century. It is sometimes described as the period of full inflections. The Middle English period (from 1150-1500)- describes dialects of English in the history of the English language between the High and L... ... middle of paper ... ...nglish Philia Friend Phobia Fear Aracno Spider Nomy Laws Words that are borrowed from Scandinavian to English language are: Cog, carrot, toilet, flence, wicker, mink, midden, ect… Although English has had a large influence on many languages, it has also been greatly influenced by other languages. It is estimated that over 80% of the English vocabulary has been borrowed from other languages. Many of these borrowed words have become so common that we don’t even notice them as foreign any more. Professor : Student: Qatip Arifi Arta Cerkini

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