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l."- DOCUMENT RESUME ED 075 838 24 CS 200 496 TITLE History of the English Language: Language V-VI [Grades rive and Six]; Teacher's Guide. INSTITUTION Oregon Univ., Eugene. Oregon Elementary English Project. SPONS AGENCY Office of Education (DHEW), Washington, D.C. treau of Research. BUREAU NO BR-8-0143 PUB DATE 71 CONTRACT OEC- 0- 8- 080143 -3701 NOTE 56p. AVAILABLE FROM Accompanying reel -to -reel tapes only available on loan by written request from ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading and Communication Skills, NCTE, 1111 Kenyon Rd., Urbana, Ill. 61801, Attention Documents Coordinator EDRS PRICE MF-$0.65 HC-$3.29 DESCRIPTORS Curriculum Guides; *Diachronic Linguistics; Distinctive Features; Elementary Education; English; *English Curriculum; English Instruction; Grade 5; Grade 6; *Middle English; *Old English; Printing; *Teaching Guides IDENTIFIERS *Oregon Elementary English Project ABSTRACT Developed by the Oregon Elementary English Project, this series of 14 lessons is designed to provide the student withan understanding and awareness of the history of the English language. Old English is first explored, including the Roman, Germanic, and Scandinavian influences. Middle English is then introduced througha study of the Norman Invasion led by William the Conqueror. Finally, the students are led to a study of Modern English througha discussion of the advent of the printing press and its subsequent influence on the language. Each lesson is accompanied bya statement of its purpose, content, background, suggested procedures, and student activities. A tape on Old and Middle English supplements the unit and can be used in canjunction with several of the lessons. (The tape is available on loan' through the ERIC/RCS Clearinghouse.) (See related documents CS 200 482-495, and CS 200 497-499.) (HS) FILMED FROM BEST AVAILABLE COPY History of the English Language! Introduction Language V-VI Teacher U S DEPARTMENT DF HEALTH EDUCATION & WELFARE OFFICE OF EDUCATION THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN REPRO DIJCED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED FROM INTRODUCTION THE PERSON OR ORGANIZATION ORIG INATING IT POINTS OF VIEW OR OPIN IONS STATED DO NOT NECESSARILY FLE rcENSEpNoTs roFNI Col ARL r0 F I:CyE OF EDU Language is not static and unchanging; rather it is constantly changing.If it were not,it would not meet the needs of changing peoples, changing cultures, changing situations.Changes in vocabulary are the most frequent andthe ones of which we are most aware. Changes in pronunciation and grammatical structure are slow, discernible only upon close examination, or after years have passed and their effect has accumulated. The history of a language is the accumulation of these changes and the comparison of the language in one era to that in another. Some changes can be traced to historical events, others can only be speculated about, and some may seem totally unexplainable.The study of these changes, and the historical events connected with them is included in this curriculum to help students better understand their language. Language history sometimes helps to explain items which seem completely irregular. For example, the irregular plural for child in Modern English is children, andthere are a few other irregular plurals-- mice, men, sheep, oxen--which may be traced back in the language to a time in Old English (between 500 A. D. and 1066 A. P.) when many words formed their plurals like each of these. Old English also had a plural ending similar to the regular plural ending of Modern English.In addition there were several other plural endings, which have been lost entirely.The words mentioned above are remnants of plural forms which were regular in Old English, because they were found on many words. These words have changed and now take the regular plural ending of Modern English.Part of the history of the language is recorded in these irregular forms, and the change in the plural affix will be dis- cussed in a lesson in this unit.Students should find it interesting to see what other words once had the plural endings of mice, men, sheep, oxen, and children. In addition to affecting language itself, events in history often determine what language will be spoken in a certa3.n place.In this unit the students will become aware of the historical events which determined that the English language would be spoken in the British Isles, ana some of the historical everts which 1-,elped to change and to shape the language into its present form. They will also have an opportunity to discuss some of the specific changes which have occurred, The story of the English language as a separate and distinct language really begins with the collapse of the Roman Empire. For nearly Eve hundred years the Roman legions had maintained outposts in the conquered territories of Northern Europe, including the British Isles. 1. When the Romans first arrived in Brittania (the Latin name for this cj province of Rome) in the first century A. D. they found a Celtic people who spoke a Celtic language. The Celtic tribes had come to the British Oregon ElementaryIsles from Europe over a period of many years--some as early as 2000 English Project B. C. and at least one large migration as late as 600 B. C.(The Gauls in Univ .of Oregon what is now France and Belgium were also a Celtic people. ) The Celts Eugene, Oregon 1971 History of the English Language Language V-VI Introduction Teacher -2- and their language were Indo-European. When they arrived in the British Isles, they had found a non-Indo-European people with whom they had intermixed and intermarried. By the time the Roman legions arrived the only ones of these original inhabitants of the islands who retained their identity (or of which there is any record at least) were the Picts. The Picts, who by this time lived in the North of Britain, spoke a language which was a combi- nation of their original Pictish language and of Celtic.This language has been lost, as they were absorbed by the invading Scots (one of the Celtic peoples) between the sixth and ninth centuries A. D.Celtic languages are spoken today in Wales (Welsh), in Brittany (Breton), in Scotland (Scottish Gaelic), and on the Isle of Man (Manx).Irish Gaelic, which is taught in the Irish schools but is really a dead language, and Cornish were spoken until the 19th century. In the fifth century when the Roman legions left the British Isles, the Celtic. people, who had not had to defend themselves for several hundred years, were attacked by the Picts from the north and the Scots from the west who had previously harassed the Roman Legions. The Celtic Britons sought aid from the Saxons, a Germanic tribe from Northern Europe. They offered them land and support in return for their protection from the raids of the Picts and Scots.The Saxons came, were given land and support, protected the Britons, and likedthe land. Some returned to their homeland telling of the new home and the cowardice of the Britons. More Saxons came to the Britist' Isles and with them came Angles and Jutes people of other Germanic tribes from Northern Europe. These Germanic tribes, the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes, all spoke related Germanic dialects which were Indo-European. The Germanic peoples liked their new home in the British Isles and in time came in ever-increasing numbers and turned against the Celtic Britons, raiding, plundering, and killing many of the Britons and driving them into the high mountains, into the places where Celtic languages are still spoken today: Wales, Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, and Brittany. The Angles, Saxons, and Jutes became the dominant people of the British Isles. They were not a united people however. There were many small tribal kingdoms, uniting only when raiders from elsewhere threaten- ed the security of all.Otherwise they often fought among themselves and it was not until 828 A. D. that an English king, Egbert, ruled all ofEngland The dialects they spoke were related, but not identical, and someof the die- 4ct differences in Modern English are traceable to the original differences the Germanfc peoples brought to the British Isles, although many differences have been lost.However, the language they brought to England is the ancestor of Modern English. History of the English Language Language V -VI Introduction Teacher -3- The Celtic peoples and the Germanic peoples became enemies, with little interchange of iCeas or culture. The Celts were a conquered people and had little influence on the language of the conquerors. The situation and its results are similar to that in this country, where the American Indian languages had little effect on English. Most Celtic words in the English language are the place names which were adopted by the Germanic tribes. And although a few Celtic languages survive to this day, they have had very little impact on the English language which developed from the Germanic dialects of the Angles, Saxons, and (lutes. These Germanic people on the Eiritish Isles came to call their languageEnglisc and their land Englaland. The English language is closely related to German, Dutch, Flemish, and Frisian, and more remotely to the Scandinavian languages, which are also Germanic. History of the English Language: Lesson 1 Language V-VI Teacher WHAT LANGUAGE IS THAT? PURPOSE: To create interest in the history of the English language by letting the students hear on tape a passage from Old English. CONTENT: In this introductory lesson the Old English version of the Lord's Prayer is included on tape so that the students may hear how dif- ferent Old English is from the English that is spoken today.Questions and discussion will be used to create an interest in finding out what caused such dramatic changes, what historical events influenced our language, and what some of the specific changes have been.