The Language of English #1 – A (relatively) Brief History

Judging from the title, you already know what I will talk to you about. Of course, anyone reading this will have at least a basic understanding of English. Yes, even you native speakers understand little of the nuances of the English Language.

To start with, English is both a unique and non-unique language. What do I mean by this? Well, simple. English, as a whole, is unique by virtue of how it is composed. The words we use on a daily basis have evolved over time, this much is true, but the lack of uniqueness comes from the composition of our words. English borrows countless words from all other languages across the world.

Take the following definition:

To take pleasure in the suffering/agony/pain of another.

Even those with a cursory knowledge of English know the word we use to describe this feeling – Schadenfreude. But take a closer look at this word. It has every hallmark we expect in English – vowels and consonants arranged in a way which makes sense. Yet it is a borrowed word. When we use the word schadenfreude, we are speaking German. Only the Germans could come up with a word to fit the definition we assign to it.

But this is where our first problem with English comes in – the assigning of a definition to a string of letters. Of course, each string of letters can, and often does, mean more than one thing when we use it. Contextual clues give away what meaning we are using when we speak English. Indeed, English is a language which relies more on contextual knowledge and understanding than many other languages worldwide.

For me, I speak a subset of English known as Australian English. Despite being one of the “Big Three” dialects of English, it is one of the least spoken or utilised. It also happens to be the dialect of English where context is crucial. For those who know anything about Australians, they will realise we are abrupt, blunt, and oftentimes rude when we speak. Hell, we have a lexicon which includes words found nowhere else in the world.

Yet, Australian English is still a part of the Indo-European Language Family. This language family is the most widespread globally, with nearly half of the global population using a language within this family. It also means every language within this family comes from a single ancestral language – Proto-Indo-European (PIE).

Thus, we realise English is not unique, at least not when we consider the bigger picture. But we can further break down what this amalgamated language we call English into further subdivisions. I noted before how English borrows from almost every other language, at least within the Indo-European family. We can use these distinctions to further refine what we understand about English.

• Fun fact
  • There are a couple of language subfamilies in the Indo-European Family which is closer to the Proto-Indo-European language than any other. Whilst used by a small number of people worldwide, the language subfamilies of Albanian and Armenian are second-order languages.

Coming back to English, we know the language borrows from others around the world by the fact it is a sixth-order language. English itself is derived from Old English, itself derived from older Anglo languages. The handy flowchart below sums up where English lies as it relates back to PIE.

•  Proto-Indo-European (1st Order; Proto Language)
  • Germanic (2nd Order; Root Language)
    • West Germanic (3rd Order; Sub-language)
      • Anglo-Frisian (4th Order; Family)
        • Old English (5th Order; Subfamily)
          • English (6th Order; Derived from Subfamily)
          • Scots (6th Order; Sister Language)

Knowing what we now know about where English derives from, we can try to define the word itself – what can we tell people about the word English? For all speakers of the language, even those of us whom are native, know of the country England. The homeland of the modern derivation of the language English, and the country the name derives from. So, we can give two definitions here:

• English
  1. The colloquial term for the peoples of the country of England. Note we do not use this term for the peoples of Wales or Scotland, as, though they are part of the United Kingdom, they are separate countries. We call those from Wales and Scotland either Welsh, Scottish, or the colloquial British.
  2. The term used to describe one of the modern languages of Europe, specifically derived from Old English. The language comes from the Germanic branch of the Proto-Indo-European language, though it utilises root words from non-Germanic language families.

Suddenly, the use of the word Schadenfreude does not seem so random. English, after all, comes from the same root as the German language. Essentially, we can say, with some accuracy, English is an “angry” language – and this reflects in the various dialects across the world. Take this back to Australian English. Everyone knows the love Australians have for the words “cunt” and “fuck,” as well as the aversion most people worldwide have for these words.

I will say these words should be treated as such – as nothing more than words. We can assign all the connotations and definitions to words all we want, but despite all the history of language, everything we say and write and hear comes down to one key principle in life:

What sound do I make to get your attention?

Think about this. Whenever we say a word, we literally manipulate the shape of our mouth to get a specific sound out. And this has been the case for every single language in history. We manipulate weird sounds to get attention. The evolution of language is down to the way we have connected sounds together to form coherent words, sentences, and paragraphs.

And thus, we come to the end of a brief overview of where English as a language has come from and why we can call it a unique language with no real unique qualities to it. So, where do we go from here? We look at the Alphabet and the Phonetical sounds constituting English. It may seem boring to native speakers, but there is so much native speakers do not understand regarding their own language. And, I feel every English speaking person should understand and appreciate their language.