The origins of English

The origins of language

• emerged ca. 145,000 years ago
• capacity for language is uniquely human and given by the brain structure
• form and structure of the first language is unknown
• based on what we know about language change today, it is plausible that the multitude of contemporary languages have indeed developed from one origin
• based on what we know about language change today, it is plausible that the multitude of contemporary languages have indeed developed from one origin it is possible that the development of language was dictated by the modern human behaviour

Changes in the pronunciation of Germanic before the invasion of Britain

• The First Germanic Sound Shift = subgroup of the speakers of Proto-Indo-European language adopted some changes in pronunciation
• two parts - Grimm's Law and Verner's Law
• Grimm's Law describes the shift in pronunciation of certain consonants
  • /b, d, g/ lost their voicing -> /p, t, k/
    • Latin - ad x English - at, Latin - jugum x English - yoke
  • /p, t, k/ changed into fricatives /f, θ, h/
    • Latin - piscus x English - fish, Latin - cordis x English - heart
  • however - /p, t, k/ before /s/ and after voiceless stops remained
    • Latin - stella x English - star; Latin - noctis x English - night
• Verner's Law explains the effect of word stress on pronunciation
  • voiceless fricatives /f, s, θ, ʃ/ became voiced if the preceeding syllable was originally unstressed
  • Latin - pater x English - father - the stress was originally on the second syllable