*What is English ?
1. Value of English :-
Language is the media of communication through which we express our feelings. Different languages are used in different parts of the world. English is one of them. It has achieved the value of international language. If we know our mother language, we can move all over our state easily, If we know Hindi we can move all over India eaisly, But If we know English Language,we can move all over the world eaisly.
2. Use and Value of English in India :-
English is Foreign language, which was interduced in India by Lord Machale. It is considered as second language in Indian Courses of study. It helps to unite the world people in one thread of communication. Now a day's, it has been playing a vital role in every sphere of Education Sector and Service Sectors.
3. Value of English in Modern Age :-
In this modern age, modern Man dreams to be Scientifically devloped by which the Word will be within our reach. So English is very essential for the preparation of Scientific procedure. It is mostly used in operation of different machineries and electronics devices. It unites the people of different nations Politically, Commercially, Economically & Socially. So English has a great value which can't be denied and we have to learn it heartly with a great interest.
When we talk about English,we often think of it as a single languagebut what do the dialects spokenin dozens of countries around the worldhave in common with each other,or with the writings of Chaucer?And how are any of them relatedto the strange words in Beowulf?The answer is that like most languages,English has evolved through generations of speakers,undergoing major changes over time.
By undoing these changes,we can trace the language from the present dayback to its ancient roots.While modern English shares many similar wordswith Latin-derived romance languages,like French and Spanish,most of those words were not originally part of it.Instead, they started coming into the languagewith the Norman invasion of England in 1066.When the French-speaking Normansconquered Englandand became its ruling class,they brought their speech with them,adding a massive amount of French and Latin vocabularyto the English language previously spoken there.Today, we call that language Old English.This is the language of Beowulf.It probably doesn't look very familiar,but it might be more recognizableif you know some German.That's because Old Englishbelongs to the Germanic language family,first brought to the British Islesin the 5th and 6th centuriesby the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes.The Germanic dialects they spoke wouldbecome known as Anglo-Saxon.Viking invaders in the 8th to 11th centuriesadded more borrowings from Old Norse into the mix.
It may be hard to see the rootsof modern Englishunderneath all the words borrowedfrom French, Latin, Old Norse and other languages.But comparative linguistics can help usby focusing on grammatical structure,patterns of sound changes,and certain core vocabulary.For example, after the 6th century,German words starting with "p,"systematically shifted to a "pf" soundwhile their Old English counterpartskept the "p" unchanged.In another split, words that have "sk" sounds in Swedishdeveloped an "sh" sound in English.There are still some English words with "sk,"like "skirt," and "skull,"but they're direct borrowings from Old Norsethat came after the "sk" to "sh" shift.These examples show usthat just as the various Romance languagesdescended from Latin,English, Swedish, German, and many other languagesdescended from their own common ancestorknown as Proto-Germanicspoken around 500 B.C.E.Because this historical languagewas never written down,we can only reconstruct it by comparing its descendants,which is possible thanks to the consistency of the changes.We can even use the same processto go back one step further,and trace the origins of Proto-Germanicto a language called Proto-Indo-European,spoken about 6000 years agoon the Pontic steppe in modern day Ukraine and Russia.
This is the reconstructed ancestorof the Indo-European familythat includes nearly all languageshistorically spoken in Europe,as well as large parts of Southernand Western Asia.And though it requires a bit more work,we can find the same systematic similarities, or correspondences,between related words in differentIndo-European branches.Comparing English with Latin,we see that English has "t" where Latin has "d",and "f" where latin has "p"at the start of words.Some of English's more distant relativesinclude Hindi, Persianand the Celtic languages it displacedin what is now Britain.Proto-Indo-European itself descendedfrom an even more ancient language,but unfortunately, this is as far backas historical and archeological evidencewill allow us to go.Many mysteries remain just out of reach,such as whether there might be a linkbetween Indo-Europeanand other major language families,and the nature of the languages spokenin Europe prior to its arrival.But the amazing fact remains that nearly3 billion people around the world,many of whom cannot understand each other,are nevertheless speaking the same wordsshaped by 6000 years of history.
History Of English Language
When we talk about English,we often think of it as a single languagebut what do the dialects spokenin dozens of countries around the worldhave in common with each other,or with the writings of Chaucer?And how are any of them relatedto the strange words in Beowulf?The answer is that like most languages,English has evolved through generations of speakers,undergoing major changes over time.
By undoing these changes,we can trace the language from the present dayback to its ancient roots.While modern English shares many similar wordswith Latin-derived romance languages,like French and Spanish,most of those words were not originally part of it.Instead, they started coming into the languagewith the Norman invasion of England in 1066.When the French-speaking Normansconquered Englandand became its ruling class,they brought their speech with them,adding a massive amount of French and Latin vocabularyto the English language previously spoken there.Today, we call that language Old English.This is the language of Beowulf.It probably doesn't look very familiar,but it might be more recognizableif you know some German.That's because Old Englishbelongs to the Germanic language family,first brought to the British Islesin the 5th and 6th centuriesby the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes.The Germanic dialects they spoke wouldbecome known as Anglo-Saxon.Viking invaders in the 8th to 11th centuriesadded more borrowings from Old Norse into the mix.
It may be hard to see the rootsof modern Englishunderneath all the words borrowedfrom French, Latin, Old Norse and other languages.But comparative linguistics can help usby focusing on grammatical structure,patterns of sound changes,and certain core vocabulary.For example, after the 6th century,German words starting with "p,"systematically shifted to a "pf" soundwhile their Old English counterpartskept the "p" unchanged.In another split, words that have "sk" sounds in Swedishdeveloped an "sh" sound in English.There are still some English words with "sk,"like "skirt," and "skull,"but they're direct borrowings from Old Norsethat came after the "sk" to "sh" shift.These examples show usthat just as the various Romance languagesdescended from Latin,English, Swedish, German, and many other languagesdescended from their own common ancestorknown as Proto-Germanicspoken around 500 B.C.E.Because this historical languagewas never written down,we can only reconstruct it by comparing its descendants,which is possible thanks to the consistency of the changes.We can even use the same processto go back one step further,and trace the origins of Proto-Germanicto a language called Proto-Indo-European,spoken about 6000 years agoon the Pontic steppe in modern day Ukraine and Russia.
This is the reconstructed ancestorof the Indo-European familythat includes nearly all languageshistorically spoken in Europe,as well as large parts of Southernand Western Asia.And though it requires a bit more work,we can find the same systematic similarities, or correspondences,between related words in differentIndo-European branches.Comparing English with Latin,we see that English has "t" where Latin has "d",and "f" where latin has "p"at the start of words.Some of English's more distant relativesinclude Hindi, Persianand the Celtic languages it displacedin what is now Britain.Proto-Indo-European itself descendedfrom an even more ancient language,but unfortunately, this is as far backas historical and archeological evidencewill allow us to go.Many mysteries remain just out of reach,such as whether there might be a linkbetween Indo-Europeanand other major language families,and the nature of the languages spokenin Europe prior to its arrival.But the amazing fact remains that nearly3 billion people around the world,many of whom cannot understand each other,are nevertheless speaking the same wordsshaped by 6000 years of history.
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