2.2   Three Phases of the Historical Development

    

      Students of English are so accustomed to (习惯于) thinking of English as an inseparable adjunct (附属品)to the English people that they are likely to forget that it has been the language of England for a comparatively short period. Since its introduction into the island about the middle of the fifth century it has had a career extending through only fifteen hundred years. The first peoples known to inhabit the land were Celts (凯尔特人). Their languages were dialects of still another branch of the Indo-European Language Family. The second major language known in England was Latin of the Roman Legions（罗马军团）. In 55—54 B. C. , the Romans, headed by Julius Caesar the Great(尤利西斯 恺撒大帝), invaded the British Isles, and were to occupy the land from A. D. 43 until about 410. When the Roman empire began to crumble(崩溃), the military and governing officials withdrew, abandoning an elaborate （复杂的）systems of roads and many settlements (居住地；租界) built around the installations (设施)of a military government together with them a number of place names (See Latin).

 

    1. Old English (450—1150)

 

      The withdrawal of Roman troops virtually (事实上，几乎) invited the invasion of the rich lowlands by the Picts （皮克特人） and Scots （苏格兰人） from the North. The Celts appealed (恳求) to Germanic warriors (武士) from across the North Sea for assistance in defending their land. Soon these Germanic tribes, called Angles, Saxons, Frisians (弗里斯兰人) and Jutes（朱特人）, came in great numbers. The new allies (盟友) of the Celts became their conquerors. Although wars of resistance continued for the next 200 years, the Celts were pushed steadily north and west or across the English Channel to French Brittany (布列塔尼) or remained to be subjected to (臣服于) the rule of the newcomers.

      The Germanic speakers took permanent control (永久控制权)of the land that was later to be called England (the land of Angles). Their language, historically known as Anglo-Saxon, dominated (占主导地位) and almost totally blotted out(遮蔽)the Celtic. There were three groups of dialects: the Anglican dialects （盎格鲁方言）in the North with two subdivisions, Northumbrian (诺森伯兰语)and Mercian(莫西亚语), the Saxon dialects in the greater part of the South, and the most important of which was the dialect of Wessex (韦塞克斯) (West-Saxon), and the Kentish dialect (肯特方言), the dialect of Kent having been settled by the Jutes. Though the Saxons were numerically superior (在数量优于) to the Angles, the latter were influential enough to impose （强加于）their name on the whole. That is why the country was called England, and the language English. It is from this language that our present-day English is derived.

      Old English (the Anglo-Saxon) has a vocabulary of about 50 000 to 60 000 words, which are almost monogeneous (单能的) and entirely Germanic with only a few borrowings from Latin and Scandinavian. Latin words were brought in by the Roman missionaries （传教士） with the religious conquest of England in the sixth century, when St. Augustine and forty monks landed in Kent to convert (规劝) the heathen (异教徒) to Christianity (基督教). Naturally, many of the borrowings were associated with the church.

      The Scandinavian words entered the English language with the Northmen invasion of England in the 9th century by Norwegian and Danish Vikings (丹麦海盗). They came first to plunder (抢劫), then to conquer. Finally, they succeeded in placing a Danish king on the throne （王座）of England for a time. As a result, many Scandinavian words made their inroads into (进入) the English language.

      Old English was a highly inflected language (高度屈折的语言). Nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, and adverbs had complex systems of endings （词尾） or vowel changes or both, which differ greatly from the language that we use today.

 

      2. Middle English (1150—1500)

    The Danish rule continued from 1016 to 1042. Then the Saxon Dynasty was restored and Edward the Confessor (忏悔者), who had no children, came to the English throne () and reigned (统治) over a united England until 1066. At his death, Harold哈罗德succeeded (继任) him as king of the country. As he was not in the direct line of succession (继任), his rule was opposed by William, Duke of Normandy, first cousin of Edward, for William considered himself the rightful heir (继承人) to the throne. The English nobles disagreed, so William invaded the island. At the battle of Hastings (1066), the power of Harold was crushed and William became the master of England. This event was known in history as the Norman Conquest (诺曼征服).

      Who were the Normans? The word Norman is a modified form (变体形式) of Northmen. They were kinsfolk (亲属) of those Scandinavian raiders（入侵者） and conquerors who had overrun the North part of England centuries back. Their depredations (破坏行径) had extended to the French coast. But they had not blotted out (玷污) the native culture there. Instead they had adopted the ways of the native Franks, intermarried with (通婚) them, and had accepted their language and religion.

      The Norman Conquest produced two great results. First, it brought to an insular (岛屿的) nation a new and larger continental culture. Second, it forced on England 'the national idea', a concept against which the Saxons had long struggled. However, the influx (涌入，流入) of French words into English did not occur until after 1300. The reasons for this surprising lack of influence are to be sought in the social set-up following the Conquest.

      The subjugated (征服，使屈服) English were not killed off, nor were they driven from their country. They were relegated (降级；降低) to the status of an 'inferior people', good swineherds (猪倌) and servants. Norman French became the polite speech. The native tongue was a despised (鄙视) language which was left to the use of boors (粗野之人) and serfs (农奴). By the end of the eleventh century, virtually all of those who held political or social power and many of those in powerful Church positions were of Norman French origin. Therefore, those in power spoke French; those who were literate read and wrote French; those who could educate their children taught them in French; and any young man who sought to earn his living as a scribe learned Latin or French because there was no market for such services in English. The situation of the simultaneous (同时的) existence of three languages continued for over a century.

      By the end of the 13th century, however, the Anglo-Norman nobles were, as often as not, of mixed Norman-English descent (后裔) but of English birth. Their resentment (愤恨) of domination (支配) by their mainland brothers grew, and their sense of English identity asserted (维护；主张) itself. Many were bilingual (双语的) and the French and English languages, having existed for a long time, now had a sizable area of common vocabulary. In the next hundred years or so, with the separation of the two nations, the nobility (贵族) of England still spoke French, but bit by bit English came back into the schools, the law courts, and the government and regained social status. It made the final step back to a position of importance when it emerged once again as a respected literary medium with the Wycliff translation of the Bible and the writings of Chaucer, Langland and others.

      Norman French was a class language, never the speech of England. The three main dialects of the land were still Northumbrian(), Wessex(), and Mercian(); but for this period they are better termed Northern, Southern, and Midland. Midland is the chief ancestor of Modern English, not Southern (the Wessex of Alfred the Great). Why did Midland triumph? There are a number of cogent reasons:

(1) The midland included London, which was then the capital of England, naturally the political, economical and cultural center;

(2)  Two great writers Wycliff and Chaucer employed the Midland dialect in their writings;

(3)  Midland is an intermediate dialect, as its name implies, and intelligible (可理解的) to Northerners and Southerners alike, whereas these speakers could not often understand each other using their own dialects respectively;

(4) When Caxton introduced the printing press in 1477, the printers patronized (资助) the Midland dialect, and any Englishman who wanted to be published had to write in that dialect.

 

      The Middle English period was one of great changes, changes more extensive and fundamental than those that had taken place at any time before and since. The single most significant fact of this period, as far as the development of the English language is concerned, was the steady erosion (腐蚀) of the Old English inflectional systems(屈折系统). The dialects of Old English had already shown tendencies towards dropping a great many of their inflections (屈折后缀). Conditions following the Norman Conquest were ideal for speeding up this process. Endings of nouns and adjectives marking distinction of number and case (格) and often of gender(性) lost their distinctive forms(区别性形式). The same is true of the verb. If we say that the Old English was a period of full endings, the Middle English was a period of leveled(平化) endings.

      Another significant point is the French influence on English vocabulary. When two languages existed side by side for a long time and the relations between the peoples speaking them were as intimate(亲密) as they were in England, a considerable transference(转入) of words from one language to the other is inevitable(不可避免的). Although many English words found their way into the French spoken in England, it is nothing compared with the number of French words introduced into English. The number of French words that poured into English was unbelievably great and covered every realm of culture and society (See French). In addition, Latin words continued to make their way into the English vocabulary.

 

     3. Modern English (1500 up to the present) 

      Modern English dates from Caxton and the establishment of printing in England. Considering the changes in vocabulary, it is necessary to subdivide it into Early Modern (1500—1700) and Late Modern (1700 up to the present) English.

      In the early period of Modern English, Europe saw a new upsurge (高潮)in learning ancient Greek and Roman classics, which is known in history as the Renaissance(文艺复兴). Latin and Greek were recognized as the languages of the Western world's great literary heritage(遗产) and of great scholarship, but translators were rapidly making great literary works available in English. Translators and scholars borrowed heavily from the Latin vocabulary of their source materials during this period and enormous numbers of Latin words became English words. These, added to the vocabulary already borrowed from French and those supplemented (补充；增补)during earlier periods of borrowing from Latin, contributed to the decidedly Latinate flavor (明显的拉丁风格)of Modern English.

      English spelling had always been largely a matter of personal preference. Now the rapidly expanding use of printing and the needs of the schools began to set standard spellings for most words.

      Since the mid-seventeenth century, England experienced the Bourgeois Revolution (资产阶级革命)followed by the Industrial Revolution and rose to be a great economic power. With the growth of colonization, British tentacles (触角)began stretching out to every corner of the globe, thus enabling English to absorb words from all major languages of the world.

      Since the beginning of this century, particularly after World War II, the world has seen breathtaking (令人震惊的) advances in science and technology. As a result, thousands and thousands of new words have been created to express new ideas, inventions, and scientific achievements. Although borrowing continues to be an important channel of vocabulary enrichment, yet more words are created by coinage and a number of other means (See Chapter 4). Now new words are multiplied (增加)in all walks of life: politics, economy, commerce, culture, entertainment, education, sports, transportation, mass media, etc. .

      The history of English has been divided into periods. Of course, as we have seen, the periods overlap（重叠）, and the division is only approximate(大约的). The changes in the vocabulary are never periodic (阶段性的) and abrupt (突然的), but always continuous and gradual and will remain so forever.