English: How did it get like this?
Languages change over time - some more than others. It is easier to talk about how languages develop and change and influence each other once they have been written down.
If you have ever wondered about the complications of English spelling, the amount of variety in how it is used, and why it is spoken in so many places, check this video out!
Similar processes have been involved in other languages as well, although I haven't seen clips that are quite as cool for any others. Spanish, for example, was more influenced by Latin than English was, but was then influenced by Arabic when the Moors invaded and ruled over a significant amount of the Iberian Peninsular (from about 700-1500AD), and was also inlfuenced by American Indian languages from South and Central America. And they had a translation of the Bible in Spanish about 50 years before the English received the King James Version. On the literature side I am not sure about whether there is anyone significant who created new words - although Cervantes was a significant author in a similar time frame to Shakespeare. (According to Wikipedia he was possibly as significant for Spanish as Shakespeare was for English.)
In both English and Spanish, there is a history of a people who were conquered later becoming conquerors, spreading their language as they went, and then sitting back to see what happened next. And these two have also influenced each other!
I would love to hear from any of you who know a bit about the historical development of any other language. My linguistic and historical knowledge is limited to the two I have discussed here, and both of them have more complexity than a simple little blog post can convey. I am particularly interested in the development and spread of Swahili, Arabic and Chinese. But I am also interested in languages which have a longer history of writing than English does - Greek, Italian and Japanese.
I wonder which language has travelled further, or had more influence than any other. And I wonder which language or languages may yet become significant and influential on the world stage.
If you have ever wondered about the complications of English spelling, the amount of variety in how it is used, and why it is spoken in so many places, check this video out!
Similar processes have been involved in other languages as well, although I haven't seen clips that are quite as cool for any others. Spanish, for example, was more influenced by Latin than English was, but was then influenced by Arabic when the Moors invaded and ruled over a significant amount of the Iberian Peninsular (from about 700-1500AD), and was also inlfuenced by American Indian languages from South and Central America. And they had a translation of the Bible in Spanish about 50 years before the English received the King James Version. On the literature side I am not sure about whether there is anyone significant who created new words - although Cervantes was a significant author in a similar time frame to Shakespeare. (According to Wikipedia he was possibly as significant for Spanish as Shakespeare was for English.)
In both English and Spanish, there is a history of a people who were conquered later becoming conquerors, spreading their language as they went, and then sitting back to see what happened next. And these two have also influenced each other!
I would love to hear from any of you who know a bit about the historical development of any other language. My linguistic and historical knowledge is limited to the two I have discussed here, and both of them have more complexity than a simple little blog post can convey. I am particularly interested in the development and spread of Swahili, Arabic and Chinese. But I am also interested in languages which have a longer history of writing than English does - Greek, Italian and Japanese.
I wonder which language has travelled further, or had more influence than any other. And I wonder which language or languages may yet become significant and influential on the world stage.
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