English language: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 16:16, 1 March 2024

English originated in Anglo-Saxo

sounds that are added to lexemes to create new words
- including prefixes, suffixes and stem changes
  - pre-, -ly, -en, -s

from the Angles, a Germanic peoples who migrated to the British Islands in the 400s-600s AD.
- part of the Anglo-Saxon invasions
English is one of the "Anglo-Frisian" languages

Origins of Modern English
Germanic	Old French	Latin	Greek	Other	Proper Names
26%	29%	29%	6%	6%	4%

of the top 20 most common words, 7 are prepositions
the top 200 words constitute 50-60% of words used commonly used
- see: Is there a frequency of the use of different parts of speech in English? - Stack Exchange

the English language has a huge number of words that have multiple definitions
other languages may be more explicit with distinct words that English will cover with a single word.
for example:

in general, English consists of
- Adjectives: 25%
- Nouns: 50%
- Verbs: 7%
  - see: How Many Words are in the Oxford English Dictionary? * alphaDictionary

English Language Percent Frequency of Use of Parts of Speech
	Adjectives	Adverbs	Conjunctions	Determiners	Nouns	Prepositions	Pronouns	Verbs
Conversational	2.5%	5%	4.5%	4.5%	15%	5.5%	16.5%	12.5%
Formal/ Academic	10%	3%	5%	10%	30%	15%	4%	10%
	Adjectives	Adverbs			Nouns			Verbs

source: The 9 Parts of Speech in English | Ginseng English (from Biber, et. al., (1999). Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English.)

@@ Line 16: / Line 16: @@
 == English word origin ==
+[[Image:Old norse, ca 900.svg|right|350px|thumb|
+The approximate extent of Old Norse and related languages in the early 10th century:<br>
+<span style="color:#fff; background:#ff0000>Old West Norse dialect</span><br>
+<span style="color:#fff; background:#ff9933>Old East Norse dialect</span><br>
+<span style="color:#fff; background:#ff00ff>Old Gutnish dialect</span><br>
+<span style="color:#000; background:#ffff00>Old English</span><br>
+<span style="color:#fff; background:#0000ff>Crimean Gothic</span><br>
+<span style="color:#fff; #00ff00>Other Germanic languages with which Old Norse still retained some mutual intelligibility</span>]]
 ==== Angles / Anglo-Saxon ====
 * from the Angles, a Germanic peoples who migrated to the British Islands in the 400s-600s AD.