A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE
ENGLISH LANGUAGE
Henry, M. (1990). Words: Integrated decoding
and spelling instruction based on word
origin and word structure. Austin: PRO-ED.
Facts
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Over ____ million people speak English
(__________ the population of the world)
When we learn English, we are actually
learning ____ languages- each with its
own phonology and structure.
HERE’S WHY!
Germanic Influence
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English is classified as a ____________
language
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However, less than ___% of the words are Germanic
The _______, _________, and _________
came from northern _________________
bringing their language with them
Later, the ______________ (known as the
Danes) invaded the land and spoke a northern
branch of Germanic
Germanic Words
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Relatively few in number
Common, everyday words in the language
Includes all words on the _______ list
All words on any lists of the
“_____________________” are Germanic
Features of Germanic Words
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Short because over time, the endings dropped off
Most of our _____________ words are Germanic
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___________________ words in the language
Least ____________________
Most difficult to ____________
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Examples: the, but, cold, sit
Examples: they, could, was, write, old, most, thought
___________, ___________, and
_____________________ of vowels are
characteristics of the Germanic strain of language
Latin Words
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Over ___________ the words in the
English language are based on Latin
A handful of Latin words entered during
the language during the __________ era
Most of the Latin words came by way of
_____________ (a _______ language)
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Ex. glamour
Vikings
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Some of the _________ had settled in Northern
France (i.e., Normandy which means “north
men”) and adopted the French language
In ______, they invaded England
For the next 300 years, no king of England
(keep in mind: every English king was also king
of France at that time) spoke English but instead
spoke ___________ (the language of the
_________ and ________________)
Latin
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Later, __________ in England borrowed words
directly from Latin itself
_________________ (with its center in Rome)
adopted Latin for its services)
As Christianity spread over western Europe, the
people attending services learned Latin words
Latin was also the required language at _________
and _____________
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Ex. calculus
Characteristics of Latin Words
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Consist of a _________, __________, and _______
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Seldom use vowel pairs
Use ____________ or vowel ____________ for
long sound
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Examples: pre dic tion, in somni a
Examples: invade, denote
Never uses sh for /sh/; instead, the sound is spelled
ti, ci, si, or xi
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Examples: invention, social, permission, complexion
Greek Words
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_________% of the English vocabulary is
based on Greek
Greek words came into the language from 2
sources:
1.
2.
_______ (as every educated Roman knew
Greek)
Borrowed by ____________
Characteristics of Greek Words
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Recognized by their spelling and structure
Use ___ for /f/ (Example: physics)
Use ____ for /k/ (Example: chemistry)
Use ___ for /i/ (Example: gym, type)
Often consists of 2 elements joined by a
connecting ___ (Example: hydrogen, photograph)
Scientists use Greek when they want a new word
for a __________ or _____________
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Examples: neutron, electron, cardiogram
Greek has become the language of _________
GREEK
Specialized words used
mostly in science, though some
(i.e., television) are common
ROMANCE
Technical, sophisticated words used primarily in
more formal settings such as literature & textbooks
ANGLO-SAXON
Common, everyday, down-to-earth words used frequently in
ordinary situations and found in school primers
More Influences
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Crusaders and the trade with medieval
__________ brought words such as tea,
sofa, and sherbet
From ______: calico, bungalow, jungle
From _________: dingo, outback,
kangaroo
From __________: safari
Move to the New World
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Foreign words flooded into the language
The Dutch were among the first _________
which is why we have so many Dutch words
(Example: cookie, landscape, coleslaw)
French explorers who settled in ____________
added chowder, pumpkin, prairie, levee, and
others to the list
____________________ contributed banana,
cola, goober, yam, gorilla, tote, and okra
Influence of the Native Americans
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Place names of rivers, mountains,
landmarks, and names of over half the
states
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Can you think of some of these?
Other native words include: caribou,
toboggan, papoose, raccoon, tobacco
Other Changes Cause New
Words to Enter
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Potato famine (1845) brought ____________ immigrants
1848 revolution caused Germans to settle in ______________
and the __________________
After the American Civil War came the Spanish, Italians, and
Scandinavians
Czechs, Slovaks, and Poles followed
Chinese were hired to build the ____________ (and they
remained)
Japanese settled on the _____________________
Refugees from all over Europe fled from World War II
Also, there followed a huge influx from Puerto Rico, China,
Hong Kong, Korea, & Thailand
Anglo-Saxon Layer of Language
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Beginning readers start out reading words from the
Anglo-Saxon base of language
_________________ used short words typical in
early readers
__________ are also of Anglo-Saxon origin
In addition, prefixes and suffixes are added but
many of the Anglo-Saxon prefixes are __________
(forget, without, became, overlook, unhappy,
understand, inside, befriend)
Anglo-Saxon suffixes: ed, er, ing, ly, s (es), able,
hood, ful, less, ness, ship, ish)
Anglo-Saxon Letter-Sound
Correspondences
CONSONANTS
Single
b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l,
m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, w,
x, y, z
Single Letter
Blends
bl, cl, fl, gl, pl, sl
br, cr, dr, fr, gr, pr, tr
sc, sk, sl, sp, st, sw …
Final: ft, lk, lt, mp, nd…
VOWELS
-r & -l Controlled
Diagraphs
ch,
sh
th
wh
chat ship this when
thin
(-ck, -tch, -dge, -ng)
Diagraphs
(Short/Long)
cap - cape
pet - Pete
pinning - pining
rob - robe
cutter – cuter
(y)
er, ir, ur
ar, or
arr, err
all
al
1 sound:
ee; oy, oi; oa; ai, ay;
aw, au
2 sounds:
ea, ow, ou, ie, ei, ew
Latin Layer of Language
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Students encounter these words in ____rd grade
Knowledge of consonants & vowels transfers
directly to these words
None of the complex Anglo-Saxon digraphs are
included
_______________ sound is the most notable
feature (unaccented vowel sound found in
unaccented syllables) ~ Letter-sound
correspondences are otherwise the same as
Anglo-Saxon
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machine, soda, ahead, about, magazine
Latin Layer
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Root words: usually stressed & contain the major
meaning of the word
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spect, rupt, vis, aud, vent, flect, script, gress, dict, tract, lit,
duct, struct, pend, ped
Prefixes: pre, re, bi, pro, mid, sub, dis, inter, intro,
intra, il, extra, per, ultra, trans
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Many prefixes have the schwa sound
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aggressive, appearance, connect, collect, attach
Vowel diagraphs in the suffixes are ALL pronounced as
schwas (nation, precious, omission) & initial consonants in
the suffixes, followed by i, are pronounced as /sh/
Common Latin Prefixes
de- (from, away)
re- (back, again)
bi- (two)
tri- (three)
pre- (before)
pro- (before, forward)
co- (together, with)
dis- (separation, undo)
im- (in, not)
sub- (under)
ex- (out)
trans- (across)
mis- (wrong, bad)
con- (together, with)
in- (in, not)
non- (not)
Latin Suffixes
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-ist (noun, person)
-ive
-age
-ant
-or (noun)
-ar (adjective)
-ible
-ary
-ize
-ance
-t(ure)
-tion
-sion
-cian
-tious
-tial
-cial
-cious
Latin Roots
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rupt (to break, to burst)
port (to carry)
form (to shape)
tract (to pull)
scrib, script (to write)
spec, spect (to see, watch)
stru, struct (to build)
dic, dict (to say, tell)
flect, flex (to bend)
mit, miss (to send)
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cred (to believe)
duc, duce, duct (to lead)
pel, puls (to drive, push)
pend (to hang)
fac, fact (to make, do)
vert, vers (to turn)
jac, jec, ject (to throw, lie)
Greek Layer of Language
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Same letter-sound correspondences as those in
Anglo-Saxon words, but adds 3 important
patterns: ph for /f/, ch for /k/, and the use of y as
a long vowel /ī/ or short vowel /ĭ/ (i.e., medial
vowel)
Usually specialized words in _________, though
some are ________ (___________)
Often contain silent _ (pneumonia, pseudonym)
_______ as in mnemonics
Greek Combining Forms
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Not called prefixes and suffixes but
___________________ since there are
usually 2 parts of equal stress and
importance
Greek Combining Forms
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BEGINNING
auto = self
phono = sound
photo = light
hydro = water
tele = distance
micro = small
therm = heat
biblio, hyper, chron, chrom, arch,
phys, pysch, peri, bi, semi, hemi,
mono, meta, mega, metro, philo,
soph, theo, techni
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ENDING
graph, gram =
written/drawn
meter = measure
ology = study
scope = watch, see
sphere, crat, cracy, polis
Syllable Division Rules
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Anglo-Saxon = VC/CV; V/CV, VC/V
VC/CCV (consonant l-e) are common
Latin = Same as Anglo-Saxon but the
prefixes and suffixes often consist of
syllables based on these patterns (i ble,
in tro)
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Greek = Same as Anglo-Saxon (many v/cv
such as hyper, vc/v such as hemi, also,
v/cc such as hydro)
Why Students Need This
Information
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Students use their knowledge to decode unfamiliar
words.
Teach students this process
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3.
4.
See if you can identify the language origin.
Look for the morpheme units: Anglo-Saxon or Latin
prefixes, roots, suffixes. Greek combining forms, or single
words making up Anglo-Saxon compound words.
If you can’t find a morpheme, or if you find morphemes but
still can’t read the word, break the word into syllables using
the common syllable division options.
If syllable division doesn’t work, or works for only part of
the work, use letter-sound correspondences.

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