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ENGLISH v. EUROPEAN LANGUAGES / WRITERS
by Dr. ALEC GILL MBE
Much of this section is based upon the fascinating work (in a book which seems little-read) by
GRAVES, Robert and HODGE, Alan. 1943. Book.
The Reader Over Your Shoulder. London. Jonathan Cape.
The authors seem to me to really celebrate the joyful discovery of Happy-go-Lucky English. They revel in its liberal, fluid nature - free of the shackles which Continental languages still drag around with them.
By comparing English with other languages, this shows its strengths.
p.9) EUROPEAN LANGUAGES = FIXED
The most ancient European languages - those that have longest avoided infiltration by other languages - are the most complicated by their grammar and syntax.
GRAMMAR and SYNTAX
The age of a language can be roughly guessed by a count of the following features (like the rings of a tree).
I have drawn upon dictionary definitions:
a. DECLENSIONS: the variation of the form of a noun, pronoun or adjective by which its grammatical case, number and gender are identified. (Etymology: decline, inflect, turn aside)
b. CONJUGATION: to give the different forms of a VERB showing number, person, tense, etc... a class of verbs having the same type of such forms; a system of verbal inflections? (Etymology: unite, join, yoke together).
c. MOODS:
(1) a distinct form (or set of forms) of a VERB used to express
whether the action or state it denotes is considered a fact, a possibility, or a wish;
(2) a similar distinct set of VERB forms used to express whether the sentence in which it appears conveys a statement, a command, or a question.
(Etymology: ME: will, mind, thought, custom)
d. TENSE: a distinction of form in a VERB to specify the time or duration of the action or state which denotes (present tense; imperfect
tense). (Etymology: tempus = time, tense).
e. VOICE: Distinction of form or a particular system of INFECTIONS of
a VERB to indicate the relation of the subject of the verb to the action which the verb expresses (active/passive voice).
(Etymology: AS? sound from mouth)
f. CASE: An inflectional form of a noun, pronoun or adjective indicating its grammatical relation to other words in the
sentence. (Etymology: ME to fall?)
g. GENDER: grammatical classification of nouns and related words corresponding to the two sexes or neutral. Masculine, feminine, neuter.
(Etymology: OF/ME genus)
h. NUMBER: classification of words by their singular or plural forms.
Thus, in order of age = GREEK - LATIN - FRENCH - ENGLISH.
Aside: Apart from PRONOUNS, English is free of GENDER
differentiation.
Bill BRYSON:
"Many scholars believe that classical Latin was spoken by almost
no one. It was used exclusively as a literary and scholarly language" (p.25) -
This point is denied by Canon Stephen Deas who said every Roman child spoke
Latin.
AG Note: Perhaps Latin was as useful as Roman numerals were when it came to calculations.
p.10) VERNACULARS = Latin + Frankish
Grammatical simplicity is a mark of a VERNACULAR. The Roman historian VARRO coined the phrase "vernacula verba" = "unliterary expressions used by the slaves or serfs" or "native language of the peasantry".
(Etymology: home-born slave)
The ROMAN EMPIRE was built on slaves from every country they conquered. When the slaves spoke among themselves it was a MIXED LINGO (camp Latin - later became the Italian language).
LINGUA = tongue
LATIN: cat = felix / feles? (feline); VULGATE = cattus.
LATIN: city = urbs (urban); VULGATE = villa (village).
IN 6th.c. EUROPE much of the continent was ruled by the FRANKS (a
German tribe whose name means 'spear' = thus a shape, pointed comment)
LINGUA FRANCA was a mixture of Italian, Spanish, French, Greek and Turkish.
ASIDE:
TEUTONIC TONGUE - The origin of Germanic speech is obscure. It is
not a vernacular; more a mix of several kindred dialects. It has fewer borrowings from Latin/Greek than other European
languages) (Etymology: Teuton = people/country - and my Tiw (Tyr) theory).
ENGLISH is the VERNACULAR of VERNACULARS
Middle / Modern English began haphazardly in the 11th.century as the
LINGO between the Norman-French conquerors and their Anglo-Saxon serfs.
Although it progressed into a LITERARY language in the 14th.c.
IT NEVER CRYSTALLIZED in the way that Italian, French and Spanish have done.
English writers do not model themselves upon some PAST PARAGON
of PERFECTION as do Continental authors.
ITALIAN BOCCACCIO
Giovanni BOCCACCIO (1313-1375) Italian poet, author of Decameron. Son of a Florentine merchant, he lived in Naples 1328-41 where he fell in love with the unfaithful Fiametta who inspired his
early poetry. Before returning to Florence, he had written Filostrato & Teseide used by Chaucer in his Troilus & Criseyde and Knight's Tale.
SPANISH CERVANTES (Sirvantes)
Miguel de Saavedra CERVANTES (1547-1616) Spanish novelist, playwright and poet whose masterpiece Don Quixote was published in 1605. A spurious second part of Don Quixote prompted Cervantes to bring out his own authentic follow-up version in 1615 - considered by many to be superior to the first half. It was a tremendous success and soon translated into English and French.
FRENCH BOSSUET
Jaques Bmigne BOSSUET (1627-1704) French Roman Catholic priest and theologian appointed to the Chapel Royal in 1662, he became known for his funeral orations. He was Bishop of Meaux from 1681. He was tutor to the Dauphin and was involved in a dispute between Louis XIV and the Pope. He wrote an Exposition de la Catholique in 1670 and Histoire Desrariations des Iglises Protestantes in 1688.
GERMAN MODEL - do they have a perfect author? Is it GOETHE or LUTHER -
can anyone put me right on this?
THE FRENCH ACADEMY
English has NEVER been jealously watched over by a learned Academy - as the French since the 17th.century. The ACADEMIE FRANCAISE was founded by Cardinal RICHELIEU in 1635. In its early
days it was an ambitious agent of change. In 1760 it published a dictionary which regularized the spelling of 5,000 words. Otto Jespersen (1905) praised English for its happy air of casualness. He likened French to the severe and formal gardens of Louis XIV.
Italian is protected from innovation by its literary professionalism.
And in Spain there is a 'natural decorum' when writing the language.
CONTINENTAL LANGUAGES (Latin/Teutonic) look back to models of excellence
in their writing. This has caused the language to CRYSTALLIZE. But ENGLISH looks
and moves FORWARD all the time. It is a FLUID language - in a state of forever
flux.
Graves concludes (paraphrased):
English is an immense formless aggregate not merely of foreign words and local dialects, but of occupational jargon, household terms and PERSONAL ECCENTRICITIES.
AG: I love this last phrase because it lays open the possibility that we are ALL POTENTIAL PIONEERS of ENGLISH PROSE.
Good English, however, does not imitate or emulate the PAST, it EVOLVES a style peculiarly suited to the writer's PRESENT:
a. Temperament; b. Environment; and, c. Purpose.
In English we have practically any Tom, Dick, or Harriett - anyone who can pick up a pen - making up their own words!! Are things so slap-happy abroad?
Since 1911, France has had laws against the importation of foreign words. In 1975 fines were imposed for the use of English words. In 1986 President Francois Mitterrand declared "France is engaged in a war with Anglo-Saxon". French people cannot use:
pipeline = ol oduc
jet airplane = avion raction
SINCE WWII the French have imported 1,500 words into general use and a total of 2,600 according to a recent survey of French dictionaries (e.g., camping, chewing gum, football, hamburger, sandwich, self-made man, smoking, snob, strip-tease).
The authorities are struggling to keep French French! But they forget that about 45% of English words were happily imported from France after the 1066 invasion.
One commentator, however, believes that what upsets the French more is not that they are borrowing words from others, it is that the rest of the world are no longer borrowing words from them!
IRONIC OBJECTIONS:
The French strongly resist American / English words such as 'jeans' little knowing that it is basically a French word in the first place. After all, 'Jeans' is from the French name for the Italian port of GENO / GENOA in Lombardy (where this blue-dyed denim originated).
The French seem to have no qualms with re-naming Italian / foreign places into their system; but get all fuddy-duddy when their self-same word comes back to them in a different context and from a different direction (across the Atlantic). 'Jeans' highlights their hypocrisy. They fail to recognise how words can and should be put through a mincemeat machine.
Nevertheless, the French seem to have given up on: cocktail, hold-up, manager, self-service, weekend. But recently French firms have been sued for advertising on the
Internet in English.
French linguistic conflicts:
BELGIUM = South: Wallonia = French / North: Flemish = Dutch.
CANADA = Quebec
BRITTANY = Breton forbidden.
Aside: The French language cannot distinguish between:
house / home
brain / mind
man / gentleman
I wrote / I have written.
But they can between 'knowledge from recognition' (connaltre) and 'knowledge from understanding' (savoir).
English has no academy to protect its language; much the same way that the country has no written constitution to govern its people.
After Shakespeare, English gradually dropped distinctions between "THOU" (for close familiarity or social inferiority) and
"YOU" (for impersonal and general term).
The French (tu / vous) and German (du / sie) still retained in their speech patterns which can cause some social agony when not knowing if the border can be crossed!
Jespersen: "English...respects the elementary rights of each individual" - linguistic equality.
ENGLISH MODEL!
English has, within Shakespeare, the World's Best past paragon of perfection when it comes to writing.
Yet we refuse to use him like that.
No present writer is restricted by the past.
English gives every person who can pick up a pen the authority to be creative. It waits with bated breath a triumph of tomorrow for a future author to pen great prose / works.
You have the privilege to express yourself in English as with no other Happy-go-lucky language.
Go for it!
English not only allows, but encourages creative genius. In-built into English is a future hope of genius; an open-ended hope of creative genius. English even gave me the authority to be an author!
And so it is up to you! You have the right to write.
Cease it, use it, and enjoy its Happy-go-Lucky nature!
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