Newsgroups: sci.lang
From: philip@storcomp.demon.co.uk (Phil Hunt)
Path: cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!das-news2.harvard.edu!news2.near.net!news.mathworks.com!news.duke.edu!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!gatech!swrinde!howland.reston.ans.net!news.sprintlink.net!peernews.demon.co.uk!storcomp.demon.co.uk!philip
Subject: Re: PBS is at it again---so are the Linguists
References: <3ituro$gd7@newsbf02.news.aol.com> <D4q8Jx.E9n@midway.uchicago.edu>
Reply-To: philip@storcomp.demon.co.uk
X-Newsreader: Demon Internet Simple News v1.27
Lines: 35
X-Posting-Host: storcomp.demon.co.uk
Date: Wed, 1 Mar 1995 22:49:32 +0000
Message-ID: <794098172snz@storcomp.demon.co.uk>
Sender: usenet@demon.co.uk

In article <D4q8Jx.E9n@midway.uchicago.edu>
           need@bloomfield.uchicago.edu "Barbara Need" writes:
> > And the
> > Brittons' tongue and the "Anglo-Saxon" branches of West Germanic 
> > pidgined with Roman and became "English" roughly in this time frame
> > (tho these various dialects later also pidgined with Gaelic and 
> > various Scandinavian dialects)  So what?  
> 
> No, I don't think we can say that English is a pidginized version of  
> Germanic, Celtic and Latin. For started, the Anglo-Saxons killed or moved  
> the native Britons. There is little evidence of influence from the older
> Celtic languages (either Britton or Gaelic) in English.

I agree.

> In addition, most  
> of the Latin speakers either left with the Roman Army, or were Celts, and  
> were moved or killed. 

I agree. Most Latin words in English were borrowed either before the
early English left Germany/Denmark, or after the Norman conquest.

> There is good evidence that Old English was strongly  
> Germanic to the end of the period (and you should read Thomason and  
> Kaufamn (Language Contact, creolization and genetic lingustics) re the  
> influence of Norse on English--mostly negligible).

It was strong enough that some function-words in modern English come
from Norse (eg "they").

English can be regarded as a creole based on OE and Norman French.

-- 
Phil Hunt...philip@storcomp.demon.co.uk
Majority rule for Britain!
