The Story of English

The Story of English By Don L. F. Nilsen Based on The Story of English By Robert McCrum, Robert MacNeil and William Cran (Penguin, 2003) 15

Introduction to The Story of English (xi-8) • Google: Ali G: • Borat from Kazakstan • Snoots: • “Syntax Nudnicks of Our Time” • People who have watched The Story of English more than once (McCrum xii) 15

Language Variation • Language • Dialect • Accent • Variety • VARIES Model (McCrum 4) 15

Varieties of English • Denglisch • Ebonics • Franglish • Indian English • Japlish • Spanglish (McCrum 5) 15

Global Languages:Explain politics & cultures creating: • Farsi: The language of the Persian Empire • Greek: The language of the Greek Empire • Latin: The language of the Roman Empire • English: The global language of today 15

The Bible in Vernacular Languages • In Aramaic • Translated into Greek • Translated into Latin (Roman Catholic Church) • Translated into German by Martin Luther (Guttenberg Bible) (cf. McCrum xvi) 15

Translations of the Bible into English • 1380s John Wyclif’s translation • William Tyndale’s translation • 1534 Henry VIII’s Translation for Anglican Church • King James I’s Translation (about 8,000 words) • Took Six Years • Translators from Cambridge, Oxford, London • Modern Translations into everyday English (McCrum 111-114) 15

Global English • Poll: “Everyone should speak English” • 70 % of Britons agreed. • 82 % of Dutch agreed • 76 % of Italians agreed. • Even 66 % of French agreed (McCrum xiii) 15

Early 1990s Eclipse of Soviet Union This meant that rather than two superpowers there was one superpower, and English became more important in such countries as China and Brazil. English became more important in Russia, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary, Romania & other East European countries. (McCrum xvi) 15

English Only • Queen Elizabeth • King James (and the Bible) • Today in Arizona etc. • Cf. French-Only movement in France (outlawing “Franglish”) • CF. German-Only movement in Germany (outlawing “Denglisch”) • Cf. Spanish-Only movement in Spain (outlawing (“Spanglish”) • Cf. Portuguese-Only movement in Portugal (McCrum xvi-xvii) 15

English as a Global Language I • 75 % of European children learn English in School • The default language for e-mail in the European Union is English • There are 180 delegates in the UN for whom English is their second language • In many countries, English words are acquiring new meanings. In Germany, “handy” means “mobile phone.” Do you know of other examples? (McCrum xvii) • There are now about 2 billion speakers of English (about 1/3 of the world’s population (McCrum xviii) 15

English as a Global Language II • American Culture (Movies, Ads, Television) • Internet (80 % of all web pages are in English): • Many multilingual web sites: English for reach & local language for identity • Trade and Tourism • ABC, NBC, CBS, BBC, CBC, CNN… • Science & Technology (including military) (McCrum xix) 15

!The Three Waves of Alvin Toffler+ The Fourth Wave of Milton Friedman • 1. Independence (rural) • 2. Assembly line: Manipulation of things (Ford) • 3. Computers: Manipulation of language (Gates) • 4. The Flat Earth: Combination of the 2nd and 3rd Waves (Milton Friedman) • NOTE: We need a global language to operate in the 4th wave. (cf. McCrum xix) 15

!!Important English Authors • William Shakespeare (playwright) • Charles Dickens (vernacular) • Mark Twain (vernacular) • George Bernard Shaw (Pygmalion and Lerner and Lowe’s My Fair Lady) (McCrum 2) 15

!!!Works Cited • McCrum, Robert, William Cran, and Robert MacNeil. The Story of English. New York, NY: Penguin, 1986. (source of map citations) • McCrum, Robert, William Cran, and Robert MacNeil. The Story of English: Third Revised Edition. New York, NY: Penguin, 2003. (source of text citations) 15

The Story of English