British Society & Culture Paul Griffiths

1. British Society & CulturePaul Griffiths 100’s of free ppt’s from www.pptpoint.com library

2. The Story of the BritishPeople and their languagePart Two

3. PPT Files • For last weeks PPT please go to:- • www.mits.co.nz?BSC.htm • For ppt and web page be patient.

4. Revision • Who were the first peoples to Britain? • Celts • About what time in history? • 3,000 – 2,500 BC • What language did they speak? • Celtic / Gaelic • Where did they come from? • Gaul (Modern Day Northern France)

5. Revision • Who came after them and at what time? • The Romans 55AD • What language did they speak? • Roman Latin 55AD – 410AD • Who were next into Britain and where from? • Angles, Saxons & Jutes (Germanic)

6. Revision • Who were next to invade Britain? • Vikings & Danes • Where were they from? • Scandinavia. Norway, Sweden • What language did they speak? • Old Norse

7. What language was spoken up to 750 AD • England: Old English or Anglo (Englo) from the name Anglo-Saxons • Scotland: Gaelic and Old Norse Scots, Picts and Vikings (Norsemen) • Ireland: Gaelic Scots, Picts and Celts • Wales: Gaelic Celts

8. The Peoples of Britain

9. William II Duke of Normandy

10. 1066 and all That • The French Normans or Norsemen meaning Northmen • The Famous 1066 invasion of William the Conqueror • The “Norman French”, originally Vikings who had been given lands in Northern France by the French as a payment for protection and who now spoke Norse-French, were related to the Viking leaders in England. • As in all good families there was an argument over who should be King of England. And the French speaking William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy, France won the battle of Hastings in 1066 AD.

11. The Normans (2) • The Norse-French became the New Elite Leaders of England For the next 300 years, England did not have a King who spoke English (until 1399) • All government seats of power (church, government, law) were French speakers Common English people continued to speak their Anglo-Saxon German (AKA, Old English).

12. The Normans (3) • Their addition to English: • The French speaking Normans gave English 10,000 words (3/4 of which are still in use) • Just about all our words related to government (except King and Queen), the law, the arts, medicine, high fashion, and the military are French • Bacon, beef, butcher, button, court, crime, curfew, defeat, eagle, fashion, felony, fraud, gallon, grammar, injury, joy, judge, jury, justice, lever, liberty, marriage, noun, nurse, parliament, pork, prison, question, rape, river, salary, shop, spy, squirrel, syllable, tax, virgin

13. The Normans (4) • The Blending of the Two Worlds (and languages) • Slowly over 300 years Norman French began a break with Parisian French • Many felt no alliance with “real” French anymore and began to embrace English (as a new language and a culture) and contact with Normandy, France lessened. • Lots of intermarriages between the Normans and the English • This blending is the start of Middle English

14. Different Languages

15. THE DIALECTS OF THE UK • The dialects of Middle English correlate well to those of Old English: • Kentish • Northumbrian, now called Northern English • Mercian, West and East Midlands English • West Saxon, now called Southern English

16. Graphic Timeline of English Language

17. The 4 Countries of the British Isles • In England there are strong differences in language and dialects across this one country. • The islands which make up the British Isles now have 4 very separate countries. • England (Anglo) • Wales, original Celts plus a mix of Anglo-Saxons • Scotland, Scots, Picts, Celts and Vikings • Ireland, original Celts, Scots and Picts

18. Some Other Influences that Changed English

19. Plague (Disease) In 1337 the Hundred years war started between England and France. (1337-1453) In 1349, the Black Death began, killing about one-third of the English and French populations. The middle class grew in economic and social importance, and along with them English increased in importance compared to Anglo-Norman. This mixture of the two languages of English and Anglo-Norman French came to be known as Middle English.

20. Middle English • Why Middle English occurred when it did (1300) • England was more interactive with Europe (hundred years war, trade, etc) • Peasant revolt awakened the royalty to the need to interact more with the peasants and so a common language was needed • English became the language of the Kings court and the peasants adopted the words for prestige and economic reasons

21. The mixture of these languages came to be known as Middle English.

22. Early Modern English around 1500 AD The next wave of innovation in the English language came with the Renaissance. The revival of classical scholarship brought many classical Latin and Greek words into the language.

23. The Renaissance • A period from the early 1300’s to roughly 1600 when there was a renewed interest in history literature and art. • Renaissance = “Rebirth” • Europe’s economic recovery • Renewed study of ancient Greece and Rome and their languages

24. English Universities • Even up until recently the main universities and public schools taught: • Latin as a language • Greek literature • Both were compulsory

31. Can you name a famous writer? • Who was Geoffrey Chaucer? • A very famous writer who could write in both English and French and used both languages. • Although the ruling class spoke French, he preferred to write in English with a mixture of French words for depth and feeling

32. Geoffrey Chaucer C.1400 • Life • Son of London merchant • Good education • Involved in court life • Captured and ransomed during 100 years war • Traveled widely • Expert in physics, medicine, astronomy, Latin • Wrote poetry • Used classical allusions (only known to the upper class and royalty)

33. Geoffrey Chaucer Canterbury Tales • Written in Middle English • Innovative but risky because he wrote for a French-speaking class • Helped to legitimize Middle English • Similar to how the Bible and Shakespeare legitimized Modern English • Used many dialects • Rhymed and metered (pentameter) • Wide vocabulary • clever phrases • Basis for other writers

34. Geoffrey Chaucer Canterbury Tales • The General Prologue • Reading in Middle English gives a feeling for the language • Literary beauty (form) • Wide angle view of nature • Moves to specifics of plants • Then moves to specifics of people

35. Here bygynneth the Book of the Tales of Caunterbury Whan that Aprill, with his shoures soote The droghte of March hath perced to the roote And bathed every veyne in swich licour, Of which vertu engendred is the flour; Whan Zephirus eek with his sweete breeth Inspired hath in every holt and heeth The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne Hath in the Ram his halfe cours yronne, And smale foweles maken melodye, That slepen al the nyght with open eye – (So priketh hem Nature in hir corages); Than longen folk to goon on pilgrimages And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes Top ferne halwes, kowthe in sondry londes; And specially from every shires ende Of Engelond, to Caunterbury they wende, The hooly blisful martir for the seke That hem hath holpen, whan that they were seeke.

36. Here bygynneth the Book of the Tales of Caunterbury Whan that Aprill, with his shoures soote The droghte of March hath perced to the roote And bathed every veyne in swich licour, Of which vertu engendred is the flour When April with his showers sweet with fruit The drought of March has pierced unto the root And bathed each vein with liquor that has power To generate therein and sire the flower;

37. Here begins the Book of the Tales of Canterbury When April with his showers sweet with fruit The drought of March has pierced unto the root And bathed each vein with liquor that has power To generate therein and sire the flower; When Zephyr also has, with his sweet breath, Quickened again, in every holt and heath, The tender shoots and buds, and the young sun Into the Ram one half his course has run, And many little birds make melody That sleep through all the night with open eye (So Nature pricks them on to ramp and rage) – Then do folk long to go on pilgrimage, And palmers to go seeking out strange strands, To distant shrines well known in sundry lands. And specially from every shire's end Of England they to Canterbury wend, The holy blessed martyr there to seek Who helped them when they lay so ill and weak.

38. Geoffrey Chaucer Canterbury Tales • Why Chaucer used French terms • Rhyme • Meaning • Dialect • Gave flowery and elevated feeling • Part of the language by then

39. The Spread of Printing • By 1480, there were printing presses in 110 towns. • Ten million books in print by 1500. • Aldus Manutius of Venice (d. 1515). First cheap mass-market books. • William Caxton, 1476, first press in England

40. Book Publishing Books became cheaper, and, as a result, literacy became more common. Publishing for the masses became a profitable enterprise, and works in English, as opposed to Latin, became more common.

41. The Great Vowel Shift 13th to 15th Century • Gradually sounds were made higher in the mouth. • Almost all English “long” vowels are diphthongs or blends of vowel sounds • “a” in “bay” = a + i as in “bait” • “i” as in “bite” = e + i as in “height” • “o” as in “go” = o + u as in “though” • We also dropped or changed guttural “gh”: cough, through, light, sight

42. Change in vowel structure unique to England • crime: criminalplease: pleasantgrateful: gratitudeabound: abundantgoose: gosling • and so on (there are many more such pairs). In each of these cases, we can see that in Modern English, the pattern often seems to involve a lax vowel paired with a tense vowel articulated higher in the vocal tract, or (in the case of high lax vowels) paired with a tense diphthong.

43. Why English Spelling is so Chaotic • Great Vowel Shift happened just as English was first being printed • Caxton used the spelling system of Chaucer (ca. 1400) • Result: English was set into print with an already-obsolete spelling system • Also, English has borrowed from just about every other language and preserved their spelling

44. Effects of printing • Vast increase in literacy. • Rapid dissemination of ideas. • Standardization and simplification of spelling. • Stimulus toward accuracy.

45. Who was really famous in 15th century England?

46. Elizabethan Theatre: 16th-17th C. • Protestant Reformation closed down religious drama • Tudor love of spectacle and patronage of drama • Elizabethan poetry -- love of language • Influenced by Roman theatre, Renaissance ideas, medieval stagecraft and pagan remnants • Important theatrical period even if Shakespeare had never lived

47. Shakespeare • Used 34,000 words—8% were never used before • Average educated person used 16,000 words • King James Bible contained 8,000 words • No single person has ever done • more for any language

48. Shakespeare made up and used new words and expressions ‘To coin a phrase’: to use a supposed new expression • Coined 2,000 words: barefaced, critical, leapfrog, monumental, castigate, majestic, obscene, frugal, radiance, dwindle, countless, submerged, excellent, fretful, gust, hint, hurry, lonely, summit, pendant, obscene, and some 1, 685 others

49. To be or not to be (Hamlet 1603) • To be, or not to be: that is the question:Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to sufferThe slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;No more; and by a sleep to say we endThe heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks • Meaning: Is it better to live or die

50. Coined many Phrases: • Flesh and blood • In my minds eye • To be in a pickle • Vanish into thin air • Play fast and loose • To be or not to be • Cruel to be kind • Foul play • Budge an inch • One fell swoop