As an English teacher, I must say I am a little sick and tired of listening to my students complaining about English spelling and pronunciation irregularities. But I must admit that my being tired of their complaints must be nothing compared to their frustration at being unable to get their heads around so many spelling/pronunciation caveats, pitfalls and exceptions. On the other hand, what I can’t stand is when people complain about it as if native English speakers had purposefully decided to make it difficult for everyone to learn. So here’s the reason behind this post; I would like to share an awesome explanatory video in order to make more people aware of how complicated English history has been and how this has affected its language. So here it is. Below the clip, you have a summary of the main points dealt with in the video, in case you have some trouble catching everything. You can also activate the subtitles and or you can click here and read the transcript. I hope you find it useful and that you share it with everyone you know who is struggling with English spelling/pronunciation. I’m sure it will give them some comfort!
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhqr-GNNgGo&w=560&h=315]
[By Arika Okrent & Sean O’Neill from mental_floss]
Summary
- AD 600: Latin from Christian missionaries met Germanic languages spoken by Anglo-Saxons in England.
- Problem: Latin did not have ways to represent Germanic sounds.
- Consequence: scribes invented their own way to write these sounds. These were sometimes insufficient.
- New problem: pronunciation changed over time, while spelling remained more or less the same. This started creating a breach between pronunciation and spelling.
- Invention of printing: it was great to spread written English.
- Problem: spelling was spread without taking into account pronunciation changes that were happening at the time. See the Great Vowel Shift. The spelling-pronunciation breach became even bigger.
- AD 1066: French-speaking Normans taking over made French the official language among the educated (courts, universities, etc.) for a few centuries.
- Consequence: French let its mark on English vocabulary and spelling. Many French words found its way into English. Example: voyage (French spelling, English pronunciation).
- Late 1500s: scholars became obsessed with Latin and Greek.
- Consequence: decided to reflect the ancient origin of some words in their spelling, so they altered the spelling of many words. Their pronunciation, however, did not change. Examples: receipt, doubt, etc. In other cases, a classical touch was given to words that didn’t even come from Greek or Latin. Example: island.
- Other facts: many words have been borrowed from other languages, including French. The spelling in these cases is normally kept the same. Sometimes, this borrowing thing has gone a little too far, adopting the spelling and the pronunciation of the same concept from two different languages. Example: colonel (Italian spelling, English pronunciation adapted from French).
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3 Comentarios. Dejar nuevo
FASCINATING! I knew most of the influences the language had «suffered» throughout the centuries, but had never seen them summarised in this way. Very effective and visually satisfying video! Keep up the good work.
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