Historia del inglés

Introducción a la diacronía del inglés.
Introduction.
• Old English. 5- mid 12th centuries (1150). German tribes arrive to England (Angles, Saxons, Jutes). The Celts also influenced English language. Then Romans came. Influence of Latin. Full inflections, with four cases: Nom., Acc., Gen., Dat.
• Middle English. 1150 - 1500. Battle of Hastings (1066). Death of Anglo - Saxons.Feudalism. Norman invasion. Three languages live together: English, French and Latin. In 1476 printing press is invented by William Caxton. Levelled inflections, full inflections gradually disappear.
• Early Modern English (1476 - 1756). Renaissance. Lost inflections, only a few endings survive. The grammar becomes far simpler. Different spelling live together for the same word. There are noauthoritative dictionaries or voices.
• Late modern English (1756 - nowadays). First authoritative dictionary of the English language, by Samuel Johnson, which provided spellings, sounds and ethimology. It was decided not to establish an Academy of English.
Importance of the English language.
A language lives only when it is spoken by anyone. Its importance depends on the importance or influence ofthe people who speak it. English is spoken by 340 million people as a mother tongue. It is the language of Western languages. Political, economical and scientific reasons are related to the importance of a language. But English is also very broadly spoken as second language (communication, commerce).
The growth of the Spanish language goes with the growth of Latin American countries.
It is alsoprobable that pidgin and Creole varieties of English are more and more widespread spoken where English is not the first language.
Will English ever become the world language?
Many people are strongly opposed to an artificial language (like Esperanto). Perhaps the most representative languages in the world are spoken in united nations (English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Russian and Arabic). It ispossible that speakers of these countries don't want to substitute their own languages for another one. Over a century ago, French was considered the educated classes language, a polite and elegant language. Along the 19th century, the importance of French declines due to the influence of a serious rival, German. Germany became influential in scientific research and scholar activity. But it hasbeen replaced in 20th century by English in the same fields and also in commerce. If we add to this the importance of mass media, we obtain a great expansion of English all over the world.
Functions of English today.
It is spoken by several hundred million people as mother tongue, as second language, as a vehicle of education, in science, in business… in a word, as lingua franca. It has become asymbol of social mobility, of people who wants to climb up in the social scale.
English has lots of influences depending on the areas where it is spoken. It may vary enormously. Many colonies obtained their independence in the 20th century. Their new governments had to choose a national language in order to be different to their neighbours. The choice was often a problem. Today, many problems arestill unresolved (not enough education, superpower politics, etc). Many times a local language has been chosen, but if there are many local languages, the problem remains unresolved. Other governments have chosen a language spoken for all. In many former colonies, for reasons of commerce and development, the language chosen has been English. E.g. the official language in India is Hindi, butEnglish works as a very important second language in schools, TV, newspapers… Children have to learn English, Hindi and the local language, and even more.
In Africa, English is used extensively (160 million people). Many nations have chosen English, as Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, etc.
Pros and cons of English.
English present a very mixed vocabulary. It is a Germanic language, but it has borrowed many...