九年级英语下册 module9 Historical English相关文章 外研版

Historical Background of British and American EnglishThe history of the English language is divided into three periods: The period from 450 to 1150 is known as the Old English. It is described as the period of full inflections(词尾变化), since during most of this period the case ending of the noun, the adjective and the conjugation(结合) of the verb were not weakened. Old English was a highly inflected language. It had a complete system of declensions(变格) with four case and conjugations. So Old English grammar differs from Modern English grammar in these aspects(方面).The period from 1150 is known as the Middle English period. It is know as the period inflections. This period was marked by important changes in the English language. The Norman Conquest was the cause of these changes. The change of this period had a great effect on both grammar and vocabulary. In this period many Old English words were lost, but thousands of words borrowed from French and Latin appeared in the English vocabulary. In the Middle English period grammatical gender(性) disappeared, grammatical gender was completely replaced by the natural gender.Modern English period extends from 1500 to the present day. The Early modern English period extends from 1500 to 1700. The chief influence of this time was great humanistic(人文主义的) movement of the Renaissance. The influence of Latin and Greek on English was great. The nineteenth and twentieth centuries are a period of rapid expansion(扩张) for the English vocabulary in the history of the English language.The development of the English language in America can be separated into three periods: The first period extends from the settlement of Jamestown in 1607 to the end of colonial times. In this period the population in America numbered about four million people, 90 of percent of whom came from Britain. The second period covers the expansion of the original thirteen colonies. This time may be said to close with the Civil War, about 1860. This period was marked by the arrival of the new immigrants(移民) from Ireland and Germany. The third period, since the Civil War, is marked by an important change in the source from which the European immigrants came. They came from northern and southern Europe in large numbers.As time went on, the English language gradually changed on both sides of the Atlantic. The Americans adopted(接纳) many words from foreign languages and invented large number of new words to meet their various needs.American English began in the seventeenth century. At the beginning of the 17th century the English language was brought to North American by colonists from English. They used the language spoken in England, that is, Elizabethan English, the language used by Shakespeare, Milton and Banyan. At first the language stayed the same as the language used in Britain, but slowly the language began to change. Sometimes, the English spoken in American changed but sometimes the language spoken in the place stayed the same, while the language in England changed.Following American independence, famous persons like Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Webster began to consider that the country should have a language of its own. English in America has developed a character(特点) of its own, reflecting the life and the physical and social environment of the American people. 英语的历史演变 “英语”原意“地角语言”。5世纪中叶（中国南北朝时期），欧洲大陆一个部落叫做“地角人”（Engle），从石勒苏益格（Schleswig，现在德国北部）渡海移居不列颠（Britain）。他们的“地角语”（Englisc，古拼法）代替了当地的凯尔特语（Celtic）。于是地区称为“英格兰”，语言称为“英语”（English，现代拼法）。 1066年（北宋中朝），说法语的诺曼底人（Norman）侵入英国，此后二百年间英格兰以法语为官方语言。后来，1350-1380年间，英语开始用作学校语言和法庭语言。1399年（明朝迁都北京之前），英格兰人亨利第四当上了英王，此后英语的伦敦方言成为文学语言。 英语在5-6世纪时候，用原始的“鲁纳”（runa）字母书写。7世纪的时候（中国唐代前期），基督教从爱尔兰传入英格兰，英语开始拉丁化。拉丁字母跟英语的关系，好比汉字跟日语的关系。英语的拉丁化是很晚的，到中国唐代的时候才初步定形。 英语不是先有拼写规则然后拼写的，而是在随意拼写中逐渐约定成俗的。拼法不规则的原因主要有：1. 字母少而音素多，造成一音多拼；2. 语音变而拼法不变，遗留古文痕迹；3. 强调拼法反映希腊和拉丁的词源，人为地造成言文不一致现象。4. 部分词语采用法文拼法。5. 不断借入外来词，拼写法变得非常庞杂；6. 15世纪（明代中叶），英语发生语音的重大变化。刚刚写定的文字无法系统地改变，混乱的写法流传下来成为今天拼写定形的基础。 英语虽然拼法不规则，但是同一个语词有一定的拼法和读音，例外只是少数。语法比其他欧洲语言简单。英语从四面八方吸收有用的外来词，江河不择细流，成为词汇最丰富的语言。它用26个现代拉丁字母而不加符号，方便打字和电脑处理。 英语相较其他欧洲语言另外一个不同之处是，现代英语中的每一个名词的性都是由意思决定的，而不需要阳性、阴性或中性冠词。比如，法语中，月亮是“la lune”（阴性），而太阳却并无任何明显的理由，成了“le soleil”（阳性）。更糟糕的是，在日耳曼语系的语言中，又多了一个中性。德语中，月亮是“der Mond”（阳性），太阳是“die Sonne”（阴性），而儿童、女孩和妇女全都是中性。英语没有那么复杂，所以这也是英语能够流行的一个原因英语的发展真是奇妙，公元450年，盎格鲁-撒克逊人第一次漂洋过海，来到从前属于罗马人的布列塔尼亚省，那时英语成为一门世界语言的可能性是百万分之一。英语在当时只不过是日尔曼语系中一门不见经传的分支语言，甚至都不是不列颠群岛土生土长的语言。然而，历史的发展总是出人意料，这门产生于侵略本身的语言，如今却成了一门进行全球侵略的语言。 两次世界大战，从英国殖民地独立成为现代大国的美国，不仅在军事上取得胜利，并且在战后开创了信息化的新时代。英语的流通扩大，美国是最主要的推动力