A history of the English Language

71.
The Relation of the Two Languages.
The relation between the two languages in the district settled by the Danes is a matter of 
inference rather than exact knowledge. Doubtless the situation was similar to that 
observable in numerous parts of the world today where people speaking different 
languages are found living side by side in the same region. Although in some places the 
A history of the english language 86

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Scandinavians gave up their language early
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there were certainly communities in which 
Danish or Norse remained for some time the usual language. Up until the time of the 
Norman Conquest the Scandinavian language in England was constantly being renewed 
by the steady stream of trade and conquest. In some parts of Scotland, Norse was still 
spoken as late as the seventeenth century. In other districts in which the prevailing speech 
was English there were doubtless many of the newcomers who continued to speak their 
own language at least as late as 1100 and a considerable number who were to a greater or 
lesser degree bilingual. The last-named circumstance is rendered more likely by the 
frequent intermarriage between the two peoples and by the similarity between the two 
tongues. The Anglian dialect resembled the language of the Northmen in a number of 
particulars in which West Saxon showed divergence. The two may even have been 
mutually intelligible to a limited extent. Contemporary statements on the subject are 
conflicting, and it is difficult to arrive at a conviction. But wherever the truth lies in this 
debatable question, there can be no doubt that the basis existed for an extensive 
interaction of the two languages upon each other, and this conclusion is amply borne out 
by the large number of Scandinavian elements subsequently found in English.