Introduction chapter I historical background

CONTENT

1. 
   INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………….2
   
2. 
   CHAPTER I Historical background …..….…………………............3
   

1.1 The historical development.......................................................................3

1.2 Linguistic outcomes of the early contacts……………..………………..8

1.3 Celtic and English – contact and shift ……………………………..…..11

III. CHAPTER II The Brittonic languages ……………...……………12

2.1 The Welsh language………………………………………………..….12

2.2 The Celtic Languages ………………………………………………….…15

2.3 The Irish language …………………………………………………...……18

IV. CONCLUSION ……………………………………………………………21

V. REFERENCES ………………………………………………………….....23

INTRODUCTION

The topic of this research is “Historical background of the contact between Celtic languages and English”. The main aim is to explore Celtic influence in the development of English. If it is to judge from the numerous historical sources that provide information on Celts, it becomes evident they had a certain influence on English. The Anglo-Saxon tribes were the ones who conquered the Celtic people and territories. In the process, the Celts had to accept the new language. Even after the conquest, the Celts still spoke their language (Celtic) among themselves. Because of that, Celtic words served as roots from which certain English words were derived. Beside this, being under Celtic influence, English seemed to take certain grammar rules. There are also constructions in the syntax of English that are a result of the contact between languages. Linguistic outcomes of the early contact between languages have been explored, as well as the syntactic influence of Celtic on English. This research will show that syntactic influence is more relevant than lexical, in terms of the contact between Celtic languages and English. The main hypothesis of the research will be based on the claim that vocabulary is not as relevant in the case of the Celtic influence on English as it is its grammar and syntax. 1.2. The English language today The English language is the second language by the number of its speakers as their first or second language, with Mandarin (Chinese) being in the first place. English is the most important and the most widespread language in the world. It is a Germanic language of the Indo – European family. Most business contracts are made in English, whereas two-thirds of scientific documents are written in this language. There are 300 million native speakers of English, 300 million people to whom this is the second language and 100 million of those who use it as a foreign language.1 The English language nowadays is used in the majority of life spheres, including aviation, tourism, education, science, diplomacy, etc.