There are very few pure
languages in the world. Because the planet Earth has become one large global
village most languages contain words that are direct implants or are derivatives
of words from other languages. Some languages are a conglomeration of different
languages. Urdu and English are prime examples of languages born out of a
hodgepodge of languages.
Languages are always changing and English is no exception. It is not a pure
language. It never has been. English is called a Germanic language because that
is where it got its beginnings; from Germany. Germanic invaders from Germany and
Holland brought their language with them. The invaders were mainly Angle and
Saxon tribesmen which gives rise to the coined term Anglo-Saxon. They pushed the
Celtics back into present day Scotland, Ireland and Wales.
Then in around 1400 AD another Germanic language group, the Scandinavians
(Jutes, possibly from Denmark) invaded England. About this time there was
another invasion, from the French and these two invasions gave further
complexity to the English language. About 60% of the English language comes from
Old French. The difficulties in pronunciation of certain English words can be
blamed on the French. Many of the anomalies that we have in the English language
can be blamed on French or Latin. For example we use ‘c’ instead of ‘s’ for
grace, mice, ice etc. The influence of Latin is seen in words like debt
(formally spelled dette), doubt (formally spelled doute) and receipt (formally
spelled receite).
But the linguistic diversity in the English language doesn’t stop here. Other
influences; the spread of Christianity to England brought Greek and Latin.
English is a ‘borrowing language’ and has borrowed from many of its colonies.
For example the word bungalow comes from the word banglA which has its roots in
Urdu/Bengali and thug comes from the Hindi word thag for thief.
English, like most languages, is an evolving language. Overtime we will continue
to see changes to the English language. In fact every country has its own
‘dialect’ of the English language. These ‘dialects’ are useful for local
communication purposes. Yet, because English is the most important lingua franca
today for international trade and communication there is an economic need to
learn standardized English.