300 the American Indian, “hammock" and "tomato;" (8) New Words for New Things.-New discoveries and inventions, as they have occurred, have given new words to our language. Examples are: "photograph" and "telephone." 7. Proportion of Foreign Words in Modern English. The proportion of words in modern English which have been drawn from the sources just described may be roughly represented as follows: Old English Words Greek Words Latin Words (including Norman-French) Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Hebrew, Arabic, 8. Changes in Our Language.-Our language has not only grown; it has changed. (1) In Inflections.-Old English was what is called a highly inflected language. An inflected language is one that joins words together in sentences by means of "inflections" or changes in the words themselves. For example, in Old English oxan meant "oxen," oxena meant "of oxen," oxum meant "with oxen. Accordingly, instead of saying as we do "tongues of oxen," our Anglo-Saxon ances tors said "tungan oxena." Traces of these word changes or inflections still remain in our language: as, “sing," "sings." (2) In Order of Words.-The order of words in Old English was clumsy and involved. For example, instead of saying as we do, When Darius saw that he would be overcome, our Anglo-Saxon ancestors would have said,When Darius saw that he overcome be would. 66 (3) In Sound.-Old English was a guttural speech, full of harsh, choking sounds. For example, our 'holy" was once " hālig," our "bridge" was once "brigg" (as in Scotland to this day), our "day" was once "daeg," our "light" was once pronounced like the Scotch licht." 9. How Changes Came About.-The greatest changes in our language occurred between 1100 and 1500 A. D., that is to say, during the four centuries that followed the Norman Conquest. The story of the changes is too long to be told here; but some idea of how they came about may be gained by noticing what happens to-day when a foreigner who has only half learned English tries to speak it. He mispronounces the words, arranges them after the manner of his own language, neglects the inflections. In somewhat the same way, when the Anglo-Saxons and the Norman-French became one people, and their languages were fused into modern English, sounds were modified, the order was changed, and inflections were dropped. 10. Language Still Subject to Change.-Since the invention of printing, changes in English have not been numerous; for the vast number of printed books and papers, and the immense spread of the ability to read and write, have given to our language a rigidity of form which it could not have so long as it existed chiefly on men's tongues. For example, the language of the English Bible, which is sixteenth-century English, differs little from the English of to-day. But some change is still going on, for modifying influences are still at work. English-speaking people in different parts of the world do not talk exactly alike; new words are coming in; old words are dropping out; the forms and uses of other words are changing. An example of this modern change is found in the word "whom." The "m" in this word is an inflection, once useful in conveying meaning; and we still say, when we wish to speak very accurately, "Whom did you see?" But since the "m" is no longer necessary to the meaning, people have become very careless about using it, and even good speakers often say, "Who did you see?" 11. Good English.-Good English is the English used by the best speakers and writers; and the use of such English is "only a phase of good manners. Bad English, that is, English unlike that which is used by well-informed and careful writers, produces in the mind of a well-informed reader an impression of vulgarity or ignorance similar to that which we get from seeing a person eat with his knife. It is with language as with clothes and conduct. Persons who wish to be classed as cultivated people must not only dress and act like cultivated people; they must also speak and write like them. A help toward this end is the study of grammar. 12. Grammar.-Grammar is a description of the relations which words bear to one another when they are put together in sentences. An understanding of these relations requires some knowledge of the nature, the forms, and the history of words, but only so far as these bear on the uses of words in sentences. The proper starting point of English grammar is the sentence. The discussion of words considered by themselves belongs to the dictionary. 13. Uses of Grammar.—It is not by grammar, however, that we learn to speak or write. Speaking and writing our mother tongue are habits, formed by imitation long before we acquire that knowledge which is the subject-matter of grammar. The object of the study of grammar is to learn the uses of words in sentences, so that we may test the habits of speech which we have already acquired, and make them conform to the best models. Incidentally the study of grammar affords invaluable mental training. 14. Grammars Old and New.-Among Englishspeaking peoples grammar was first studied as a step toward the learning of Latin, and the first English grammar was called an "Introduction to Lily's Latin Grammar." The author of that first English grammar, keeping his eye on Latin rather than on English, and making his work conform to Latin models, treated English as if it were in all important respects like Latin and Greek, with no history or laws of its own. As a matter of fact, English differs greatly from other languages. In structure it is essentially Anglo-Saxon. Yet the mistake of the first English grammar was followed by succeeding books for nearly four hundred years. Now we have learned better, and study our language with reference to its own nature and history. |