More than seven hundred years ago, when the students of la Sorbonne attended a debating session, those young men from different European countries were speaking in Latin, a then dominant language of the educated. Now at the dawn of a new millenium, we are here exchanging our respective views on t...

As with many languages the development of English has had many influences. In early times natives of the British Isles were invaded and often conquered forcing the adaptation of new sounds and expressions. Then as England begins to defy the world, the enormous influences of the King James Bible an...

The Mother Tongue: The First Thousand Years About 1500 years a few people in a remote corner of what we now call England, an awkward Germanic tongue was spoken which we now call English. But how did this insignificant language of barbarians grow to become the dominating language of the western w...

Adrienne Harris August 20, 2001The History of the English LanguageThe English language is one of the major languages of the world. Over 320 million people all over the world speak English. Most schools teach in English or teach English as foreign language. It is used in international business and...

Ever wonder about the English language and where it came from? Curious to know why so many words seem to be very similar to those in other foreign languages? The answer to those questions is that it did, in fact, come from many other foreign languages. Almost all the words in the English language...

Orwell and the English languageGeorge Orwell, the author of "Politics and the English language" believes in the traditional style of the English language and that there is a definite correlation between language and action. Orwell highly believes that proper English can be cured by never using slan...

A Small Accident Do you know more than one language? If you do, have you ever found yourself starting a sentence in one language and ending it with another? As a young girl, I used to mix my languages. Naturally, I did this while learning the English language. I applied the rules of the Spanish l...

Whan that Aprill with his shoures sooteThe droghte of March hath perced to the rooteAnd bathed every veyne in swich licourof which vertu engendred is the flour,Whan Zephirus eek with his sweete breethInspired hath in every holt and heethThe tendre croppes, and the yonge sonneHath in the ram his half...

According to the Venerable Bede, the first significant body of Germanicsettlers in England had been hired as mercenaries by the British Prince Vortigern during fifth-century struggles for power among British Celts that broke out when Roman colonial troops were withdrawn. After a falling-out with the...

There are many significant events in the world of education. Each one changed the way that teachers taught; the way schools were run and what they learned. To this day, something new and exciting happens all the time.In 1647 the Old Deluder Satan Act enacted in Massachusetts, requiring establishme...

The Viking raids consequences. The Vikings were often described as "dire portents" and the Viking raids as "immense whirlwinds ... flashes of lighting...and fiery dragons...flying in the air". The Viking raids had begun. The earliest raids were carried out by Norwegians. Their immediate consequen...

Aria was a somewhat odd essay. At first I couldn't determine if the purpose of his essay was to tell of his childhood difficulties or to tell of the changes made in public schools for bilingual children. I am still unsure of the sole purpose, but I have come to the conclusion that it is of bo...

Personal Communications ReportI believe life is a learning experience and we all have certain personal strengths and weaknesses. Knowing what I am good at and what I am weak at can help me become a better person. By observing a variety of clues relating to my appearance, vocabulary, body language, ...

Swift's ProposalOne of the most important facts about the history of English language is that it passes through many difficulties and stages until it gets its stability. Stability of language is the main purpose of the Jonathan Swift in his letter to Earl of Oxford. Swift, an Irish author, is consid...

Nearly all knowledge of the English language before the seventh century is hypothetical. Most of this knowledge is based on later English documents and earlier documents in related languages (3). The English language of today represents many centuries of development. As a continuous process, the ...

In his essay, "Politics and the English Language," Orwell demonstrateshow the English language has declined as a result of economic and politicalreasons. By examining the nature of language, especially in the politicalarena, Orwell successfully proves how the English language has been used asa m...

Bilingual EducationI am sure that if I was improperly placed in a bilingual program, others have also. How does this happen? What "characteristics" show school officials that a student needs the classes to begin with? These officials seem to think that standardized tests and parent questionnaires...

My focus is upon a piece by Niccolo Machiavelli, an Italian prince from the renaissance period who writes "The Morals of a Prince", and in an opposite vein, an essay by George Orwell, an English author and enemy of totalitarianism whose essay is "Politics and the English Language". Within these ess...