The English language is a lot more French than we thought, here’s why

<p>Unlike other Germanic languages, English shares a large portion of their vocabulary with French and Latin, often attributed to the period of&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_words_of_French_origin" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Norman French dominance in England after 1066</a>. The size of this Romance influence on English, along with some other technical aspects such as pronunciation and syntax, has led&nbsp;<strong>some radical linguists to believe that English should in fact not be seen as a Germanic language, but rather as a Romance-Germanic hybrid</strong>. However, the general consensus is that the&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_language_influences_in_English" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank"><strong>overall</strong>&nbsp;English vocabulary is only a third of Old English origin (so, Germanic) but that the core vocabulary is&nbsp;<strong>entirely Old English</strong></a>. The keyword here is<em>&nbsp;core</em><strong>,&nbsp;</strong>as most linguists claim that French and Latin influence only enters the language through a handful of basic words but a vast majority of academic terms. For many, this seems to be the most important criterion for its classification as a Germanic language.</p> <p><a href="https://medium.com/@andreas_simons/the-english-language-is-a-lot-more-french-than-we-thought-heres-why-4db2db3542b3"><strong>Website</strong></a></p>
Tags: Fierce Debate