The English Language: An Introduction

Abstract

The history of the English language is very intriguing. For our convenience, we divide its development or growth into three periods (Old English, Middle English, Modern English). Today English is a global language, with its varieties (British, American, Indian). In linguistic terms, it belongs to the Indo-European family of languages, a vast group with several branches-

• Germanic
• Celtic
• Italic
• Hellenic
• Baltic
• Slavic
• Indic
• Iranian.

Broadly speaking, English springs from the Germanic branch; likewise, Irish originates from Celtic; French, Italian, etc. from Italic ; Greek from Hellenic; Lithuanian from Baltic; Russian, Bulgarian,etc. from Slavic; Sanskrit and other Indian languages from Indic; and Persian, Kurdish, etc. from Iranian. The English language has undergone extensive changes between old and modern English periods.  Old English   looks very different and difficult in style. Middle English is slightly easy to grasp and paved the way for a standard language. The credit goes to the poet of The Canterbury Tales for popularizing Midland English that transformed itself into a standard language. English literature is one of the richest literatures in the world.  It is indeed a great delight to read it from Chaucer to the present.  T S Eliot writes in one of his literary essays that the past literature guides the present literature. Beowulf is among ancient epics –Homer's  The Iliad and The Odyssey in Greek, Virgil's The Aeneid in Latin ,Ved Vyas' s The Mahabharata in Sanskrit and Valmiki' s The Ramayana in Sanskrit .