Beauty Of Language

Mark   Mon Nov 07, 2005 11:17 am GMT
ok see i ve been on to learning and knowing some other languages butasfarasmy knowledge is concerned i found english one of the most splendid means of expression in the world.
Im not saying that all other languages are wague or dull, no cuz each and every language has its own beauty and is marvelous in its own sense.
But we should remember that we all in this world are somehow, someway connected to english.
And atleast to my knowledge the most appreciated music on earth would be English(mostly us music)
I just need to share with those who agree to my above mentioned point of view, this that why english is a lovely language.
And i believe itis beacuse
--------------it is the most gourgeous form of speech, english when its spoken is very entertaining, easy going, courteous,it is indeed a sign of happiness, joy ,prosperity, when spoken in original form contains the least aggressive expressions as farasmy knowledge is concerned.'
lolzzzzzzzz redheads plz dont comment..............
Brennus   Mon Nov 07, 2005 11:07 pm GMT
The fact that English is a mixture of languages, especially Anglo-Saxon, Latin and several varieties of French makes it one hell of a language. Still, there are many other languages in the world that fit the descriptions of "pretty", "musical" or "lyrical" better than English . Ancient Greek, the Celtic languages, even Russian and Romanian, have always struck me as being more nature lover's languages than English. There are probably more (possibly Japanese?).
Travis   Mon Nov 07, 2005 11:08 pm GMT
English is not "a mixture of languages", but rather just an Anglo-Frisian West Germanic language with a lot of Old Norse, French, and Latin thrown on top of an effectively still purely West Germanic core language...
Brennus   Mon Nov 07, 2005 11:28 pm GMT
But this would be to ignore the Celtic contributions like cloak and gown (Gallic clocca, gunna), iron, floor, leather (Old Irish iarann, for-urlar, leathair), cat, brat, menhir, slogan, shamrock, whiskey, wrass even broccoli and bronco (by way of Spanish and Italian). Also the words of the Carib and North American Indians: barbecue, canoe, daiqiri, racoon, rum, teepee, tobacco, tomahawk etc.
Travis   Mon Nov 07, 2005 11:41 pm GMT
Just so you know, Celtic contributions to English are actually very minimal, all things considered.
Brennus   Tue Nov 08, 2005 8:42 am GMT
They've been neglected by most linguistic scholars but are still more prevalent than is commonly believed. There was a time in history when the Celtic peoples were more powerful and advanced than the Germanic peoples and were in a position to influence them. Much of the knowledge that the ancient Germans acquired about metallurgy, carpentry and agriculture came from the Celts. Celtic loans in German include Esel (donkey) Eisen (iron) Leder (leather), Pferd (Horse), Rein (Rhine), Sieg (victory) Reich (Kingdom; Country) and possibly even Deutsch (German) itself (i.e. Gallic Teuto-, Old Irish tuath "tribe; people").
Kirk   Tue Nov 08, 2005 8:57 am GMT
Brennus, it wouldn't matter if 75% of English words were of Celtic origin--the underlying structure of the language is clearly Western Germanic. Thus, even with massive word-borrowings, there's no question in linguistic typology that English is a Western Germanic language. It is by no means a "mixture" of languages. In fact, the only languages which can even come *close* to claiming that kind of status are pidgins and creoles.

I always point to Korean because it's a good example of a language which has massive lexical borrowing from other languages (principally Chinese languages but some Japanese and English in recent years as well), yet it is not considered a "mixture" of languages by any means. It is a language so different structurally from Chinese languages that it's not even in the same language family, despite the fact that a significant majority of its lexical items are not native Korean words. Lexical items are only a small part of the overall picture of language.

<<Still, there are many other languages in the world that fit the descriptions of "pretty", "musical" or "lyrical" better than English>>

That's entirely subjective.
Travis   Tue Nov 08, 2005 9:24 am GMT
Brennus, just to clarify what I had said, I meant Celtic borrowings into Old English int, *not* Celtic loanwords into Common Germanic or Common West Germanic themselves. This is just like how Latin loanwords into Common Germanic or Common West Germanic are not generally treated as truly being "loans" when it comes to tallying the sources of vocabulary in Modern English.
Sander   Tue Nov 08, 2005 10:26 am GMT
English is a West Germanic language, but not in the way Anglo-Saxon was, all things considered, English is only made up with 15% of Old and Middle English words ... on top of that 15% is another 10% of Old Norse and Dutch loans and then the Germanic side of English is pretty much completed.The other 75% are all non-native words.Of Which more than 55% are Latin based, more than half...

I'm a supporter of a separate division in the Germanic language tree which sort of explains the situation of modern English...
Sander   Tue Nov 08, 2005 12:31 pm GMT
=>the underlying structure of the language is clearly Western Germanic<= [Kirk]

Hmm, not so sure on that ...
___________________________________________________
Language - Sentence - - - - - - - - Translated word order
___________________________________________________

[English] Visitors report here. ---> Visitors report here. /*\

[German] Besucher hier melden. ---> Visitors here report. \*/

[Dutch] Bezoekers hier melden. ---> Visitors here report. \*/

[French] Visiteurs reporter ici. ---> Visitors report here. /*\
___________________________________________________

The word order of English clearly shows some non-Germanic features ...
Bardioc   Tue Nov 08, 2005 1:50 pm GMT
There's also loan syntax, of course!
Guest   Tue Nov 08, 2005 1:53 pm GMT
BTW, Brennus, the river Rhine is written ''Rhein'' in German.
Sander   Tue Nov 08, 2005 2:02 pm GMT
=>There's also loan syntax, of course! <=

not the entire sytax (read; word order) of course.

It's still " a green dog" and not " a dog green " ([French] Un chien vert)
Bardioc   Tue Nov 08, 2005 2:16 pm GMT
Yes, Sander, not the entire syntax! That's why I wrote ''also''!
Sander   Tue Nov 08, 2005 3:48 pm GMT
Oh I'm sorry Bardioc , I thought you thought my example stood alone from syntax and that you meant something like " (And) there's ALSO , as in that's not all, the (complete) loan of sytax.


:-)