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EVOLUTION OF

ENGLISH AND

HISTORY OF

LANGUAGES

L atest scientific research shows us that language dates from roughly 150000 years

ago with human evolution. According to Noam Chomsky, human babies are born
with the core linguistic sense common to all languages. That shows us that
speaking a language is a biological trait. If you ask me, the first evidence of a more
advanced language is probably cave paintings. I have two theories about them:

Theory No. 1: These cave paintings may be a source of written communication that gave our
ancestors information about the history of the environment. Still, we don’t know much about
them, but why can't this theory be an option?
Theory No. 2: Like all of the other humans, our ancestors wanted to leave a trace in this
world.
If you ask me, I support theory no. 1 because the dates when cave paintings are painted suit
the dates of the first evidence of languages they belonged to. Unfortunately, in today's world,
sources of information are still limited about the origins and evolution of languages.
So now let’s make a trip to the future: the eleventh century. After the Battles of Hastings
and Stamford Bridge, the Normans invaded the British Islands.
At the time, English was a mixture of Norman, French, German, and Scandinavian
languages. When William I was coronated, a great revolution was born in England. Norman
French became the language of courts, and many words like "honor, cream, or table" got
into English. Some new words started to be used instead of old ones, like "beef instead of
ox".
600 years later, England started to colonize. The colonization of Africa and North America
has brought new words into English, such as lama and canoe. Even though Britain was
known as "The Empire On Which The Sun Never Sets", having this much land made
exploiting the people very hard. So British people got a "brilliant" idea: assimilation.
Language holds us together as one. If we lose our personality, we can’t resist. British
people were very successful in pushing local tribes to speak English. We can still see the
consequences of their work. Still, many people can speak French in Africa, and English is
the official language in North America.

BY: YİĞİT İBRAHİM KARAKAŞ - 8D
By:Engl sh Med a Club
By:Engl sh Med a Club
By:Engl sh Med a Club