¶ … Old French Before and After the Oaths of Strasbourg
The Historical Background of Old French
The evolution of Old French language began in 52 Before Christ when Julius Cesar held the power over the continents of the Gaul. According to Columbian Encyclopedia, Gaul was under the Roman Empire in the first and second century. With the strong influence it brought, Latin spoken by the Romans gradually replaced the Gaelic, a Celtic language as the Gaul's mother tongue, for a long time. Latin became the national language, spoken widely among people and became the root of recently spoken languages through Europe, including English (Le Tacon).
Marnette in her lecture notes gives hints, that during the occupation, a settlement of Germanic tribes was recorded in the border of Gaul in the first century. This would be an important step onto political action affecting the regions of the Roman Empire. As the immigration crisis arose in the third century, the Franks, one of the Germanic tribes, arrived in Gaul and became 'Foederati'. When crisis and poverty hit the Roman Empire in the fifth century, the great invasion of the Franks started and the Franks fully occupied the Gaul. Extraordinarily they adopted Latin for their everyday language, and left their own. During the Franks invasion, Paris was acknowledged as the capital, and the center of the cultural activities. They gave strong influence to the development of Latin.
Both cultures had given important influence to French structure and vocabulary. A lot of French vocabularies were derived from Latin, while the other parts of modern French inherited Celtic and Germanic words.
Vulgar Latin as the Source of Old French
Hall (qtd. in. Batzarov) shows, that French dialect developed under the strong influence of Vulgar Latin and Proto Gallo-Romance. Vulgar Latin was characterized by "simple, rational word order, a disregard of unnecessary distinctions, and a desire for greater regularity in word forms" (Carl).
Roman soldiers were the parts who introduced the Latin vernacular to the Gaul, and the language itself had influence important aspects of the Gaul's lifestyle, although they didn't speak the language exactly like the Roman. For the Gaul community, the language was there to develop into their...
The Old French language became the official language of business and court in the now Norman controlled England (Soon Magazine). Parents who wanted their children to amount to anything would have them schooled in this language, while English was reserved for the commoners. In this case, one can understand the first pronounced case of language bias in the English language. Although many of today's descriptive grammar linguists would hold that
French associate their country with a geometrical shape. Hexagon Circle Octagon Square Having read the section on geography and weather, which one of the following regions is best known or most typically known for this type of weather: Hot summers and cold sometimes snowy winters North and Western Coastal Regions Vosges, Jura, Alps, Pyrenees Central and Eastern France The South (also known as the Midi) Having read the section on geography and weather, which one of the following regions is
The English were quick to borrow much of this technology to conquer many countries over the centuries. Even the very simple words that were once rooted in the Spanish vocabulary, such as "stockade" and "conquistador" were later adopted into the English military vocabulary. Both nations had "paradoxical interactions of Spain and England during the 16th and 17th centuries" (Brownlee, 2009) and as Trans-Atlantic exploration was ramped up by both
Language American English is incredible malleable and diverse, and it would be a mistake to impose artificial rules. Not only would it be a mistake, it could even be construed as racist. The imaginary Correct English (whether Oxford or Webster-based prescriptive grammatical rules) is one that is clearly defined by the white upper-class hegemony in higher education. As Deresiewicz (2005) states, "there is no such thing as Correct English, and there
Language and Social Grouping Language is used differently in different geographic groups, ethnic, age, gender, and socioeconomic groups (Williams, 2010). Geographic groups use the same languages in different dialects that belong to the particular geographic regions. Within each language are many different dialects that have been formed with different geographic locations and cultures. Shared words, experiences, cultures, and expressions are ethnic and shared elements of the social fabric. Language of a common
Consider the fact that the Iroquois are said not to have had a strong word for the singular "I," and that they subsequently developed what was arguably the longest lasting communal representative democracy the world has ever known. The Inuit, whose culture revolves around the arctic world, have dozens of words for snow - this sort of technical knowledge allows quick and accurate transmission of conditions and training in
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now