The Multilingual Roots of English

This book examines with a critical eye the standard narrative regarding the evolution of Old and Middle English, according to which English appeared in the 5th century out of an amalgam of supposedly related West Germanic languages, later simplified by contact with Old Norse, and then refined by mixing with Norman French. Other versions of events, not least the Celtic hypothesis, and perhaps the existence of Germanic languages in Britain before the arrival of the Romans, will be presented as credible alternative accounts. Discussion will not be limited to linguistic data, which unfortunately is often lacking or open to different interpretations, but will also draw upon the work of historians, archaeologists and geneticists. Their observations provide the relevant background for a better understanding of the main ethnic and social characteristics of the environment within which English was to evolve. In the individual chapters, the perspective of the main different ethnic groupings (themselves seen as fluid identities) will be dealt with in turn, focusing on the contribution of each (through such processes as accommodation, adaption, code mixing and translanguaging) to the complex multilingual ecosystem that constituted the then linguistic landscape of the British-Irish Isles. The wider European context will also be considered, thereby not losing sight of the more general dynamics of the various linguistic forces at play on a continental scale. Finally, and most importantly in regard to contemporary studies into the nature and implications of the advent of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF), this book contributes to the ongoing debate about the role of non-native speakers in the evolution of the language, adding a fresh perspective. The argument advanced is that one needs only look back to the roots of English to see that ELF variations are nothing new; they are merely modern manifestations of the same phenomena that must have characterised discourse in English in its early stages, and played a key role in determining the essential nature of the language in the first place.