CONTENTS
Introduction 3
1.1 History of the English language 4
1.2 Classification and related languages 5
1.3 English as a global language 9
2 Classification of articles 11
2.1 Constructed varieties of English 11
2.2 Development of the English Article 11
Conclusion 17
Bibliography 19
Appendix
Introduction
The British are a most curious nation in many aspects. When a tourist from whatever continent comes to visit Britain the first conclusion he arrives at is how bizarre the people living there are. The main reason of their uniqueness will certainly lie on the surface: Great Britain is an island populated by the nation that had to grow up and go all the long way of its history. This very characterizes the Englishmen as both curious and interesting and special nation, whose history and culture are ones of the richest in the word.
The studies of the British culture and therefore understanding of the nation character of the English cannot stand up from the research of its important product-Grammar of the English language.
The culture and development of the country are meant as the social activity of people. Every new generation historically brings its piece into the whole process of the development of culture of this or that nation, so English Grammar collects the values expressed through different meanings: nouns, adverbs, pronouns, adjectives, articles, etc. The development of the nation is essential for the development of every person belonging to it; because his understanding and percepting the world is formed according to the society he grows up in and is influenced by the norms and values of this society. Any language is changing and developing and the theme of the articles will be actual for a long time in future. It will be actually always because time goes on.
However, the grammar of English is full of secrets and difficulties. So the aim of this work is to make a research in the part of a rich field in English grammar concerning the British grammar by means of the articles (zero article, definite article and indefinite article). With the help of this material we shall study the changes and development of the English grammar, its difficulties in the using of the articles.
1.1 History of the English language
English is a widely distributed language, originating in England that is currently the primary language of a number of countries. It is extensively used as a second language and as an official language in many other countries. English is the most widely taught and understood language in the world, and sometimes is described as a lingua franca. Although Modern Standard Chinese has more mother-tongue speakers, English is used by more people as a second or foreign language, putting the total number of people with knowledge of English worldwide at well over one billion.
Over 400 million people speak English as their first language. Estimates about second language speakers of English vary greatly between 150 million and 1.5 billion. English is the dominant international language in communications, science, business, aviation, entertainment, diplomacy and the Internet. It has been one of the official languages of the United Nations since its founding in 1945 and is considered by many to be the universal language
English is an Anglo-Frisian language brought to southeastern Great Britain in the 5th century AD by Germanic settlers from various parts of northwest Germany (Saxons, Angles) as well as Jutland (Jutes).
These Germanic invaders settled in the part of the island that became England. The degree to which the original Celtic-speaking inhabitants remained or were displaced is a matter of some debate, although recent genetic studies suggest that a large proportion of the Celtic-speaking population survived in every area of Britain [7] (see Sub-Roman Britain). Celtic languages survived in parts of the island not colonized by the invaders: Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, and, to some extent, Cumbria. The dialects spoken by the invaders eventually coalesced to a degree and formed what is today called the Old English language, which resembled some coastal dialects in what are now northwest Germany and the Netherlands (i.e. Frisia). Later, it was influenced by the related North Germanic language Old Norse, spoken by the Vikings who settled mainly in the north and the east coast down to London, the area known as the Dane law.
1.2 Classification and related languages
The English language belongs to the western sub-branch of the Germanic branch, which is itself a branch of the Indo-European family of languages.
The question as to which is the nearest living relative of English is a matter of some discussion. Apart from such English-lexified Creole languages such as Tok Pisin, Scots — which is spoken primarily in Scotland and parts of Northern Ireland — is the Germanic variety most closely associated with English. Like English, Scots ultimately descends from Old English, also known as Anglo-Saxon. The closest relative to English after Scots is Frisian, which is spoken in the Northern Netherlands and Northwest Germany. Other less closely related living West Germanic languages include German itself, Low German, Dutch and Afrikaans. The North Germanic languages of Scandinavia are less closely related to English than the West Germanic languages.
Many French words are also intelligible to an English speaker (though pronunciations are often quite different) because English absorbed a large vocabulary from French, via the Norman after the Norman Conquest and directly from French in further centuries. As a result, a substantial share of English vocabulary is quite close to French, with some minor spelling differences (word endings, use of old French spellings, etc.), as well as occasional divergences in meaning.
English is a West Germanic language that developed from Old English, the language of the Anglo-Saxons. English, having its major roots in Germanic languages, derives most of its grammar from Old English, although a Celtic substrate influence has also been postulated. As a result of the Norman Conquest, it has been heavily influenced, more than any other Germanic language, by Norman French, Latin and Greek. From England it spread to the rest of the British Isles, then to the colonies and territories of the British Empire (outside and inside the current Commonwealth of Nations) such as the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and others, particularly those in the Anglophone Caribbean. As a result of these historical developments English is the official language (sometimes one of several) in many countries formerly under British or American rule, such as Pakistan, Ghana, India, Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, Uganda, and the Philippines.
