"The Viking Influence on English: How Deep Does It Go?""The Viking Influence on English: How Deep Does It Go?"http://www.haverford.edu/calendar/details/196152Chase Auditorium2012-04-05T16:30:002012-04-05T18:00:00
April 5, 4:30PM
Chase Auditorium
The Department of Linguistics in conjunction with the Distinguished Visitors Program, presents a talk by Anthony Kroch, Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Endowed Team Professor, University of Pennsylvania
Anthony Kroch - Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Endowed Term Professor University of Pennsylvania
Description
Beginning with a brief skirmish reported in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle entry for 787, Viking raiders and armies from Scandinavia repeatedly attacked Great Britain over a period of more than two centuries, sometimes invading in large numbers. Many of these invaders settled permanently in England and were gradually integrated into the local population. Surviving documents contain extensive evidence of this settlement in their vocabulary and in names, both of places and of people. Until recent years, however, the equally clear documentary evidence of Scandinavian influence on the grammar itself of the English language was not appreciated. Modern linguistic analysis has allowed us to recognize this evidence and to understand its significance. It turns out that the effect of the Scandinavian invasions on English grammar is more striking and deeper than that of the better known Norman Conquest of 1066, which introduced so many French and Latin words into our language.
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