NEW VIDEOS ABOUT CAXTON
VIDEO BY CRISTINA RD & INMA RD
lunes, 16 de diciembre de 2019
miércoles, 23 de enero de 2019
Placenames (Celtic & Scandinavian)
Celtic origin
Abergavenny (aber: mouth or river)The town derives its name from a Brythonic word Gobannia meaning "river of the blacksmiths", and relates to the town's pre-Roman importance in iron smelting. The name is related to the modern Welsh word gof (blacksmith. The river later became, in Welsh, Gafenni, and the town's name became Abergafenni, meaning "mouth of (Welsh: Aber) the Gavenny (Gafenni)".
Avonmouth (avon: river)
It owns its name to to be the mouth of the river Avon, which in Celtic meant river. Avonmouth is a port and outer suburb of Bristol, facing two rivers: the reinforced north bank of the final stage of the Avon and the eastern shore of the Severn Estuary.
Balerno (bal: homestead)
Its name derives from the Scottish Gaelic Baile Àirneach, meaning "townland/town of the hawthorns". The earliest written records of Balhernoch or Balernach are found in the late 13th century.
Barcombe (combe: deep valley)
Barcombe literally means “Valley of the Britons”. It was recorded in the Domesday Book as "Berchamp", a reference to fields of barley. Remains have been also found of a Roman villa and an earlier Iron Age roundhouse on the same site, just to the south of the village.
Dumbarton (dum: hill or fort)
From Scottish Gaelic Dùn Breatann or Dùn Breatainn, meaning 'fort of the Britons', Dumbarton is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary.
Pencoed (pen: hill or top)
According to Morgan Thomas, writing in 1887, the name Pencoed in its simplest terms means head (pen) of the woods (coed); top of the woods. It is a heavily urbanised community and town in the county borough of Bridgend, Wales.
Map
Scandinavian Origin
Grimsby (by: town)
According to legend, the name Grimsby derives from the name Grim, a Danish fisherman, the suffix -by being the Old Norse word for village. The legendary founding of Grimsby is described in Lay of Havelock the Dane, but historians consider this account to be myth.
Bishopthorpe (thorpe: village)
The village is mentioned in the Domesday Book and referred to as Torp/Thorpe or Badetorps depending on which translation is used. It came to be known as Thorp-super-Usam or Thorpe-on-Ouse in 1194. By 1275 the Earliest written record of the name Bishopthorpe, spelt '"Biscupthorpe"' appears in documents.
Lowestoft (toft: piece of land)
The settlement's name is derived from the Viking personal name Hlothver and toft, a Viking word for 'homestead'. The town's name has been spelled variously: Lothnwistoft, Lestoffe, Laistoe, Loystoft and Laystoft.
Huthwaite (thwaite: piece of land)
The name Huthwaite is derived from Old English plus Norse elements—hoh is from haugr an Old Norse word for a hill and thwaite means a clearing -so, literally, a clearing on a hill spur. The former Hucknall element refers to Hucca's heath or angle of land and is shared with the present day Hucknall near Nottingham and Ault Hucknall in Derbyshire.
Basingstoke (stoke: holy place)
The name Basingstoke is believed to have been derived from the town's position as the outlying, western settlement of Basa's people.The ending -stoke means outlying settlement or possibly refers to a stockade that surrounded the settlement in early medieval times (of which there is now no trace).
Map
Source: Wikipedia
martes, 20 de febrero de 2018
Caxton videos (2017-2018)
- Rosa Naval Porta, Carolina Ramirez Cepero and María del Pilar Sánchez Vázquez
- Marta Nocula, Wiktor Eźlakowski and Mateusz Kołaczek
- Cristina Martínez Fimia and Mercedes del Carmen Mena Rodríguez
- Stella Gouet and Nolwenn
- Vicente Trigueros and Andrés Cordero
domingo, 20 de noviembre de 2016
jueves, 21 de abril de 2016
Als I lay on yoolis night
Some students from the University of Cádiz performed this beautiful song of the Medieval English. Enjoy!
domingo, 13 de marzo de 2016
History of English in 5 songs
This is a link of a video made by some students from the University of Cádiz. It tells the story of the English language in 30 minutes. Must watch!
Learn and enjoy!
martes, 10 de febrero de 2015
domingo, 20 de enero de 2013
English Worldwide: Practice 4.
Read the text and answer
the following questions
About one hundred
years ago many educated people learned and spoke French when they met people
from other countries. Today most people speak English when they meet
foreigners. It has become the new international language. There are more people
who speak English as a second language than people who speak English as a first
language. Why is this?
There are many
reasons why English has become so popular. One of them is that English has become
the language of business. Another important reason is that popular American
culture (like movies, music, and McDonald's) has quickly spread throughout the
world. It has brought its language with it.
Is it good that
English has spread to all parts of the world so quickly? I don't know. It's
important to have a language that the people of the earth have in common. Our
world has become very global and we need to communicate with one another. On
the other hand, English is a fairly complicated language to learn and it brings
its culture with it. Do we really need that?
Scientists have
already tried to create an artificial language that isn't too difficult and
doesn't include any one group's culture. It is called Esperanto. But it hasn't
become popular. But maybe the popularity of English won't last that long
either. Who knows? There are more people in the world who speak Chinese than
any other language. Maybe someday Chinese will be the new international
language.
Questions
1. What was the
world language 100 years ago?
2. Which group is
larger- people who speak English as a first language or people who speak
English as a second language?
3. What are two
reasons English has become an international language today?
4. What are two
reasons English isn't a good international language?
5. What is
Esperanto?
6. What might the
future international language be?
English Worldwide: Practice 3.
What do you
remember about English as a global language? Try the quiz below:
1. Which is the
world’s most widely spoken language?
2. How many people
speak English as a first language (mother tongue) worldwide?
3. In which
countries is English used as a mother tongue? And what is a mother tongue?
4. In which
countries is English used as a second language? What do you consider it is a
second language?
5. In which fields
of work is English a dominant language?
6. What is a
lingua franca?
7. If people cannot
communicate by using a common language, they tend to use body language. What
are the disadvantages of using body language?
Check this website in order to help you to
answer the quiz:
English Worldwide: Practice 2.
Complete the text with the
correct answers.
English is often used
as a ______________ when we have to communicate with people
with a different native language. Today, we have many _____________ of
English, one example is Japlish. People from Singapore speak _______________.
English has spread to all corners of the world because of the _______________.
In this way it has become a ___________ language. 80% of the
texts on the ____________ are published in English. Moreover,
English is used in many professions, for instance within ___________.
Due to cultural differences, ______________ cannot be trusted.
In Norway, English is used as an _______________ language,
whereas in India it is a ________________. When English is used as
a second language, it means that it is used within business and ______________ matters.
A _________________ is the first language learned as a
child. ______________ is a country where English is used as a
first language. There are more speakers of _______________ that
of English. _____________ means Received Pronunciation. That is the
English spoken by the ________________.
English Worldwide: Practice 1.
Watch the video and answer
the following question:
Global English with David Crystal
According to Crystal, why is English a global language?
Global English with David Crystal
According to Crystal, why is English a global language?
martes, 15 de enero de 2013
The future of English
The transitions which English has suffered through the
history since it arrives in the British Isles in the 5th century
have been remarkable and unimaginable. Nobody could imagine that in Middle
Ages, French troops arrived to the Isles and established French as the most
important language; nobody could imagine that at the end of Middle Ages it were
English and not French or Latin the language of learning and knowledge across
the world. What is obvious is the fact that we cannot predict the future of a
language.
However, Crystal (1997a) has seen some negative
factors affecting to the English as the global language in the future. One of
his reasons is the fact that some nations have already rejected English as a
language, and if this rejection became a world-wide trend, the future of
English as a global language would endanger. Other of Crystal´s reason is that
USA could lose its power as an economic, political and cultural superpower, and
if it happens, English also loses its position as a global language; what is
more, the use of English would become less desirable. Another possible threat
to the global status of English is the global nature of English itself. There
are many English-speakers which speak English as a second or even a foreign
language, and it can provoke that their use of English can vary, and the
variations could soon diverge from each other, losing their mutual
intelligibility, and thus causing the fragmentation of English across the
globe.
According to David Graddol, English will not dominate
as world language:
“English
is likely to remain one of the world’s most important languages for the
foreseeable future, but its future is more problematic — and complex — than
most people appreciate”.
He argues that the world´s population speaking English
as a native language is falling, and says that the idea of English becoming the
world language to the exclusion of other “is part its sell-by date”. Instead,
he supports the idea of new generations of bilingual and multilingual speakers.
What we can state is the fact that the world's
language system is undergoing rapid change because of demographic trends, new
technology, and international communication. These changes could affect both
written and spoken communication and probably, in the future, English would not
be the dominant language anymore, as either other languages are emerging as a
dominant –as Chinese- and English is learned as a second language, not as an
official one. Moreover, the need to be multilingual will be enhanced.
But we can question ourselves: “Why not? Why cannot be
English the global language in the future?” Indeed, it could be, as the future
of a language is not such a predictable thing.
If you want to check some other sources for
improve your knowledge, try this website: Resource
English as a killer language
Although initially the spread of English has been
considered as an economic opportunity, it has been seen as a destructive
language too, regarding the linguistic and cultural diversity. Pattanayak
(1996) says that this spread of English accentuates the rift between the urban
and the rural, the developed and the developing and the mass and the elite. And
because it prevents many languages sharing communication, it promotes
alienation, anomie, and blind spots in cultural perception.
So, may authors say that the spread of English is
responsible for the death of other languages; however, do you really think that
English is a killer language? It is obvious that in countries which has been
colonized by the English and they now speak English, our language has acted as
a killer. Remember the colonization of Australia, for instance, in which native
language of indigenous almost disappeared, or the language of the American
natives, which is the same case. But the spread of English has not been like
this in other countries. English language is in many countries as a co-official
language or as a language of trade. Even in East Africa, if you remember, it
serves as a thrust of the Swahili, expanded its functional and geographical
range.
So, it does not seem that English has to be seen as a
killer language. It is not the direct cause of the language deaths in all the
situations. Instead, the direct fact in killing languages seems to be the
globalization of the economy, which takes the English language as a medium of
communication. In other words, English would not be seen as a killer language,
by the “medium to murder”.
An overview of the use of English throughout the World
It is different the role that the English language has
in all the different countries over the world. However, all countries can be
divide up according to whether English is the native language there, the second
language or a foreign language. Kachru has divided the English-speaking
countries of the world into three types:
- The inner circle: they are the countries which
traditionally have got the roots of the English as a native language, and they
are Great Britain, Ireland, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
- The outer circle: it is also called the extended
circle and they are the countries which have not initially the English as a
native language, but adopted it as an official language when they were
conquered by the English people. They are Singapore, India, etc.
The spread of English across the Globe: Social, Political and Cultural factors
From the seventeenth century onwards, the English
began to extend their language over the world. It is due to so important
factors as the power of the British Empire, the importance in the Industrial
revolution taking place in England for the first time or the supremacy of
America in all over the world. Moreover, we all know that English has become a
global language in the last fifty years, being the official language of the
international and multinational companies and industries, and the language of
Internet.
It is important to have in mind how and why English
has spread across the globe the way it has:
Date
|
Facts
|
17th and 18th centuries
|
English spread as a result of British colonialism
|
18th and 19th centuries
|
English spread as the language of British leadership in the Industrial
Revolution
|
Late 19th and early 20th c.
|
English spread as the language of American economic superiority and
political leadership.
|
Second half of 2th c.
|
English spread as a consequence of American technological domination.
|
a) British Colonialism
We all know that long before this expansion of English
as a global language, there were other minor spreads of the language, as for
instance the spread of English to Scotland because of the military escapades of
William the Conqueror (11th century) or to Ireland with the
Anglo-Norman troops sent by Henry II.
But in global terms, the spread of English began in 16th
century, when the language became a tool of imperial expansion, and end up by
gaining a special place in the history of a significant number of countries.
This was what happened in USA, but also in other colonial areas. You have here
a table in which you can find how English spread took place in different
territories conquered by the English.
Place
|
Facts
|
Canada
|
French were present in Canada from 1530, and vied with Britain for
domination. Finally, French defeated by Britain. French and English languages
there, but French-speakers remained in the East when process of English
colonization began. English in contact with native languages, but the former
predominated. However, the French of Quebec remained.
|
The Caribbean
|
The most spoken language is Spanish, but there are also other European
languages (complex colonial history). African slaves in this area, they developed
creoles as a means of communicating among themselves. It gained societal
status. However, no creole has gained enough status to be accepted as a
national language. Nowadays, English and Spanish are the official languages.
|
Australia
|
Discovered by Captain James Cook in 1770, it served as the first penal
colony. British prisons were overcrowded and convicts were sent to Australia.
By 1900 it had 4 million inhabitants from British Isles. Contact between
indigenous and colonizers led to borrowing items. English as the official
language. There has been American English influence, and vocabulary has been
affected.
|
New Zealand
|
No convicts in New Zealand, and slow settlement. It became an official
colony in 1840. By 1900, it has a quarter of million people. People there are
more inclusive of the indigenous population and it is one reason why the
language contains a large number of Maori words, in contrast to Australian
English. They reject American English in favor of British English.
|
South Africa
|
British control in 1806, and settlement from 1820 onwards, when
Englishmen got lands there. English became the official language of the
region in 1822 and by the end of 19th c., there were half a
million immigrants there, most of them spoken English. Afrikaans-speakers
used English as a second language, and nowadays English is one of the 11
official languages in South Africa.
|
South Asia
|
About 40 million users of English, the 3rd-larger English
using area after USA and Great Britain. English developed as a medium of
control –administration, education, etc.-
in the period of the British Raj (1765-1947), creating an
English-based subculture in the subcontinent. The basis for the subculture
was the English language –as language is equated with power.
|
Former Colonial Africa: West Africa
|
Bu the 19th c., the increase in trade and activities in
opposition to slave trade brought English to the entire West African coast,
and several English-based pidgins and creoles developed. English is still
taught and used, being an official language there. British varieties of
English develop in 6 particular countries, which have English as an official
language: Sierra Leone, Ghana, The Gambia, Nigeria, Cameroon and Liberia.
|
East Africa
|
Visited by English in the 16th century, it was not explored
until 1850s. The Imperial East Africa Company was founded in 1888, and a
series of colonial protectorates was established. There are 6 main states
with a history of British rule that gave English official status when they gained
their independence: Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
|
South-East India and South Pacific
|
There is a mixture of English and Australian English, and American
influence increased in the 1940s. The British influence there began with Captain
James Cook and English become rapidly an influential language in the British
territories of South Pacific. And because of the very different cultural
circumstances in different parts of the region, no one South Asian English
variety has emerged.
|
b) Industrial Revolution
As we can imagine, British colonialism was the first
step of the expansion of English across the world. But it is also very
important the Industrial Revolution in terms of the spread of English. Britain
was the leader of the Industrial Revolution, and large-scale manufacturing and
production machinery were just some of the major technological advancements
being pioneered there. Countries which needed this new industrial knowledge
could access it via the medium of English, something which made powerful again
the language internationally.
And the development of technology was side by side
with the spread of English. For instance, English was the language in which the
system of telegraph was developed, and English became the international
language of all telegraph operators.
c) American Economic superiority and Political
Leadership.
Although Britain had been the greatest political,
economic and industrial power in the world in the 18th century, by
the end of the 19th and the early 20th centuries USA
emerged as an economic and political superpower. During this time, the
countries if the world began to came together in international organizations,
and they need to be able to communicate. However, it was very expensive to run
multilingual operations, so they decided that English would be the language
used in their international interactions. Moreover, The League of Nations was
created after the World War I, but then it was replaced by the United Nations,
which ends up in New York. Thus, the world´s focus shifted to the United
States.
The influence of United States combined then the
economic and political factors and the huge seize of its population: The United
States has 70 per cent of all native speakers of English in the world.
d) American Technology Leadership.
After the World War II and particularly in the 1980s
and 1990s, the computer revolution began all over the world. It was due to the
American technology and the American know-how. So, it is logic that the
language of the computers is English. The main reason why it is like this is
the fact that, although it could be designed with languages of one own country,
this process it very expensive.
e) Other factors.
-
Advertising: During the 19th century the use of
advertisements in publication increased, especially in more industrialized
countries, due to the fact that there was more money and also more people
interesting on them. In USA, however, they realized that if they put
advertisements in their magazines, they could put lower the price of their
magazines, something which led them to sell more and more of them. And as the
international market grew, the media spread to all parts of the world, and
became one of the most noticeable global manifestations of English language
use. American English ruled.
- Broadcasting:
As it has been already mentioned, the invention and use of telegraph supposed a
very great impulse to English language. Britain was the pioneer in the use of
telegraph, and all communications were made in English, having being necessary
that all telegraph operators spoke English. So, it was one of the most
important fact in the spread of English though the world.
- Motion
pictures: The new technologies altered the way of public entertainment, and
it also serves as a thrust of the English language. The development of the
cinema was made initially by France and England, but the years during the World
War I supposed a kind of blockage of cinema, and then American began to
dominate it. Moreover, when the sound was added to the films, it was the spoken
English which came to the movies. And although the film industry was developed
also in other countries, it is still English language the dominant medium,
maybe because the main studio, Hollywood, is in an English-spoken area.
- Popular music:
The other important entertainment technology was the recording industry, and
also here the English language had the dominance. All the major recording
companies in popular music had English-language origins, and when popular music
arrived, it was in English scene mostly. The pop groups of English-speaking
nations dominated the recording world: Elvis Presley in USA or the Beatles and
the Rolling Stones in UK. No other single source has spread English around the
world so rapidly.
- International
travel and safety: The medium in transportation and accommodation is
English. Equally, English instructions about safety on international flights
and sailings and indications about emergency procedures are in English. English
then has become the international language. “Airspeak”, the language of
international aircraft control, emerged after the Second War World, and it was
decided that English would be the international language of aviation.
- Education: Internationally, areas as science and
technology have the medium of English language to spread over the world their
ideas. It is the main reason why many countries have adopted English as the
chief foreign languages in schools. It is obvious that people all over the
world have to know English if they are students, as most of the important words
in the field of education are written in English.
The recency of world English
According to David Crystal, there have been many
predictions about the emergence of English as a global language during these
last two centuries. However, the term “global English” is a very recent
expression. For a language to be “global”, it has to achieve a truly global
status; that is, it has to develop a especial role and this special role has to
be recognized in every country.
English is the first language in what we know as the
English language countries; that is, in Britain, Ireland, USA, Canada, Australia
and New Zealand. But English language is also present in countries which have
been colonized by English people and now, they use English as co-official
language. It happens in countries such as Zimbabwe, or India, or Singapore,
where they use English as a primary medium of communication in such domains as
government, the law courts, broadcasting, the press and the educational system.
Then, in a different way, English achieve a special role when it is a priority
in a country´s foreign-language teaching policy: it is not official but it is
also essential.
The term “global English” is a genuine application of
the 21th century, and it could not have had such application a half-century
before. For this term there was another expression: lingua franca, which
probably is as old as language diversity itself. And the prospect that a lingua
franca may be needed as a practical tool for the whole world is something which
has emerged strongly only since 1950´s.
Lingua Franca: A language or mixture of languages
used as a medium of communication by people whose native languages are
different.( Reference )
English Worldwide timeline
Timeline:
World-wide English
|
Date
|
Events
|
|
1600
|
British East India Company founded
|
|
1606
|
Virginia Company of London sends 120 colonies to Virginia Jamestown
founded
|
|
1633
|
English trading post established in Bengal
|
|
1637
|
English traders established in Canton
|
|
1646
|
English occupies the Bahamas
|
|
1649
|
Cromwell invades Ireland
|
|
1655
|
English capture Jamaica
|
|
1668
|
British East India Company gains control of Bombay
|
|
1710
|
English South Sea Company founded
|
|
1760-1780s
|
Industrial Revolution took place. In an age of inventions and
contraptions, of science and industry, of expanding cities and smog-gurgling
factories, the language must swell to accommodate new ideas. Newly coined
words include biology, caffeine, centigrade, bacterium, chromosome and
claustrophobia.
|
|
1770
|
Captain James Cook discovers Botany Bay, Australia.
|
|
1778
|
Cook discovers Hawaii
|
|
1790
|
The first penal colony established in Sydney, Australia.
|
|
1800
|
British capture Malta
|
|
1822
|
English becomes the official language of the Eastern Cape of South
Africa
|
|
1840
|
New Zealand becomes an official colony.
|
|
1842
|
Hong Kong ceded to Great Britain
|
|
1851
|
Victoria, Australia, proclaimed separate colony
|
|
1852
|
New constitution for New Zealand
|
|
1887
|
First Colonial Conference opens in London
|
|
1893
|
USA annexes Hawaii
|
|
1919
|
League of Nations founded
|
|
1920
|
Gandhi emerges as leader of India
|
|
1945
|
United Nations founded
|
|
1947
|
India proclaimed independent
|
|
1962-1975
|
Uganda, Kenya, Zambia, Malawi, Malta, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Guyana,
Mauritius, Nigeria, Bahamas, Papua New Guinea all of them become independent
of Great Britain.
|
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