Influence of History on Culture and Language

【Abstract】People from different countries say different words in different ways when they would like to express the same meaning. This essay is to talk about why this happens. The influence of history on culture and language is written in this article.

【Key words】influence history culture language

When you are asking people whether they can do you a favor or not， people from different countries may say “yes” in the same way but “no” in quite different ways. Why？ Culture. Cultures partially originate from different history. In addition， history not only shaped the country and the people， but developed the culture， the core value， and people?s perception. Then it influenced the national common language.

I would like to take British history and its language as an example.

Ⅰ.Before the feudal period

A. Early settlers

The early history of Britain is a history of invasions. “The first known inhabitants are Iberians in about 6，000 B.C. Then， from 2，000 B.C. or so， the bellicose Celtic tribes moved westward and arrived here.”[1] Then it reached the period when Roman controlled the Britain. But actually the first time which Julius Caesar invaded Britain was just nominal conquest for about 96 years. The true conquest which influenced the Britain began in 43 A.D. by Claudio. In addition， this time the Roman Empire changed something with Britain， especially the system of roads and the Church. But， in fact， Romanization didn?t succeed in changing the language and culture.

B.Anglo?Saxon period

About the middle of the 5th century， the Germanic tribes “Anglo?Saxons” moved here. And they contributed a lot to the traditions， language and physical heritage of the English people. At the beginning of the 7th century， it moved on into Heptarch. And by the 8th century the Danish started to intrude England. Until 870， the young king from Wessex， Alfred the Great defeated them and united the England.

C.The Norman Conquest

At the beginner of 1066， the Anglo Saxon ruler of England， Edward the Confessor was on his deathbed. Since he had no male heir， Jarold claimed the throne， whose sister was married to Edward the Confessor. But Duke of Normandy， who defeated Harold， was crowned WilliamⅠin London in 1066. This meant the feudal system completely set up in England.

Ⅱ.The feudal period

A.William?s rule

During the William?s rule， a strong Monarchy was set up. So the upper ranks of the clergy were Normanized and feudalized， with the attendant changes in the relations of church and state. This explains the words borrowed from French words. Because at that time French became the official language used in the governments， courts， and institutions. For instance， there are words such as government， tax， jail， and engine. Using French as the language of the court and upper classes last quite a long time until Geoffrey Chaucer(喬叟，英國(guó)詩(shī)歌之父) appeared.[2]

B.HenryⅡ?s reform

HenryⅡ is the founder of the Plantagenet Dynasty， also an scholar and a churchman. Henry?s greatest accomplishment was to replace the feudal law by a body of royal or common law. A major innovation was the replacement of the older system of a sworn oath or an ordeal to establish truth but the jury of 12 sworn men.

Ⅲ.The modern England

A. In 1530s， the Church of England separated from Roman Catholicism. The king of England became the head of both the secular and religious world， Henry Ⅷ became the real head of England as a nation state.

B. ElizabethⅠ was the last Tudor monarch and one of the most glorious rulers in English history. During her rule， the destruction of the Spanish Armada showed England superiority as a naval power. C. The English Renaissance was a cultural movement， in which the Latin words were borrowed to English， such as nun， history， title， and priest.

This is just a brief outline about English history. “一種語(yǔ)言對(duì)另一種語(yǔ)言最簡(jiǎn)單的影響是詞的‘借貸’。只要有文化借貸，就可能把有關(guān)的詞借過(guò)來(lái)。每一個(gè)文化浪潮都在英語(yǔ)上沉積下一層借詞。” [3]“如果一種地域方言由于政治和經(jīng)濟(jì)的原因取得了優(yōu)勢(shì)地位， 我們就可以說(shuō)其他方言向這種方言大量借詞是因?yàn)樗碛新曂璠4] So now we can conclude from above that history relates to the culture and language closely.

Reference：

[1]鄒申. 《專(zhuān)八人文知識(shí)與改錯(cuò)》 上海外語(yǔ)教育出版社

[2]薛浩.《英語(yǔ)自學(xué)》1995年第03期

[3]薩丕爾.《語(yǔ)言論》. 北京: 商務(wù)印書(shū)館

[4]霍凱特.《現(xiàn)代語(yǔ)言學(xué)教程》. 索振羽， 葉蜚聲， 譯. 北京: 北京大學(xué)出版社

作者簡(jiǎn)介：

程程（1990—），女，遼寧錦州人，東北師范大學(xué)外國(guó)語(yǔ)學(xué)院英語(yǔ)系2012級(jí)碩士研究生，翻譯專(zhuān)業(yè)。