British vs English

(?ystein) wrote in
om:

Wolfgang Schwanke wrote in message
...

True, but this is a consequence of the Viking conquest of parts of
England in the 9th/10th century when the English adopted Nordic
vocabulary (northern English and Scottish more so than southern
English), not a heritage from the Anglian's place of origin.

Are you sure it is that simple?

As sure as all my available literature allows me (as a layman, but
interested in linguistics).

I think the nuance may/can as in "may I?" vs "can I?" comes from
Danish "må jeg" vs "kan jeg". As far as I know this nuance simply does
not exist in any other nordic language [...]

I don't know that. It exists in German. Anyway, no single phenomenon like
that can be a proof of actual language development.

The point is that the Anglians are thought to have spoken a West Germanic
dialect (i.e. in the same subgroup as German, Dutch and Frisian), not a
North Germanic one. The Scandinavian features of English, which are
undoubtedly there, result from the Viking invasion of England at a later
stage. The words such as "bairn" which you mention came into English only
then. They were not present in the original language of the Angles and
Saxons.

The accent spoken in for intance
Newcastle and Edinburgh is also very much like a Danish
pronuonciation, that is very different from Norwegian.

You mean they speak with a potato in their mouth?

ducks and runs

Regards

--
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http://www.wschwanke.de/ usenet_20031215 (AT) wschwanke (DOT) de

Wolfgang Schwanke wrote in message ...
(?ystein) wrote in
om:

You mean they speak with a potato in their mouth?

ducks and runs

No neads for running. The point is that this accent is very unike
for Danish. What's more is that it is more or less impossible for the
Icelandics to pronounce, when they try it comes out as Norwegian
pronounciation of Danich vocabulary. When we know that Icelandic is
the modern language closest to the Northern language spoken by the
vikings it sounds reasonable to assume that the accent is not from the
vikings. When we know that the Anglians originally from the modern
mainland of Denmark settled in this area, I find it reasonable to
assume that this is the origin of the Northumbria accent.

Jan

(?ystein) wrote in message . com...
Wolfgang Schwanke wrote in message ...
(?ystein) wrote in
om:

You mean they speak with a potato in their mouth?

ducks and runs

No neads for running. The point is that this accent is very unike
for Danish. What's more is that it is more or less impossible for the
Icelandics to pronounce, when they try it comes out as Norwegian
pronounciation of Danich vocabulary.

You should say Icelander, actually
A lot of Icelanders seem to be able to speak Danish with a very good
Danish accent, you do not seem to know the right ones.

(Sigvaldi Eggertsson) wrote in message . com...
(?ystein) wrote in message . com...
Wolfgang Schwanke wrote in message ...
(?ystein) wrote in
om:

You mean they speak with a potato in their mouth?

ducks and runs

No neads for running. The point is that this accent is very unike
for Danish. What's more is that it is more or less impossible for the
Icelandics to pronounce, when they try it comes out as Norwegian
pronounciation of Danich vocabulary.

You should say Icelander, actually
A lot of Icelanders seem to be able to speak Danish with a very good
Danish accent, you do not seem to know the right ones.

Belive me - not true. I am Norwegian and have lived in Denmark for
years.

Second this is somewhat besides the point that was: The accent in for
instance Northumbria sounds very much like Danish.

Jan

Olivers wrote in message ...
Jonathan Morton muttered....

"Padraig Breathnach" wrote in message
...

And can I try once again to promote the term "Celtic Archipelago" in
preference to "British Isles"?

Scuppered H'aisles...

TMO


IONA
Islands of the North Atlantic

I missed most of this discussion.
As a Scot living in America I
constantly come across people not knowing the difference between British
and English. I can't hold it against anyone though. It is mistaken
everywhere The History Channel, CNN, In 'English Pubs'
http://www.georgeanddragonpub.com
Apparently its "Seattle's
Only Authentic English Pub ". Notice the two big British Flags at the
top of the website. Other places it is mistaken also include newspapers
and even The US Postal Service. Where on numerous occasions I have asked
either for postage to the UK or Scotland then have the receipt say
"England" on it.
Once I asked for postage to the UK once and the
gentlemen behind the counter was nice enough to "correct me". "You mean
England", he said. So we then had a nice chat in front of everyone in
line about the difference between UK/British/English. His supervisor was
nice enough to join in the conversation also. I felt he should be a part
of it too.

Hey even the US governemnt cannot get it right.
In their US
Citizenship questions, Where foreigners prove their knowledge of America
to become citizens. One of the actual questions reads


1. What country
did we fight during the Revolutionary War?
Germany
England
France

Russia

Personally I was looking for "the none of the above" option.
But when you click to reveal the answers the "correct" answer of England
is shown. At least the new citizens will know the same wrong answers as
many of the native ones know. I say many since there are many people who
do not know the correct answer but on the other hand I have met many
Americans who do. Sadly the ones who know are significantly outnumbered.


You can see for yourselves at
]http://uscis.gov/graphics/exec/na-
tz/natztest.asp?FormMode=INPROCESS[/url]
Click generate questions till
the above question comes up.

For those of you that still think the war
of independence was against England. Then you are mistaken.
If you
check the declaration of independence
]http://www.archives.gov/nat-
ional_archives_experience/declaration_transcript.html[/url]

British/Britain is mentioned four times

"The history of the present
King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations"


"We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren"

"Absolved
from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political
connection between them and the State of Great Britain"

It seems the
founding fathers knew the difference. It also seems that the folk at
USCIS should read the declaration of independence.

Another thing that
should be noted. Is that in the entire existence of the United States.
Scotland and England have never been seperate countries. Scotland and
England were joined by a treaty called the Act of Union (1 May 1707).

http://www.scotshistoryonline.co.uk/union.html
They were
unified 69 years and 64 days before the declaration of independance on 4
Jul 1776.

I have nothing against England or the English. Its just I'm
not English. It offends me when the terms British and English are used
interchangeably when clearly they are not.


--
Posted via http://britishexpats.com

On Wed, 21 Apr 2004 21:21:15 +0000, k1journey wrote:
I missed most of this discussion.
As a Scot living in America I
constantly come across people not knowing the difference between British
and English ...snip...

Blimey, that was a tirade and a half. I'm sitting here with my hair blown
back and a vacant stare on my face. ;-)

--
Tim C.

Following up to k1journey

1. What country
did we fight during the Revolutionary War?
Germany
England
France
Russia

nice one! I'm surprised Iraq wasn't there :-)
--
Mike Reid
"Art is the lie that reveals the truth" P.Picasso
Wasdale-Lake district-Thames path-London "http://www.fellwalk.co.uk" -- you can email us@ this site
Eat-walk-Spain "http://www.fell-walker.co.uk" -- dontuse@ all, it's a spamtrap

"The Reids" wrote in message
...
Following up to k1journey

1. What country
did we fight during the Revolutionary War?
Germany
England
France
Russia

nice one! I'm surprised Iraq wasn't there :-)

Although, according to the Mel Gibson school of history, the options should
have been:
England
England
England
England

:-)

Alan Harrison