Re: English compared to other European languages


Torsten Poulin wrote:
> Ruud Harmsen wrote:
> > Prai Jei wrote:
>
> >>Pre-Conquest English was a recognisably Germanic language and was
as
> >>complicated then as German was then. Grammar and vocabulary in
perfect
> >>harmony.
>
> >>Then William came over and forced the language to accept an
entirely new
> >>Latinate vocabulary. These new words did not blend with English
grammar at
> >>the time and the only way out was to simplify the mass of
conjugations,
> >>declensions and whatnot.
>
> > So how do you explain that Dutch has almost as many simplifications
as
> > English, and Afrikaans as many or more? Neither had such a "William
> > the Conqeurer" episode.
>
> You could also add Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish to the list.
English then
> begins to look more and more mainstream for a Germanic language.
>
> --
> Torsten

If my poor knowledge of Danish is correct, it has simplified the verbs
slightly more and has dropped the third person singular inflection that
English retains.

But Danish has not completely dropped grammatical gender which is a
major simplification of English.

English is slightly ahead in number simplification but Swedish matches
us. I find the Swedish numbers easier than the Danish ones.

Nonetheless, I would agree that English does not seem to be way ahead
in this trend and hence the Norman influence may not have affected
grammar as much as it affected vocabulary. English may have made many
of these simplifications anyway.

--
Seán O'Leathlóbhair

.

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