Live data from Hacker News

What Is Anglish?

anglish.org

71–80 of 363 posts

Re: What Is Anglish?

#71
As others have commented, modern English is a creole made of bits of Anglo-Saxon, Old French, and Norse such that "Anglish" is about as authentic a pure Anglo-Saxon English as the dinosaurs from Jurassic Park are authentic dinosaurs: enough bits and bobs of modern material have been mixed in that it is at best an approximate reconstruction of something that didn't really exist in that form to begin with.

That said, I still giggle when I read "Uncleftish Beholding", as it sounds like how Marvel's Thor might explain human scientific understanding to his buds in Asgard.

Re: What Is Anglish?

#72
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, you could go back and back and back. But the point of this project is to see what a modern "pure" Germanic English would be like.

Sure, I just think it would make more sense to pick a real date then. No words that would be unrecognizable to a typical English speaker before 1066? Sure. You'd still have to define "typical" because even modern English speakers do not all speak an identical language, and this notion of "updating to modern spelling and phonology" becomes a strange exercise. All I'm saying is, the word "pure" doesn't make sense to me…

It's also not like Norman French was a "pure" offshoot of Latin either. It was heavily influenced by the languages of the Franks and Gauls.

That said, what I find really interesting here is that William The Conqueror was only something like 4 generations removed from people whose "French" was more or less still a dialect of Latin.

Re: What Is Anglish?

#73
post #14

This is a fun way to speak English, but this notion of "native" vs. "borrowed" words is incredibly slippery. For instance, the example replaces "union" with "oneship", but these words share a common Proto-Indo-European root and can reasonably be interpreted as the same word; the same goes for most other Norman words "borrowed" into English after the conquest. The page advocates the use of "Old English words ... reviv…

Latin and Proto-Germanic were both Indo-European languages but that doesn’t make them the same language. A lot of the family resemblance between English and other related languages like German or Dutch is lost under the thick blanket of Romance vocabulary.

Re: What Is Anglish?

#74
My parents were English majors, and they met in Anglo-Saxon class. My father described speaking Anglo-Saxon as being like cursing all the time. Everything is basic words like "shit" and "blood".

Re: What Is Anglish?

#75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have any examples of an English / Scandinavian hybrid? Also, I wonder if such a thing might actually arise in the Scandinavian countries in the future?

Yorkshuhman here… we say “ta” (tak) for thanks. We also say “cheers” (tschuss) for goodbye. Going a bit deeper, “dale” (daal - Dutch), “beck” (beek - Dutch). Having learnt (not learned) in Amsterdam, it’s very, very like the dialects of the north east of Yorkshuh. So much so, it’s rather a surprise.

Norwegians speaking their native tongue to me sound like they’re speaking German with a Geordie accent.

Re: What Is Anglish?

#76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have any examples of an English / Scandinavian hybrid? Also, I wonder if such a thing might actually arise in the Scandinavian countries in the future?

I'm not aware of any natural or constructed English/Scandinavian pidgins/creoles, but that sure would be fun. The conventional wisdom is that it's easier for an English speaker to learn Swedish than it is to learn German. Regarding if that would arise in the Scandinavian countries in the future - it actually seems more likely in German speaking countries. There is actually a word for it now - Denglisch (Deutsch Engli…

Norwegian has several loanwords from English. Some are pronounced differently (such as "juice"), while others use the English pronunciation, but sometimes with a Norwegian ending. The latter is more common among the youth.

An example:

"Denne eplejuicen er helt fucka / føkka"

-> This apple juice is fucked up.

Gamers often talk about "lev'le opp" ("level up") for example, but it's not used that often in its written form. It just looks strange to me.

Sometimes gamers even replace a Norwegian word such as "oppgradere" with its English equivalent ("upgrade"). In some cases it is pronounced as English with a Norwegian "e" sound at the end, like the "é" in French "café"

We also have a few loanwords from German, such as:

- "Vorse", from the German "vorspiel" (prelude). We use it to describe starting the evening drinking and partying at a friend's apartment before going to a nightclub / bar.

- "Dass". from "das Haüschen" ("little house"). This is used as a slang for toilet.

I don't see an end to this, as the Norwegian language is not as protected as Icelandic. The Norwegian language council sometimes tries to provide alternatives, but they are usually either too late or it just sounds silly.

Re: What Is Anglish?

#77
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course, at different times it happened to more or less a degree, and from different languages. It's all arbitrary, but this project chose an arbitrary precision of "pure" Germanic English. It's their choice and doesn't feel ideologically motivated, more so in the spirit of conlang (constructed languages).

> "pure" Germanic English something there never has been?

Think of it as English as it was when the concept of England originated.

Re: What Is Anglish?

#78
post #31
post #14

This is a fun way to speak English, but this notion of "native" vs. "borrowed" words is incredibly slippery. For instance, the example replaces "union" with "oneship", but these words share a common Proto-Indo-European root and can reasonably be interpreted as the same word; the same goes for most other Norman words "borrowed" into English after the conquest. The page advocates the use of "Old English words ... reviv…

I see it as a fun way to see how english would work when it is delatinized / degallicized. Most other influences are a detail.

Although it seems intended as fun I’m always a little nervous of things like this because it also denies the power relationships that led to those borrowings. Degallicized English is kind of erasing the relationship between England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, and even Cornwall. I’d be much more comfortable if I didn’t have to explain to so many Americans that Scotland is not a part of England, that it isn’t a separate island, etc.

Re: What Is Anglish?

#79

"The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don’t just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary." --James D. Nicoll

Is this English: Yes

(riffing off the "Is this Arabic" that was posted a few days ago - it's a lot easier in english, ie if the speaker says ti's english, it's english)

Re: What Is Anglish?

#80

I have had a lot of fun with Anglish in the past, composing poetry and even attempting to write school assignments in it. However as I've grown as a linguist, I now disagree with the direction that they've taken it, but I understand why. That is, the Anglish project uses cognates and sometimes inventions from Old English, Dutch and German because most linguists (and people) consider English a West Germanic language,…

It’s not clear to me why the project should seek to revert the linguistic influence of Norman invaders while enshrining or even amplifying the linguistic influence of Norse invaders.
Post reply on HN