Re: M.Schumacher and FIA rules

On 13 Sep 2006 14:58:47 GMT, "Bigbird"
<bigbird.usenetREMTHS@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

R Brickston wrote:

On 13 Sep 2006 03:18:16 GMT, "Bigbird"
<bigbird.usenetREMTHS@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

R Brickston wrote:

FYI on the English language. Except for Britain, There would have
been >> no "English speaking world," had the Brits won in 1066. Most
of the >> current English speaking planet would be conversing in
French.

You attribute both Britains success and Frances lack there of
entirely to the Norman invasion?

Besides the fact that the island was isolated from the rest of the
world, it's policy was isolationist as a matter of neccessity. One did
not go to the Continent on a whim. So William and his pals opened up
the island, and its language, to the rest of the world, starting with
constant traffic between the isles and the Continent. The direct
influence on language, from Wikipedia:

"One of the most obvious changes was the introduction of the
Latin-based Anglo-Norman language as the language of the ruling
classes in England, displacing the Germanic-based Anglo-Saxon
language. Anglo-Norman retained the status of a prestige language for
nearly 300 years and has had a significant influence on modern
English. It is through this, the first of several major influxes of
Latin or Romance languages, that the predominant spoken tongue of
England began to lose much of its Germanic and Norse vocabulary,
although it retained Germanic sentence structure in many cases."


Very interesting but, how do we all end up speaking French. I would
have thought Spanish more likely.

What events would have promoted French from the relatively local
language it still is today.

You have to remember, this is in the 11th century and Britain remains
isolated. France would not have had it's divisive spread of power
between William and the rest of the French aristocracy who was highly
jealous of the vast lands he had claimed across the Channel. France
was well ahead of Spain in seapower as well as culture as Spain was
still mired in the remnants of the Muslim invasion. Other factors
include the abscence of the debilitating Hundred Years war as well all
the French-English conflicts that occurred.
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Peace in the Middle East - The Non-violent Option
    ... They say if you can't speak their language, ... No wonder no one speaks french anymore. ... Mostly, commie Americans go there because the one thing that france and commie Americans have in common is a rabid, foaming at the mouth hate of the United States and liberty. ...
    (rec.org.mensa)
  • Teaching the French English
    ... NEW EXPERIMENTAL MUTUAL-AID BILINGUAL FORUM ... FOR LANGUAGE LEARNING & PRACTICE ... - TEACH ENGLISH, LEARN FRENCH ... Our new self-help mutual-aid tutorial yahoogroup for French ...
    (rec.travel.europe)
  • Re: Lets talk about langages (Advice/Help)
    ... >> were a bunch of local dialects, from which modern French would eventually ... > language has few plural nouns, ... >> languages have different grammar. ... French or german are more like and English is more ...
    (sci.lang)
  • Re: Those French!
    ... >> France is, "I don't know why people say the French are rude, I found ... another language in common. ... with English, French or Portuguese, but we were able to communicate ...
    (rec.bicycles.racing)
  • Re: Lets talk about langages (Advice/Help)
    ... Do you not, then, see the Chanson de Roland as French ... >> language has few plural nouns, ... >> You and I are using different definitions of grammar. ... >> English. ...
    (sci.lang)