5. Germanic and the Development of Old English

1. Compare the two contact situations described in this chapter (Celtic & Old English; and Old English & Old Norse, as spoken by the Vikings) and their effects on the development of English.'

Celtic and Old English: -Anglo-Saxons were occupying, pushed the Celtic speaking people to the borders (Cornwall, Wales), not much of a contact, the text does not really mentions any linguistic consequences, the Celtic influenced Old English very little  borrowed names for rivers, words for dale and high rock (due to their geographical background they didn’t have these words in their own language) -the languages didn’t have the same status and the number of speakers was different -the languages were completely different

Old English and Old Norse: - The languages were similar enough to permit communication (West Germanic – North Germanic) , the Danes assimilated into the society, intermarriages  right conditions for language contact -the number of speakers was quite the same, the country was divided -They even had Danish kings  the two languages were of the same status -over a 1 000 Old Norse words were added to the lexicon of English (lexical as well as grammatical, e.g. they, their,…) influenced the grammar as well  diminishing of the word endings