The English language is notorious for its spelling, where there are a bunch of silent letters in many of its words, and how there is a many-to-many correspondence between many of its letters and sounds. From the 'w' in place names like Greenwich but not Sandwich to the inconsistencies in the pronunciation of the '-ough' … Continue reading Why don’t we pronounce the ‘k’ in ‘knight’ anymore?
Middle English
When English had its ge- prefix gelost
English is a Germanic language. So too is German and Dutch. While geographically separated by the English Channel, these languages generally have rather similar histories, up until several centuries ago. If you have learned these languages before, you would find that many German and Dutch participles contain the prefix ge-, while English participles lack this … Continue reading When English had its ge- prefix gelost
When English lost its grammatical genders
Er, sie, es. Hann, hún, það. He, she, it. One of these is not quite like the other. Spotted it? The odd one out is "he, she, it", the third person singular pronouns used in English (the other trios being German and Icelandic respectively). Why? This is because English lacks grammatical genders. But what do … Continue reading When English lost its grammatical genders
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