this post was submitted on 28 Sep 2024
250 points (97.7% liked)
Casual UK
2224 readers
5 users here now
Casual UK
A casual place for banter and anything that doesn't fit in anywhere else.
Have chat and a natter. Talk about anything and everything.
Keep it casual.
Rules
- Be friendly.
- Be Kind.
- Follow Feddit.uk site rules.
Other communities:
Here:
Elsewhere:
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Is the definition of English as a “French-German creole” (or even a romance-germanic creole) at all mainstream in linguistics? I was under the impression that mainstream linguistics classifies modern English firmly as West Germanic, and discounts the Normans’ infusion of French vocabulary into it as inconsequential.
I don't know about that but definition, creole, romance, impression, classifies, modern, firmly, discounts, and infusion all have french origins.
My headcanon theory is indeed that English is a creole language.
Mix the grammar, verbes and functional words of the lower-status people (natives, imported slaves) and nouns of the higher-status people (invaders, colonizers and masters) and boom, after a few generations you get a creole language.
This theory works surprisingly as well for English as for, for example, Caribbean creoles.