#4 Speech acts: Constative and performative - Colleen Glenney Boggs

If you want to know why is it that some words are simple words and others influence people to take action, watch this video and find out the difference between constatives and performatives words.

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#3 How did English evolve? by Kate Gardoqui

     In this video "How did English evolve?” Kate Gardoqui makes a brief historical review on the development of the English language in Britain from the time of the Roman Empire to the present and explains the different connotation we can find between some English words of diverse origin. By the year 400 C.E. the Celts in Britain were ruled by the Romans and under their protection but when the Roman Empire began to crumble they left. Once the Celts were left alone the Germanic tribes of Anglos, Saxons, Jutes and Frisians of Northern Europe invaded the lands and their Germanic language, Old English, became the common language of the place. However, in the 700’s Danish invasions began and as the two cultures mixed up, the Old English of the Saxons adapted many words from the Old Nordic of the Danes. Nevertheless, in the 11^th century as soon as the invasion of the Normans was concreted, they placed a king on the throne and French became the official language of the British royalty and aristocracy while Old English was left for peasants. With the Normans came many Roman Catholic clergymen who introduced Latin words to the language. Old English grow greatly as it included words from French and Latin when people started to used them to sound sophisticated and to be part of the aristocracy. Nowadays, it is possible to see how the connotation of nobility and authority has persisted around the words of French and Latin whereas Saxon’s words are still attached to the idea of ordinary or real life people.

#2 University of Toronto. Writing courses. Advice on Academic Writing.

Academic writing from Miann91

#1 Welcome to my blog!