1. germanic hghjkllanguages

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Klaipėda, 2013



Languages can be classified according todifferent principles:◦ historical classification◦ genealogical classification

Genetically, English belongs to the Germanicor Teutonic group of languages, which is oneof the twelve groups of the IE linguisticfamily. Most of the area of Europe and large

parts of other continents are occupied todayby the IE languages, Germanic being one of their major groups.



English - in Great Britain, Ireland, the USA, Canada,

Australia, New Zeland, the South African Respublic, andmany other former British colonies and dominions;

German - Germany, Austria, Luxemburg, Liechtenstein, partof Switzerland;

Netherlandish - in the Netherlands and Flanders (Belgium)

(known also as Dutch and Flemish respectively); Afrikaans - in the South African Respublic; Danish - in Denmark; Swedish - in Sweden and Finland; Norwegian - in Norway; Icelandic - in Iceland; Frisian - in some regions of the Netherlands and

Germany; Faroese - in the Faroe Islands; Yiddish - in different countries.



The estimates for English range from 250 to300 million people who have it as theirmother tongue.

The total number of people speakingGermanic languages approaches 440 million.



Proto-Germanic (PG) language - also termedCommon or Primitive Germanic, PrimitiveTeutonic and simply Germanic. PG is the

linguistic ancestor or the parent-language of the Germanic group.

It is supposed to have split from related IEtongues sometime between the 15th and

10th c. B.C.



As the Indo-Europeans extended over a largeterritory, the ancient Germans or Teutonsmoved further north than other tribes andsettled on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea

in the region of the Elbe.



It is believed that at the earliest stages of history PG was fundamentally one language,though dialectally coloured. In its laterstages dialectal differences grew, so thattowards the beginning of our era Germanicappears divided into dialectical groups andtribal dialects. Dialectal differentationincreases with the migrations andgeographical expansion of the Teutons

caused by overpopulation, poor agriculturaltechnigue and scanty natural resources inthe areas of their original settlement.



Pitheas, a Greek historian and geographer of the4th c. B.C., in an account of a sea voyage to theBaltic Sea.

In the 1st c. B.C. in COMMENTARIES ON THEGALLIC WAR (COMENTARII DE BELLO GALLICO)

Julius Caesar described some militant Germanictribes - the Suevians - who bordered on the Celtsof Gaul in the North-East.

In the 1st c. A.D. Pliny the Elder, a prominentRoman scientist and writer, in NATURAL HISTORY(NATURALIS HISTORIA) made a classified list of

Germanic tribes grouping them under sixheadings. Tacitus compiled a detailed description of the life

and customs of the ancient Teutons DE SITU,MORIBUS ET POPULIS GERMANIAE.



The earliest migration of the Germanic tribes fromthe lower valley of the Elbe consisted in theirmovement north, to the Scandinavian peninsula, afew hundred years before our era. Thisgeographical segregation must have led to

linguistic differentiation and to the division of PGinto the northern and southern branches. At thebeginning of our era some of the tribes returned tothe mainland and settled closer to the Vistulabasin, east of the other continental Germanictribes. It is only from this stage of their history that

the Germanic languages can be described underthree headings: East Germanic, North Germanicand West Germanic.

1. germanic hghjkllanguages

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