I didn't know that. In modern German, "kennen" means to know, in the sense "be aquainted with:" "Kennen sie Deutsch?" is "Do you know German?" I'd thought that the word "ken" was an Anglo-Saxon import. BTW, There's another word for "know" used in the sense of "to have knowledge of: "wissen." "Wissen sie, dass Konrad Adenauer in 1876 geboren war?" (Do you know that Konrad Adenauer was born in in 1876?) But that word either didn't survive the passage, or came into use afterwards.
All the Germanic languages will share things, especially words, I suppose. The similar word 'cann' in Old English which also comes from 'kennen' from older form of German meant at the time to understand things too, but that changed to 'can' over the years. Whereas 'I ken' is only found in areas conqured by the vikings - the great heathen army, it's just held on longer in Scotland for whatever reason. I don't really know German though, so that's really cool to know! And after looking up 'wissen' (according to wikitonary) wissen has the same root as the English word 'wit'. Which was 'witan' in Old English, also meaning to know something. Languages can be fun.
But modern German as the word "kann" which is the equivalent of the modern English "can" "I kann Siie nicht verstehen." (I can not understand you.) Language is indeed fun. If you haven't read William Claiborne's book Our Marvelous Native Tongue, do so immediately. Of all the books on the origins and permutations of the language, it's till the best.
While we're talking language, I just heard a doozie! This comes from the commentary track from the movie The Crucible. The director was English, and he was talking about the dialect they worked out for the Puritans in Salem. He said the American accent and dialect is actually a lot more like the original English accent than today's English accent is. Let's see if I can get this straight. He said the English court went to France, and when it came back it and it's language had been 'Frenchified'. That then spread and became the new English accent.
I've heard that before and find it very hard to believe. The original English colonists in America, in Virginia, would have probably had an accent closer to OP (as it's called in Shakespeare criticism) which sounds to me like if Cornish and Yorkshire had a baby. Massachusetts was the Puritans who went over after the English Civil War, when many accents had already changed. Accents can change surprisingly quickly, basically - especially when there are a lot of people moving in and out of the area.
I confused the issue. He didn't say the Puritans spoke like the original English. It was in a section of the commentary where he was discussing the Puritan dialect they had devised, and then he broke off from that and said that the American dialect/accent in general was closer to the original English than today's English accents are. And yes, he also went on and on about Yorkshire, Sussex and Wessex or something, a lot of gibberish that meant nothing to me.
I'm also fascinated by this— African American Vernacular stems originally from parts of Northern England and from Scots-Irish, and goes back to very early times (Middle English possibly?) In fact, the term Y'All comes from Scots-Irish in the Middle English period. This kind of early English was brought by the colonists who arrived when the American South was opened for colonization, and taught by them to their slaves. The English history of African American English The Remarkable History of “Y’all”
I'm no lexicographer, but when I hear the claim that the people of the rural south-eastern US and Appalachia have speech like Shakespeare's, I have doubts. If there's an overlap in vocabulary, I think it comes not from Shakespeare but the King James Bible, often the only book the inhabitants took time to read. I do not doubt that English has changed in England over the last few centuries, particularly with the onset of recorded media like television, the cinema, and sound recordings. All languages change. As the branches diverge, they shed some of the peculiarities of the mother branch but retain others. Words like "fall" (as in the season of the year) and "guess" (in the sense of "suppose") are branded by Britishers as Americanisms, but both of these words go back to the England of Chaucer's time. And African-American English is a fascinating blend of Colonial English (and its antecedents), Pidjin English (a lingua franca used around the world as a trade language), and various West African languages, the latter contributing not only words but grammar and syntax.
I'm not sure how you guys got on this track involving Shakespeare. It sounds like it might be some long-running argument you're referring to, but I never invoked the Bard, nor did the director of The Crucible, nor the article I linked to. Well, the article does mention him, but only to agree with what you're both saying, that there's some misunderstanding that American dialects on some isolated regions reflect Shakespearian English. But to be totally clear, the article says the American dialects reflect 18th century English language. Sorry, I couldn't tell if everything I posted is just being completely ignored or maybe misunderstood?
The first link you provided has the subheading 'Americans today pronounce some words more like Shakespeare than Brits do… but it’s in 18th-Century England where they’d really feel at home'. Also I mentioned Shakespeare because he lived around the time of the first serious colonization efforts for the British and he's a good go-to example of 'Early Modern' English. For reference, here's what we think he might have sounded like: It kind of opens up the question of what is a 'British' accent. And there really isn't just one either. I have a very northern English accent (with a hint of Scots) and sound absolutely nothing like RP or Cornish or even someone down the road from me in Newcastle.
True, but it's kind of a clickbait title. Right at the beginning it says "It makes for a great story," [...] "That’s not entirely right. The real picture is more complicated." To be honest though, the article is a little hard to figure out. I suppose complicated is right (as is everything associated with this thread). The example in that video actually sounds very close to Scottish to me (1st example if there's more than one). True. I once worked with a guy from some part of England and everybody though he was Australian. He sounded just like Crocodile Dundee to all of us.
Yeah, I think because accents change rapidly over a few hundred years - things like that are always going to be complicated. Which is fair, the truth is rarely ever simple. And you guys don't hear Cornish in that? Maybe it's just me. It does sound pretty northern too though.
Here's where I have to admit to almost complete ignorance of the Cornish (Sorry @NigeTheHat !) My only experience with Cornish in the past has been in the form of game hens. I thought furiously, "What country do they live in, I don't remember another one besides England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and Northern Ireland (and I wasn't entirely sure if NI was a separate country or just a part of Ireland). Surely they can't live in a place called Cornland, as my mind tried to suggest? A quick Google reveals they're "a Celtic ethnic group and nation native to, or associated with Cornwall and a recognized national minority in the United Kingdom." It also called Cornwall a "Ceremonial country." Hmmm... again the word Complicated comes up. I believe it was Mark Twain who said "War exists so Americans will be forced to learn Geography" or something to that effect. I suppose this thread serves the same purpose. Though I'm not sure I'm learning so much as just plunging deeper into confusion.
To be fair, the USA has never declared war on Cornwall. It's understandable - y'all wouldn't want the humiliation of being beaten quite so easily.
Cornwall is in a part of the country known as the West Country. Although there are, no doubt, a wide variety of accents in the West Country, there is a particular accent associated with this part of the world. It may sound familiar: Spoiler Somerset - where every day is Talk Like a Pirate Day.
It does sounds familiar. I think sometimes I stray into the West Country myself. Especially after a few good shots of whiskey.
It should be noted, by the way, that Cornwall was one of the last holdouts of the original British language in England. There were still people speaking it as a "first language" up until the end of the 18th century. So the influence of that language is certainly understandable.
