Birth of a language
Description
Melvyn Bragg begins the story of English in Holland, finding ancestral echoes in the Frisian dialect. What follows is a chapter on survival as the English language weathers Viking and Norman invasions, vying with and eventually absorbing rival tongues. Lively settings such as village pubs and markets bring home the lasting influence of Anglo-Saxon, Old Norse, and Old French. The connection between Christianity, Latin, and an alphabet is explored, as well as the role of the language's first champion, King Alfred the Great. Nobel prize-winning poet Seamus Heaney reads from and discusses the first epic in English, Beowulf.
Runtime
52 min
Series
Subjects
- Language and culture (189)
- Culture (254)
- Folklore (119)
- English language (787)
- Art (784)
- Language and languages (158)
- Linguistics (60)
- Communication (1217)
- Art and society (57)
Genre
Date of Publication
[2006], c2003
Database
Films on Demand
Direct Link
Similar Films
How He Fell in Love
Mass Media, Interactionist
Speaking and listening
Schools in challenging circumstances. Traumatised children. 3
English composition I. Explaining relationships. Lesson 2
Sunday morning. No problem. Opinion
Cutting Edge Communications Simple English Series. Are you OK? Part 19
The Art of Layering SFX
English have a go. Episode 9
La Maga. Part 15
Continuity
Ennio Morricone, A Fondo—In Their Own Words
Verbal and Nonverbal Communication
Great lesson ideas. Secondary English
Using Logic and Reasoning