AHC: a completly alien "English" language.
- Thread starter ArKhan
- Start date
Will Kürlich Kerl
Banned
Spain defeats the English Navy in 1598 and holds on to England. Eventually, England and Spanish fuse into a new "English"
Well lets say it has more irish and pict influences, then possibly absorbs some Norse, North African, or Slavic words from Raiders in the Middle Ages, then while colonizing adopts many words from the state they colonized after they fled there during an alt world war.
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Perhaps have Scotland become dominant in Britain somehow, with a butterflied-away Norman conquest. Thus English has little to no Romance influence and lots of Celtic influence.
Another idea that entered my head when I saw the thread title (before I read the constraints) was Arabic influence: the Muslims pile-drive through France and make it to England, where Arabic takes a role similar to French after the Norman conquest.
Another idea that entered my head when I saw the thread title (before I read the constraints) was Arabic influence: the Muslims pile-drive through France and make it to England, where Arabic takes a role similar to French after the Norman conquest.
Pretty easy. William doesn't conquer England. That's all you need, but to make it more alien, weaken the power of Paris.
That would be pretty recognizable. Hard to understand, but still intelligible.
I don't mean to be pedantic, but I think you mean "Germanic"; German and Germanic aren't the same thing. Sorry, just a little nitpick.
Another idea is a stronger Romano-Briton kingdom stymies the Anglo-Saxons and keeps them penned up against the North Sea and/or in East Anglia. Fast forward a few centuries, and while English survives as a language, it has received a ton of Brythonic influence.
He probably did mean German. English today is still a Germanic language, but it's not very German. Old English on the other hand was quite German--weren't there mainland dialects of Saxon and Frisian with which it was mutually intelligible.
Really? I never got that, in terms of comparing Old English to Old High German (aka "German" as popularly known). Now Old SAXON, on the other hand, I can see being lumped together with the Anglo-Frisian languages. But the Anglo-Frisian languages are Ingvaeonic, whilst High German is Irminionic (the difference being participation in the High German Consonant Shift, which almost no other Germanic language has participated in), so those aren't really "German" either, even though they're all "Germanic".
Old Low German (aka Old Saxon) is just as German as Old High German, and it's similar to Old English.
I guess it's a matter of degrees of separation then; even without the Normans butting their head in where they didn't belong, I doubt that English ever COULD be intelligible with High German (can't necessarily say the same for Frisian or maybe Flemish, but that's neither here nor there). In any event, the point stands that without the Norman invasion, English would be quite different (as would omission of the GVS).
Also, what if the Jutes and Frisians (who IOTL came along in smaller numbers with the Angles and Saxons) come in greater numbers here, and influence the language much more strongly? Granted, the Frisian changes wouldn't be that drastic, but IIRC the Jutes spoke more of a Scandinavian-type dialect as time went on, and if the migrations continue over time perhaps that will also make some changes in English down the road.
Also, what if the Jutes and Frisians (who IOTL came along in smaller numbers with the Angles and Saxons) come in greater numbers here, and influence the language much more strongly? Granted, the Frisian changes wouldn't be that drastic, but IIRC the Jutes spoke more of a Scandinavian-type dialect as time went on, and if the migrations continue over time perhaps that will also make some changes in English down the road.
Any POD, any POD whatsoever before Old English starts shifting to Middle English, even if it's what if some random peasant in India stubbed his toe harder than IOTL in 1066. The Old English to Middle English shift was big enough and proceeded in ways that were unpredictable enough that all you need is butterflies to get pretty different grammar and vocabulary.
Delvestius
Banned
Sure, but that doesn't mean they were mutually intelligible or anything... They were quite different and had been since the "West Germanic" language started to break up around 100 B.C.
Possibly not. By Tours, the Muslims were at the end of their rope. They could hardly have advanced or conquered much further.
Also Tours wasn't really that huge a battle, it was really pumped up after the fact because it was one of very few christian "victories" in that period.