XPost: soc.culture.welsh, soc.culture.cornish, soc.culture.breton   
   XPost: soc.culture.scottish, soc.culture.irish   
   From: hawker@btinternet.com   
      
   Top posting is a matter of some dispute. Some readers appreciate it. English   
   is not German. The archaic German that was spoken in England was a very   
   advanced language which is unfortunately neglected by modern German   
   speakers. Archaic German aka Anglo-Saxon, Old Saxon, Old Franconian, etc.,   
   bears little resemblance to English. If you only studied the Anglo-Saxon   
   language instead of writing nonsense then you would be very impressed by   
   this form of early German, but Chaucer's English has little in  common with   
   any form of German.   
    wrote in message   
   news:na8%e.16755$iW5.15434@fe3.news.blueyonder.co.uk...   
   > In soc.culture.scottish hawker@btinternet.com    
   > wrote:   
   >> I hope you do not mind if I top post.   
   >   
   > It's annoying... why do it?   
   >   
   >> Wright, the eminent Victorian   
   >> philologist, noted the total lack of German grammar in so called Middle   
   >> English, as well as massive word borrowings from Scandinavian and Celtic   
   >> languages, and even on a smaller scale French. Grammatically English   
   >> bears   
   >> to relation to either archaic or modern German, so how can English be   
   >> derived from Anglo-Saxon? No, English is a pidgin language derived from   
   >> several other languages. This accounts for the mixed English vocabulary   
   >> and   
   >> the general lack of grammar.   
   >   
   > There is no 'general lack of grammar' in English. This is immediately   
   > obvious when you hear someone who does not know English well making   
   > grammatical mistakes.   
   >   
   > Nor is English a pidgin language - Modern English is derived via   
   > Middle English from Old English (Anglo-Saxon). It has been influenced   
   > by Old Norse - hardly surprising considering the political sway   
   > held by Scandinavians in Britain at one time and the more or less   
   > mutual intelligibility of the Old Norse and Old English languages.   
   >   
   > English vocabulary does borrow heavily from other languages but   
   > that is not unusual. Most of the basic ordinary words that are used   
   > in English can in fact be traced back to Anglo-Saxon.   
   >   
   > Axel   
   >   
      
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