Is English just badly pronounced French?

apparent. And could it even be that the French changed the way we pronounce the words we already had? Almost certainly yes. Because during the Middle English period, H's began to drop like flies to a "horrible" degree. Especially at the beginning of words. In Old English, Lord and Lady begin with an H. We also see the deletion of the now more familiar H, that is, the H is deleted before a vowel. But far from being something that was then seen as a sign of lack of education as it is sometimes seen now, it was probably seen as the opposite.

Because who is terrible in Hs? I would like to buy a hamburger. Dropping the H's was to sound more French and therefore more prestigious. This might even explain why H-dropping is, even now, more frequent in areas that historically had administrative and commercial importance, such as London and the south-east of England. because in areas that would have had much less French influence, people are less likely to lower their H's. Think about how some people in Scotland will say "hwat" or "hwear". If anything, they're emphasizing the H's. And a vestige of this idea that dropping the H like a French speaker is prestigious is the fact that some people still insist on saying “a hotel” or “a historic.” , effectively treating the H as if it did not exist.

I think perhaps some people think that “a historical” is more poetic, which brings me to another profound change that the French are most likely experiencing.responsible for. Let me show you something. This is the Hymn of Caedmon. Written sometime in the 7th century, it is one of the earliest, if not the oldest, documented examples of an Old English poem. The key feature of this poetry, and indeed of all Germanic poetry of the period, is that it contains astonishing amounts of alliteration. Repeat the sounds at the beginning of words over and over. Let's listen to this wonderful reading by Kara Shallenberg.

Note the alliteration, but also see if you spot anything else. Nū sculon herigean heofonrīces Weard, Meotedes meahte ond his mōdgeþanc, weorc Wuldorfæder, swā he wundra gihwæs, ēce Drihten, ō onstealde. Hopefully, you heard the alliteration there, but did you also notice something else? It didn't rhyme. Now, I know poetry doesn't have to rhyme, but in Old English it never did, it was all about alliteration. English poetry only begins to rhyme after the French appear. French poetry was known for its rhymes at the end of lines and that also became fashionable in England. Without a doubt, the best-known writer of the Middle English period is Geoffrey Chaucer, and look at this.

He ends each line with a lovely little rhyme. And Chaucer spoke well, so to speak, French. Chaucer, who works at the London customs, works in French. Yes, and in The Canterbury Tales he uses a rhyming technique borrowed from across the English Channel. So our poetry, our grammar, our vocabulary and our way of speaking. Indeed, the people of France can claim a role in transforming English into the language it has become. It is thanks to French that English is international. Well maybe. However, colonialism, Hollywood and the Internet could have also played their part, right? However, it seems to me that the large number of loan words in our language means that we, the 1.5 billion English speakers around the world, at least sometimes speak poorly

pronounced

French.

If you liked this video, I think you should watch this one next. And if you know how to read French, consult the teacher's book. In fact, it's really cool. I have a totally free newsletter about word facts and language fun, in English. You should register and see you next time. To the prochain. Greetings.