1. THE OLD GERMANIC LS, THEIR CLASSIFICATION AND PRINCIPAL FEATURES.
Subdivision of the Germanic languages.
The English language belongs to the Germanic languages and the G/L is the brunch of the Indo-European language family. First it was one language, and then ethnic and linguistic disintegration within the G/L put an end to original unity and there appeared 3 subgroups of G/L.
1) East-Germanic subgroup ( Gothic, Vandalic, Burgundian); all of them are dead.
2) North-Germanic subgroup ( Old-Norse, Old-Scandinavian). Later it became Norwegian, Danish and Swedish. There was Islatic and Faroesa. The linguists say that Faroesa was the language of Vikings.
3) West-Germanic tribes lived in the Ouder in the Albe. And then they spread up the Ruhn. They occupied many territories and they had many dialects: Anglian, Fresion, Saeson, English, German, Dutch, Jutish.
In spite of this subdivisions G/L made a distinct group within the Indo-European linguistic group because the had many features in common.
The Germanic Ls in the Modern world, their classification.
The Germanic Ls in the Modern world are as follows:
English – in GB, Ireland, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and many other former British colonies and dominions: German – Germany, Austria, Luxemburg, Liechtenstein; Netherlandish – in the Netherland, Belgium; Africaans – in the South African Republic; Danish – in Denmark; Swedish – in Sweden and Finland; Norwegian – in Norway; Icelandic – in Iceland; Frisian – in some regions of the Netherlands and Germany; Faroese – in the Faroe Islands; Yiddish – in different countries.
Until recently Dutch and Flemish were named as separate Ls.; Frisian and Faroese are often reffered to as dialects, since they are spoken over small, politically dependent areas; Br E and Am E are sometimes regarded as two independent Ls.
It is difficult to estimate the number of people speaking Germanic Ls, especially on account of English, which in many countries is one of...