European Language Matters: English in Its European Context

by Peter Trudgill

Why do Greek lorries have Metaphorés written on the side? Is it grammatically correct to say 'the best team won' after a football match? What is the difference between manly, male, masculine and macho? Bringing together Peter Trudgill's highly popular columns for the New European, this fascinating collection explores how English has been influenced, both linguistically and culturally, by its neighbouring languages in Europe. English is very much a European language and Trudgill delves in to the rich linguistic legacy that links all European languages. The bite-sized pieces are grouped together in thematically arranged sections, to allow the reader to dip in and out at will, and cover a wide range of topics, from the etymology of words, to illuminating pieces on grammar. Written in an engaging and lively style, and full of intriguing facts about language and languages in Europe, this book will appeal to both language specialists and to general readers with no prior experience.

Genres: Nonfiction, Language

275 pages, Hardcover

Published November 11, 2021

Reviews

[Alexandros Potapidis · Rating 3 out of 5]

The central argument of the book evolves around the similarities that most European languages have. In essence, we all speak the same language, despite some variations, that nevertheless do not allow us to understand each other. In countries that extend from Greece to Iceland and from Portugal to Finland we have a common tongue. Trudgill's book is based on his articles published for the New European and can be thematically incoherent, not always supportive of the central argument of the book. There are instances in which generalisations are made that transcend the European context and become global in nature. European language does matter. For the Europeans. Not so much for the English. Even if the book is focused on the language spoken on the British Isles. Being a global language, its speakers are not interested in the fact that it was formed by Celtic, German, Latin, French, and Greek influences. Trudgill demonstrates how the English language was shaped etymologically by other European languages and offers a normative take; we speak an essentially European language, therefore we are Europeans. He extrapolates this reasoning in support of Britain to remain in the EU and offers a pro-immigration view.

Despite the fact that I am on the same normative camp as the author, I cannot see any tangible connection between the fact that English and German share many words with common linguistic roots on the one hand and how Britain should follow Germany's open door policy towards immigrants, on the other. All European languages have the same Indo-European origin, the same way as, ultimately, we all come from the same proto-ancestors, Homo Sapiens. However true, this linguistic common heritage is not enough to re-connect us in a political way. Do people in England feel detached from their fellow Europeans because they are unaware of the contribution the Europeans have made in the English language over the past many centuries? The answer is probably not quite.

The book does offer a case where the same argument can be supported as it has conspicuous elements of linguistic similarity and political motives. Serbian, Croatian, Montenegrin, and Bosnian are the official languages in their respective countries. However, they are all the same language forced to become a tool for the propagation of political and nationalistic ends. A nation is built on a common language and having a unique language makes people a unique nation, irrespective if the neighbouring nations speak the same language with local variations. This is aptly described in the phrase "a language is a dialect with an army and a navy" (p. 84).

Even if the book does not achieve its normative ends, it certainly compensates for its linguistic, grammatical, and onomatopoetic riches. It is an entertaining read of how certain places, words, and people obtained the names they have. It offers an insight to the amateur linguist of the debates in the academic circles in regards to how we should read and write. It is surprising to find out that even unexpected words can have ancient origins. For example the words butter, crisis, chaos, currant, stove, stew, the clothing brand Nike, and the first name of the New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern, all share Greek roots. The author also demonstrates how certain words have changed their meaning over many years. For many evaluative words this means that their impact has a reduced effect, a phenomenon called "semantic bleaching". For example, "awesome" does not cause fear any more, "terrible" does not inspire terror, "horrible" has little to do with horror, and "wonderful" does not refer to experiences of wonder (p. 12-13).

Trudgill also warns against the tendency of human beings to understand the world by creating stories that do not reflect reality. This is true of words too. He offers the example of Berlin and Bern in the popular belief having an etymological association with the animal bear (p. 97). In a similar way, the word anti-semitic is a by-product of a bygone era and associates semitism with Judaism. However, semitic languages are spoken today in Ethiopia, Eritrea, and are the foundation of the Arabic language too (p. 136). Being anti-semitic can signify, linguistically speaking, being anti-Arab.