How far back in time can you understand English?
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How far back in time can you understand English?
It’s a thousand years of the English language, compressed into a single blog post.
"... as his post goes on, his language gets older. A hundred years older with each jump. The spelling changes. The grammar changes. Words you know are replaced by unfamiliar words, and his attitude gets older too, as the blogger’s voice is replaced by that of a Georgian diarist, an Elizabethan pamphleteer, a medieval chronicler."
How far back in time can you understand English?
An experiment in language change
(www.deadlanguagesociety.com)
@Natasha_Jay
Great!
From 1200 onwards, my knowledge of Frisian and Dutch helped me a bit. But even so, I quickly got lost... -
How far back in time can you understand English?
It’s a thousand years of the English language, compressed into a single blog post.
"... as his post goes on, his language gets older. A hundred years older with each jump. The spelling changes. The grammar changes. Words you know are replaced by unfamiliar words, and his attitude gets older too, as the blogger’s voice is replaced by that of a Georgian diarist, an Elizabethan pamphleteer, a medieval chronicler."
How far back in time can you understand English?
An experiment in language change
(www.deadlanguagesociety.com)
@Natasha_Jay 1400, English is my second language.
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@Natasha_Jay
Great!
From 1200 onwards, my knowledge of Frisian and Dutch helped me a bit. But even so, I quickly got lost...@bmk @Natasha_Jay I had the same. Frisian and Dutch came to germanic aid.
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How far back in time can you understand English?
It’s a thousand years of the English language, compressed into a single blog post.
"... as his post goes on, his language gets older. A hundred years older with each jump. The spelling changes. The grammar changes. Words you know are replaced by unfamiliar words, and his attitude gets older too, as the blogger’s voice is replaced by that of a Georgian diarist, an Elizabethan pamphleteer, a medieval chronicler."
How far back in time can you understand English?
An experiment in language change
(www.deadlanguagesociety.com)
@Natasha_Jay I've read Chaucer, lets give it a bash.
EDIT: Made it to 1000 CE
-
How far back in time can you understand English?
It’s a thousand years of the English language, compressed into a single blog post.
"... as his post goes on, his language gets older. A hundred years older with each jump. The spelling changes. The grammar changes. Words you know are replaced by unfamiliar words, and his attitude gets older too, as the blogger’s voice is replaced by that of a Georgian diarist, an Elizabethan pamphleteer, a medieval chronicler."
How far back in time can you understand English?
An experiment in language change
(www.deadlanguagesociety.com)
@Natasha_Jay Fun experiment. I lose general comprehension of what is being said at the 1200 mark.
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How far back in time can you understand English?
It’s a thousand years of the English language, compressed into a single blog post.
"... as his post goes on, his language gets older. A hundred years older with each jump. The spelling changes. The grammar changes. Words you know are replaced by unfamiliar words, and his attitude gets older too, as the blogger’s voice is replaced by that of a Georgian diarist, an Elizabethan pamphleteer, a medieval chronicler."
How far back in time can you understand English?
An experiment in language change
(www.deadlanguagesociety.com)
That's fascinating. Thanks for posting. 1200 was where I really started to struggle.
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How far back in time can you understand English?
It’s a thousand years of the English language, compressed into a single blog post.
"... as his post goes on, his language gets older. A hundred years older with each jump. The spelling changes. The grammar changes. Words you know are replaced by unfamiliar words, and his attitude gets older too, as the blogger’s voice is replaced by that of a Georgian diarist, an Elizabethan pamphleteer, a medieval chronicler."
How far back in time can you understand English?
An experiment in language change
(www.deadlanguagesociety.com)
@Natasha_Jay this is a lot of fun. I can follow the thread of things back to 1200 but after that… nope
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How far back in time can you understand English?
It’s a thousand years of the English language, compressed into a single blog post.
"... as his post goes on, his language gets older. A hundred years older with each jump. The spelling changes. The grammar changes. Words you know are replaced by unfamiliar words, and his attitude gets older too, as the blogger’s voice is replaced by that of a Georgian diarist, an Elizabethan pamphleteer, a medieval chronicler."
How far back in time can you understand English?
An experiment in language change
(www.deadlanguagesociety.com)
@Natasha_Jay 1600 !
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@Natasha_Jay 1600 !
@Natasha_Jay ah non 1500!
After, it's very difficult to understand for mi
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@Natasha_Jay ah non 1500!
After, it's very difficult to understand for mi
@Natasha_Jay but much more easier written than spoken !
Here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=842OX2_vCic
Well I 'm lost until modern English
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How far back in time can you understand English?
It’s a thousand years of the English language, compressed into a single blog post.
"... as his post goes on, his language gets older. A hundred years older with each jump. The spelling changes. The grammar changes. Words you know are replaced by unfamiliar words, and his attitude gets older too, as the blogger’s voice is replaced by that of a Georgian diarist, an Elizabethan pamphleteer, a medieval chronicler."
How far back in time can you understand English?
An experiment in language change
(www.deadlanguagesociety.com)
@Natasha_Jay
Nope. Didn't even get to the first unfamiliar word before I got stopped by "sign up for our mailing list" garbage.Close tab.
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How far back in time can you understand English?
It’s a thousand years of the English language, compressed into a single blog post.
"... as his post goes on, his language gets older. A hundred years older with each jump. The spelling changes. The grammar changes. Words you know are replaced by unfamiliar words, and his attitude gets older too, as the blogger’s voice is replaced by that of a Georgian diarist, an Elizabethan pamphleteer, a medieval chronicler."
How far back in time can you understand English?
An experiment in language change
(www.deadlanguagesociety.com)
@Natasha_Jay I stopped at 1200 -
How far back in time can you understand English?
It’s a thousand years of the English language, compressed into a single blog post.
"... as his post goes on, his language gets older. A hundred years older with each jump. The spelling changes. The grammar changes. Words you know are replaced by unfamiliar words, and his attitude gets older too, as the blogger’s voice is replaced by that of a Georgian diarist, an Elizabethan pamphleteer, a medieval chronicler."
How far back in time can you understand English?
An experiment in language change
(www.deadlanguagesociety.com)
@Natasha_Jay absolutely amazing ! Thanks for sharing this little gem
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@Natasha_Jay
Nope. Didn't even get to the first unfamiliar word before I got stopped by "sign up for our mailing list" garbage.Close tab.
@leeloo @Natasha_Jay Substack = no boost.
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How far back in time can you understand English?
It’s a thousand years of the English language, compressed into a single blog post.
"... as his post goes on, his language gets older. A hundred years older with each jump. The spelling changes. The grammar changes. Words you know are replaced by unfamiliar words, and his attitude gets older too, as the blogger’s voice is replaced by that of a Georgian diarist, an Elizabethan pamphleteer, a medieval chronicler."
How far back in time can you understand English?
An experiment in language change
(www.deadlanguagesociety.com)
@Natasha_Jay Hard test! I'm reminded of this idea to warn people in 10,000 years, when our language has been lost, where we dumped nuclear waste.
“They proposed we genetically engineer a species of cat that changes color in the presence of radiation. We release it into the wild to act as living Geiger counters. Then we create folklore and write songs and tell stories about these 'ray cats', the moral being that when you see these cats change colors, run far, far away.”
Ten Thousand Years - 99% Invisible
In 1990, the federal government invited a group of geologists, linguists, astrophysicists, architects, artists, and writers to the New Mexico desert, to visit the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. They would be there on assignment. The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) is the nation’s only permanent underground repository for nuclear waste. Radioactive byproducts from nuclear weapons manufacturing and nuclear power plants. WIPP was
99% Invisible (99percentinvisible.org)
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How far back in time can you understand English?
It’s a thousand years of the English language, compressed into a single blog post.
"... as his post goes on, his language gets older. A hundred years older with each jump. The spelling changes. The grammar changes. Words you know are replaced by unfamiliar words, and his attitude gets older too, as the blogger’s voice is replaced by that of a Georgian diarist, an Elizabethan pamphleteer, a medieval chronicler."
How far back in time can you understand English?
An experiment in language change
(www.deadlanguagesociety.com)
Mittelhochdeutsch for the win.
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How far back in time can you understand English?
It’s a thousand years of the English language, compressed into a single blog post.
"... as his post goes on, his language gets older. A hundred years older with each jump. The spelling changes. The grammar changes. Words you know are replaced by unfamiliar words, and his attitude gets older too, as the blogger’s voice is replaced by that of a Georgian diarist, an Elizabethan pamphleteer, a medieval chronicler."
How far back in time can you understand English?
An experiment in language change
(www.deadlanguagesociety.com)
@Natasha_Jay I couldn't make sense of more than a few words by 1400. I think the 1800s to 1900s are my stylistic sweet spot though.
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How far back in time can you understand English?
It’s a thousand years of the English language, compressed into a single blog post.
"... as his post goes on, his language gets older. A hundred years older with each jump. The spelling changes. The grammar changes. Words you know are replaced by unfamiliar words, and his attitude gets older too, as the blogger’s voice is replaced by that of a Georgian diarist, an Elizabethan pamphleteer, a medieval chronicler."
How far back in time can you understand English?
An experiment in language change
(www.deadlanguagesociety.com)
@Natasha_Jay @WeirdWriter This I’ve got to read, but it needs to be done on the Braille display. I’m currently working my way through the daily diary of a Brit named Samuel Pepys from the year 1666. As far as I know it’s presented just as he wrote it, and it’s fascinating to see how certain words have evolved from then to now. Also grammatical changes. If I tried to read it in audio it would be a slog.
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How far back in time can you understand English?
It’s a thousand years of the English language, compressed into a single blog post.
"... as his post goes on, his language gets older. A hundred years older with each jump. The spelling changes. The grammar changes. Words you know are replaced by unfamiliar words, and his attitude gets older too, as the blogger’s voice is replaced by that of a Georgian diarist, an Elizabethan pamphleteer, a medieval chronicler."
How far back in time can you understand English?
An experiment in language change
(www.deadlanguagesociety.com)
@Natasha_Jay Neat! Until 1500 it was alright, but no idea what to make of the weirder letters earlier on.
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@Natasha_Jay Hard test! I'm reminded of this idea to warn people in 10,000 years, when our language has been lost, where we dumped nuclear waste.
“They proposed we genetically engineer a species of cat that changes color in the presence of radiation. We release it into the wild to act as living Geiger counters. Then we create folklore and write songs and tell stories about these 'ray cats', the moral being that when you see these cats change colors, run far, far away.”
Ten Thousand Years - 99% Invisible
In 1990, the federal government invited a group of geologists, linguists, astrophysicists, architects, artists, and writers to the New Mexico desert, to visit the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. They would be there on assignment. The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) is the nation’s only permanent underground repository for nuclear waste. Radioactive byproducts from nuclear weapons manufacturing and nuclear power plants. WIPP was
99% Invisible (99percentinvisible.org)
@CiaraNi @Natasha_Jay Ray cats? Caves of Qud!
