Germanic
All these languages are descended from a proto-Germanic language spoken in the 5th Century CE. Historical documents have been
preserved in a number of now no longer spoken Germanic languages, including Old English and Gothic.
English itself is a strange hodgepodge. After the Romans piked out and left the British Isles to the Celts by the 5th Century CE,
the Germanic-speaking Angles and Saxons moved in. Numerous dialects of Old English appeared, which, while Germanic, borrowed a number of
Celtic words. From the 8th to the 11th Centuries Scandinavians speaking their own Germanic languages invaded and conquered,
leaving bruises and linguistic footprints. Then in 1066 another bunch of Germanic people invaded, but the Normans had been hanging around northern France
long enough to pick up French, so a huge influx of Romance language vocabulary came with them.
Other Germanic languages not yet represented include Afrikaans, Frisian, and Yiddish.
North Germanic (Scandinavian)
Danish:
Notes: The transcription needs considerable fine-tuning, as Danish has an intimidatingly complex vowel system.
Speaker: (N) |
Faroese:
Notes: The Faroe Islands, halfway between Scotland and Iceland, were settled during the Viking Age and the language retains many elements of Old Norse. The islands are now a self-governing protectorate of Denmark.
Speaker: Heri Joensen (N) |
Icelandic:
Notes: Iceland's history of high literacy rates and low outside contact have produced a language little changed from the 13th century. Modern Icelanders can read their ancient sagas much more easily than, say, English speakers can read The Canterbury Tales.
Speaker: Tómas (N) |
Norwegian:
Notes: Norwegian and Swedish are close enough to be mutually intelligible, and the two are the only indigenous European languages to make use of tone. Note that r before a consonant produces a retroflex sound. The numerous dialects of Norwegian, and heavy Danish influence, have given rise to a confusing situation in which there are two written versions of Norwegian in official use, Nynorsk and Bokmål.
Speaker: Mikkel Conradi (N) |
Swedish:
Notes: Swedish has been more nationally standardised than Norwegian, with which it is mutually intelligible. Together they are the only two indigenous European languages to make use of tone.
Speaker: Karin (N) |
West Germanic
Dutch:
Notes: There are a large number of Dutch dialects, both within the Netherlands and in the Flanders region of Belgium, where the language is called Flemish. Worldwide, there are creoles and descendents of Dutch throughout the former Dutch trading empire, most notably Afrikaans in South Africa.
Speaker: Mai (N) |
