The History of English Language

http://pandora.cii.wwu.edu/vajda/ling201/test3materials/History_of_English.htm

Attached is a link to the History of English Language.

Through your reading from the site provided, try to answer the following question:

Imagine yourself being a member of Celtic family suddenly being faced with Anglo-Saxon invaders in the late fifth century somewhere in central England, a member of a Native America tribe being faced with white settlers in the seventeenth century somewhere in New England, or a member of an Aboriginal tribe being faced with Europeans somewhere in south-eastern Australia late in the eighteenth century. How would you try to cope with the situation, generally and linguistically? Do you see any possible parallels between the three scenarios? Where would you see the main differences between these situations?

Source: English Around the World by Edgar W. Schneider (p. 107)