Classification
Anglic languages
English
Scots
within the Anglo-Frisian languages, which also include
Frisian (West, North, Saterland);
within the North Sea Germanic languages, which also include
Low German/Saxon;
within the West Germanic languages, which also include
Dutch in Europe and Afrikaans in Africa
...... German (High):
Central; in Lux.: Luxembourgish
Upper
...... Yiddish A family tree of the West Germanic language family
English is an Indo-European language and belongs to the West Germanic group of the Germanic
languages.[15] Old English originated from a Germanic tribal and linguistic continuum along
the Frisian North Sea coast, whose languages gradually evolved into the Anglic languages in the British
Isles, and into the Frisian languages and Low German/Low Saxon on the continent. The Frisian
languages, which together with the Anglic languages form the Anglo-Frisian languages, are the closest
living relatives of English. Low German/Low Saxon is also closely related, and sometimes English, the
Frisian languages, and Low German are grouped together as the North Sea Germanic languages, though
this grouping remains debated.[12] Old English evolved into Middle English, which in turn evolved into
Modern English.[16] Particular dialects of Old and Middle English also developed into a number of other
Anglic languages, including Scots[17] and the extinct Fingallian dialect and Yola language of Ireland.[18]
Like Icelandic and Faroese, the development of English in the British Isles isolated it from the continental
Germanic languages and influences, and it has since diverged considerably. English is not mutually
intelligible with any continental Germanic language, differing in vocabulary, syntax, and phonology,
although some of these, such as Dutch or Frisian, do show strong affinities with English, especially with
its earlier stages.[19][page needed]
Unlike Icelandic and Faroese, which were isolated, the development of English was influenced by a long
series of invasions of the British Isles by other peoples and languages, particularly Old Norse and French
dialects. These left a profound mark of their own on the language, so that English shows some
similarities in vocabulary and grammar with many languages outside its linguistic clades—but it is not
mutually intelligible with any of those languages either. Some scholars have argued that English can be
considered a mixed language or a creole—a theory called the Middle English creole hypothesis. Although
the great influence of these languages on the vocabulary and grammar of Modern English is widely
acknowledged, most specialists in language contact do not consider English to be a true mixed language.
[20][21]
English is classified as a Germanic language because it shares innovations with other Germanic
languages including Dutch, German, and Swedish.[22] These shared innovations show that the languages
have descended from a single common ancestor called Proto-Germanic. Some shared features of
Germanic languages include the division of verbs into strong and weak classes, the use of modal verbs,
and the sound changes affecting Proto-Indo-European consonants, known as Grimm's and Verner's laws.
English is classified as an Anglo-Frisian language because Frisian and English share other features, such
as the palatalisation of consonants that were velar consonants in Proto-Germanic (see Phonological
history of Old English § Palatalization).[23]
