Tagalog-11

[potet]

"First and foremost:  the history of the growth and development of Tagalog
under the immense influence of Spanish closely parallels that of the growth
and development of English under the immense influence of Norman French and
Latin.  Who is to say that the English were "unable to express  themselves
fully in their own language" - in Chaucer's time, in Shakespeare's (!!!) and
today?" Paz B. NAYLOR

I suppose that from 1066 onward, the English had growing difficulties
expressing themselves fully in English because either their Norman-French
colonizers compelled them to use their own language in education and
administration - along with Latin - and in market transactions, or because
they were enthralled by French the way Gaulois were enthralled by Latin and
took to it like fish to water. Besides their new status completely upset
their social structure and their economy, and when such upheavals take
place, important language changes occur.

So much so that the complexities of Old English grammar were thrown
overboard, many Old-English terms were lost or took on a restricted meaning,
and huge chunks of French vocabulary were anglicized. By Chaucer's time
(1340-1400) things were about settled and  Middle-English evolved into
Modern English mainly because of the creation of English universities a few
generations later, at the issue of the One-Hundred-Year War (1337-1453) when
British students were forbidden to continue their postgraduate studies in
Paris (their _collège_ was rue des Anglais in the Latin Quarter).

[I hope I am not saying stupid things because most of my Old-English and
Middle-English studies are now very far away.]

Now, I agree with you, Paz, as regards the vocabulary,
but do you think the influence of Spanish grammar on Tagalog grammar is
comparable to the havoc caused on Old-English grammar by the onslaught of
French (without the latter intervening in any significant way in the
building of Modern English grammar)?

Of course the big problem is that we don't have Tagalog texts contemporary
of _Beowulf_  (8th-10th Century) that we could compare with 16th-century
ones. All we can do is compare 16th-Century Tagalog texts with 20th-Century
ones. From the grammatical point of view, there are differences, but the
general outlook is about the same. Do you agree with me?

Best

Jean-Paul G. POTET. B. P. 46. 92114  CLICHY CEDEX. FRANCE.