Germanic Languages

Germanic, or Teutonic, languages are a sub-family of the Indo-European family of languages. They include Dutch, English, German, the Scandinavian languages, and several extinct languages.

The Germanic languages are commonly grouped according to linguistic similarities into three branches – the East, North and West Germanic branches. The East Germanic group consists of the language of the Goths. The North Germanic, or Scandinavian, languages include Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, and Icelandic.

The West Germanic languages are divided into two groups – High German and Low German. The principal High German language is Modern German, also known as Standard German. The surviving Low German languages are Dutch, Flemish, Frisian and English.

Dutch is the language of the Netherlands, Flemish, or Belgian Dutch, is spoken in Northern Belgium. More than half of the Belgian population speaks Flemish, although French is current throughout the country. Frisian is spoken by people on the coast islands of the North Sea, particularly in the north Netherlands province of Frisland. Frisian differs considerably from Dutch and is nearest of the Germanic languages to English.

English, the most widespread of the world’s languages, is considered to be an offshoot of an Anglo-Frisian dialect that must have been fairly widespread before the Germanic tribes invaded England.

No common parent of the Germanic languages survives, but linguists refer to the hypothetical ancestor as primitive Germanic or proto-Germanic.

Notes:

extinct languages – вымершие языки

Frisian – фризский язык

Frisland - Фрисландия

offshoot - ответвление

common parent – общий прародитель

proto-Germanic - протогерманский

Questions:

1) What languages do Germanic languages include?

2) What are the main three Germanic branches?

3) What languages does the North Germanic group include?

4) What languages does the West Germanic group include?

5) What language is spoken in Northern Belgium?

6) In what country is Frisian spoken?

Text 5

Man and nature

1.The relations between man and nature have become one of the major problems facing civilization today. That is why ecology stands at the crossroads of politics, science and economics.

2. While “blank sports” have practically disappeared from the Earth’s geographical map, the “black spots” marking deserts and other areas of ecological disaster are expanding at a frightening pace. Man perfects everything, including his own shortcomings.

3. Our ancestors naively considered the Earth’s recourses to be boundless and endless. Their ecological ignorance was not their crime, but rather their woe, for it caused the death of thousands of animal species. We shouldn’t judge those who lived in the ancient, medieval or even recent times. Man has always had to fight a hostile environment. Even in the 19^th century, when the word “ecology” was born, people continued to use nature as consumers. For centuries man has been proclaimed the “lord and king” of nature, and not the child.

4. “Human” achievements in conquering nature became so great that man’s activity began to have an increasingly negative effect on the biosphere. For example, forests disappear at a rate of 20 hectars a minute. Today animals and plants perish mostly due to the production of industrial pollutants and the poisoning of the biosphere.

5. Charles Darwin once said that nature cannot lie. Today it is essential that we realize that we ourselves cannot lie to nature. We know that nature is weak and defenceless before man who has grown so strong.

6. Our time is witness to the beginning of “humanized nature”. Humanism is today what we need most of all, in politics, in relations among people, and our attitude to nature. People of different convictions must work together to wipe the ugly “black spots” from the beautiful face of the Earth.

Questions:

1. What do “black spots” on the Earth’s geographical map mark?

2. Are they expanding?

3. What must people do in order to wipe off the ugly “black spots”?