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English is a great example of a language with huge influence from other Germanic languages and the French language. It wasn’t isolated in any meaningful sense:
by LudwigNagasena 3y ago
English is a great example of a language with huge influence from other Germanic languages and the French language. It wasn’t isolated in any meaningful sense: there were local Celtic tribes that lived there before Anglo-Saxons, then there was Danelaw, then there was the Norman conquest. Icelandic is a better example.
- tyg13 3y agoSure, maybe not entirely isolated. I just mean that the geographic isolation of being an island means you don't see a dialect continuum between English and other languages the way that you do with say, the various Germanic languages.
- ffhhttt 3y agoSome linguists argued that English is essentially a creole language which would explain this. > isolated I would say the opposite. Frisian etc. were much more isolated and therefore developed more conservatively. > a dialect continuum You do a bit, e.g. Scots which developed somewhat independently/in parallel to English.