语言与民族身份的认同——以诺曼征服后英语官方语言地位的重获为例

Language and National Identity:A Case Study of How English Regained Its Official Language Status

诺曼征服使英语在英格兰一度丧失官方语言地位,沦为底层民众的口头语言。但随着诺曼人与盎格鲁撒克逊人相互融合及英格兰民族意识在此基础上的孕育,英语开始逐渐成为英格兰民族身份的标志,其语言地位随之提升。在此过程中,英语因诺曼人和盎格鲁撒克逊人的融合而改变,改变后的英语反过来又进一步促进这种融合和新民族身份的诞生,并最终重获英格兰官方语言地位。

Norman Conquest once caused the decline of English＇s language status.Since then,English had not been the official language of England,but an oral language of people in lower class.However,with the amalgamation of Normans and Anglo-Saxons and gestation of English national consciousness based on the amalgamation,English gradually became the mark of English national identity,and its language status was enhanced.In this process,English language,changing along with the amalgamation of Normans and Anglo-Saxons,in turn furthered the amalgamation,promoted the emergence of new national identity,and eventually became official language of England again.