The Place Of English In Germanic And Indo-European

A. Bammesberger’s article ‘The Place of English in Germanic and Indo-European’ (pp. 26–66) in Vol. 1 (The Beginnings to 1066) of The Cambridge History of the English Language (ed. Richard M. Hogg, Cambridge University Press, 1992) was reviewed rather unfavorably (review article of the volume by Richard D. Janda in World Englishes, vol. 14, 1995). This is a recast of the same topic in a different presentation, which can be justified as the proverb ‘So many cooks, so many dishes’ has it. The style of presentation follows that of the French linguist Bernard Pottier, whose principle is based on a set of short definitions with a couple of examples. The conclusion of the present paper is that English is the most “entgermanisierte” (the least Germanic) language, just as French is the most “entromanisierte” (the least Romanic) language, while Modern Icelandic, free from foreign influence, has remained the purest of all Germanic languages.