Hey, parents.
Trusty here.
You know what I hear constantly from homeschool parents in the Who's Smarter community?
Thank you for introducing us to IXL.
I get it.
My cousin homeschools her kids and raves about how much IXL helps.
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That's ixl.com slash smarted.
And now it's time for Who Smarted?
Hey, smarty pants, as you can probably hear, I'm enjoying a walk outside.
You know, just a casual stroll around the neighborhood.
There's houses, trees, cars, kids playing.
I see a dog in a yard and a squirrel running up a tree.
Ooh, there also seems to be a bird flying directly over me.
I must say, I've never seen a bird that looks like that before.
For one thing, its wings look like the pages of a book.
And now it's coming closer.
Oh, trusty narrator.
Hello there, smarty pants.
I am the word bird, and my wings don't resemble just any book.
Why, they look like the dictionary.
Oh, I've never met or spoken to a bird with a dictionary for wings.
It's very nice to meet you, word bird.
And also, what's a word bird?
A word.
Bird is a special kind of bird that only exists in the world of who smarted and knows all about the history of the English language.
Really?
Just go with it.
Sure.
Wow, a word bird.
You don't say.
I did say.
Yes.
You also said you know all about the English language, which is obviously the language I speak.
What about you, smarty pants?
Do you speak the English language?
Even if it's not your first or native language, chances are you speak some English.
It would make sense.
After all, English is known as the international language and is the most popular language and widely used language in the world.
But how much do you actually know about it?
Um well, come to think of it while I speak English.
No problem, I have to admit it's not something I know a lot about.
I didn't think so.
So, would you like me to help you and the Smarty Pants learn more about it?
Of course I would.
That's what we do here on Who Smarted?
We learn and laugh and but mostly learn.
Well, then I am here to help.
After all, that's what word birds are for.
Great!
Then you can help us discover things like, when did people start speaking English?
Where did the alphabet come from?
And how has the English language changed over the years?
Oh, and who wrote the first dictionary?
No problem.
I've got answers to those questions and more.
Then you know what that means, smarty pants.
It's time for another whiff of science and history on...
Who's smart, Ed?
Who's smart, Ed?
Who's smart?
Is it you?
Is it me?
Is it science or history?
Listen up, everyone.
We make smarting lots of fun.
Who's smart, Ed?
Okay, I am now sitting on a bench in the park with my new friend, Wordbird, beside me.
Together, we're all going to learn about the English language.
Not how I thought my day was going to go, but things have definitely taken a turn for the smarter.
So where should we start?
I think we should start at the very beginning.
Well, since you can't have a language without an alphabet and you want to start at the beginning, I'm assuming you mean the letter A A B C D E F, G.
Oh, um, actually, I was thinking way before that.
What letter comes before A?
Not letters.
I'm talking about time.
About 4,000 BCE.
Oh, smarty pants, in case you didn't know...
BCE stands for Before the Common Era, which means this happened in ancient times, which was a really long time ago.
So, what happened in 4000 BCE that was so important?
In 4000 BCE, cuneiform was used in Iraq.
Gotcha.
Of course, my next question is, what's cuneiform?
Smarty Pants, care to take a guess?
Is it A, an ancient writing system, B, ancient sign language, or C, a type of money?
If you said A, an ancient writing system, nice job.
Cuneiform consisted of wedge-shaped marks pressed into clay tablets.
It was the very earliest writing in the world.
So was that the first alphabet?
Not exactly.
Why not?
Only some of the signs stood for sounds, others stood for ideas or entire words, and sometimes...
They were combined.
Oh, um, hmm, sounds confusing.
Oh, it was.
There were about 1,500 different combinations in cuneiform.
Whoa.
That's a lot to have to remember.
I'd rather stick with my ABCs.
A, B, C, D, E, F, G.
Then, in 3000 BCE, hieroglyphs were used in Egypt.
Smartypants, I bet some of you know about this.
Are hieroglyphs A, letters, B, pictures, or C, pencils?
If you said B, pictures, you're right.
Hieroglyphs were pictures or drawings that ancient people carved into stone or brick or drew on walls to express thoughts and ideas about their society.
But this still isn't the same as an alphabet because the signs didn't only stand for sounds.
Like cuneiform, some hieroglyphs represented sounds, while others represented ideas or whole words.
So you're saying that a hieroglyph of a bird might not always just mean bird.
Exactly.
Interesting.
So when did the ABCs that we all know and love start to be a thing?
In 1500 BCE, the Phoenician alphabet was developed.
Smarty Pants.
True or false?
The Phoenician alphabet is the exact same alphabet we use to write in English today.
The answer to that question is false.
While the Phoenician alphabet definitely contributed to today's modern alphabet, it went through many changes over the years before reaching its current form.
So where did our alphabet mostly come from?
Smarty Pants, do you know?
We use an alphabet similar to the Roman alphabet to write English, as well as French Italian Spanish, oh and so many other languages.
Our alphabet has 26 different letters, but...
Some alphabets have way more.
Where does the word alphabet even come from?
It comes from the first two letters of the Phoenician alphabet, which were called Aleph and Beth.
Ah, so the name alphabet isn't really A through Z or even ABCs.
It's basically just A, B.
But we need way more letters than that to spell words and make alphabet soup.
When did English words start to form and have a correct spelling?
With the invention of da-da-da-da, the dictionary.
Ah, yes, the dictionary.
Before the internet came along, in the 1980s and 90s, if you didn't know what a word meant or how to spell it, you had to look it up in a book called The Dictionary.
Whoa.
But who wrote the dictionary?
Dr. Samuel Johnson's A Dictionary of the English Language was published in 1755.
While not the very first English dictionary, It set a new standard for dictionaries.
For one thing, it included a huge number of words around 40000 plus their definitions, usage examples and etymologies.
Ooh, cool word alert.
Etymologies means, where does a word come from?
But hang on a second.
You said the 1755 dictionary wasn't the first.
What came before that?
Robert Cawdry's A Table Alphabetical from 1604 is the first known English dictionary.
But it was much smaller, only around 2,500 words. and less comprehensive than Samuel Johnson's.
Which is why Dr Johnson's 1755 dictionary is the one most often cited as the first truly influential English dictionary.
But it didn't stop there.
Why not?
Because American English is different than the original English.
Wait, there's two types of English?
Oh, that's right.
Which is why Noah Webster's American Dictionary of the English Language was published in 1828.
1828 may seem like a long time ago, but compared to other civilizations, cultures and countries, it's really not.
Oh, no.
English is not very old compared to other languages.
Okay, now I'm super curious about where the word English even comes from.
And where did it start?
We'll find out the answers to those questions, and more, right after this quick break and a word from our sponsors.
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Hey, smarty pants, trusty narrator here.
Spring is here, and you know what that means on the farm.
Baby chicks hatching inside their eggs, calves moving into their tiny little houses, flowers figuring out when it's time to wake up.
And yes, that smell.
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Now back to Who Smarted?
Okay, smarty pants, where do you think the English language actually started?
It's actually pretty obvious if you think about it.
But I'll make it even easier with some multiple choice.
Ready?
Was it A, the United States of America?
B, Australia.
Or C, England.
If you said C, England, nice.
Of course, it makes total sense.
England, English, duh.
But how did it start WordBird?
At first, people in england mostly spoke celtic languages, which are not the same as english.
But around the fifth century, aka 401 to 500 ce, the people from germany came to england.
Some of these people were called angles, which is where the word English comes from.
Wait, I thought angles were just part of math.
Well, as you know, words can have more than one meaning.
Anyway, these angles spoke a language called Anglo-Saxon, which we now call Old English.
Old English?
Smarty Pants, true or false?
Old English is not the same as the English we speak now.
The answer is true!
In many instances, Old English is very different than modern American English.
Here's an example.
See if you can guess what I'm saying in Old English.
Ready?
Min nama is word bird.
Uh, what do you think, Smarty Pants?
I'm guessing Minamma is Wordbird means my name is Wordbird.
Right.
Oh, wait.
Do you speak Old English, too?
No.
I figured it out by the context.
What about you, Smarty Pants?
Did you get it, too?
Here, try another.
He-him-gef-hund.
Um, no idea.
It means he gave him a dog.
Oh, that was very nice of him, wasn't it?
Yes.
Anyway, back to English.
Smartypants.
How many changes did the English language go through before becoming the language we know today?
Was it one, two, or three?
If you said three, well done.
The three periods in the history of the english language are old english, which lasted from 450 to 1150, middle english, which lasted from 1150 to 1500, and modern English, which started in 1500 and is still going on today.
I'm curious what were the differences in the English languages used in these different periods?
Different words, different grammar and even different letters.
Did you know the sound used to be represented by a letter called thorn thorn, like the sharp part of a rose yep, and it looked similar to the letter y.
That sounds confusing.
Oh, it was.
And look, even today the english language is not perfect.
It has a lot of strange rules for spelling, including more silent letters, than most languages.
Hmm.
Why does the English language have so many silent letters?
I mean, what's the point of writing a letter if it doesn't make a sound in the word?
Oh, great question.
You see, as the English language developed, it borrowed from other languages, including French.
Many of the silent letters in English come from French words, where the H was not pronounced.
Other languages that contributed to modern English include Norse, Dutch, Italian, and Spanish.
Makes sense, even though it's annoying having to remember to write a silent letter.
Oh, if you think that's bad, imagine having to change the way you pronounce words.
Is that something that happened?
Oh, it is.
During the 15th century.
Smartypants, what caused people to have to change the way they pronounced words?
Was it A, the great vowel shift?
B, the big consonant change?
Or C, the sound switch.
If you said A, the great vowel shift, you got it.
We all know the vowels are the letters A E I O, U and sometimes Y, But what's the great vowel shift?
During the Great Vowel Shift, people shifted vowel sounds to a different part of their mouths.
For example, the word goat used to be pronounced goot.
I see.
Or rather, Here.
Before the great vowel shift, people couldn't imagine pronouncing words the way we do today.
But the English language is constantly evolving and changing, with new words and expressions being added all the time.
Smartypants, what do you think is something that has added recent changes to the English language?
Go ahead, shout it out.
I'm hearing some great answers.
If you said the Internet or texting, those are definitely right.
Since these things change the way we communicate, it makes sense that they would change the English language too.
Yep, just like the dictionary, which adds new words every year, meaning that my feathers will keep growing.
A double shout out to Super Smarty fans Davin and Milo in Somerville, Massachusetts.
Thanks for letting me know how much you love smarting to Who Smarted during all your car rides.
And if that wasn't enough, you said you've listened to every single episode and some even twice.
Now that is what I call next-level smarting.
Thanks, you two.
This episode, The English Language, was written by Sarah Swietik and voiced by Kat Searle and Jerry Colmer.
Technical direction and sound design by Josh Hahn.
Our associate producer is Max Kamaski.
The theme song is by Brian Suarez, with lyrics written and performed by Adam Tex-Davis.
Who Smarted was created and produced by Adam Tex-Davis and Jerry Kolber.
This has been an Atomic Audio production.
