Could English be viewed as a Scandinavian tongue?: An evaluation of arguments presented in 'The Language of the Vikings (2014)'

This essay was written prior to any formal linguistic training; it was submitted as part of the application process for BA Linguistics at University of Cambridge. I cannot condone the lack of academic tone, although the arguments mostly stand.

Traditionally, there has been little to no quarrel within the historical linguistics field about the placement of the modern English language in the West Germanic language branch: ‘The Germanic or Teutonic languages . . . are easily distinguished from the Scandinavian tongues’ (Bosworth, 1836, p. 11). However, a controversial paper published in 2014 is attempting to turn Germanic discourse on its head. Joseph Emonds, of Palacky University in the Czech Republic, and Jan Terje Faarlund, of the University of Oslo, claim in their paper titled English: The Language of the Vikings that English is in fact a North Germanic language.