What languages are spoken by Anglo-americans?

Answer 1

The Angles and the Saxons initially spoke a variety of their own languages:

• North Anglian
• Mid Anglian
• East Anglian
• West Saxon
• East Saxon
• South Saxon etc

Hundreds of years later these different languages were brought together (mainly through the translation of The Bible in West Saxon) by the efforts of King Alfred the Great. At this point the language in England is called Old English and it is correct to say that the Anglo-Saxons from about 900 AD onwards spoke Old English.

The English people continued to speak Old English until the Middle Ages when the language changed into Middle English. The "Vikings" were mainly Danes and Norwegians who spoke Danish and Norwegian.

Answer 2

During the early migration period, the Angles would have spoken Proto-Anglian, the Saxons would have spoken Proto-Saxon, the Frisians would have spoken Proto-Frisian and the Jutes would have spoken Proto-Jutish.

I use the prefix 'proto' because all of these tongues are unattested in their preliterate, continental forms. Continental Old Saxon is attested about 830 in the 6000 line epic adaption of the scriptures known as the 'Heliand', while all the other continental forms are generally unknown.

For instance, by the earliest written evidence, Jutish (spoken in Jutland) had been supplanted by a dialect of Old-Norse (post I-mutation), which would eventually become Danish. All Germanic languages come from a proto-Germanic tongue that likely split first into East (Gothic) and Northwest Germanic, C. 500-200 BCE, and then into distinct North and West Germanic branches around 400-600 CE.

The language spoken and written by the Anglo-Saxons in England during the Early Middle Ages was known to them as 'Englisc', and is called 'Old English' by modern-day scholars. Both English and Frisian underwent a palatalization of 'c' before a front vowel (or where there was historically a front vowel in preliterate times, c.f. Dutch 'kaas' vs Frisian 'tsiis' and English 'cheese').

some spoke idian some spoke american most of them spoke german and some also spoke spanish and french
Old English.

Answer 3

Most Anglo-Americans speak English as their native language. Some speak French or Spanish.

Answer 4

English