Question: What makes English Germanic, vocabulary, grammar or something else? If vocabulary - it would be the vocabulary of everyday speech, right? If grammar - hm, not too many Germanic features here. Help...

Answer: There are four things that make English Germanic.\n\n1)  It's sound system is clearly derived from Proto-Germanic through regular sound changes.  For example, English hound, German Hund (h:h, n:n, d:t); English tide, German Zeit (t:ts; d:t); etc.\n\n2)  It's basic vocabulary is clearly Germanic.  For example, (English/German) come/kommen; foot/fuss; five/fünf; etc.\n\n3)  It's grammar is clearly Germanic.  For example, Early Modern English come/comest/cometh, German komme/kommst/kommt; English "i have made", German "ich habe gemacht" (same perfect construction)\n\n4)  It's irregularities are the same irregularities found in the other Germanic languages.  For example, English bind/bound, German binden/bund (strong verbs); English man/men, German Mann/Männer (vowel change for plural)\n\nEnglish is absolutely, 100% a Germanic language through regular sound correspondences, the majority of its basic vocabulary, the majority of its grammatical structures, and the same patterns of irregularity
This question from the Yahoo Q&A forum is categorized in the topic: Politics & Government