A Brief History of English Language

Question 1

1. Old English: (c. 400-1100 AD)

Answer 1

• The language by the Germanic settlers developed differently to the forms found in Germany.
• Influences during the Old English period:
• Viking invaders started arriving in North East England in the 8th century.
• Parts of the Scandinavian language, including words describing family and animals, spread through Northern England.

Question 2

Influences during the Old English period:

Answer 2

• Viking invaders started arriving in North East England in the 8th century.
• Parts of the Scandinavian language, including words describing family and animals, spread through Northern England.

Question 3

2. Middle English: ( c.1100-1450 AD)

Answer 3

• When the Normans invaded in 1066, French became the dominant language, while the rest of the country spoke versions of English.
• Gradually, English became more widely used by the educated upper class.
• By 1425, it was used universally again in speech and writing.

Question 4

Features of Middle English:

Answer 4

• French lexis: esp legal, religious, and administrative such as justice, jury, govern, and sovereign.
• Grammar: became much more simpler, reflecting the way the two languages had to co-exist.
• Latin words: an estimation of 85% of Old English words fell out of use after the Viking and Norman invasion.
• Pronunciation: no standardised system of spelling and was changing with vowels becoming shorter e.g leef became life.

Question 5

3. Early Modern English: (c. 1470-1700)

Answer 5

• In 1476, William Caxton introduced the printing press to Britain.
• Many texts could now be mass-produced, more standardised in printing, spelling and punctuation.
• Caxton chose the East-Midlands dialect = most prestigious form of English.

Question 6

Features of Early Modern English:

Answer 6

• Shakespeare coined around 1700 new words such as, courtship, excitement, and outbreak.
• World exploration: brought words from African, Asian, and New World languages.
• European Renaissance: a huge number of Latin, French and Greek words entered the English lang.

Question 7

Influences of Latin:

Answer 7

• More than half of our modern vocabulary is Latinate, e.g colossal, dignified, emotion, and history.
• Most of our prefixes and suffixes come from Latin, e.g anti-, pre-, -al, -ate, -ac.

Question 8

4. Late Modern English: (c. 1700-modern day)

Answer 8

• From 1700 onwards, English became more standardised and simpler to the language today.
• In 1755, Samuel Johnson finished the first ‘Dictionary of English’
• In 1762, Robert Lowth published the first grammar book (fundamental rules of correct usage).
• 19th Century: rail travel, colonial expansion, the spread of literacy and mass production of the printed world extended everyone’s access to a standard written form of English.
• The Industrial Revolution changed the way people worked and lived life, new words were added.
• Modern Development: English is now a world language of communication.
• More colloquial and casual style of language reflects major social change.
• Estuary English has become more widespread in the UK.

Question 9

Timeline of English: