Historical Language Change Flashcards
What time period was Old English
450- 1100
What words from Celtic language survived in modern English (2)
Crag- rock, combe- valley
Which place names come from Anglo- Saxon
London, Thames, East Anglia
What important modern words originate from Old English
In, on, drink
Which modern English words come from Latin
Altar, mass, monk
How did Old English develop
Through writing
What is Beowulf
The first poem in the English language
What was the language of the Vikings?
Old Norse
What is Danelaw
North and Eastern England was to be ran by the Danes
How did Old Norse influence English in terms of place names and surnames
-by= farm, -thorpe= village
Which words did English borrow from Old Norse
beck- stream, ský- sky
How did Old Norse simplify English grammar
Endings for articles and pronouns
When was Middle English time period
1100-1450
Why did English get relegated to the language of the illiterate
Due to England being taken over by the French in 1066 as French was used in government, law and became the language of power and authority
How many words were implemented into the Middle English language
10,000 words
How did English regain prestige in the Middle English time period
Due to the Black Death wiping away half of the English population. There were serious labour shortages and the importance of the English speaking working class increased. It then all increased which later lead to the French king speaking English and Middle English becoming a blend of Old English and French.
What words sat aside with their French counterparts
begin with commence, want with desire, behead with decapitate
When was the Early Modern English period
1450-1750
When were thou, thy, ye pronouns used
Early Modern English
When were 2nd person ending -est and 3rd person ending -eth used
Early Modern English
What was the word order in Early Modern English
VSO (Verb, Subject, Object)
How did trade affect the English Language
10,000-12,000 new words were introduced
How many languages passed words into Engish during Early Modern English
50
What aspects of life did Latin and Greek words describe
Religion, philosophy, scholarship, medicine and technology
Why is standard English important (2)
To guarantee intelligibility and allows people from all over the world to communicate as there is a mutual ground
What was Chancery Standard
An agreed form of English adopted by bureaucrats, the first attempt to create a single code of English and was based on the East Midlands dialect with a few Northern pronouns
What was Caxton’s printing press
When Caxton brought the printing invention from Mainz to Westminister in 1476 and printed the first book in England called Canterbury tales in his own East Midlands dialects. The printing allowed his dialect of English to spread across the country.
