How Has English Language Changed Flashcards
Graphology
The writing system of a language, as well as other visual elements on the page.
Grammar
The rules for organising meaning in a language. Syntax is part of grammar.
Orthography
The part of language concerned with letters and spelling.
Phonology
The pronunciation and sound patterns which affect understanding of words.
Pragmatics
How the context in which words and phrases are used affects their meaning.
Morphology
The structure of words with their meaning.
Lexis
The lexis of language.
Semantics
The meaning of words.
Syntax
The order of words in a sentence.
Old English - dates and key events
700-1100
Roman invasion of England brought
Latin lexis.
Invasion of West Germanic tribes
(Jutes, Angles and Saxons) –
Germanic influence on the
language.
Old English – the merging of dialects
of the various invading tribes
including the Vikings and Norse.
King Alfred the Great defeated the
Vikings in 784 CE – after which
Anglo-Saxon dominated.
Middle English - dates and key events
1100 -1500
1066 – William of Normandy
conquered England.
French became the language of the
ruling classes.
Old English only survived among the
peasantry.
10,000 French words entered the
English language
Middle English is a fusion of
Norman French and Old English.
The French became disconnected
from Normandy and the London
dialect of Middle English prevailed.
This is represented by Chaucer’s
Canterbury Tales.
Early Modern English - dates and key events
1500 - 1800
This period was influenced by the
following:
The invention of Caxton’s printing
press.
The Renaissance – interest in
Classical Greek and Latin.
Developments in medicine.
Developments in the arts
Exploration and travel – including to
America.
Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary 1755
Late Modern English - dates and key events
1800 - present
This period was influenced by the
following:
Colonialism and empire building
The industrial revolution
The Great Vowel Shift
Where the pronunciation of vowels –
particularly long vowels changed.
This lasted for several hundred years
starting in 1350.
As a result in the GVS, many words are
now pronounced differently to how
they are spelt.
E.g before the GVS, ‘boots’ sounded like
‘boats;’ ‘feet’ sounded like ‘fate.’
Shakespeare’s innovations in lexis and grammar (neologism/ affixation/ compounding)
Famed for inventing many new
words (neologisms)/ idioms.
Thought to have created 1700 new
words.
He used affixation (unlock/ unhand)
Compounding (birthplace/
bloodstained)
Conversion – shelter (noun) to
ensheltered (verb)
The King James Bible
1611
Before this, religious texts had been
written in Latin.
Uses the long ‘s’
Uses many archaisms.
Uses grammatical structures that
elsewhere were falling out of use:
Irregular verbs are found in their
archaid forms e.g. digged (for dug.)
Ye was still being used as the
second person pronoun instead of
‘you’ which was becoming more
popular.
Changes in use of pronouns between the early modern and late modern periods
Thou/ thee /ye become you.
Thy/ thine become your/your.
Thou and ye distinguished social
class.
Thou = more informal form of
address and also used for social
inferiors.
Loan words
Introduction of specific words/
constructions/ morphological elements
from one language to another. (e.g.
‘table’ from French.)
Examples of spellings in the early modern period
u/v used interchangeably.
i/y used interchangeably.
J was an extended form of i.
Final silent ‘e’ on words.
Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary
1755.
Johnson was initially a prescriptivist
– sets out to fix language.
His dictionary of the English
Language was considered to be a
pre-eminent work of reference.
Johnson later sees the difficulty in
‘fixing’ language – moves from a
prescriptivist to descriptivist stance.
Changes in spellings in the late modern period
U came to represent a vowel, v
came to represent a consonant.
There was increased use of the
double vowel convention in words
like ‘soon.’
