Language Change Flashcards
Early English
Anglo-Saxon language for spoken
Latin used for written/religious context & language of power
Roman conquest
EE- 55BC
Roman General - Caesar invades Britain
Latin language enters
Celtic pushed out (Irish, Welsh, Cornish, Scottish)
EE- 597AD
Saint Augustine arrives in Britain
beginning of of Christian conversion of Anglo-Saxon (no more Roman Gods)
‘Christianity born’
‘Roman Catholics’
Everything is written in Latin, church speaks Latin
Words- angel, bishop, chalice, beacon are from what origin?
Latin
Middle English
Norman French was language of Nobles- language of government/administration
Latin is still used in religion
Anglo Saxon spoken only by peasants
ME- 1066
Battle of Hastings /Norman conquest
William conqueror - king of England
French language from Normandy
Language of power & administration
ME- 1384
John Wycliffe
Publishes English translation of ‘the bible’
ME- 1385
English replaces Latin as main language in schools (except oxford & Cambridge)
ME- 1450
The great vowel shift
Change in pronunciation of English
Before it was Latin influenced - sheep sounded like shape
Long vowels changed pronunciation
ME- 1476
William Caxton
Establishes first English Printing Press - copies of text
Early Modern English
English spoken throughout England except Western Cornwall
Also known as the “Renaissance”
EME- 1500
Start of English Renaissance
EME- 1590
William Shakespeare writes his first plays
He invented over 1700 of our common words by changing nouns into verbs
New rules for spelling & word order
EME- 1619
Slavery in America - aid production of tobacco
African slaves forced to give up their several African languages and were spoken to in only English
Creole and languages developed, some of which variants of spoken English today - Jamaican
The standardisation of English
Industrial revolution- effect on socio-economic, cultural traditions of England Social class was a concern - language used as a marker for social identity
Extensive borrowings from around the world e.g. Spanish and Portuguese
Lexicon expanded & started the concern that language was moving too quickly & language needed to be fixed
Emergence of “prescriptivist” ideas - development of dictionary and grammar guides to establish a form of ‘correct’ English
SE- 1755
Samuel Johnson publishes his “dictionary of the English language”
SE- 1750
Industrial revolution
SE- 1762
Bishop Robert Lowth publishes his “short introduction to English Grammar”
First book of grammar
Lindly Murray developed it
Teachers start using it in the classroom
SE- 1788
Noah Webster publishes
“The American spelling book”
Change British spellings of words
Argued - words alike, e.g nouns and their derivatives should be spelled alike
British Empire
Expansion of the British Empire - lead to occupying quarter of the earth’s surface
Brought the English language to several countries and parts of the world which are still English speaking today
BE- 1884
New English Dictionary
Oxford Dictionary
BE- 1896
The Daily Mail first published
Present Day English
English language today is changing. The internet and social networking have led to influence of technological neologisms
PDE- 1922
BBC founded
RP English, queens English invented
Went to all countries
PDE- 1947
Mass immigration from West Indies
Emigration, they were British citizens ( when India Pakistan gain independence from B)
Beginning of multi-culturalism in England, emergence of MLE & standard form
PDE-1990
Tim Berners-Lee
Invented the World Wide Web
PDE- 2004
Facebook founded by Mark Zuckerberg
Beginning of epidemic social networking
Words - parliament, beef, lieutenant are from what origin?
French
