Language Change Overview Flashcards
What is the Pre-English English (5th century)
Celtic languages- Celts and Britons dominate.
Latin- lang of gov.
Early Old English (450-850)
A range of Germanic dialects introduced to early settlers- Angles, Jutes, Saxons from Germany, Denmark and Netherlands.
Settle in England, Southern Scotland.
Later Old English (850-1100)
Viking invasions from Scandinavian influence the dialects un the N of E.
King Alfred in the S of E organises the translation of Latin texts into E.
Middle English (1100-1450)
The Norman Conquest of 1066 removed OE as the lang of power and replaced it with Norman French.
England was reduced to the lang of powerless.
Latin lang of church.
Most educated- trilingual- French-Latin-English.
Early Modern History (1450-1750)
The English Renaissance encompassing the Elizabethan Period.
Brian becomes wealthy nation trading overseas and colonising many countries (gained land from Normans)-Eng prestige.
English creoles (mixture of lang) emerge among African slave populations.
Printing-helps standardise.
London English- most prestigious in city-centre of power.
Latin- lang of literature
New words by writers- Shakespeare, Jonson, Marlowe.
1611- King James Bible- English rather than Latin.
Many phrases from his ‘Like a thief in the night’.
Modern English (1750-1950)
The worlds first industrial revolution 1760.
British Empire gains global power, including British education.
The codification of English through dictionaries.
Dr Johnsons A Dictionary go the English language is published 1755.
Loanwords from native lang of British colonies like trek, pyjamas, jungle, pundit.
Late Modern English (1950-now)
British Empire is dismantled.
New forms of SE emerge in previous colonies.
English becomes the global language of the technological revolution.
New words created die to technology: engine, computer, internet, iPad, dash, snapchat.
