The history of English Flashcards
What were the main 3 invasions that developed the english dialect?
Germanic, Viking, Norman
When did these three groups arrive in england?
5th century AD
which four groups came from northern germany
Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Frisians
what was previously spoken in the british isles?
Celtic
Where does the word English derive from?
The angles were named from engle, their language was called englisc which is where english comes from.
How long was old english around for?
until 11th century AD
what did the vocabulary of old english consist of?
an anglo saxon base with words borrowed from scandanavian languages + latin
why did old english end?
it could be said that old english ended due to the Norman conquest and the battle of Hastings
how does warfare help build english?
Giving us new terms and creating social and cultural links
what morphology was caused through the british arriving in different countries?
Borrowing
What was the first infection and when was it around?
The plague of Justinian which was during 541-549 AD
what was english during ancient time?
A backwater province of the crumbling roman empire
What aided to the massive cultural shift in the british isles?
The decimation of native population by the plague of justinian
How did the anglo saxons further colonise the british isles?
The native british were affected by the plague.
Did the anglo saxons trade with Europe during this time?
No, they provided for themselves through farming.
When did William the conquerer invade England?
1066
until the arrival of the black death, what was the language used by the english courts, the english kings and the english laws?
French
How much of English’s population died due to the black death?
About a quarter
Why did french die out in england?
An insufficient number of speakers
What is the significance on the black death of the english language?
King Edward proclaiming that courts would be in english and Englishmen climbing further up the social ranks.
What were the significant transitions between english and their time periods?
600-1000 AD = Old english
1100-1400 AD = Middle English
1500-1750 AD = Early Modern English
1750-present = Modern English
What was different to Old English compared to the other english periods
Old english had flexible syntax due to having multiple verbs, nouns and inflections.
What is the most famous literary work in old English?
A piece by Beowulf, Composed between the 8th and 10th century AD
Who was the most famous literary creator in Middle English?
Chaucer
What did the english language gain during the period of Early Modern English?
Ten thousand words from greek and latin and the standardisation of english.
Why is wuthering heights by emily bronte a notable literary work?
Because she was the first author to have proper dialect in her story.
What did modern english give to the english language since 1900?
Many more words: Especially for science and technology
What did the printing press do to change english?
Gave the motivation for a single english standard to occur
Mass communication
More people could own books
What did the dictionary do for english?
Cemented standardisation
What did the typewriter bring to English?
Speed and allowed individual ownership
What did the internet do for english?
Global communication
Widespread of english
changes in communicative rules
effect on language standards
significant social change
What are cognates?
Words similar in form and meaning because they’re historically related
What is the comparative method and how is it used?
The comparative method is used by etymologists to study words from different languages to see if they are cognates by comparing them with each other.
What is PIE?
Proto-indo european, the language tree
What is etymology?
The history of words, when they entered a language, their source and their form.
What are the 2 main methods that etymologists use when studying language?
The comparative method and philology
What is false etymology?
Etymology that isn’t true
What was the great vowel shift and what did it do?
The great vowel shift was a sound change that affected all the long vowels of english? It happened in 8 stages. The vowels shifted upwards in the mouth and moved the rest up too. If there was nowhere for the vowel to move “up” to, it became a diphthong
What was the first germanic sound change/Grimms law?
Voiceless alveolar fricatives became voiceless alveolar stops.
