The history of the English language
How did English evolve?
Where did English come from?
Interesting facts
English is a West Germanic language first spoken in early medieval England, which eventually became the leading language of international discourse in the 21st century.
English is the largest language by number of speakers
English is the most widely learned second language
English has developed over the course of more than 1,400 years
There are 7,117 living human languages in 142 language families.
But there are dead languages and extinct languages.
A dead language – it is no longer a native language in any communities, but it still can be used.
An extinct language – no longer has any speakers (especially young speakers), especially if the language has no living descendants. But old people can use.
Living human languages is currently used for communication of a group of people.
English Today
“Global English” will develop in the future but still there will be native languages.
Americanisation of English, all business is done in American English. British variant is popular in academic spheres (science). American English is for technology and business.
English will become simpler and more comfortable for others. Now we use emogies, short forms of words. The tenses will be less.
ENGLISH TODAY is the language of technology, the language of jargon and slang. It is widely used and is spoken everywhere.
Modern English
In Middle English people who lived on today’s territory of UK. They were possible to write some documents, had some poetry, had the court, parliament, some royalty and peasants. Because of that some other influence brought the next period – EARLY MODERN ENGLISH. It is absolutely understandable. It is easy to read. Great Vowel Shift - Большой Сдвиг Гласных – will learn about changes in phonetics. English Renaissance – it is about the culture, literature, poetry, stylistics, intercultural communication. At that time sailing was introduced – sailing started in the UK. International trade was introduced. Because of this influence we got the other period, the language changed into LATE MODERN PERIOD. It is almost the same as today’s, absolutely understandable, that is more literate, it is more used in literature. That is interesting to study, it is very lively and pride. Not a lot of people speak it, and it is sophisticated and refined (утонченный, изысканный) – maybe prime ministers or presidents – the language of aristocracy.
Late Modern English (1800-Present)
The main difference between Early Modern English and Late Modern English is vocabulary. Late Modern English has many more words, arising from two principal factors: firstly, the Industrial Revolution and technology created a need for new words; secondly, the British Empire at its height covered one quarter of the earth's surface, and the English language adopted foreign words from many countries.
Early Modern English (1500-1800)
Towards the end of Middle English, a sudden and distinct change in pronunciation (the Great Vowel Shift) started, with vowels being pronounced shorter and shorter. From the 16th century the British had contact with many peoples from around the world.
This, and the Renaissance of Classical learning, meant that many new words and phrases entered the language. The invention of printing also meant that there was now a common language in print. Books became cheaper and more people learned to read. Printing also brought standardization to English. Spelling and grammar became fixed, and the dialect of London, where most publishing houses were, became the standard. In 1604 the first English dictionary was published.
The Age of the Dictionary - The History of English
The Printing Press
Middle English
In 1066 William the Conqueror, the Duke of Normandy (part of modern France), invaded and conquered England. The Normans brought with them a kind of French – Old French, which became the language of the Royal Court, and the ruling and business classes. For a period, there was a kind of linguistic class division, where the lower classes spoke English and the upper classes spoke French.
This mixture of Anglo-Saxon language and Old French is called MIDDLE ENGLISH. A lot of synonyms appeared.
In Middle English people who lived on today’s territory of UK were possible to write some documents, had some poetry, had the court, parliament, some royalty and peasants. That is difficult to read but it is quite understandable.
There were some periods within Middle English period
In the 14th century English (Anglo-Saxon language) became dominant in Britain again, but with many French words added. This mixture of Anglo-Saxon language and Old French is called MIDDLE ENGLISH. LATE MIDDLE English was the language of the great poet Chaucer (c1340-1400). It is claimed that his poems made the most important role for the English language.
In the LATE MIDDLE language was formed as we understand it now. Almost the same pronunciation and writing as we know today.
Geoffrey Chaucer
MIDDLE ENGLISH was the language of the great poet Chaucer (c1340-1400).
It appeared that Chaucer at that time was a clerk in a court and he had some other clerks that worked for him. They knew absolutely perfectly 2 languages – French and Anglo-Saxon. Because in a court they have to solve problems for both classes – upper and lower – royalty and peasants. They mixed these 2 languages together.
Chaucer started developing and promoting this mixture English. He is famous for Contemporary tales that was written on this mixture of English and French.
Everything you need to know to read “The Canterbury Tales”
In EARLY MIDDLE ENGLISH (11-13 century) – English Grammar appeared (Syntax requirements). The first Syntax rule appeared to create well-formed sentences in language.
Old English
It is claimed that 15% of Old English is presented in the modern English. They formed the basics of the language.
Examples of words derive from Old English include the natural world (earth, sea, wind, fire, water; sun, moon, star); people (man, woman, child, father, mother, brother, daughter); the body (hand, arm, elbow, finger, foot, nose, mouth); and other basic concepts such as food, drink; heaven, hell; friend, neighbour; love, good, evil; hot, cold; after, over, under.
Then some tribes (the Angles, the Saxons, the Jutes) came to the territory of today’s UK and conquered it. At that time the inhabitants of Britain (native Britains) spoke a Celtic language. But most of them were pushed west and north - mainly into what is now Wales, Scotland and Ireland. Because of that we can say that Ireland is more Celtic. The tribes have brought their language – the Saxon language.
However, it is not possible to save the language when you come to another territory. They have picked up from each other some dialect that is a mixture of the languages of the Angles, the Saxons, the Jutes became THE ANGLO-SAXON language or OLD ENGLISH.
Old English can be subdivided into 3 subperiods
Late Old English (10-11 century) - The late old English was brought by the Norman invasion of England. A lot of French words began to appear alongside with English words of the same meaning.
Because of that English is known as language of synonyms; both words that mean the same thing in Norman (proto language for French) and English assimilated / stayed in the language.
The Norman language was the established language for literature, politics, law, royalty. But the early (celtic) English was used by peasants (poor). Because of that there is difference in synonyms which was used by upper class and lower class.
Early Old English (7-10 century) - The first poem – Beowulf - was written. It has a little more than 3000 lines. The plot is simple – the hero fighting battles. From this period, we have the first written evidence.
Beowulf poem
Prehistoric period (5-7 century) can be described without documents, literature. Sometimes it is called literature and document LESS. Nothing was available. Everything that was not connected to Jesus Christ was forbidden. But people needed to communicate – they invented the alphabet
Indo-European
That was a primitive language. People didn’t have any documents, artefacts that can prove the deepness or idea of using this proto-language. However, at the same time scientists claim that was the proto-language for people who lived in that areas.
