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What is English?

A short history of the origins and development of the English language

The history of the English language really started with the arrival of three Germanic tribes whoinvaded Britain during the 5th century AD. These tribes, the Angles, the Saons and the !utes,

crossed the "orth Sea from what today is Denmar# and northern Germany. At that time theinhabitants of Britain s$o#e a %eltic language. But most of the %eltic s$ea#ers were $ushedwest and north by the invaders&mainly into what is now 'ales, Scotland and (reland. TheAngles came from Englaland and their language was called Englisc&from which the wordsEngland and English are derived.

Germanic invaders entered Britain on the east and south coasts in the 5th century.

Old English (450-1100 AD

The invading Germanic tribes s$o#esimilar languages, which in Britaindevelo$ed into what we now call )ldEnglish. )ld English did not sound orloo# li#e English today. "ativeEnglish s$ea#ers now would havegreat difficulty understanding )ldEnglish. "evertheless, about half ofthe most commonly used words in*odern English have )ld Englishroots. The words be, strongandwater, for eam$le, derive from )ldEnglish. )ld English was s$o#en untilaround ++.

-art of Beowulf, a $oem written in )ldEnglish.

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!iddle English (1100-1500

(n + 'illiam the %on/ueror, theDu#e of "ormandy 0$art of modern1rance2, invaded and con/uered

England. The new con/uerors 0calledthe "ormans2 brought with them a#ind of 1rench, which became thelanguage of the 3oyal %ourt, and theruling and business classes. 1or a$eriod there was a #ind of linguisticclass division, where the lowerclasses s$o#e English and the u$$erclasses s$o#e 1rench. (n the +4thcentury English became dominant inBritain again, but with many 1renchwords added. This language is called*iddle English. (t was the language

of the great $oet %haucer 0c+46+42, but it would still be difficultfor native English s$ea#ers tounderstand today.

An eam$le of *iddle English by %haucer.

!odern English

Early !odern English (1500-

1"00

Towards the end of *iddle English, asudden and distinct change in$ronunciation 0the Great 7owel Shift2

started, with vowels being$ronounced shorter and shorter.1rom the +th century the Britishhad contact with many $eo$les fromaround the world. This, and the3enaissance of %lassical learning,meant that many new words and$hrases entered the language. Theinvention of $rinting also meant thatthere was now a common languagein $rint. Boo#s became chea$er andmore $eo$le learned to read.-rinting also brought standardi8ationto English. S$elling and grammarbecame fied, and the dialect of9ondon, where most $ublishinghouses were, became the standard.(n +4 the first English dictionarywas $ublished.

:amlet;s famous

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%arieties of English

1rom around +, the English coloni8ation of "orth America resulted in the creation of adistinct American variety of English. Some English $ronunciations and words

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A *rief hronology of English

B% 55 3oman invasion of Britain by !ulius %aesar.

B% 43oman invasion and occu$ation. Beginning of 3oman rule ofBritain.

4 3oman withdrawal from Britain com$lete.

44 Settlement of Britain by Germanic invaders begins

9ocal inhabitantss$ea# %eltish

4564 Earliest #nown )ld English inscri$tions.

+'illiam the %on/ueror, Du#e of "ormandy, invades andcon/uers England.

)ld English

c++5 Earliest surviving manuscri$ts in *iddle English.

+4English re$laces 9atin as the language of instruction in mostschools.

+CEnglish re$laces 1rench as the language of law. English isused in -arliament for the first time.

c+ %haucer starts writing The Canterbury Tales.

c+4 The Great 7owel Shift begins.

*iddle English

+4 'illiam %aton establishes the first English $rinting $ress.

+54 Sha#es$eare is born.

+4 Table Alphabeticall, the first English dictionary, is $ublished.

+The first $ermanent English settlement in the "ew 'orld0!amestown2 is established.

++ Sha#es$eare dies.

+C Sha#es$eare;s 1irst 1olio is $ublished

+CThe first daily English6language news$a$er, The DailyCourant, is $ublished in 9ondon.

+55 Samuel !ohnson $ublishes his English dictionary.

+Thomas !efferson writes the American Declaration of(nde$endence.

+C Britain abandons its American colonies.

Early *odern English

+C 'ebster $ublishes his American English dictionary.+CC The British Broadcasting %or$oration is founded.

+C The Oxford English Dictionaryis $ublished.

9ate *odern English

O,',. O) E.'#,/ Ada$ted from

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English0++6+45I+52, *odern English 0+56now2. (n some boo#s *odern English is dividedin to two Early modern 0+56+2, 9ate *odern 0+6now2.

O#D E.'#,/

'hen England was established there were several #ingdoms and the most advanced one was"urthumbria. (t was this $eriod that the best of the )ld English literature was written ,

including the e$ic $oem Beowulf

(n the th century "urthumbrian $ower declined , 'est Saons became the leading $ower. Themost famous #ing of the 'est Saons was Alfred the Great. :e founded and establishedschools, translated or caused to be translated many boo#s from 9atin in to English.

After many years of hit6and6run raids between the Euro$ean #ingdoms, the "orseman landedin the year of and later the east coast of the island was "orsemanFs. "orse languageeffected the English considerably. "orse wasnFt so different from English and English $eo$lecould understand "orseman. There were considerable interchanges and word borrowings0s#y,give,law,egg,outlaw,leg,ugly,tal#2. Also borrowed $ronouns li#e they,their,them. (t issu$$osed also that the "orseman influenced the sound structure and the grammar of English.

)ld English had some sound which we donFt #now have now. (n grammar , )ld English wasmuch more highly inflected that *iddle English because there were case endings for nouns,more $erson and number endings of words and a more com$licated $ronoun systems, variousendings for adectives. (n vocabulary )ld English is /uiet different from *iddle English. *ost ofthe )ld English words are native English which werenFt borrowed from other languages. )n theother hand )ld English contains borrowed words coming from "orse and 9atin.

!,DD#E E.'#,/

Between ++6+C many im$ortant changes too# $lace in the structure of English and )ldEnglish became *iddle English. The $olitical event which effected the administration systemand language was the "orman %on/uest. (n + they crossed the %hannel and they became

the master of England. 1or the net several net years ,England was ruled by the #ings whosenative language was 1rench. )n the other hand 1rench couldnFt become the national languagebecause it became the language of the court , nobility, $olite society, literature. But it didnFtre$lace as the language of the $eo$le. English continued to be the national language but itchanged too much after the con/uest.

The sound systemJgrammar wasnFt so effected but vocabulary was effected much. Therewere word related with goverment=$arliment,ta, goverment,maesty> church word= religion,$arson, sermon> words for food! veal, beef, mutton, $each,lemon,cream,biscuit> colors! blue,scarlet, vermilion> household words= curtain, chair,lam$,towel,blan#et> play words!dance,chess,music,leisure,conversation> literary words! story romance, $oet, literary> learnedwords! study, logic grammar,noun,surgeon, anatomy, stomach> ordinary words for all sorts!nice,second,very,age,buc#et, final,gentel, fault, flower,count,sure, move, sur$rise, $lain. 0%lar#,7.-.J Eschhol8, -.A. J3ose ,A.1.> +4>CC 2

*iddle English was still a Germanic language but it is different from )ld English in many ways.Grammar and the sound system changed a good deal. -eo$le started to rely more on wordorder and structure words to e$ress their meaning rather than the use of case system. KThiscan be called as a sim$lification but it is not eactly. 9anguages donFt become sim$ler , theymerely echange one #ind of com$leity for anotherL0 0%lar#, 7.-.J Eschhol8, -.A. J3ose ,A.1.>+4>CC 2

1or us *iddle English is sim$ler that )ld English because it is closer to *odern English.

EA# !ODE. E.'#,/

Between +46+ English underwent a cou$le of sound changes. )ne change was theelimination of a vowel sound in certain unstressed $ositions at the end of the words. Thechange was im$ortant because it effected thousands of words and gave a different as$ect to

the whole language.The other change is what is called the Great 7owel Shift. This was a systematic shifting of half ado8en vowels and di$hthongs in stressed syllables. 1or eam$le the word name had in *iddleEnglish a vowel something li#e that in the modern word father>...etc. The shift effected all the

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words in which these vowels sounds occurred. These two changes $roduced the basicdifferences between *iddle English and *odern English. But there are several otherdevelo$ments that effected the language. )ne was the invention of $rinting. (t was introducedto England by 'illiam %aton in +45. After this boo#s became chea$er and chea$er, more$eo$le learned to read and write and advanced in communication.

The $eriod of Early *odern English was also a $eriod of English 3enaissance, which means thedevelo$ment of the $eo$le. "ew ideas increased. English language had grown as a result of

borrowing words from 1rench, 9atin, Gree#.The greatest writer of the Early *odern English $eriod is Sha#es$eare and the best #nown boo#is the Ming !ones version of the B"B#E

E2E.& DE%E#O$!E.&/

(n order to establish the language they develo$ a dictionary. The first English Dictionary was$ublished in +. Another $roduct of the +th century was the invention of English Grammar.As English is re$laced with 9atin as the language of scholarshi$, it was felt to control thelanguage.

The $eriod where English develo$ed most in the *odern English. (n that $eriod the $eo$les$ea#ing that language increased too much. "ow, English is the greatest language of theworld s$o#en natively and as a second language. 'hat will ha$$en in the future (tFll continueto grow , may be it will be the universal language.

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