The Root of English Language - How nowadays English revolted from the prehistoric time? ....

1. The History of
English
Language
Lecturer: John
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Presented by: BUN
Willy

2. Contents
 Before English ( Prehistory – 500 AD)
 Old English (500 – 1100 AD)
 Middle English (1100 – 1500 AD)
 Modern English (1500 – Present)
Early modern (1500 -1800)
Late modern (1800 – present)
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3. BEFORE ENGLISH (Prehistory - c.
500AD)
 Indo-European
◦ Neolithic people known as the Indo-Europeans, who
lived in Eastern Europe and Central Asia (5000 BC)
 Spread of Indo-European Languages
◦ Hellenic, Italic, Indo-Iranian, Celtic, Germanic,
Armenian, Balto-Slavic, Albanian
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4. BEFORE ENGLISH (Prehistory - c.
500AD)
 Germanic
◦ The history really started with the arrival of three
Germanic tribes who invaded Britain (5AD).
◦ These tribes are the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes,
where at that time Britain spoke a Celtic language.
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5. BEFORE ENGLISH (Prehistory - c.
500AD)
◦ But most of the Celtic speakers were pushed west and
north by the invaders (Wales, Scotland and Ireland).
◦ "Englaland“ -> "Englisc" then "England“ -> "English"
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6. OLD ENGLISH (c. 500 - c. 1100)
 The invading Germanic tribes spoke similar
languages, Britain developed -> “Old English.”
 Nevertheless, about half of the most commonly
used words in Modern English have Old English
roots.
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7. Middle English (1100-1500)
 In 1066 William the Conqueror invaded and
conquered England (called the Normans)
Bringing a kind of French.
 linguistic class division,
◦ lower -> English & upper ->French.
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8. Middle English (1100-1500)
 In the 14th century English became dominant in
Britain again, but with many French words
added, and still difficult for native English
speakers to understand today.
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9. Modern English (1500-Present)
 Early Modern English (1500-1800)
 As the end of Middle English, a sudden and
distinct change in pronunciation (the Great
Vowel Shift) started, with vowels being
pronounced shorter and shorter.
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10. Modern English (1500-Present)
 This, and the Renaissance of Classical learning,
meant that many new words and phrases entered
the language.
 The invention of printing books -> more people
read -> brought standardization to English.
 In 1604 the first English dictionary was
published.
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11. Modern English (1500-Present)
 Late Modern English (1800-Present)
 The main difference is vocabulary.
 Two principal factors:
◦ the Industrial Revolution and technology created a
need for new words;
◦ the British Empire at its height covered one quarter of
the earth's surface,
◦ the English language adopted foreign words from
many countries.
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12. References
History of English | EnglishClub. (n.d.). Retrieved
from https://www.englishclub.com/history-
of-english/
The History of English. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://www.thehistoryofenglish.com/history.
html
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13. Thanks for your attention !
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Have a nice day!