The document summarizes the history of the English language in 3 periods: Old English (600-1100 AD), Middle English (1100-1500 AD), and Modern English (1500 onwards). It describes how the language evolved from Old English brought by Anglo-Saxons, to Middle English which saw influence from Norman French after the 1066 Norman invasion, to Modern English which was further influenced by the Renaissance, translations of the Bible, and invention of the printing press. The language transitioned from a mixture of dialects to a more standardized form of English over these periods.
2. General Introduction
History of English Language
can be divided into three main
stages in its development.
The Old-
English
Period (A.D.
600 to 1100)
The Middle
English
Period (1100
to 1500)
The Modern
English
Period (1500
onwards)
3. Any of these years there was not a sudden or rapid change.
Because we all are unaware of the changes in our language.
The reason of all these things are that Language is
evolutionary, not static
For the sake of convenience, Historians of the Language has
to erect landmark somewhere and the Dates or Years chosen
are not altogether arbitrary.
4. Where did the English we speak
today come from ?
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5. Old-English or
Anglo-Saxon
Period(600-
1100)
By 600, the invading tribes
Angles and Saxons had
succeeded to establish Power and
implanting their language in
Britain. For that reason this
formate the suitable starting
point.
6.
7. • Their tongue was Celtic, which had
relation with Norman France
Britons
• Latin elements
Romans
• Came from North Germany, their
language became the language of
Britain.
Angles and Saxons
8. Anglo-Saxon Language
Old English or Anglo Saxon was not a single homogeneous language. West
Saxon dialect become the most important for two main reasons.,
1. It was the highly civilized Kingdom and was the first that attained political
unity with a fairly ordered system of government.
2. Most of the literature of the period was written in the Wessex dialect. The
main works which survives today are Beowulf, translation of religious
books and Anglo-Saxon chronicles.
The English of today is descended the language of Wessex. It also traces
other dialects. Their chief legacy to us is the existence of doublets, means
two words that differs in meaning but has same origin.
For instance, Whole and Hale both have same origin of the word "hal".
9. Danish and
Norse
elements
Invasion of Danes towards the end of the
8th century.
During this time
Norse invaders attacked and
plundered East coast and established a
few settlements.
Due to Treaty of Wedmore in
878,England divided into two parts.
I. Southern part – Danes territory
II. Northern part – Saxon territory
In 1017, Danish king sat on the English
Throne
10. Places names: Termination of Place names by –toft, -by, thwaite, and –
thrope. For example, Whitsby, Lowestoft, Slaithwaite, Northorpe, etc.
The introduction of new words: The word 'Flit' is a Danish word, 'get' and
'take' are of Norse origin.
Modification of existing language: The Norse influence upon
the native tongue in the direction of a modification of pronunciation.
Like, c-k, k,g,y, etc.
The influence of these events upon Anglo-Saxon Language present three
directions,
11. English language despite of all its borrowings and all the foreign influence, is
predominantly Anglo-Saxon in character. Generally the Saxon words in a language
come very near to our daily life and concern some of the most common and
essential things of existence as well as the most elementary occupation and the
more obvious natural phenomena.
Like the closer family relationship like, father, mother, brother, etc. Existed in old
English and have handed down to the present day.
The names of most of our staple food like, bread, butter, milk, meat etc.
House and home are of native origin.
12. The Middle
English
Period (1100-
1500)
In 1066, there was Norman invasion and
conquest. By 1100 the Normans had
strengthen their power and their language
was beginning to influence the native Saxon
tongue.
13.
14. Salient features:
The conquest of England by William of Normandy.
English became hybrid Language, sprinkling Celtic, Latin and Danish words,
Now with Norman and French also.
The influence of Norman began in the time of Athelred, who married a French
princess. His son brought up in France, who reigned in England from 1042
to 1066. He also spent 25 years of his life in Normandy. That's why Norman-
Frech have spoken in England from 1042 onwards.
William of Normandy was not an oppressive ruler, as it was believed. There is
no evidence that he had attempted to interfere with Language.
Aa a result, English and Norman-French words spoken side by side.
This mixture of two languages are known as the Middle English.
But the language was Saxon predominantly. It was only spoken by the ruling
class. But the native language started to absorb words from Norman-French.
15. Chief reasons of its continuity
1. The Natural process and inevitable intercourse between the two sections of
community.
2. Intermarriage between them.
In 1362, French became language of the law court.
Just same as Anglo-Saxon times, the dialect of Wessex attended to the position of
a kind of standard, so gradually one dialect came to occupy the similar position in
English, namely that of the East Midlands. The chief reasons of the spreading of
this dialect is.,
i. East Midland language spoken in and around London which was centre of
English life.
ii. Oxford and Cambridge also use it; hence it becomes the language of scholarship.
Caxton printed his earliest book in this dialect.
So, by 1450 English had become synonyms with East Midland.
16. The Modern
English
Period (1500
onwards)
The final stage in the history of the
development English language is the period
of modern English from 1500 onwards. 1500
marks a similar turning point because of
Renaissance. It alters the character of English
Church and the establishment of Tudor
dynasty which made England a nation in a
real sense.
17.
18. The chief points
Renaissance scholarship
The religious controversies arising out of the reformation
The various translations of the Bible
The efflorescence of literature towards the end of the 16th
century
The emergence of national consciousness
The discoveries of new lands by navigators
Opening of trade
The invention of printing
19. How the Renaissance had started?
In 1453 Constantinople, the seat of European learning, fell to the Turk. The scholars fled to
Western Europe, bringing with them as much of their libraries as they could manage to
rescue and transport. They settled at first mainly in Germany and Italy and started the
intellectual awakening of Europe which has come to be known as the Renaissance.
The flood of the new learning reached England about the year 1500
As to concern with language, development would have taken place without the impact of The
Renaissance. But the new scholarship and all that is implied did produce new forces and add
new words to the vocabulary.
Classical Renaissance and mainly a Latin one, which had chief effect upon our vocabulary.
We can see many English words of Latin origin or from Latin roots. It existed in middle
English via French. Latin had not entirely unknown to the clergy and To The monk. It had
very large part of church service and used for a number of medieval religious treaties and
had very little direct effect upon the native tongue. For example word like., Confession,
honour, melody, etc.
20. Though Renaissance was primarily religious and political, it had effect upon the
language as well.
The bitter religious controversies produced numerous words and gained permanent
niche in the vocabulary.
The Translation of Bible
A very important outcome of the reformation was the various English translation of the
Bible, the chief being Tyndale’s in 1526, and more important, the authorised version in 1611.
It led a strong influence on the style of writings which played a definite part to shaping the
new literary language. The translators adopted native words.
It has provided new words, which was originated by classical scholars.
21. The invention of Printing press
The invention of printing was bound to have a far-reaching effect the development of the
language. Three aspects of it is noticed here.,
1. It tended to establish a standard language and discredit dialect. Each dialect had it on
literature. Printing altered this and henceforth dialects board the brand of inferiority, and
though they continued to be spoken they fell out of literary use.
2.
2. It served to popularise and give currency to new coinages and newly introduced words.
3. It tended to fix spellings. The publication of Johnson’s dictionary, what’s the really
decision factor. He Managed to impose some kind of standardisation and to reduce the
former chaos. But in doing this he was indirectly responsible for the differences
between spelling and pronunciation. The spelling was more or less fixed by the end of
15th or the beginning of the sixteenth century, but the pronunciation has been constantly
changing.
22. Work cited
Wood, Frederick T. An Outline History of the English Language.
Macmillan Publishers India Limited, 2000.
