2. • 1500-1700 : Migration to large cities
gave a new vocabulary
• Freedom of ideas needed names, e.g.
“Humanism” & “Nature philosophy”
got a major comeback
• A Bible in English gave a wider
discussion about a standardised
language
• Scientific texts, mostly in Latin and
some in English gave a new Lat./Eng.
Jargon
• English spared to Wales, Scotland

3. • Now everybody spoke English – Church, Queen and people
• Latin worked as a status divider in society – Latin became a University
language
• It was now used to explain new concepts and techniques rather than
damnation and religious dogmas as the Church of England went with
English
Elizabeth I took an interest
in both culture and language
and though that the best
way to unite a country was
through language

4. • Debate between scholars regarding loan
words vs. created words started during the
17th century. A never-ending discussion
concerning whether to protect or advance a
language started.
• The first dictionary was about the ordinary
people understanding the words that the
educated scholars used. Not every word
used in the English language
• Scholars started writing ”higher” literature to
go with their new scientific language. Not
really research papers but literature to
satify the learned

5. • Spelling changed more and more from Old English to the
present
• Still displaying variation (English is still not yet uniform)
• Style came in more and more, e.g. Capital letters are
being used more frequently
• Grammar became more standardiced;
The structure of the sentences changed, modern English has
a subject-verb-object structure, old and middle english had a
reversed structure: ferde he (he traveled)…Not that there
was one way to actually spell something or say something

6. • The most dramatic change from old/middle english to modern
english are the words that have been borrowed from Arabic,
Turkish, Spanish, Italian and Chinese. Thank you colonialism
and curious people
• Other words have ceased to exist since we no longer need them.
• Broadening started to happen, which is a process that describes
how a word’s meaning is stretched;
Holy day -> holiday
• Narrowing also happened, which describes the opposite;
Wife was used for all women, where as
in
in modern English it is only used for
married women.
Vocabulary

7. • New words were also invented, such as:
education, animate and persist
• – all from Shakespeare
• Early forms of slang came: doxy for a
woman of the street , prig – thief,
fokkinge, krappe and bugger
• All brought by sailors
• Development of language goes hand in
hand with political status as England
wanted to measure up to Spain and
France.
• So naming things with English words rather
than French or Latin became important

8. • Some sounds simply disappeared from the pronunciation
of certain words; gnaw, Knight (the silant G and K)
• Some words were changed through a shift of a sound
within the word, frist -> first
• The Great Vowel Shift – style even took over sounds
as double vowel sounds becomes longer
Feet (Fet) – became feet
Boot (Bot) – boot
http://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/linguistics/pat
hs.jsp

9. • The language we use today was overall completed during the
18th and 19th century
• Internal changes within language slowed down and new
external influences came from the colonies.
• Linguists searched for stability, correctness and
standardisation
• The enlightenment brought new words such as: colonist,
idealist
• In post revolution literature Romanticism brought us words like:
colonial, hysteria, phobia
• Industrial Revolution needed machines, tools, and specific
labour named. The most common new words were:
• Steam engine, sewing machine, camera, mines lamp, stethoscope,

10. • Pidgin English becomes recognised as actual versions of the
language during the second half of the 19th century
• During the 20th century linguists started to study the varieties and
established that:
• Pidgin English is a trade language built around slang (vocabulary, broken
grammar)
• Creole English is a complete language like American English or Australian
English (vocabulary, grammar, spelling)
• The most common creole and pidgin variations are:
• Jamaican & Hawaiian
• Every since 1970 Linguists have moved from the study of
standardisation and correctness to
dialects/sociolects/pidgin/creole
• These varieties have also come to fascinate writers as well and
some of the best loved novels and films contains these varieties.

11. • Can you come to think of any books and films
with a dialect/sociolect/pidgin/creole?