English Lang-Change-Periods

Historical events and dates, plus descriptions of how they affected language

Norman Conquest

1066, caused a third of the English Language to be derived from French

Black Death

1300s, new medical terms required, increase in these terms in the language

Great Vowel Shift

1400-1700, caused change in pronunciation of vowels in language.

Caxton’s printing press

1476, first official printing method, printed 100s of books such as ‘the death of Arthur’.

100 years war

1337-1453, caused ‘middle english’ to become the official language.

Colonialism of Ireland and America

16th-17th century, introduced words from Irish etc

Renaissance art and literature

16th-17th century, playwrights such as Shakespeare and Milton introduced 1000s of new words to the english language, introduced some latin and greek terms.

Inkhorn controversy

16th century, criticisms of playwrights and how they were ‘damaging’ the english language.

Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary

1755, standardised english language.

Lowth’s grammar books

1762, standardised a set of rules for english language.

Webster’s American English Dictionary

Gave rise to american english.

Industrial Revolution

1760, introduced industrial terms to english language.

Colonialism of British Empire

1922, peak, introduced words from all over the world into english.

Scientific Revolution

1543, introduced scientific terms into the english language.

BBC with recieved pronunciation

1922, allowed for national demonstration of standard english.

Invention of internet by Tim Berners-Lee

1983, introduced abbreviations and technological terms.

Immigration/commonwealth

1949, introduced words into language from other cultures.

Americanisation

1828 onwards, hollywood, etc, expanded american pronunciations/spelling.