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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.
Note 
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