EME (little of ME)

Who invaded England in 1066 and where was he from?

William Normandy/Conqueror from Normandy (region in France)

What language did William Normandy bring with him? What did it gradually change into?

Old Norman —> Anglo Norman (dialect of French)

Normans gained higher status roles and power shifted in 1100’s, and so what happened to the Eng Lang?

DIGLOSSIA (language categorized/based on specific role/status)

When DIGLOSSIA occurred English was meant for whom? What about Anglo Norman/French/Latin?

English for informal speech and commoners

Anglo Norman/French/Latin for state and religion

What happened to shift the Eng lang back into the area in and around London? What two languages fused into ME?

Through intermarriage and social interaction of Normans with english

Old English + Norman French —> Middle English

Who established the printing press in England? When and where was it setup?

William Caxton in 1476 London

What was the effect of printing press in England?

Facilitated STANDARDIZATION and printed word accessible to more than just the wealthy

What time period (year range) did EME fall under?

1500-1800s

Why was Shakespeare so unique in the year known as the Golden Age of Literature? What impact did he have on the english language?

He introduced many new words and idioms through published works (He contributed 1.7k words now commonly used!)

What was the title of the dictionary printed in the 1750s? Who is responsible for this dictionary?

Dictionary of the English Language (1755) by Samuel Johnson

Why is the Dictionary of the English Language so important? Provide an example as to why that is

It recorded the inconsistency in terms of Eng at the time

For example, some authors spelled words the same but had diff meanings every time

What were the two grammars discussed? Who wrote them? When were they printed?

1762 Robert Lowth’s A Short Introduction to English Grammar

1794 Lindey Murray’s English Grammar

Why was the era of standardization centered in London? Why is standardization significant to the evolution of the Eng Lang?

In Cambridge/Oxford and it was significant since it captured a more unified system that made printing and communication more consistent

Explain the Great Vowel Shift that continued throughout the ME and EME era. 200 years into EME

Spelling standardized (stuck) due to printing press whilst pronunciation was changing (such as long vowels)

What effect did the Great Vowel Shift have on the english language?

LONG STRESSED VOWELS and articulation position such as house

Why did the effects of Great Vowel Shift occur?

Black Death shrunk populations and so accents mixed

How and when was Great Britain established?

1707 through expansion and colonization

How did the establishment and expansion of the British Empire affect the English language?

Borrowed lang from others, thousands of words from 50+ languages while projecting English throughout the world

Dictionaries fixed word meanings; regional dialect words were reduced.

Lexis and Semantics

Punctuation shifted from “pause marks” to syntactic rules.

Punctuation

Long, complex sentences became shorter and more SVO‑based for clarity.

Clausal Structure (Syntax)

English stopped using “I know not” and standardized “do‑support.”

Negative Constructions (Syntax)

“Thou/thee” disappeared; “you” became the universal second‑person pronoun.

Second-Person Pronouns (syntax)

Third‑person verbs changed from -eth to -s.

Morphology

Early English capitalized many common nouns; standardization limited capitals to proper nouns.

Graphology Capitalizing Nouns

Old texts used a tall “ſ” in the middle of words; modern English dropped it for simplicity.

Graphology Long ‘S’

English spelling became fixed instead of phonetic. Printing + dictionaries locked in standard spellings.

Orthography Spelling Standardization