History of English Language

Beginning of English

The arrival Angles, Saxons and Jutes on the shores of England sometime in the sixth century

Borrowed Words/Loan Words 

Words adopted by one language from another language

Language Family English is apart of

Indo-European Languages, Germanic Languages, West Germanic Languages

Indo-European Languages

Languages in the large geographical area spanning from India and Iran across to most of Europe and parts of Central Asia, which originated from the Proto-Indo-European language, spoken around 6,000 years ago.

Germanic languages

A branch of the Indo-European language from the Proto-Germanic language around the German region

West Germanic Languages

Largest branch of the Germanic language

Years of Old English

450 CE –1100 CE

Years of Middle English

1100 CE –1500 CE

Years of Early Modern English

1500 CE –1800 CE

Years of Late Modern English

From 1800 CE onwards

Anglo-Saxon

A Germanic inhabitant of England between the 5th century and the Norman Conquest

Norman Conquest

The military invasion and occupation of England by William the Conqueror, the Duke of Normandy, in 1066, which replaced the Anglo-Saxon ruling class with Norman elites and profoundly changed England's political, social, and linguistic landscape

Marking of Middle English

Norman Conquest in 1066 AD

William Shakespeare

English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language who introduced around 1000 words

King James Bible Influence

Spreaded literacy by making scripture accessible in English, and serving as a central text for Protestant Christianity for centuries

Marking of Modern English

Printing press by William Caxton in 1476 and the Great Vowel Shift, a series of pronunciation changes that occurred between the 15th and 17th centuries

Standardisation

The process of establishing a common, uniform set of rules for spelling, grammar, and vocabulary to promote clarity and consistency in communication

Coined

Invented new word or phrase

Main 4 Influences on English Language

Latin, Fresh/Anglo-Norman/Germanic (Old English, Old Norse, Old Dutch, etc) and Greek

The Great Vowel Shift

A series of systematic changes to the pronunciation of long vowels in English, occurring from approximately the 1400s to the 1700s

King James’ Bible

First English translation authorised by a church

Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary

The first English dictionary of real substance and authority in 1755 CE.

Vikings Main Language 

Old Norse 

Metonymy

Referring to an object or an idea not by its name but by something to which it is closely associated. Most metonymies are so common we never notice them.

Eg. ‘Tongue’ instead of ‘speech’

Kenning

A play on words that replaces a single-word noun with a figurative phrase (usually two words)

Eg. ‘Bone-house’ instead of ‘body’.

‘Cancer-stick’ instead of ‘cigarette’

Beowulf

Oldest preserved writing in Anglo-Saxon/Old English produced between the 8th and 10th century

Renaissance

The revival of European art and literature under the influence of classical models in the 14th–16th centuries

Derivatives

Words made based of other words

Electric from electricity

Reasons for Change in English Language

Science

Discoveries

Etymology

Exploration 

Location 

Communication 

Culture

Location

Conquests

People

Colonisation

Religion

Events

History

Social Media

Globalisation

The process of developing international influence or start operating on an international scale

Colonisation

The action or process of settling among and establishing control over the Indigenous people of an area

Dialect

A particular form of a language which is peculiar to a specific region or social group

Neologism

A newly coined word or expression

Portmanteau

A word blending the sounds and combining the meanings of two others, for example motel or brunch

Abbreviation

A shortened form of a word or phrase

Lingo

A foreign language or local dialect

Codification

The action or process of arranging laws or rules according to a system

Printing Press

A mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium to mass produce text

Oxford Dictionary

The principal historical dictionary of the English language

Wokeness

a) To be aware, alert, engaged and informed about a social issue and systems

b) A derogatory insult calling someone or a group, insincere, overly sensitive or misguided in politics

Pejorative

Word sifting to be more negative

Grammar Nazi

Someone who regularly corrects minor mistakes in grammar, punctuation or spelling

Algospeech

Coded words to avoid moderation algorithms

Prescriptive

To impose

Descriptive

To describe

Descriptivism

The study of language as it is actually used, without judgment

Prescriptivism

The practice of enforcing rules for how language should be used