Evolution of English Language from Anglo-Saxon to Post-Modern Times

Evolution of English Language

Varieties of Language

  • Varieties of language are the differences in the systems of a language that emerge from social, historical, geographic, and other changes.

  • A language variety is defined as “a system of linguistic expression whose use is governed by situational variables”.

Three Periods of English Language History

  • The history of the English language is divided into three periods for the discussion of evolution:

    • Old Period

    • Middle Period

    • Modern Period

Old English Period

  • The Old English period began with the arrival of settlers from West Germanic in southern Britain.

  • These settlers brought varieties of languages that can produce modern Dutch, Frisian, and German languages.

Middle English Period

  • Grammatical changes occurred in the 11th and 14th centuries.

  • Changes also occurred in the syllabus of pronunciation, mainly at the end of words.

Modern English Period

  • The modern period of English is marked by the introduction of printing at the end of the 15th century.

  • This developed a variety of the English language.

Current Scenario

  • English is an essential global language.

  • It continues to change linguistically in both non-standard and standard varieties.

  • Modern technologies of communication and contact with other languages play a role in this evolution.

  • The lecture aims to trace the evolution of English from old times to post-modern times.

Three Phases of English Language

  1. Old English: Influenced by German tribes from 450 AD.

  2. Middle English: Developed under the influence of French after 1066 AD.

  3. Modern English: Developed around 1500 AD and is spoken nowadays.

Pronunciation

  • Old English: Had some silent letters; for example, in “sēċean,” the “c” is not pronounced (pronounced as “seek”).

  • Middle English: All written letters were pronounced.

  • Modern English: Some letters are not pronounced; for example, the “K” in “knight” is silent.

Sentence Structure

  • Old English: Word order and sentence structure were relatively free.

  • Middle English: Adopted a subject-verb-object structure, similar to modern English.

  • Modern English: Follows the subject-verb-object sentence structure.

Pronouns

  • Old English: Exhibited a variety of pronouns for the same pronoun in the same case (e.g., “þē, þeċ” for “You” in the accusative case).

  • Middle English: Showed a variety of pronouns for the same pronoun in the same case (e.g., “hir, hire, heore, her, here” for “her” in the genitive case).

  • Modern English: Typically uses one pronoun for each case (e.g., “his” for the genitive case).

Comparison of Old, Middle, and Early Modern English

  • The lecture uses versions of the Parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-13) from the biblical New Testament to compare Old English (c. 1050), Middle English (late 1300s), and Early Modern English (1582).

  • Text A (Old English, c. 1050):
    11 \text{ He cwæð. soðlice sum man hæfde twegen suna. } 12 \text{ þa cwæð se gingra to hys fæder. fæder syle me mynne dæl mynre æhte. þe me to gebyreð. þa dælde he hym hys æhta. } 13 \text{ þa æfter feawa dagum ealle hys þyng gegaderode se gingra sunu & ferde wræclice on feorlen ryce. & þær forspylde hys æhta lybbende on hys gælsan.}

  • Text B (Middle English, late fourteenth century):
    11 \text{ And he seide, A man hadde twei sones; } 12 \text{ and the ŏonger of hem seide to the fadir, Fadir, oyue me the porcioun of catel, that fallith to me. And he departide to hem the catel. } 13 \text{ And not aftir many daies, whanne all thingis weren gederid togider, the ŏonger sone wente forth in pilgrymage in to a fer cuntre; and there he wastide his goodis in lyuynge lecherously.}

  • Text C (Early Modern English, 1582):
    11 \text{ And he said, A certaine man had tvvo sonnes: } 12 \text{ and the younger of them said to his father, Father, giue me the portion of substance that belongeth to me. And he deuided vnto them the substance. } 13 \text{ And not many daies after the yonger sonne gathering al his things together vvent from home into a farre countrie: and ther he vvasted his substance, liuing riotously.}

Stages of English

  • Old English: 5th century (formed by Anglo-Saxon settlers at Great Britain).

  • Middle English: Late 11th century (with the Norman conquest of England).

  • Early Modern English: Late 15th century (with the introduction of the printing press), influenced worldwide by the British Empire.

  • Modern English: Spread around the world from the 17th century to now through various media and the emergence of the United States as a global superpower.

Key Dates

  • Old English: 450-1150

  • Middle English: 1150-1500

  • Early Modern English: 1500-1700

  • Modern English: 1700-1900

  • Late Modern English: 1900-present

Old English Details

  • Old English (Englisc, Anglisc, Englisc) or Anglo-Saxon is the earliest historical form of the English language.

  • Spoken mostly in England and southern and eastern Scotland during the early Middle Ages.

  • Brought by Anglo-Saxon settlers, probably in the mid-5th century.

  • The first Old English literature dates to the mid-7th century.

  • After the Norman conquest of England in 1066, Old English developed into Middle English.

Pronouns in Old English

  • Examples:

    • ic

    • þu

    • pē

    • зē

    • hē, hēo, hit

    • hie

Periods of Old English

  • Prehistoric Old English (450 to 650): Mostly a reconstructed language due to lack of surviving literary evidence. Spoken by Angles, Saxons, and Jutes; also called Primitive Old English.

  • Early Old English (650 to 900): Period of the oldest manuscript traditions with authors like Cædmon, Bede, Cynewulf, and Aldhelm.

  • Late Old English (900 to 1066): The final stage of the language leading up to the Norman conquest and the transition to Early Middle English.

Orthography of Old English

  • Written in the Latin alphabet introduced by Irish Christian missionaries around the 9th century.

  • Replaced by insular script, a cursive and pointed version of the half-uncial script.

  • Used until the end of the 12th century when continental Carolingian minuscule (Caroline) replaced the insular script.

Old English Letters

  • The letter oæt (called eth or edh) was an alteration of the Latin letter d.

  • The runic letters thorn (þ) and wynn (ƿ) are borrowings from futhorc.

Vowel Changes from Old English to Middle English

  • Old English vowel changes to Middle English:

    • i:, y: \rightarrow e:, (ø:) \rightarrow e:

    • æ: \rightarrow a: ⇒ :

    • o: \rightarrow u: → u:

    • i, yi \rightarrow æ, a a

Middle English

  • Refers to the dialects of the English language spoken in parts of the British Isles until the 15th Century.

Periods of Middle English

  • Early Middle English (1100-1250)

  • Central Middle English (1250-1400)

  • Late Middle English (1400-1500)

Early Middle English

  • Characterized by a largely Anglo-Saxon vocabulary.

Further Changes in Early Middle English

  • Grammatical relations expressed in Old English are replaced with prepositional constructions (e.g., "of the dog" becoming "dog's").

  • Most case endings disappeared, including most forms of the definite article ("the").

  • The dual grammatical number (expressing two of a thing) also disappeared.

Central Middle English

Characteristics:

  • Formation of literary dialects.

  • Orthography influenced by the Anglo-Norman writing system.

  • Loss of pronunciation of final unaccented -e.

  • Borrowing of large numbers of Anglo-Norman words.

Development of the London Dialect:

  • The London dialect developed significantly during this period, particularly through the works of writers such as John Gower and Geoffrey Chaucer.

Late Middle English

  • Influenced by the development of the London literary dialect and the decline of northern dialects such as Scottish.

  • The basic structures of Modern English were first established during this period.

  • Key changes included substituting natural gender for grammatical gender and the loss of the old system of declensions in nouns, adjectives, and largely in pronouns.

Key Events Transitioning from Old to Middle English

  • 1066: The Norman Conquest began the transition from Old English to Middle English.

  • 1150: Approximate date of the earliest surviving texts in Middle English.

  • 1171: Henry II declared himself overlord of Ireland, introducing Norman French and English to the country; the University of Oxford was founded around this time.

  • 1204: Dialect differences emerged between Anglo-Norman and Francien due to increased isolation from continental Europe.

  • Late 13th Century: Under Edward I, royal authority was consolidated in England and Wales; English became the dominant language of all classes.

English of the 17th Century

  • The desire for order and certainty influenced language development; Englishmen began to call for an ordered, rational language in reaction to the unregulated spontaneity of Elizabethan expression.

  • English was found to lack grammatical rules, leading to the use of Latin models.

  • John Dryden advocated for a more structured language and reportedly translated his thoughts into Latin to find the most proper English expression.

Two Elements in Modern English Vocabulary

  • Native Words:

    • Anglo-Saxon

  • Borrowed Words / Loan-words:

    • Latin

    • Scandinavian languages

    • French

    • Greek

    • Italian, Spanish, German, Portuguese

    • Arabic, Australian, Chinese, Persian

Early Modern English

  • The Royal Society, founded in 1660, opposed the Elizabethan love of verbal gymnastics, advocating for clear, precise language akin to mathematical plainness.

  • Supported by Puritans, who opposed displays of any kind.

Expansion and Foreign Influence on Early Modern English

  • As Englishmen expanded their interests abroad in the seventeenth century, their language continued to absorb foreign words.

    • Dutch: bowsprit, brandy, cruise, freight, keel, smack, and sloop.

    • American colonies: canoe, maize, papoose, and squaw.

    • Italian music: aria, oratorio, allegro, contralto, cantata, opera, piano, soprano, and trombone.

  • Emphasis on ease and clearness of expression became prominent, leading to attempts to standardize, refine, and give permanent order to English in the eighteenth century.

Colonialism and the English Language

  • The United Kingdom’s expansion from the sixteenth century spread English globally.

  • The Commonwealth, with 53 states, maintains English as its only official language.

  • English is spoken in countries such as the Bahamas, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago.

  • Countries like Bangladesh, the Philippines, Kenya, Malawi, Malaysia, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, and Tanzania use English officially to unify the country without abandoning native languages.

Global Presence of English

  • English is spoken from North America to Oceania, through Africa and Asia.

  • It is an official language of the United Nations, the European Union, and the International Olympic Committee.

Language Speaker Statistics

  • Mandarin Chinese has the most speakers (1,100 million).

  • English is second with 942 million speakers.

  • Spanish is third with 520 million speakers.

  • English is the first language when counting those who study it, with about 2,000 million people able to communicate in it, nearly a third of the world's population.

Conjugation of Verbs

  • English verb conjugation has evolved similarly to German and Romance languages by creating forms for past, present, and future.

  • Periphrasis is used to denote actions being carried out.

  • English has largely abandoned the subjunctive mood, unlike Romance and other Germanic languages.

Study Questions

  • What is 'Old English’?

  • What does 'Anglo-Saxon' mean?

  • How much has English changed in 1,500 years?

  • Did English change because of historical events?

  • What did Old English, Middle English, and Early Modern English sound like?

References

  • Agarez, R.C., 2020. A self-conscious architectural historiography: notes from (post) modern Portugal. The Journal of Architecture, 25(8), pp.1089-1114.

  • Boulton, M., 2017. Art History in the Dark Ages:(Re) considering Space, Stasis, and Modern Viewing Practices in Relation to Anglo-Saxon Imagery. In Stasis in the Medieval WEST? (pp. 69-86). Palgrave Macmillan, New York.

  • Da Silva, R.R., 2021. The Uses of the ‘Anglo-Saxon Past’between Revolutions, Imperialism and Racism. Práticas da História. Journal on Theory, Historiography and Uses of the Past, (12), pp.129-160.

  • Frosio, G., 2021. The Origins and History of Remix in Creative Culture. THE HANDBOOK OF REMIX STUDIES AND DIGITAL HUMANITIES (Eduardo Navas, Owen Gallagher and Xtine Burrough eds., Routledge, forthcoming 2021)