Timeline of the English Language Flashcards
What had happened uuring 70,000 - 100,000?
70,000 – 100,000: – At some point During this period, an influx of history languages had formed into several different families that had become significantly differentiated from each other.
When was Old English born?
During the Anglo Saxonian Period (AD 410 - 1066) - Old English was born during this period and lasted until the Normandy Conquest in 1066. It resembled Germanic languages in both language grammar such as having three genders and word endings.
How did the Vikings influence Old English?
A more social and conscious barbaric Laguage change had arrived from Viking Invasions in eastern and northern England. A large area known as ‘Danelaw’ Vikings interacted with locals, marrying them and spoke their own language ‘Old Norse’. With this, they began to name settlements, villages that end in -by (Whitby), -toft (Lowestoft), -holme (Denholme and -thwaite (Waberthwaite
Features of Old Norse that are present in our language?
- Hard consonants such as ‘drag’ , ‘boy’ & dog’
- Words that begin with sk- such as skeleton, skilful & skylight
- Possessive adjectives & pronouns ‘they, their and them’
What happened during the 11th century?
The Norman Conquest began, bringing the influence on English we know it as today.Middle English was born. Norman French took over England. During this period, the Normans poured thousands of phrases and words into the English language.
Name 3 features of French that had arrived and are used today. (1)
- New classes of words ending in -ence (penitence), -ment (sacrament), -age (image), ty (majesty) and -ion (confession).
- Terms of address ‘Mr, Mrs , Sir, and Madam’ are French
- Feminine suffix -ess (actress) and the diminuitive suffix -et(te) (pullet)
Name the 4 other features of French that had arrived an are used today. (2)
- French word order (post-adjectival word order River Thames, King Arthur)
- Th is french spelling
- Fancy new spelling conventions such as ‘cw, sc, and ch became qu as in queen, sh as in ch as in scolde.’
- French Versions of Surnames like ‘William, Alice and Henry
- French words have the connotation of being fancy ‘Déjà vu, carpe diem, eau de cologne, eau de toliette’
From then on what happened between the 11th and 15th century?
From this period saw continuous arrival of more French influence over the English vocabulary. From Latin to Greek
Signs of Early Modern English was born. Caxton introduced the printing press to Europe and printed miany works in English, helping to contribute the establishment of standard form of English, using South East Dialect as the basis for the new standard.
From the 15th century until 18th century would happen to Middle English? Give examples!
Grammarians would latinise Middle English to make it sound more “natural”. They examined structure and grammar of language to establish patterns in the ways that people used language, which in turn led them to propose correct ways of speaking and writing. Thus Modern English was born.
Which would receive contention from a lot of English speakers that complained of inkhorn terms. This continued, with ‘reactionaries’ trying to re-invent ‘natural’ words they coined words which did not survive such as: foresayer (prophet), gainrising (resurrection) and hundreder (centurion).
Now we’re living in a new millennium, what is English now and what do we expect to happen?
We see Present-Day English penetrating every other planet on the global by various means of: media, sports, entertainment and mass communication. The future of English dominating the planet is uncertain. Spanish and Mandarin both have just as many or more speakers are infiltrating the globe. However, they haven’t seen the such as big of an influence on other countries as English has.
What did the 15 to 18th century period also show?
This period continue to see the arrival of more French influence over the English language and all over the world such as Spanish and Italian.
Spanish mainly being a heavy influence on American English, nevertheless it gave us words such as tomato, hurricane and cannibal.
Italy gave us music terms like crescendo, castrato and opera
What did the 15 to 18th century period also show?
This period continue to see the arrival of more French influence over the English language and all over the world such as Spanish and Italian.
Spanish mainly being a heavy influence on American English, nevertheless it gave us words such as tomato, hurricane and cannibal.
Italy gave us music terms like crescendo, castrato and opera
What can we evaluate about the English Language and how cant his link to language change?
To conclude, I’ve learnt that English can be seen as a hybrid language made up of many different languages both dead and alive. Old English derivative of Old Norse and Anglo Saxons saw the rise of new German languages. They mixed with Scandinavian words following the Viking settlements between 8th and 11th centuries. In turn it gave English simple words along with a few grammar rules. The Norman Conquest sought the inclusion of many French terms into lexicon. Many of these words are used in administration, the law and also the ruling. And further grammar rules. From this period, we sense a pride of diversity in the English language and as we’ve learnt English writers such as Shakespeare and James I show this by writing in the language.
What did the Expansion of Engish meant?
The expansion of English meant it used for a variety of purposes - for literature, the law, science and religion. However, we’ve learnt that there was a demand of a larger lexicon to express new ideas. Increased travelling meant extensive borrowings from around the world as Spanish and Italian. We’ve borrowed and anglicised a lot of words from them, but grammatically they haven’t a massive influence. Why?
As you know, this sense of pride did not last long why?
As we’ve learnt the attitude to the diversity of English language changed dramatically as people became more concerned about the rapid expansion of lexicon which led to some believing that the language needed to be fixed. (Good area to name examples). This saw the emergence of prescriptivist ideas, leading to the development of the dictionary and grammar guides helping to establish a form of ‘correct English’ To not only make English language sound as distinct but natural and formal. This blend of language combinations shouldn’t not be considered at all a bad thing – as this has allowed the English Language to be the diverse language we know it as today.
