The English language has experienced several shifts and transformations ever since its earliest history in the medieval England to the current. English has been historically said to have evolved through three major stages that include Old English, Middle English and Modern English. Each of the three stages may be also sub-divided into early and late stages in order to give a comprehensive picture of the language’s history. English language, According to Algeo (2010), originated from the various dialects used by the Anglo-Frisian communities of the 5th to 7th century AD Britain. This form of English is classified as Old English and was popular among Germanic invaders who occupied the surrounding geographical areas at the time. Old English did, …show more content…
One of the most phenomenal landmarks in regards to technology and the development of the English language was the establishment of a printing service by William Caxton in 1476 (Horobin and Smith, 2002). This provided an opportunity for intellectuals to induce structure and value to the Middle English language such that it could be applied for intellectual use. Through his printing press, Caxton made books available to most of the people who were willing to read. A major achievement at this time was the printing of numerous English version bibles. The use of Latin in the religious sphere took on a diminishing trend to give room for the dominion of English in Britain and its colonies. The typing culture that emerged with these printing machines inspired the activities of influential English writers including William Shakespeare. Moreover, English language could now be printed in a standardized alphabet. The industrial revolution, on the other hand, contributed to the nomenclature of tools, process, devices and products associated with the industrial sphere. Words such as electricity, motors, trains, camera and telephone, among others, found their way into the English dictionary largely as a result of the industrial revolution (Moore, 1925). Needless to say, technological advancements and industrial inventions continue to add to the number of vocabularies and words
In George Orwell’s essay “Politics of the English Language”, Orwell argues that the English language is in ruins. What is to blame for the collapse of the English language? The answer simply lies within technology. Technology in many ways has a adverse effect on the English language. Young kids are now allowed to carry cell phones with texting being their main source of communication. Often times these kids butcher the English language through their text messages. They use improper grammar and often times do not punctuate at all. Technology such as texting, facebook and instant messaging work hand in had in the destruction of the English language. Technology has not made people more efficient, but rather has made them lazy.
The author, Bill Bryson, briefly introduces and describes the history of English. In this book, The Mother Tongue, Bryson uses an interesting way and scholarly manner to guide readers through the various linguistic and social movements in the English language, the center of the world language as well as the export of manufactured goods. He gives different kinds of instances by comparing with various languages to present how the language merged together of interacting.
The advent of the moveable type by Johan Gutenberg in 1455 marked the first step towards transforming Western civilization from a predominantly illiterate culture into one of universal literacy. The rapid spread of the printed word brought new ideas and philosophies that brought Europe into the modern world. Printing with moveable type served as the catalyst for the Renaissance, Enlightenment and Industrial Revolution. Simply put, it could be argued that typography is the most important inventions in Western Civilization’s history. (Meggs, 68)
Since it’s been a predominant topic of our discussion, let us talk about the infamous English language. We can be sure that it has painstakingly progressed throughout generations of reevaluation and modernization, and has thus become what it is today. It has gone in several directions to try and mesh with the various epochs of language, from the Shakespearean era to the common English slang we use now, we can all agree that English is a language that has been transcending and will continue to transcend into many
The printing press is considered one of the most important inventions because it made mass production for printed material possible. The result of that leads to a much more educated population. For years prior to the printing, all readable material had to be hand written. This consumed a lot of time and costed a lot of money. The printing press dramatically reduced the time and expense for printed. From the 1500’s to the early 1700’s, the printing press was the most significant invention in which inspired the most change in European society during the Renaissance because it impacted the advancement of civilization rigorously, advanced the flow of education and spread new ideas.
The English language has changed tremendously throughout the course of history. It began when the Germanic tribes began immigrating to Britain in the third century. The Anglo-Saxon language evolved into Middle English when France invaded Britain in 1066. The English we know today has flourished from the beginning of our technological advances. The modern English language spoken today began with defining advances of technology including the printing press, vehicles of transportation, and devices used to communicate.
Throughout history, many languages change over time but out of them all I feel English has changed the most. I feel as we go on the way we pronounce words, use slang, rewrite words that have the same meaning but sound differently has changed drastically. I think the main influence on the evolution of the English language would be migration. We the people have moved so much going across countries and other states with English as our default or with broken English or not knowing the language at all. Most out of the United States do have broken English or simply don't know english at all but can identify which language is being heard. No two speak identically either, as they learn English their born language begins to fight with it for example
As its name suggests, Middle English is the language that was spoken in the country of England around the 12th to 15th centuries. Middle English became the prominent language in England near the end of the 11th century shortly after the Norman invasion by William the Conqueror in 1066. Unlike England's preceding language, Old English, Middle English evolved into much more of a written language. There were many writers and educated English scholars who worked to translate Old English texts into the new Middle English language. There were also writers, such as Geoffrey Chaucer, who used the Middle English language to write new works which employed new and creative literary techniques. One such work, The Canterbury Tales, is a work that has been recognized as having an extreme significance on the development of the Middle English language. This work is argued to be the greatest literary contribution to the Middle English language and is credited with popularizing the language among literary scholars. However, despite its historical influence on the Middle English language, the significance of the work is less seen today because of the evolution of Modern English. As a result, it is important to investigate the origins of this work and in so doing, make an effort to realize the overall importance of reading the text in its original Middle English language.
how the English language has changed in the many years from then until now. The
The final shift towards their evolution, and the big culture bomb, started with the Norman invasion of Britain; this battle caused an influx of culture into a mainly homogenous society. It started in 1066 when William the Conqueror won at the Battle of Hastings (Delahoyde 1), took the British crown by force, and brought French language and its influence into the quaint British countryside (McIntyre 12). This French influence gave the final shove and created the next step towards a modern language; it provided a stepping-stone into becoming a more advanced society with a more advanced language. Without the French, there would be no evolution from Old English to Middle English.
none so plainly as the developments witnessed in the Language and Literature of that time. It began with the Norman Conquest: eloquent french words substituted for the “harsh” saxon equivalents, primarily in the upper levels of society. Literature began to reflect these changes in the language, and continued to evolve throughout the Renissance. Together, these aspects helped define the Middle Ages.
Finally, there are many different varieties of English, or as it is called Englishes, such as Singaporean English, Indian English and Nigerian English. Each variety of English expresses the identity and culture of its speakers. It has been predicted that in the distant future these forms of English will fragment into mutually unintelligible varieties. Therefore, this fragmentation may slow the spread of English as a global language.
However, in order to fully comprehend these social consequences we must first begin learning about the progress of the English language. This thus enables us to understand the interactions that appear between the different dialects spoken during the Middle English period. Nevertheless, Crystal 2016 claims that Standard English is “not a dialect although many refer to it as a dialect, but rather a special kind seeing as it has no local base” (Crystal 2016). Despite this claim many Writers were using spelling and punctuations that matched their spoken dialect. However, there is nothing in the vocabulary or grammar of a piece of Standard English that indicates which part of a country it originates from. Therefore, these findings support Crystal’s (2016) initial
The English language arose from the early Anglo Saxon inhabitants in ancient England and spread to Scotland and other European countries via the British Empire and later to the United States through colonial political and economical influences. It later dispersed to other parts of the world through these same influences to become one of the leading languages of the world. It has over the years developed by adopting different dialects to create a language, which is the standard lingual Franca in many countries. The rapid growth of the English language and its adoption by different cultures across the globe is sufficient ground to make it the global language.
The Norman invasion of 1066 AD began a period of two centuries in which French was the official language of England, resulting in the introduction of many words with French or Latin roots, such as 'baron', 'justice' and 'government' (Beal, J. 2012, p. 64). English was first used in Parliament in 1362 AD and gradually displaced French (Appendix I, in Seargea...