Have you ever wondered where the names of the different items you use daily came from? Or listened to people talk and find a particular word interesting or odd and wonder why it has become part of our English language? The English language that we speak today has developed as a result of many different influences and changes over thousands of years. The resulting changes to the English language can be split into three time periods that include, Old English or Anglo-Saxon, Middle English and Modern English which is commonly used today Old English (450-1100 AD), which is also referred to as Anglo-Saxon, is thought historically to be the earliest form of the English language. Originating with the arrival of three West Germanic tribes, who encroached …show more content…
Christian missionaries introduced the Germanic tribes to a much more rounded Roman alphabet, common to that we have today, which was easier to write with and read. Therefore, the Anglo-Saxons quickly adopted this new Roman alphabet. Old English literature developed rather quickly around the 6th and 8th Century. Many beautiful poems and text survive from this period in history, including the best known epic long poem “Beowulf” which may have been written in about the 8th century. With its three thousand one hundred and eighty two lines of work Beowulf shows that Old English was a fully developed language at this time. This poem also illustrates the variety and depth of the English vocabulary at that time, in addition to its fondness for synonyms and subtleties of meanings. Old English is considered a complex language in comparison with that of modern English used today. In Old …show more content…
Nevertheless, some may find that the Old English is uncomplicated and a more consistent language since with it every letter specifically and invariably relates to a single sound. Unlike the modern English there are not silent letters or phonetic inconsistencies to confuse them. Several of the commonly used words today in English have their roots in Old English. Such words as water, strong, house, earth and many more can be traced to Old English. Also at some point in the 6th Century the Old English “sk” consonant cluster changed to “sk” consequentially changing words “skield” to “shield”. This change affected all “sk” words in existence in the language at that time. Therefore, any “sk” clusters in modern English became part of the English language after the 6th Century. Followed by, around the 7th Century, a shift in vowel pronunciation took place. With this vowels began to be pronounced more to the frontal area of the mouth. Consequently, the plural of several nouns also began to have modified vowel pronunciation instead of changes in inflection. This resulted at times in revised spelling which lead to the inconsistent modern English word pairing for example goose/geese, mouse/mice or blood/bleed to name a few. Late in the 8th Century the Viking from Scandinavia began to make raids on
At the heart of Anglo-Saxon literature is the epic poem Beowulf. It was written in Old English somewhere between the middle of the 7th and the end of the 10th century by an unknown poet. Beowulf has come to be recognized as the foundational epic of English and British culture (Shmoop). The story has its roots in a pagan Saxon past, but by the time the epic poem was written down, almost all Anglo-Saxons had converted to Christianity. As a result the poet resolved his new Christian beliefs with the un-Christian behavior of the characters.
One of the many permutations that language has made is into what is collectively known as English. This particular tongue was brought to the British Isles in the Sixth Century CE by Northern Europeans or “Germanic” people. (Kemmer) It followed English colonists around the world, including areas in North America, which will be the subject of this essay.
Old English literature flourished during the time the Anglo-Saxons ruled Britain from 450 AD to 1066 AD. Old English was first oral, but later used a runic alphabet written on manuscripts. Old English, is of course, related to our modern English, but is referred to the language and literature spoken and written in England. Works such as Beowulf and The Wanderer are priceless and timeless pieces of literature almost like a time capsule telling us about the history, society, and
As we mentioned above, one of influences that has made changes in English language over time is foreign
The Anglo Saxon period is the oldest known period of time that had a complex culture with stable government, art, and a fairly large amount of literature. Many people believe that the culture then was extremely unsophisticated, but it was actually extremely advanced for the time. Despite the many advancements, the period was almost always in a state of war. Despite this fact, the Anglo-Saxon period is a time filled with great advancements and discoveries in culture, society, government, religion, literature, and art.
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.
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.
The duration of Early Modern English took place during the English Renaissance, and hence the amazing evolutions that occurred within it (Myers 166). After the Renaissance came the Age of Reason, and it is during this time that the language becomes recognizable to today (Smith 9). The most common example of Early Modern English is the fact that Shakespeare wrote in it, and it poses the most similarities to Modern day; the language moved from a synthetic one to a more analytical one, and relied less on inflectional endings and more with word order to convey information (Durkin 1). Early Modern English is the premise for the ever-evolving language that millions speak
...thongs ǝi and ǝu and then finally became Modern English “ai” and “au”; their high vowel positions became free, thus the mid-high vowels e: (as in gre:n) and o: (as in fo:d) were raised to i: (as in gri:n) and u: (as in fu:d) and filled the gap. Similarly, the Middle English vowel a: (as in ma:ken) changed to æ (as in mæken) then to ɛ (as in mɛ:k) and then to e: (as in me:k) and finally into the Modern English dipthong “ei”. The vowel ɔ: as in gɔ:t (as in goat) changed to go:t which represents Modern English ou/eu as in (boat). The vowel e: eventually changed to Modern English i: (as in feet). Basically, the high Middle English vowels i: and u: represent modern “beet” and“boot” respectively. The middle e: vowel represents modern “bait, and o: represents modern “boat”. The low æ represents modern “bag”, a: represents modern “father” and au represents modern “bought”.
Northern they had replaced the earlier Anglo-Saxon hives, but they were still alive. Such became the preferred Chancery form which had ousted bis, sych, seche and swiche. Which was replacing which. The auxiliary verbs appear more regularly in their modern forms: can, could, shall, should and would. A standardised spelling was developed which was divorced from the phonetic environment so that sound and spelling were becoming two separate systems.
The year 1066 is one of the most important years in the history of the English language. This is the year that the Normans invaded England. The Normans were a group of people who lived on the other side of the English Channel. Though the people of the area originally spoke a variation of the Scandinavian languages, eventually, the group learned French as Edward the Confessor brought French language into his court in Normandy. In January 1066, the English king died without an heir, so the Norman king at the time, William the Conqueror decided to invade England and by December of the same year, he was crowned King of England. Within 30 years of his crowning, most of the land was owned by the Normans as William
Because English is a living language there are frequent changes in the meaning that words carry. These changes can be largely influenced by environment. One of the best examples of this fact is some of the distinct differences between British and American English.
Language as a dynamic structure is exposed to constant development, transformation and alteration. Media, society, culture, science, technology and politics are the core factors that contribute towards language evolution. Due to numerous linguistic and extra linguistic factors, newly coined units in the language are in the process of entering and influencing the English language. These new units, known as neologisms, serve as our guidance in understanding the never-ending evolution in the English language. Furthermore, neologisms ease each individual’s process of coping with changes by creating mental bridges between the old and the contemporary. The English language vocabulary is facing constant change, as neologisms enter in a blink of an eye through the media. The mass media being the major source and ground on which English neologisms are coined, plays a significant role of intermediary between the English population as active consumers and the language itself.
The Great Vowel Shift happened in Modern English between 1500- 1800 which make some changes from Middle English to Modern English. Otto Jespersen is a Danish linguist and he is the discoverer of The Great Vowel Shift. He is the first person who studied the Vowel system and Great Vowel Shift. Furthermore, that period called The Great Vowel Shift because of the huge shift that occurred in vowel system at that time. Additionally, the changes appear in pronunciation during 15th -18th century. Moreover, The Great Vowel Shift is a huge change in the sound system and affects the long vowel of English in 15th to 18th centuries. The meaning of the Great Vowel Shift is "racial change in pronunciation during 15th century as a result of which long vowel sound began to be made higher and further forward in the mouth short round sound were largely unchanged".(The...
Baugh, A.C., & Cable, T. (2001). A history of the English language (5th ed.). Abingdon, UK: Routledge.