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Impact of the great vowel shift on the development of English
Impact of the great vowel shift on the development of English
Foreign influence on old English
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The Political, social and cultural impacts on the English language during its Old English phase.
The development of the English language was a combination of cultural, political, social and religious events that each playing their own part shaping the modern English language spoken today as a first language by 400 million people . As Baugh and Cable convey to us in A History of the English Language; ‘It understates matters to say that political, economic, and social forces influence a language’. Although it cannot be identified exactly when the inhabitants of Britain began to speak English, there are some sources that give an insight into the nature of the forces that played a role in its foundation such as: the four medieval manuscripts;
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The dialects of these languages cannot definitively be attributed to any particular group but have been narrowed down to that of; Northumbrian, Mercian, West Saxon, and Kentish. As Baugh and Cable tell us, ‘The English language of today is the language that has resulted from the history of the dialects spoken by the Germanic tribes who came to England...’ These new settlers brought with them everyday vocabulary, words that were for needed for daily survival in a foreign country with an unfamiliar language, words which we still use today in modern English, such as; weall(wall), wif(wife), cild(child) mete(meat), etan(eat), drincan(drink). There are debates as to what extent the vocabulary is Germanic. Baugh and Cable describe the vocabulary of Old English as predominantly Germanic , while, Helmut Gneuss argues that while the morphology and syntax was essentially of a Germanic language, the vocabulary was not . Written records in English do not go beyond the year 700AD, so we have relatively no way of assessing when a word came into Old English vocabulary prior to this time. Regardless of where the vocabulary originated, or where loan words were adopted into the Old English language it has to be assumed that as the contact between the various tribes ensued be it for trade or fighting, so too did the merging of dialects and …show more content…
During this time concrete Anglo-Saxon kingdoms emerged most notably Wessex. The Scandinavian Danes tried to assert their power and claim lands from the Anglo-Saxons which eventually led to the signing of the Treaty of Wedmore, creating an area known as Danelaw, an area assigned to the Danes to live within. The influence of Scandinavian language over Old English is hard to define as both languages are derived of the same Indo-European family of languages. Some of the noticeable differences are in the recognition of the sh sound changing to a sk sound as in ship, sky, skin, scrape and the retention of the hard k and g sounds . The Scandinavian era of Old English witnessed the decline of inflectional endings as dialects developed and merged.
Emerging from this era is also the great king of Wessex, Alfred, without whom we would not have some of the literature and great works of the Anglo-Saxon period. He successfully converted Guthrem leader of the Danes to
King Alfred now did what he always longed for. He changed Wessex from a pagan country to a Christian country. He prepared defenses for attacks from other countries and started the foundation for England. His reforms came to play when a new Danish king attacked King Alfred. The king quickly left Wessex after a precise defeat. God helped
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.
In the Anglo Saxon time period, the epic poem Beowulf written by The Beowulf poet, describes important symbols which signifies certain characteristics of important events. In Beowulf, certain examples of characters that have symbolism are Grendel’s Claw, Herot and Grendel’s Lair. The Anglo Saxon occurred in the Medieval Period which was around 449-1485. There was an invasion that occurred within Julius Caesar he tried to conquer throughput religion, roads, agriculture and protection. It happened in England in an Angle Land, the language spoken was old english. Alfred the Great was a viking the stopped from conquering. Norman Conquest 1042- Edward the Confessor. The Norman Conquest was the Battle of Hastings. They had many religions one was
In the essay “Politics and the English Language” by George Orwell, the author states his opinion of the decline of the English language. Orwell discusses both its causes and what he foresees as its consequences. He states there is less innovation and coherency, which dilutes the power of the language. Orwell felt that people were using the English language inaccurately, relying on metaphors which are meaningless and used so the writer does not have to bother with creating their phrases. Orwell asserted “It becomes ugly and inaccurate because our thoughts are foolish, but the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts.”
Enter the Normans, in 1066 the Norman Duke William (under the belief he had the “right to rule England [England lecture]) invaded and defeated the Anglo-Saxon king. At this time the general population had come to speak Englisc (or some dialect of it), while the Norman invaders spoke a dialect of Old French (which would later come to be called Anglo-Norman) and kept written records in Latin [Kahane 186]. Gradually, there was a shift in the vernacular (from Anglo-Norman to English) as well as a shift in the written language (from Latin to Anglo Norman) [England lecture]. In order to maintain distance and further the effects of bilingualism, various phrases and words were imported from French to Anglo-Norman, as were expressions from Latin (as a sort of revival of the language.)
The English language has a long history of changes through contact with other cultures, mainly by the many invasions on the earliest inhabitants of what is now England. From the Romans to the Germanics, and the Vikings to the Normans, each group of invaders have left their own unique mark on the English language. However, out of all the invaders, the Norman Conquest of 1066 had the most powerful effect on the development of English. They contributed a large number of French lexemes to the English lexicon affecting the semantics of many Old English lexemes. As the ruling class, their preference for French influenced the spelling system of the time as English became the language of the poor, resulting in an inconsistent orthography.
how the English language has changed in the many years from then until now. The
In Johnson’s preface to A Dictionary of the English Language, Johnson argues the importance of preserving language. Other dialects had a produced their own dictionaries, such as the French and Italians. Various writers of the eighteenth century were alarmed at the fact that there was no standard for the English language, since there was no standard it could easily become extinct. Johnson explored many points, such as how and why languages change as well as how many words are formed.
It can be said that there is nothing more permanent than change throughout human history. This notion has prevailed throughout thousands of years as old beliefs and ways of life are replaced by the next logical step in humanity’s attempt to achieve some sensation of sureness or stability in life. Change is at the forefront of much of Old English literature, as the pagan, naturalistic religion of the Anglo-Saxons slowly shifted to Christian ideology. This clash of spiritualistic superiority is clearly illustrated in the episode of Grendel’s Mother from Beowulf, the Wanderer, and Caedmon’s Hymn, all of which display a shift of Anglo-Saxon society to Christianity through a demonization of nature, the passing of old tradition, and the power of God’s will over man.
Sommerville, J. P. "Anglo Saxon England II." History Department, University of Wisconsin. University of Wisconsin. Web. 23 Feb. 2011. .
Geoffey Chaucer lived from 1343-1400, and during that time wrote multiple works (Smith 7). Chaucer’s language soon became the new standard for writing, for which it differed from Modern English by the pronunciation of long vowels (Weiner 1). “For example, Middle English’s “long e” in Chaucer’s “sheep” had the value of the Latin “e”, which sounded like the Modern English’s “Shape”” (Weiner 1). And while his writing poses multiple similarities to the English spoken today, it still provides enough difference to see the change with the years in between. Without his work, many linguists would not have a clear understanding of how the linguistics shifts within Middle English itself
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 beginnings of English can be found in the occupation of England from the 5th century by north and west German ethnic groups who brought their 'indigenous dialects' (Seargeant, P. 2012, p. 1). The Oxford English Dictionary defines English as 'Of or related to the West Germanic language spoken in England and used in many varieties throughout the world' (Seargeant, P. 2012, p. 7). Invasion in the 9th century by Scandinavians, who settled in the north of England and the establishment of Danelaw in 886 AD defining the area governed by the Danes in the north and east, had a marked effect on the language spoken there (Beal, J. 2012, p. 59). These periods are known as Early and Later Old English (Beal, J. 2012, p. 50).
Standardization of the English Language There are several important events before 1500 that, when listed together, show a series of steps in the struggle for English language supremacy. These steps are mainly governmental, legal and official events that pushed English usage. In 1356 The Sheriff's Court in London and Middlesex were conducted in English for the first time. When Parliament opened in 1362 the Statute of Pleading was issued declaring English as a language of the courts as well as of Parliament, but it was not until 1413 that English became the official language of the courts everywhere. Thirteen years later in 1423, Parliament records start being written in English.
It is one of the main languages in the world and it is the international language these days. English language is the language that faced many changes that affects in several things. For example, some changes occur in writing system, phonological system and other changes during many centuries. English language is about four stages: Old English, Middle English, Modern English, and Early Modern English. In each era, there is an affection of other tribe’s languages on English language. As an example, Germanic tribes who moved into Britain and have an impact on Old English language are (Angles, Saxons, and Jutes). In the same way, the effects of the tribes lead to have many changes in vowel system, which calls the Great Vowel Shift .In this paper, I will discuss the Great Vowel Shift and the the process of that huge change.