The Origins of English (conclusion)

 

Middle English (1100-1500)

Later in  1066 the duke of Normandy, also known as “William the Conqueror, invaded England, these new invaders were known as the Normans and as they invaded they brought with them a variety of French and as that came along and as time passed by it eventually became the language of the Royal Court as well as for the ruling and business classes, however after the introduction of this new language a gap between the different economical classes were created because the lower classes found themselves s.peaking English and the higher classes were speaking French. This continued up until the 14th century when English became dominant in Britain again

Modern English

Early Modern English (1500-1800)

Towards the end of 1500, a sudden and unique change in pronunciation started, “the Great Vowel Shift”, as vocals began to be pronounced shorter and shorter as the years passed by and that occurred because since the 16th century the British were in contact with many people from all around the world.

Along with greater interaction with the rest of the world, The Renaissance of Classical learning meant that many new words and phrases were now part of the English language. The invention of printing g also meant that there was now a common language in printmaking for others to learn which made knowledge and education a more common thing even among the lowers classes. Along with easier access to education printing also brought standardization to English, plus the spelling and grammar became more correct as errors were now being corrected before printing the books.

Late Modern English (1800-Present)

The main difference between early modern English and late modern English is the vocabulary itself. In late modern English, there are a lot more words, words that arose from two principal factors: firstly, the industrial and technology revolution created an urge for new words; secondly, the British empire at its height covered a quarter of the earth’s surface and with that the English language began to introduce foreign words into English

Varieties of English

Since the English colonization of North America began in 1600, the creation of a distinct American a variety of English has been in place.

In the American variation of English, there are some pronunciations and words that seem to have “stopped” in time, making it an English that is now more similar to the one spoken by William Shakespeare than modern English. In fact, some expressions that are now viewed as “Americanisms” are actually original British expressions that were preserved in the colonies while in Britain the same expressions are now lost. On top of this Spanish, French, and West African words also influenced American English.

Francisco Martins 12ct8



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