english through the ages

  • May 26, 1066

    1066

    Wiiliam of Normandy invades england, ushering in a social and linguistic era. It took a while for it to take over. Manuscripts continued to be written in old english for 44 years. French is considered a language of power. William appoints French speakers to key positions of power. Grammar became important. it brought in auxiliary verbs.
  • Aug 26, 1362

    1362

    With latin, Greek and Arabic rising in interest, there is an increase of literacy and translations. French is only used in Law and by the well educated. The original English started to take over french language and became a mother tongue. Latin starts to dominate education and church.
  • Jul 30, 1476

    1476

    With printing press available, it dramatically boosts the writing system. There is a lot more printed resources available. Books are now more affordable and easier to obtain. The publishing businss is now a success. William Caxton setup Englands first Printing press and over 20000 titles were established. Scotland has started to get an amazing literacy output because of writers like William Dunbar and Robert Henryson.
  • Sep 30, 1500

    The Great Vowel Shift

    The "Great Vowel Shift" happens in the 15th century and pronunciation improves hugely and started to sound more like how we wuld same them. Their pronunciation slightly differed, like their 'time' would be pronounced 'team' and 'see', 'say'. The East Midlands established itself more of a 'standard English'. This is where the London Courts are and is most populated. It is full with important builinds like offices and schools. Spelling improves because grammitical change has slowed down.
  • The Renaissance

    This era really helped English to improve and create a spark of interest. The classial languages and their literature isused for large developmeants in medicine, science and the arts. This is so they could accurately record data. This is the time of religious and political rising and pushing limits with the discovery of Americas. The first authorised English translation of the bible in 1611. King James 1 of Englnd made it happen. Shakespeares first play is published.
  • Development During 1600s

    Writers are findling it difficult to name the techniques they are trying and using. They arent set on using just Greek and Latin so they start to take words and parts of words from over 50 languages. Some people liked to use the native English words and some are thinking the addition of Latin words are an 'enrichment'. This is when we start to adapt prefixes and suffixes like UNcomfortable and UNDERgroud. Suffixes like investMENT and laughABLE.
  • The Conolisation of the New World

    Walter Raleigh lead an expedition for the first settlement in America in 1607. Then in 1620, the boat the Mayflower arrives in Cape Cod. Then 20 years later, around 25000 people had settled. By 1700 more than 250000 people found home in the region. The Elizabethan age is present when the quick growth of English in the New World.
  • 1700s

    The English language started to spread across the Globe because they started to conolise in places like India, Canada and South Africa. There is a great boost in knowledge of the world, like mathematics, medicine, astrology etc. Many countries start to note down their native tongues and word meanings into a dictonary. Books start to become popular and books about grammar and lexis, especially in Britain and USA.
  • The industrial revolution

    During the 19th century, Britain is one of the most industrial countries.The industrial revolution helps science and technology. Many more countries join the long list of British Acquisitions. Now theres a problem, they need more lexis and terms to decribe the new technology. In 1884, they start a project which becomes the oxford english dictionary. Dickens writes a novel that brings a new non-standard and spoken English that helps with written expessions.
  • The present Day. Modern English

    The English Empire slowly breaks apart but there are still large areas around the Globe that wont let English die down. In 1922, broadcasting begins to the Empire. Years after this is forgotten about, the first electronic email was sent. And this develops by going onto the World Wide Web in 1991. This means we can communicate with people all over the world. We use slang now too to replace words.
  • 449

    in 449, the Anglo, Saxons, and Jutes came to England and set up camps. The English then started to travel west to Wales and Cumbria. These places developed their languages but they couldnt stand a chance in a coutry ruled by anglo saxons. The Anglo Saxons used their native tounges. Some christians came along and brought the Latin language in to Britain. They then made changes suitable for the Brits.
  • 800

    the Danes invadedBritain and ruled most of the eastern side of england. The anglo saxons striked bacl in 878. the Danes were restricted to an area called the Danelaw. They then led a series of assaults that resulted in most of England under rien of a Dane King. The Danes largely influenced the english languages with names,. More than 1500 names in England have scandinavian origins. especially in Yorkshire. Names with "BY" like Rugby and Grimsby.