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55 BCE
Roman invasion of Britain by Julius Caesar
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43
Roman invasion and occupation. Beginning of Roman rule of Britain
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436
Roman withdrawal from Britain complete
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449
Settlement of Britain by Germanic invaders begins
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450
Earliest known Old English inscriptions
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Period: 499 to 1100
Old English
1. Early Old English: 5th - 7th century
2. Anglo-Saxon Old English: 7th - 11th century
The invading Germanic tribes spoke similar languages, which in Britain developed into what we now call Old English. OE did not sound or look like English today. Native English speakers now would have great difficulty understanding OE. Nevertheless, about half of the most commonly used words in Modern English have OE roots. OE was spoken until around 1100. -
1066
William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy, invades and conquers England
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Period: 1066 to 1500
Middle English
1. Early ME: 11th - 14th century
2. Classical ME: 14th - 15th century
In 1066 William the Conqueror invaded and conquered England. The Normans brought with them a kind of French, which became the language of the Royal Court. For a period there was a kind of linguistic class division, where the lower classes spoke English and the upper classes spoke French. In the 14th century English became dominant in Britain again, but with many French words added. This language is called ME. -
1150
Earliest surviving manuscripts in Middle English
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1348
English replaces Latin as the language of instruction in most schools
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1361
English replaces French as the language of law. English is used in Parliament for the first time
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1388
Chaucer starts writing The Canterbury Tales
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1400
The Great Vowel Shift begins
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Period: 1475 to
New English
1. Early NE: 15th - mid 17th c
2. Age of normalization: mid 17th - 18th c
3. Late NE (Modern English): end of the 18th c - mowdays
The invention of printing meant that there was now a common language in print. Books became cheaper and more people learned to read. Printing also brought standardization to English. Spelling and grammar became fixed, and the dialect of London, where most publishing houses were, became the standard. In 1604 the first English dictionary was published. -
1476
William Caxton establishes the first English printing press
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1564
Shakespeare is born
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Table Alphabeticall, the first English dictionary, is published
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The first permanent English settlement in the New World (Jamestown) is established
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Shakespeare dies
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Shakespeare's First Folio is published
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The first daily English-language newspaper, The Daily Courant, is published in London
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Samuel Johnson publishes his English dictionary
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Thomas Jefferson writes the American Declaration of Independence
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Britain abandons its colonies in what is later to become the USA
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Webster publishes his American English dictionary
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The British Broadcasting Corporation is founded
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The Oxford English Dictionary is published