History of English

Language
The Roman Invasions
55 b.C.Julius Caesar invades
Britain.
43 a.d.Emperor Claudius
conquers Britain.
Occupy Britain for nearly 400
years.
The Roman Influence
Founded cities
Built walls, roads, theaters
Intermarried with Celts.
Place namesLancaster,
Manchester, Winchester, London,
Bath
Latin becomes the prestige
language of education and social
life
Romans leave Britain
Roman Empire is threatened by
invading Germanic tribes.
410 a.d.Emperor Honorius
summons all Roman troops back
to Rome.
Celtic tribes in Britain are left
defenseless against future
invasions.
So what language is being used in
British Isles at this time?
Celtic languagesthe native
language of the people.
Latinthe language of Rome was
the prestige language.
Education
Government
Written language
Anglo-Saxon Invasions
With the Romans gone, a power
vacuum existed
Germanic tribes from the
mainland soon began to fill that
vacuum.
450 a.d. By this time Angles,
Saxons, Jutes, and Frisians have a
firm foothold in Britain
Celts are conquered and/or driven
out
The Beginning of English

What we know as English today

begins with these Germanic
invasions.
The word English comes from
Angles
Old English, or Anglo-Saxon, is an
early form of German
Old English (450-1150 a.d.)
Four dialects emerge
Northumbrian
Mercian
Kentish
West Saxon
West Saxon
Most important OE dialect
Most OE literature is in West
Saxon
Dialect of King Alfred (d. 899)
Dialect of government and church
Return of Latin
597 a.d. Roman Church sends St.
Augustine to England
England is Christianized
Latin
Latin is the language of the
church
Latin once again becomes
prominent in education
Latin is the written language of
the time
So what language is being used in
British Isles at this time?
Various dialects of Old English
All these dialects are forms of
German
These dialects also adopt some
words from Celtic languages and
from Latin
Viking Invasions
Most powerful people of their time
793 a.d. Vikings invade England
Eventually, Vikings control much
of England
This area is called the
Danelaw
Anglo-Saxons continued to control
much of the south
Alfred the Great
So what language is being used in
British Isles at this time?
Various dialects of Old English

These dialects continue to be

influenced by Latin and Celtic
They are also now influenced by
Scandinavian languages
Where do words come from?
Anglo-Saxon words: to, and,
for, in, man, wife, child, fight,
love, sleep, eat, house, Tuesday,
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Latin words: altar, monk,
preach, priest, hymn, noon,
candle, offer
Viking words: lift, take, give,
husband, sky, dirt, skull, leg,
rotten, crawl, clasp
Here comes the French! Here
comes the French!
1066 a.d. William the Conqueror
invades from Normandy, France
Brings 600 ships and 10 to 12
thousand men
Defeats King Harold at the Battle
of Hastings
What Changes?
William the Conqueror was French
- He did not speak English
French now becomes the
language of the government and
aristocracy
For the next 300 years all English
royalty speak only French
Common folk speak English
Church speaks Latin and French
So what language is being used in
British Isles at this time?
Common folk speak English, which
is slowly simplifying its form
(losing tense and verb endings,
etc)
English is also adopting many,
many French words
Upper class folk speak French
Church speaks French and Latin
Latin and French are also written
languages
Middle English (1150-1500)
Grammar is simplified
Case and number endings are
reduced
Fixed word order is developed
Word order dictates
meaning

Chaucer first major writer to use

English
So what language is being used in
British Isles at this time?
Middle English, in various dialects,
is now dominant
French begins to disappear from
the scene
Latin remains prominent among
the educated
Vocabulary
French Words: action, adventure,
marriage, power, vision, beef,
venison, honest, prefer, master,
court, crown
Almost half of modern English
vocabulary comes from Latin and
French
The Great Vowel Shift (1450-1550
a.d.)
Middle English looks a lot like
Modern English
But it sounds a lot different
Between the mid fifteenth century
and the mid sixteenth century all
these changes
This is called the Great Vowel Shift
Why does this happen?
Nobody knows for sure

What happened?
Six vowel sounds changed
pronunciation
For example:
Middle English five was
pronounced feeve
Middle English house was
pronounced hoose
Middle English reed was
pronounced raid
Middle English also pronounced
the vowel e at the end of words
For example: sweete was
pronounced as two syllables
swait-uh
Modern English
By the end of the 16th century, we
have Modern English
William Shakespeare and
company are about to show the
world what wonders can be
worked with this language
There are 600,000 words in the
English language.

The average college student may

have a vocabulary of 80,000.
Nearly 60% of all he or she says is
said with just 100 different words

Prepared by:
Amor Babe S. Tabasa
BSED - 4