History of English Language
English is a West Germanic language that originated from Ingvaeonic languages
brought to Britain in the mid-5th to 7th centuries AD by Anglo-Saxon migrants from what is
now northwest Germany, southern Denmark and the Netherlands. The Anglo-Saxons settled
in the British Isles from the mid-5th century and came to dominate the bulk of southern Great
Britain. Their language originated as a group of Ingvaeonic languages which were spoken by
the settlers in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages, displacing
the Celtic languages (and, possibly, British Latin) that had previously been dominant. Old
English reflected the varied origins of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms established in different
parts of Britain. The Late West Saxon dialect eventually became dominant. A significant
subsequent influence on the shaping of Old English came from contact with the North
Germanic languages spoken by the Scandinavian Vikings who conquered and colonized parts
of Britain during the 8th and 9th centuries, which led to much lexical borrowing and
grammatical simplification. The Anglian dialects had a greater influence on Middle English.
After the Norman conquest in 1066, Old English was replaced, for a time, by Anglo-
Norman (also known as Anglo-Norman French) as the language of the upper classes. This is
regarded as marking the end of the Old English or Anglo-Saxon era, as during this period the
English language was heavily influenced by Anglo-Norman, developing into a phase known
now as Middle English. The conquering Normans spoke a Romance langue d'oïl called Old
Norman, which in Britain developed into Anglo-Norman. Many Norman and French
loanwords entered the local language in this period, especially in vocabulary related to the
church, the court system and the government. As Normans are descendants of Vikings who
invaded France, Norman French was influenced by Old Norse, and many Norse loanwords in
English came directly from French. Middle English was spoken to the late 15th century. The
system of orthography that was established during the Middle English period is largely still in
use today. Later changes in pronunciation, however, combined with the adoption of various
foreign spellings, mean that the spelling of modern English words appears highly irregular.
Early Modern English – the language used by William Shakespeare – is dated from
around 1500. It incorporated many Renaissance-era loans from Latin and Ancient Greek, as
well as borrowings from other European languages, including French, German and Dutch.
Significant pronunciation changes in this period included the Great Vowel Shift, which
affected the qualities of most long vowels. Modern English proper, similar in most respects to
that spoken today[citation needed], was in place by the late 17th century.
English as we know it today came to be exported to other parts of the world through
British colonisation, and is now the dominant language in Britain and Ireland, the United
States and Canada, Australia, New Zealand and many smaller former colonies, as well as
being widely spoken in India, parts of Africa, and elsewhere. Partially due to influence of the
United States and its globalized efforts of commerce and technology, English took on the
status of a global lingua franca in the second half of the 20th century. This is especially true
in Europe, where English has largely taken over the former roles of French and (much earlier)
Latin as a common language used to conduct business and diplomacy, share scientific and
technological information, and otherwise communicate across national boundaries. The
efforts of English-speaking Christian missionaries have resulted in English becoming a
second language for many other groups.
Timeline of the English Language
The history of the English language began with the arrival of certain Germanic tribes
onto the British shores from mainland Europe (mainly from Northern Germany and where we
now call, Denmark) in the 5th century. Before these tribes stepped down onto British land,
the language spoken by natives was Celtic. However, these inhabitants were pushed back to
the west and north (primarily Wales and Scotland but Ireland also). The tribes were known as
the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes. The Angles coincidently came from ENGLALAND and
their language was ‘Englisc’ – sounds very similar to what we call England and English.
These tribes did indeed mark the beginning of a complex linguistic transition of the Englisc
language to what would eventually become the English we know today. This blog takes you
back in time through history so that you can understand the language that torments you so
with its various complexities and grammatical exceptions:
OLD ENGLISH 450 – 1150
Old English is also know to as ‘Anglo-Saxon’ English because it was the mixture of
the similar languages that the individual tribes spoke at the time. Old English looks and
sounds nothing like the English we speak today, and every native speaker would have
difficulty in trying to understand English language. Check out the following extract from the
Aelfric’s “Homily on St. Gregory the Great”, a famous story about how the pope sent
missionaries to help convert Anglo-Saxons to Christianity after seeing them sell young boys
as slaves in Rome.
MIDDLE ENGLISH 1150 – 1500
Possibly the best time period of the English language (in my opinion, ed.). This time
period was largely influenced by the French and the Latin brought over by the French. This
made some significant changes to the phonology and grammatical structure of the English
language, including the loss or reduction of some inflections. This was a period when
Chaucer brought back the English language through his literature in a country where French
and Latin were the languages adopted by the upper classes and educated. He is known as the
father of English Literature and we can thank him for legitimising vernacular Middle English
– without him we could all be speaking French.
EARLY MODERN ENGLISH 1500 – 1800
Towards the end of the Middle English period, there was a sudden change in
pronunciation, where vowels were pronounced shorter and shorter (otherwise known as the
Great Vowel Shift). The influence of Latin also had a stabilising effect on the English
spelling. Furthermore, from the 16thcentury onwards, the British came into contact with
people from around the world through colonialism; this added some new interesting words to
the English lexicon. In fact the first English dictionary was first published in 1604. With the
increased printing standardising the language and making books readily available to the
public, people became more literate. The greatest English language writer wrote in Early
Modern English – yes, twas Shakespeare!
LATE MODERN ENGLISH 1800 – Present
The main difference between early and late modern English is the increase of vocabulary
that came about was due to the Industrial Revolution and invention of new technology. In
addition to this, at the beginning of the Late Modern English period, the English empire
covered around a quarter of the world meaning that we got some more fancy foreign words
from other countries to add to our language.
30 ACADEMIC WORDS WITH DEFINITION
1. analysis
abstract separation of something into its various parts
2. approach
move towards
3. area
the extent of a two-dimensional surface within a boundary
4. assessment
the act of judging a person or situation or event
5. assume
take to be the case or to be true
6. authority
the power or right to give orders or make decisions
7. available
obtainable or accessible and ready for use or service
8. benefit
something that aids or promotes well-being
9. concept
an abstract or general idea inferred from specific instances
10. consistent
the same throughout in structure or composition
11. constitutional
existing as an essential characteristic
12. context
the set of facts or circumstances that surround a situation
13. contract
a binding agreement that is enforceable by law
14. create
bring into existence
15. data
a collection of facts from which conclusions may be drawn
16. definition
a brief explanation of the meaning of a word or phrase
17. derived
formed or developed from something else; not original
18. distribution
the act of spreading or apportioning
19. economic
of or relating to production and management of wealth
20. environment
the totality of surrounding conditions
21. established
brought about or set up or accepted
22. estimate
judge tentatively
23. evidence
knowledge on which to base belief
24. export
sell or transfer abroad
25. factor
anything that contributes causally to a result
26. financial
involving fiscal matters
27. formula
a group of symbols that make a mathematical statement
28. function
what something is used for
29. identified
having the identity known or established
30. income
the amount of money one makes over a period of time
Formal language is characterized by the use of standard English, more complex sentence
structures, infrequent use of personal pronouns, and lack of colloquial or slang terms.
Informal language allows the use of nonstandard English forms, colloquial vocabulary and
typically shorter sentence structures.
Informal language is more casual and spontaneous. It is used when communicating with
friends or family either in writing or in conversation. It is used when writing personal emails,
text messages and in some business correspondence.
ACADEMIC WRITING
Academic writing is a formal style of writing used in universities and scholarly publications.
You’ll encounter it in journal articles and books on academic topics, and you’ll be expected to
write your essays, research papers, and dissertation in academic style.
RESEARCH PAPER
A research paper is a piece of academic writing that provides analysis, interpretation, and
argument based on in-depth independent research.
RESEARCH CONCEPT PAPER
Research concept paper is a one- to two-page written document describing an idea for a
project. At this stage, there is no need to flesh out details, but rather just introduce the overall
rationale of the project, how it'll be carried out and the expected outcomes.
