-
900 BCE
English even borrows pronouns like they, them, their.
Danes and English continue to mix peacefully, and ultimately become indistinguishable. -
700 BCE
Texts in English emerge and become numerous.
Many are religious texts but there is also one great work of literature that was written down in this period: Beowulf. The content shows the story to be much older than its written version; it takes place when the pre-Christian Germanic peoples were still in Scandinavia. It was apparently written down by monks and preserved in the monasteries. It shows many signs of Christian influence, possibly introduced by its writer during this period. -
600 BCE
Northumbria, Mercia, Wessex.
Rise of three great kingdoms politically unifying large areas: -
410 BCE
Settlement of most of Britain by Germanic peoples
Angles, Saxons, Jutes, some Frisians -
403 BCE
germanic tribes
First Germanic tribes arrive in England from the lowlands on the other side of the North Sea. -
1075
English becomes the language of the lower classes (peasants and slaves).
Norman French becomes the language of the court and propertied classes. The legal system is redrawn along Norman lines and conducted in French. Churches, monasteries gradually filled with French-speaking functionaries, who use French for record-keeping. After a while, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is no longer kept up. Authors write literature in French, not English. For all practical purposes English is no longer a written language. -
1205
First book in English appears since the conquest
-
1500
The Great Vowel Shift gradually takes place.
There is a large influx of Latin and Greek borrowings and neologisms. -
1550
Classical period of English literature.
Large numbers of essays, plays, poetry. The English novel emerges in 18th century. -
Development of American English.
By 19th century, a standard variety of American English develops, based on the dialect of the Mid-Atlantic states. -
British imperialism.
Borrowings from languages around the world. -
ENGLISH AMERICAN
English has greater impact than ever on other languages, even those with more native speakers. Becomes most widely studied second language, and a scientific lingua franca.
