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In 449, the invasion of Britain by Germanic tribes (The Jutes, the Angles and the Saxons) began. These tribes came from Denmark and the Low Countries, and they are considered the founders of England. First, they invaded the south and east of Britain and they moved up from there. Can you guess where the words "England" and "English" come from? And where the English language comes from?
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Some characteristics of Old English: Different pronunciation: For example the "o" sound we hear in words like "stone" and "bone" was represented by the letter "ā". In Old English the word "stone" was spelt "stān". Germanic vocabulary. 85% of Old English words aren't used anymore. Old English had cases like Latin or German. Old English had three grammatical genders: masculine, feminine and neuter.
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Most famous literature work written in Old English. Folk epic.
3,000 lines long.
Shows the characteristics of life in Germanic times. Thanks to it we can see that courage, loyalty and honour were important back then. You can read more about Beowulf here -
During this period French was the language of the upper classes and the court, while English was the language of the people.
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William the Conqueror claims the English throne. He came from Normandy, in the north of France. The new king brought his people and his language to Britain. French became the language of the upper classes and coexisted with English.
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English lost its endings, becoming closer to the English we know now. The loss of inflectional endings also affected gender. Vocabulary was influenced by French.
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King John lost Normandy
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The king of France confiscated land of some nobles who had land both in England and in France, as a consequence, they had to decide whether they wanted to go back to France or stay in England.
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The prologue of this romance says that everybody knows English.
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Made English people think of the French as the enemy. What consequences do you think this had for the English language?
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Contagious illness spread through the country. People died within three days. The death rate was close to 30%. This high mortality rate made people from humble origins rise in social level, and they brought with them the use of English.
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English became the language of law.
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How do you think the introduction of the printing press in England affected the English language?
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Most words form their plural with -s English expands to other countries (the British Empire and colonialism). Shakespeare used the comparative endings "-er" and "-est" with long adjectives, for example "the violentest". Interrogative forms without an auxiliary were common.
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This has had incredible influences in the history of the English language. Can you think of some of them?
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