History of The English Language

  • Beowulf's poem
    400

    Beowulf's poem

    It's unsure exactly when his poem was written but it is known to be one of the oldest surviving long poems.
  • Period: 400 to

    History of The English Language

  • 410

    Christianity introduced

    Christianity was introduced to the Celts in England. The first Germanic tribes arrive in Britain.
  • 500

    West Germanic dialects

    The conquest of the Celtic population in Britain by West Germanic dialect speakers eventually determined much of the characteristics of the English language.
  • 700

    English Manuscript

    The earliest manuscript records of Old English
  • The Norman Invasion
    1066

    The Norman Invasion

    The Normans brought French with them causing a linguistic class division, the upper clasd spoke French while the lower class spoke English. This brought middle english where mostly english was spoken with French words added.
  • 1150

    Earliest Surviving Texts

    The earliest surviving texts in Middle English were from around this time. No, not phone text but written books. haha!
  • 1350

    English, the Dominant Language

    In the late 1300's English became the dominant language of all classes in England and Wales.
  • 1399

    First Speech Delivered in English

    King Henry the IV was the first English monarch that delivered a speech in English.
  • 1400

    Chaucer's canterbury tales

    A collection of stories about a group of pilgrims travelling to canterbury cathederal. The writer made these stories comical, satirial, and romantic.
  • Printing Press
    1450

    Printing Press

    Johannes Gutenburg had the printing press perfected by 1450. This made the English spelling more standardized.
  • 1492

    Discovery of North America

    It's said that Christopher Columbus is credited with the dicovery of North America. There was a wide liguistic divide in America at this time.
  • 1500

    Printing Press Increaseses Literacy Rates

    The first printing press pubished Chaucer's, The Canterbury Tales. Literacy rates increased significantly.
  • The Holy Bible

    The Holy Bible

    The King James Version (KJV) Bible is the first English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England. It was started in 1604 and published in 1611.
  • Shakespears first published folio

    This was grouped into comedy, history, tragedy. 7 years after Shakespear died actors John Heminge, and Henry Condell published his first folio.
  • The Daily Courant

    The Daily Courant

    The first daily English language Newspaper in Britain.
  • The American Revolution

    The American Revolution

    This revolution defeated the British and gave America independence. After the war America started perfecting their own english grammar.
  • Merriam Webster Dictionary

    The first Merriam-Webster dictionary was issued. Although this was not Webster's first dictionary, it was the final compilation of his dictionaries.
  • The Invention of the Radio

    This invention broadcasted to the masses the model of the English accent even though it was only spoken by about 1 in 50.

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