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Aug 8, 1564
Shakespeare was born
During Shakespeare’s lifetime, more than 1700 new words were introduced into society through his plays. It is from this point that silent letters were introduced into the English language from French such as the ‘h’ in ‘hour’ which comes from the French word ‘heure’ pronounced ‘er’ -
The Great Vowel Shift
The Great Vowel Shift was a major change in the pronunciation of words, between 1300 and 1700. People decdied to spell words the way they were pronounced, leading to a change in pronunciation. As the English Language spelling was being standerdized during the 15th and 16th centuries, the great vowel shift is responcible for some of the odd spellings of words -
Johnson wrote his English Dictionary
As human knowledge stretched into different areas, many people of influence believed that the English Language is in need of rules, as it had become incredibly disorganized as new words were introduced. A group of London booksellers contacted Samuel Johnson to write a dictionary of the English Language. Over nine years Samuel worked and the dictionary was eventually published in 1755.The dictionary refined 'correct' spelling and grammar, whilst obliterating other incorrect possibilities. -
Industrial Revolution
As new technical transformations transpired and in the age of contraptions and inventions, the English Langugage had evolved and grown to suit the change. It has expanded to invilve new slang, technologies, foods and gadgets. It was during this period of time that we get the words 'centigrade', 'claustrophobia' and 'cityskape'. -
The Oxford English Dictionary
The Oxford Dictionary introduced into the English Language a whole new set of words, while refining the spelling and pronunciation of words. This dictionary included a form of the word which was used to show how it was pronounced, such as next to the word 'knife' it would have said 'naif'. The dictionary also generalized the spelling of words across the English Lanugage. -
Present Day English
In recent times, there have been huge advances in technology, such that thousands of new inventions have been brought into the English Language, along with their semantic fields. Words such as ‘cappuccino’, ‘cybercafé’, ‘websites’ and ‘mini skirts’ have all been added to the dictionary. Text talk has in itself revolutionized the syntax of the English Language. “Omg’, ‘lol’, and ‘rofl’ are acronyms which have made their way from written text to spoken text, as the English Language has expanded.
