Language Change

By Sdeen
  • 100 BCE

    Languages spoken in Britain

    Many spoke tribal languages: Celtic, Irish, Cornish etc
  • 43

    Roman invasion of England

    Core of Latin lexis:
    street from strata
    chester from castra (fortified military camp) eg in Manchester
  • Period: 400 to 1100

    Old English

  • 410

    The Anglo-Saxon/Jutes + Roman invasion

  • 700

    Viking invasion

    Brought in common terms e.g. land, food etc and action/regular verbs
  • 1066

    Norman invasion/Battle of Hastings

    Ed the Confessor was on the English throne but needed an heir, Harold from England received the throne. William (France/Normandy) waited for the easter invasions to finish, attacked from the south and became ruler of England. French was now high prestige in England (Old English + French - accommodation).
  • Period: 1100 to 1480

    Middle English

  • Period: 1300 to 1400

    The Great Vowel Shift

    People in England slowly changed how they pronounced long vowels. Words kept their old spelling, but the sounds changed, which is why English spelling is confusing today. E.g. house used to sound like “hoose”
  • 1362

    Statue of Pleadings

    Act that declared “All official businesses will now be conducted in English” — English gained a higher status.
  • 1476

    Caxton's Printing Press

    William Caxton introduced the printing press to London. Mass production = beginning of standardised spelling and punctuation
  • Period: 1480 to

    Early Modern English

  • 1569

    John Hart - An Orthographic

    believed there was a superfluity of letters in spelling. Also observed there were "corruptions" and "confusion and disorder"
  • 1582

    Richard Mulcaster's Elementaire

    Foundational educational and linguistic text arguing for the use of English over Latin in education and provided a "general table" of 8,000 words to standardise English spelling, aiming to promote national pride and intellectual development in English. Mulcaster had a desire for stabilisation in spelling.
  • Robert Cawdry - A table Alphabetical

  • King James Bible

    Full of metaphorical language, Ye = the and Yt = that. Everyone had to have a Bible but they were all different, this brought standardisation. -eth inflection, no used of "do" with negatives, his instead of its, prepositions with different meanings, an used before "h".
  • Period: to

    Late Modern English

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