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Period: 450 to 480
Earliest known English Inscriptions
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Period: 450 to Jul 15, 1100
Old English
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Period: 500 to Jul 15, 600
Alphabetic writing system brought
English has an alphabetic writing system based on the Roman alphabet. This was brought to Anglo-Saxons by Christian missionaries and church missionaries. -
Jul 15, 880
Alfred translated books into English
To improve literacy, Alfred arranged and took part in translating books in Latin into English, so lower class people could read them. -
Period: Jul 15, 1100 to Jul 15, 1500
Middle English
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Jul 15, 1348
English replaces Latin as the language of scholars
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Period: Jul 15, 1350 to
The Great Vowel Shift
The great vowel shift was a major change in the pronunciation of vowels in the English language -
Jul 15, 1362
English replaces French as the language of law
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Jul 15, 1476
English printing press was invented
William Caxton introduces the English printing press. He was the first retailer to sell printed books. -
Period: Jul 15, 1500 to
Early Modern English
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First English Dictionary
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Period: to
Late Modern English
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Spelling Reform Association was founded
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Oxford dictionary is published
The Oxford dictionary took 40 years to make and includes 750,000 words described. -
Commercial text messaging was introduced
Text messaging introduced a new semantic field for the English language. Words were also being spelt shortly to save time texting.