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400
Invaded by Saxons, Angles and Jutes
They were invaded by Angles, Saxons and Jutes.
The English we know today started here. In this period a lot of latin words from the Christian missionaries and scholars and a lot of Norse words came into the English language. -
Period: 400 to Jan 1, 1066
Old English
Great Britain were five nations, the English, Bristons, Scots, Picts and Latins. About 500.000 people with their own traditions, cultures and languages or dialects. Not much is known about them, because they didn’t write, they only spoke. -
Jan 1, 1066
Changes in language
In this period there was a lot of changes in the language. All the new things that the settelers had, didn't exist as a word in the English language. Therefor a lot of loan words came from French and Latin.
The grammar developed a lot, and the old system with inflections was replaced by the grammar we see today, which is about word order.
Also a few letters was removed, and the spelling was also simplyfied a lot, because some words could be spelled in many different ways. -
Period: Jan 1, 1066 to Jan 1, 1470
Middel English
In this period they were invaded by Normans from France. The king, his nobles and the elite spoke French. The common people were still speaking English and the priests spoke Latin. Therefor it was a trilingual nation. But the English language survived, and with the French and Latin influence it has become quite similar to what we know as the English language today. -
Jan 1, 1476
Diverse subjects in books
In this period printing books was a whole new thing. Because of this new tecnology, a lot of things were written down. Therefor an explosion of words were made in the vocabulary. The Bible was translated again, religious texts were produced, classical texts in Greek and Latin were translated, and Shakespear's poems and plays were written down.
People also wanted to know more about the universe, Newtons methods and the adventures in the new world. So books about those subjects were made too. -
Jan 1, 1476
First printing press
William Caxton set up a printing press. Now books were easily made, and the books had to be understandable for everyone, which meant they had to deal with the problems with dialects and loan words. -
Jan 1, 1476
The Inkhorn Controversy
As said before, the English language changed a lot in this period. But a lot of people were worried about this. There was a huge debate called 'The Inkhorn Controversy' which was about whether the influx of foreign words was a danger to the language and culture or if it was good for the language to change. -
Period: Jan 1, 1476 to
Early modern English
Here the language is almost modern. But in this period there were a lot of new things. A lot of new explorings were made and a lot of things became written down. -
First proper dictionary
Samuel Johnson made a dictionary -
Grammar introduction published
"A short introduction to English Grammar" were published by Robert Johnson -
Pronouncing dictionary
A pronouncing dictionary was published by John Walkers -
Standard English and English as global language
In this period the English language is as it is today. But new words are still added, but that is exactly like today. The English language also became much more global in this period. -
Period: to
Modern English
The language does not change in such a hurry anymore. The main changes is because of scientific, technological and economic developments.