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-Borrowing: Adopting words from other languages, like pork from French.
-Contact conquest: Invasions (Vikings, Normans) bring new words and grammar.
-Technology Culture: New inventions printing press, internet) and society need new terms.
-Sound Shifts: Pronunciation changes over time.
-Standardization: Dictionaries and writing systems solidify forms, while dialects still develop. -
-Anglo-Saxon Invasions (5th century): Established Old English.
-Viking Invasions (8th-10th century): Added Norse words and simplified grammar.
-Norman Conquest (1066): French became the language of power (law, food, government words).
-Printing Press (1476): Caxton standardized spelling/grammar.
-Renaissance: Latin/Greek influx.
-British Empire: Spread English, absorbed global words.
-Industrial Revolution: Created technical terms (telephone, radio). -
-Old English (450-1100): Germanic base feel core words remain.
-Middle English (1100-1500): Norman Conquest (1066) flooded English with French/Latin, making it different but understandable.
-Early Modern English (1500-1800): Renaissance brought Greek and Latin; Shakespeare used this era’s English; Great vowel shift altered sounds
-Late Modern English (1800-present): Industrial Revolution and Empire added vast vocabulary; American English kept some older words (fall for autumn.