essay on development of english language

A Brief History of the English Language: From Old English to Modern Days

Join us on a journey through the centuries as we trace the evolution of English from the Old and Middle periods to modern times.

What Is the English Language, and Where Did It Come From?

The different periods of the english language, the bottom line.

Today, English is one of the most common languages in the world, spoken by around 1.5 billion people globally. It is the official language of many countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

English is also the lingua franca of international business and academia and is one of the six official languages of the United Nations.

Despite its widespread use, English is not without its challenges. Because it has borrowed words from so many other languages, it can be difficult to know how to spell or pronounce certain words. And, because there are so many different dialects of English, it can be hard to understand someone from a different region.

But, overall, English is a rich and flexible language that has adapted to the needs of a rapidly changing world. It is truly a global, dominant language – and one that shows no signs of slowing down. Join us as we guide you through the history of the English language.

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The English language is a West Germanic language that originated in England. It is the third most spoken language in the world after Mandarin Chinese and Spanish. English has been influenced by a number of other languages over the centuries, including Old Norse, Latin, French, and Dutch.

The earliest forms of English were spoken by the Anglo-Saxons, who settled in England in the 5th century. The Anglo-Saxons were a mix of Germanic tribes from Scandinavia and Germany. They brought with them their own language, which was called Old English.

The English language has gone through distinct periods throughout its history. Different aspects of the language have changed throughout time, such as grammar, vocabulary, spelling , etc.

The Old English period (5th-11th centuries), Middle English period (11th-15th centuries), and Modern English period (16th century to present) are the three main divisions in the history of the English language.

Let's take a closer look at each one:

Old English Period (500-1100)

The Old English period began in 449 AD with the arrival of three Germanic tribes from the Continent: the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes. They settled in the south and east of Britain, which was then inhabited by the Celts. The Anglo-Saxons had their own language, called Old English, which was spoken from around the 5th century to the 11th century.

Old English was a Germanic language, and as such, it was very different from the Celtic languages spoken by the Britons. It was also a very different language from the English we speak today. It was a highly inflected language, meaning that words could change their form depending on how they were being used in a sentence.

There are four known dialects of the Old English language:

• Northumbrian in northern England and southeastern Scotland,
• Mercian in central England,
• Kentish in southeastern England,
• West Saxon in southern and southwestern England.

Old English grammar also had a complex system, with five main cases (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, instrumental), three genders (masculine, feminine, and neuter), and two numbers (singular and plural).

The Anglo-Saxons also had their own alphabet, which was known as the futhorc . The futhorc consisted of 24 letters, most of which were named after rune symbols. However, they also borrowed the Roman alphabet and eventually started using that instead.

The vocabulary was also quite different, with many words being borrowed from other languages such as Latin, French, and Old Norse. The first account of Anglo-Saxon England ever written is from 731 AD – a document known as the Venerable Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People , which remains the single most valuable source from this period.

Another one of the most famous examples of Old English literature is the epic poem Beowulf , which was written sometime between the 8th and 11th centuries. By the end of the Old English period at the close of the 11th century, West Saxon dominated, resulting in most of the surviving documents from this period being written in the West Saxon dialect.

The Old English period was a time of great change for Britain. In 1066, the Normans invaded England and conquered the Anglo-Saxons. The Normans were originally Viking settlers from Scandinavia who had settled in France in the 10th century. They spoke a form of French, which was the language of the ruling class in England after the Norman Conquest.

The Old English period came to an end in 1066 with the Norman Conquest. However, Old English continued to be spoken in some parts of England until the 12th century. After that, it was replaced by Middle English.

Middle English Period (1100-1500)

The second stage of the English language is known as the Middle English period , which was spoken from around the 12th century to the late 15th century. As mentioned above, Middle English emerged after the Norman Conquest of 1066, when the Normans conquered England.

As a result of the Norman Conquest, French became the language of the ruling class, while English was spoken by the lower classes. This led to a number of changes in the English language, including a reduction in the number of inflections and grammatical rules.

Middle English is often divided into two periods: Early Middle English (11th-13th centuries) and Late Middle English (14th-15th centuries).

Early Middle English (1100-1300)

The Early Middle English period began in 1066 with the Norman Conquest and was greatly influenced by French, as the Normans brought with them many French words that began to replace their Old English equivalents. This process is known as Normanisation.

One of the most noticeable changes was in the vocabulary of law and government. Many Old English words related to these concepts were replaced by their French equivalents. For example, the Old English word for a king was cyning or cyng , which was replaced by the Norman word we use today, king .

The Norman Conquest also affected the grammar of Old English. The inflectional system began to break down, and words started to lose their endings. This Scandinavian influence made the English vocabulary simpler and more regular.

Late Middle English (1300-1500)

The Late Middle English period began in the 14th century and lasted until the 15th century. During this time, the English language was further influenced by French.

However, the Hundred Years’ War (1337-1453) between England and France meant that English was used more and more in official documents. This helped to standardize the language and make it more uniform.

One of the most famous examples of Middle English literature is The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, which was written in the late 14th century. Chaucer was the first major writer in English, and he e helped to standardize the language even further. For this reason, Middle English is also frequently referred to as Chaucerian English.

French influence can also be seen in the vocabulary, with many French loanwords being introduced into English during this time. Middle English was also influenced by the introduction of Christianity, with many religious terms being borrowed from Latin.

Modern English Period (1500-present)

After Old and Middle English comes the third stage of the English language, known as Modern English , which began in the 16th century and continues to the present day.

The Early Modern English period, or Early New English, emerged after the introduction of the printing press in England in 1476, which meant that books could be mass-produced, and more people learned to read and write. As a result, the standardization of English continued.

The Renaissance (14th-17th centuries) saw a rediscovery of classical learning, which had a significant impact on English literature. During this time, the English language also borrowed many Greek and Latin words. The first English dictionary , A Table Alphabeticall of Hard Words , was published in 1604.

The King James Bible , which was first published in 1611, also had a significant impact on the development of Early Modern English. The Bible was translated into English from Latin and Greek, introducing many new words into the language.

The rise of the British Empire (16th-20th centuries) also had a significant impact on the English language. English became the language of commerce, science, and politics, and was spread around the world by British colonists. This led to the development of many different varieties of English, known as dialects.

One of the most famous examples of Early Modern English literature is William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet , which was first performed in 1597. To this day, William Shakespeare is considered the greatest writer in the English language.

The final stage of the English language is known as Modern English , which has been spoken from around the 19th century to the present day. Modern English has its roots in Early Modern English, but it has undergone several changes since then.

The most significant change occurred in the 20th century, with the introduction of mass media and technology. For example, new words have been created to keep up with changing technology, and old words have fallen out of use. However, the core grammar and vocabulary of the language have remained relatively stable.

Today, English is spoken by an estimated 1.5 billion people around the world, making it one of the most widely spoken languages in the world. It is the official language of many countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States, and Australia. English is also the language of international communication and is used in business, education, and tourism.

English is a fascinating language that has evolved over the centuries, and today it is one of the most commonly spoken languages in the world. The English language has its roots in Anglo-Saxon, a West Germanic language spoken by the Anglo-Saxons who settled in Britain in the 5th century.

The earliest form of English was known as Old English, which was spoken until around the 11th century. Middle English emerged after the Norman Conquest of 1066, and it was spoken until the late 15th century. Modern English began to develop in the 16th century, and it has continued to evolve since then.

If you want to expand your English vocabulary with new, relevant words, make sure to download our Langster app , and learn English with stories! Have fun!

Ellis is a seasoned polyglot and one of the creative minds behind Langster Blog, where she shares effective language learning strategies and insights from her own journey mastering the four languages. Ellis strives to empower learners globally to embrace new languages with confidence and curiosity. Off the blog, she immerses herself in exploring diverse cultures through cinema and contemporary fiction, further fueling her passion for language and connection.

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English language summary

Learn about the origins and basic characteristics of the english language.

English language , Language belonging to the Germanic languages branch of the Indo-European language family, widely spoken on six continents. The primary language of the U.S., Britain, Canada, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, and various Caribbean and Pacific island nations, it is also an official language of India, the Philippines, and many sub-Saharan African countries. It is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world (approximately 1.5 billion speakers), the mother tongue of more than 350 million people, and the most widely taught foreign language. English relies mainly on word order (usually subject-verb-object) to indicate relationships between words ( see syntax). Written in the Latin alphabet, it is most closely related to Frisian, German , and Dutch. Its history began with the migration of the Jutes, Angles, and Saxons from Germany and Denmark to Britain in the 5th and 6th centuries. The Norman Conquest of 1066 brought many French words into English. Greek and Latin words began to enter it in the 15th century, and Modern English is usually dated from 1500. English easily borrows words from other languages and has coined many new words to reflect advances in technology.

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From old English to modern English

This page was published over 5 years ago. Please be aware that due to the passage of time, the information provided on this page may be out of date or otherwise inaccurate, and any views or opinions expressed may no longer be relevant. Some technical elements such as audio-visual and interactive media may no longer work. For more detail, see how we deal with older content .

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How and why has English changed over time?

In this brief introduction to the subject, I will show how we can look at the history of a language in two main ways: externally – where, why and by whom the language was used; the political and social factors causing change – and internally – the pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary and written appearance of the language; the motivations for change arising from the structure of the language itself.

I will structure my discussion around the conventional division of the history of English into three main periods: Old, Middle and Modern English.

The Old English (OE) period can be regarded as starting around AD 450, with the arrival of West Germanic settlers (Angles, Saxons and Jutes) in southern Britain. They brought with them dialects closely related to the continental language varieties which would produce modern German, Dutch and Frisian.

This Germanic basis for English can be seen in much of our everyday vocabulary – compare heart (OE heorte ), come (OE cuman ) and old (OE eald ) with German Herz , kommen and alt .

Many grammatical features also date back to this time: irregular verbs such as drink ~ drank ~ drunk (OE drincan ~ dranc ~ (ge)druncen ) parallel German trinken ~ trank ~ getrunken . Similarly, many OE pronunciations are preserved in modern spellings e.g. knight (OE cniht , German Knecht ), in which k would have been pronounced and gh sounded like ch in Scots loch .

OE, also called Anglo-Saxon, was not heavily influenced by the Celtic languages spoken by the native inhabitants of the British Isles, borrowing only a few words (e.g. brock , tor ) associated with local wildlife and geography (but many place and river names e.g. Dover , Avon ). However, Latin, introduced to Britain by the Romans, and reinforced in its influence by the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity during the 7 th century, had a significant impact, providing both vocabulary (e.g. master , mass , school ) and the basis for the writing system.

OE was mostly written using the Latin alphabet, supplemented by a few Germanic runic letters to represent sounds not found in Latin e.g. þ , which represented the th sounds in thin or this . (A relic of þ survives as y in modern signs like Ye Olde Tea Shoppe .)

British Isles also resulted in substantial borrowing of basic vocabulary: sky , get and they derive from Old Norse.

An example of Old English text can be seen in the Start of Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf (manuscript c.1000 AD)

Norse influence may also have contributed to an important grammatical change, which mainly occurred in English between the 11 th and 14 th centuries, and which marked the transition to Middle English (ME) (conventionally dated c.1100-1500). OE had indicated many grammatical categories and relationships by attaching inflections (endings) to word roots, in a similar way to Latin or German.

Thus, in the OE clause wolde guman findan ‘he wanted to find the man’, the – e on wolde indicates a 3 rd person singular subject: ‘ he wanted’; the – n on guman indicates that ‘the man’ is the object, not the subject of the verb; and the – an on findan indicates an infinitive: ‘ to find’.

In ME, changes in the pronunciation of unstressed syllables, mainly occurring at the ends of words, caused most inflections to merge indistinguishably, or be dropped altogether. This inflectional breakdown could have created ambiguity (e.g. wanted man find ), but speakers compensated by using more rigid word order (subject – verb – object, usually), among other strategies.

Another important feature of the early ME period was the influence of Norman (and later, central) French, following the Norman conquest of 1066. French dominance and prestige in such contexts as the royal court, law, the church and education encouraged extensive borrowing of vocabulary e.g. French words for farmed animals pork , beef and mutton (modern French porc , bœuf and mouton ) were adopted alongside native words swine , cow and sheep .

The borrowed words came to signify only the meat of these animals, mainly eaten by wealthier French speakers, whereas the words inherited from OE came to refer only to the living animals. Norman scribes also influenced the way English was written, respelling words using conventions from French; thus OE îs became ice, cwçn became queen . However, by the 14 th and 15 th centuries, French influence in Britain had begun to wane, being replaced for many purposes by English.

An example of Middle English text can be seen in the start of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales (manuscript early 15 th century)

Modern English (ModE) can be regarded externally as starting with the introduction of printing. Caxton’s selection of an East Midlands/London variety of English for the first printed books at the end of the 15 th century contributed to the development of a standardised variety of the language, with fixed spelling and punctuation conventions and accepted vocabulary and grammatical forms.

The perception of this standard variety as correct, ‘good’ English was also supported by attempts at codification, notably Johnson’s dictionary and many prescriptive grammars of the 18 th century. The vocabulary of English was consciously elaborated as it came to be used for an increasing variety of purposes, including translations of classical works rediscovered in the Renaissance, a burgeoning creative literature, and the description of new scientific activities. Thousands of words were borrowed from Latin and Greek in this period e.g. education , metamorphosis , critic , conscious .

An internal feature which characterised the movement towards ModE was the Great Vowel Shift – an important series of linked pronunciation changes which mainly took place between the 15 th and 17 th centuries. In ME, the sound system had contained broadly corresponding series of long and short vowels, represented in writing by the same letters.

For instance, the vowel in caas ‘case’ was simply a longer version of the vowel in blak ‘black’; similarly mete ‘meat’ (long vowel) and hell (short vowel), or fine (long) and pit (short). In early ModE, people began to pronounce the long vowels differently from the corresponding short vowels: long e ended up sounding like long i , leaving a gap in the sound system; this was filled by shifting the pronunciation of long a to sound like long e , and so on.

These changes were not reflected in ModE spelling, already largely fixed by standardisation, adding to the disparity between pronunciation and writing which differentiates English today from most other European languages.

An example of early Modern English can be seen at the start of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, First Folio (printed 1623)

In the present day, English is used in many parts of the world, as a first, second or foreign language, having been carried from its country of origin by former colonial and imperial activity, the slave trade, and recently, economic, cultural and educational prestige.

It continues to change at all linguistic levels, in both standard and non-standard varieties, in response to external influences (e.g. modern communications technologies; contact with other world languages) and pressures internal to the language system (e.g. the continuing impulse towards an efficient, symmetrical sound-system; the avoidance of grammatical ambiguity).

We need not fear or resist such change, though many people do, since the processes operating now are comparable to those which have operated throughout the observable and reconstructable history of English, and indeed of all other languages.

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Key Events in the History of the English Language

Timelines of Old English, Middle English, and Modern English

 Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty Images

• An Introduction to Punctuation
• Ph.D., Rhetoric and English, University of Georgia
• M.A., Modern English and American Literature, University of Leicester
• B.A., English, State University of New York

The story of English—from its start in a jumble of West Germanic dialects to its role today as a global language —is both fascinating and complex. This timeline offers a glimpse at some of the key events that helped to shape the English language over the past 1,500 years. To learn more about the ways that English evolved in Britain and then spread around the world, check out " The History of English in 10 Minutes ," an amusing video produced by the Open University.

The Prehistory of English

The ultimate origins of English lie in Indo-European , a family of l anguages consisting of most of the languages of Europe as well as those of Iran, the Indian subcontinent, and other parts of Asia. Because little is known about ancient Indo-European (which may have been spoken as long ago as 3,000 B.C.), we'll begin our survey in Britain in the first century A.D.

• 43 —The Romans invade Britain, beginning 400 years of control over much of the island.
• 410 —The Goths (speakers of a now extinct East Germanic language) sack Rome. The first Germanic tribes arrive in Britain.
• Early 5th century —With the collapse of the empire, Romans withdraw from Britain. Britons are attacked by the Picts and by Scots from Ireland. Angles, Saxons, and other German settlers arrive in Britain to assist the Britons and claim territory.
• 5th-6th centuries —Germanic peoples (Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Frisians) speaking West Germanic dialects settle most of Britain. Celts retreat to distant areas of Britain: Ireland, Scotland, Wales.

500-1100: The Old English (or Anglo-Saxon) Period

The conquest of the Celtic population in Britain by speakers of West Germanic dialects (primarily Angles, Saxons, and Jutes) eventually determined many of the essential characteristics of the English language. (The Celtic influence on English survives for the most part only in place names —London, Dover, Avon, York.) Over time the dialects of the various invaders merged, giving rise to what we now call " Old English ."

• Late 6th century —Ethelbert, the King of Kent, is baptized. He is the first English king to convert to Christianity.
• 7th century —Rise of the Saxon kingdom of Wessex; the Saxon kingdoms of Essex and Middlesex; the Angle kingdoms of Mercia, East Anglia, and Northumbria. St. Augustine and Irish missionaries convert Anglo-Saxons to Christianity, introducing new religious words borrowed from Latin and Greek. Latin speakers begin referring to the country as Anglia and later as Englaland .
• 673 —Birth of the Venerable Bede, the monk who composed (in Latin) The Ecclesiastical History of the English People (c. 731), a key source of information about Anglo Saxon settlement.
• 700 —Approximate date of the earliest manuscript records of Old English.
• Late 8th century —Scandinavians begin to settle in Britain and Ireland; Danes settle in parts of Ireland.
• Early 9th century —Egbert of Wessex incorporates Cornwall into his kingdom and is recognized as overlord of the seven kingdoms of the Angles and Saxons (the Heptarchy): England begins to emerge.
• Mid 9th century —Danes raid England, occupy Northumbria, and establish a kingdom at York. Danish begins to influence English.
• Late 9th century —King Alfred of Wessex (Alfred the Great) leads the Anglo-Saxons to victory over the Vikings, translates Latin works into English and establishes the writing of prose in English. He uses the English language to foster a sense of national identity. England is divided into a kingdom ruled by the Anglo-Saxons (under Alfred) and another ruled by the Scandinavians.
• 10th century —English and Danes mix fairly peacefully, and many Scandinavian (or Old Norse) loanwords enter the language, including such common words as sister, wish, skin , and die .
• 1000 —Approximate date of the only surviving manuscript of the Old English epic poem Beowulf , composed by an anonymous poet between the 8th century and the early 11th century.
• Early 11th century —Danes attack England, and the English king (Ethelred the Unready) escapes to Normandy. The Battle of Maldon becomes the subject of one of the few surviving poems in Old English. The Danish king (Canute) rules over England and encourages the growth of Anglo-Saxon culture and literature.
• Mid 11th century —Edward the Confessor, King of England who was raised in Normandy, names William, Duke of Normandy, as his heir.
• 1066 —The Norman Invasion: King Harold is killed at the Battle of Hastings, and William of Normandy is crowned King of England. Over succeeding decades, Norman French becomes the language of the courts and of the upper classes; English remains the language of the majority. Latin is used in churches and schools. For the next century, English, for all practical purposes, is no longer a written language.

1100-1500: The Middle English Period

The Middle English period saw the breakdown of the inflectional system of Old English and the expansion of vocabulary with many borrowings from French and Latin.

• 1150 —Approximate date of the earliest surviving texts in Middle English.
• 1171 —Henry II declares himself overlord of Ireland, introducing Norman French and English to the country. About this time the University of Oxford is founded.
• 1204 —King John loses control of the Duchy of Normandy and other French lands; England is now the only home of the Norman French/English.
• 1209 —The University of Cambridge is formed by scholars from Oxford.
• 1215 —King John signs the Magna Carta ("Great Charter"), a critical document in the long historical process leading to the rule of constitutional law in the English-speaking world.
• 1258 —King Henry III is forced to accept the Provisions of Oxford, which establish a Privy Council to oversee the administration of the government. These documents, though annulled a few years later, are generally regarded as England's first written constitution.
• Late 13th century —Under Edward I, royal authority is consolidated in England and Wales. English becomes the dominant language of all classes.
• Mid to late 14th century —The Hundred Years War between England and France leads to the loss of almost all of England's French possessions. The Black Death kills roughly one-third of England's population. Geoffrey Chaucer composes The Canterbury Tales in Middle English. English becomes the official language of the law courts and replaces Latin as the medium of instruction at most schools. John Wycliffe's English translation of the Latin Bible is published. The Great Vowel Shift begins, marking the loss of the so-called "pure" vowel sounds (which are still found in many continental languages) and the loss of the phonetic pairings of most long and short vowel sounds.
• 1362 —The Statute of Pleading makes English the official language in England. Parliament is opened with its first speech delivered in English.
• 1399 At his coronation, King Henry IV becomes the first English monarch to deliver a speech in English.
• Late 15th century —William Caxton brings to Westminster (from the Rhineland) the first printing press and publishes Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales . Literacy rates increase significantly, and printers begin to standardize English spelling. The monk Galfridus Grammaticus (also known as Geoffrey the Grammarian) publishes Thesaurus Linguae Romanae et Britannicae , the first English-to-Latin wordbook.

1500 to the Present: The Modern English Period

Distinctions are commonly drawn between the Early Modern Period (1500-1800) and Late Modern English (1800 to the present).

During the period of Modern English, British exploration, colonization, and overseas trade hastened the acquisition of loanwords from countless other languages and fostered the development of new varieties of English ( World English ), each with its own nuances of vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation. Since the middle of the 20th century, the expansion of North American business and media around the world has led to the emergence of Global English as a  lingua franca .

• Early 16th century —The first English settlements are made in North America. William Tyndale's English translation of the Bible is published. Many Greek and Latin borrowings enter English.
• 1542 —In his  Fyrst Boke of the Introduction of Knowledge , Andrew Boorde illustrates regional dialects.
• 1549 —The first version of the Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England is published.
• 1553 —Thomas Wilson publishes  The Art of Rhetorique , one of the first works on  logic  and  rhetoric  in English.
• 1577 —Henry Peacham publishes  The Garden of Eloquence , a treatise on rhetoric.
• 1586 —The first grammar of English—William Bullokar's  Pamphlet for Grammar —is published.
• 1588 —Elizabeth I begins her 45-year reign as queen of England. The British defeat the Spanish Armada, boosting national pride and enhancing the legend of Queen Elizabeth.
• 1589 — The Art of English Poesie  (attributed to George Puttenham) is published.
• 1590-1611 —William Shakespeare writes his  Sonnets  and the majority of his plays.
• 1600 —The East India Company is chartered to promote trade with Asia, eventually leading to the establishment of the British Raj in India.
• 1603 —Queen Elizabeth dies and James I (James VI of Scotland) accedes to the throne.
• 1604 —Robert Cawdrey's  Table Alphabeticall , the first English  dictionary , is published. 
• 1607 —The first permanent English settlement in America is established at Jamestown, Virginia.
• 1611 —The Authorized Version of the English Bible (the "King James" Bible) is published, greatly influencing the development of the written language.
• 1619 —The first enslaved Africans in North America arrive in Virginia.
• 1622 — Weekly News , the first English newspaper, is published in London.
• 1623 —The First Folio edition of Shakespeare's plays is published.
• 1642 —Civil War breaks out in England after King Charles I attempts to arrest his parliamentary critics. The war leads to the execution of Charles I, the dissolution of parliament, and the replacement of the English monarchy with a Protectorate (1653–59) under Oliver Cromwell's rule.
• 1660 —The monarchy is restored; Charles II is proclaimed king.
• 1662 —The Royal Society of London appoints a committee to consider ways of "improving" English as a language of science.
• 1666 —The Great Fire of London destroys most of the City of London inside the old Roman City Wall.
• 1667 —John Milton publishes his epic poem  Paradise Lost .
• 1670 —The Hudson's Bay Company is chartered for promoting trade and settlement in Canada.
• 1688 —Aphra Behn, the first woman novelist in England, publishes  Oroonoko, or the History of the Royal Slave .
• 1697 —In his  Essay Upon Projects , Daniel Defoe calls for the creation of an Academy of 36 "gentlemen" to dictate English usage.
• 1702 — The Daily Courant , the first regular daily newspaper in English, is published in London.
• 1707 —The Act of Union unites the Parliaments of England and  Scotland , creating the United Kingdom of Great Britain.
• 1709 —The first Copyright Act is enacted in England.
• 1712 —Anglo-Irish satirist and cleric  Jonathan Swift  proposes the creation of an English Academy to regulate English usage and "ascertain" the language.
• 1719 —Daniel Defoe publishes  Robinson Crusoe , considered by some to be the first modern English novel.
• 1721 —Nathaniel Bailey publishes his  Universal Etymological Dictionary of the English Language , a pioneer study in English  lexicography : the first to feature current  usage ,  etymology ,  syllabification , clarifying  quotations , illustrations, and indications of  pronunciation .
• 1715 —Elisabeth Elstob publishes the first grammar of Old English.
• 1755 —Samuel Johnson publishes his two-volume  Dictionary of the English Language .
• 1760-1795 —This period marks the rise of the English grammarians (Joseph Priestly, Robert Lowth, James Buchanan, John Ash, Thomas Sheridan, George Campbell, William Ward, and Lindley Murray), whose rule books, primarily based on  prescriptive  notions of grammar, become increasingly popular. 
• 1762 —Robert Lowth publishes his  Short Introduction to English Grammar .
• 1776 —The Declaration of Independence is signed, and the American War of Independence begins, leading to the creation of the United States of America, the first country outside the British Isles with English as its principal language.
• 1776 —George Campbell publishes  The Philosophy of Rhetoric .
• 1783 — Noah Webster  publishes his  American Spelling Book .
• 1785 — The Daily Universal Register  (renamed  The Times  in 1788) begins publication in London.
• 1788 —The English first settle in Australia, near present-day Sydney.
• 1789 —Noah Webster publishes  Dissertations on the English Language , which advocates an  American standard of usage .
• 1791 — The Observer , the oldest national Sunday newspaper in Britain, begins publication.
• Early 19th century — Grimm's Law  (discovered by Friedrich von Schlegel and Rasmus Rask, later elaborated by Jacob Grimm) identifies relationships between certain consonants in Germanic languages (including English) and their originals in Indo-European. The formulation of Grimm's Law marks a major advance in the development of linguistics as a scholarly field of study.
• 1803 —The Act of Union incorporates Ireland into Britain, creating the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
• 1806 —The British occupy Cape Colony in South Africa.
• 1810 — William Hazlitt  publishes  A New and Improved Grammar of the English Language .​
• 1816 —John Pickering compiles the first dictionary of  Americanisms .
• 1828 —Noah Webster publishes his  American Dictionary of the English Language . Richard Whateley publishes  Elements of Rhetoric .
• 1840 —The native Maori in New Zealand cede sovereignty to the British.
• 1842 —The London Philological Society is founded.
• 1844 —The telegraph is invented by Samuel Morse, inaugurating the development of rapid communication, a major influence on the growth and spread of English.
• Mid 19th century —A standard variety of American English develops. English is established in Australia, South Africa, India, and other British colonial outposts.
• 1852 —The first edition of  Roget's Thesaurus  is published.
• 1866 —James Russell Lowell champions the use of American  regionalisms , helping to end deference to the  Received British Standard . Alexander Bain publishes  English Composition and Rhetoric . The transatlantic telegraph cable is completed.
• 1876 —Alexander Graham Bell invents the telephone, thus modernizing private communication.
• 1879 —James A.H. Murray begins editing the Philological Society's  New English Dictionary on Historical Principles  (later renamed the  Oxford English Dictionary ).
• 1884/1885 —Mark Twain's novel  The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn  introduces a  colloquial prose style  that significantly influences the writing of fiction in the U.S.
• 1901 —The Commonwealth of Australia is established as a dominion of the British Empire.
• 1906 —Henry and Francis Fowler publish the first edition of  The King's English .
• 1907 —New Zealand is established as a dominion of the British Empire.
• 1919 — H.L. Mencken  publishes the first edition of  The American Language , a pioneer study in the history of a major national version of English.
• 1920 —The first American commercial radio station begins operating in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
• 1921 — Ireland  achieves Home Rule, and Gaelic is made an official language in addition to English.
• 1922 —The British Broadcasting Company (later renamed the British Broadcasting Corporation, or BBC) is established.
• 1925 — The New Yorker  magazine is founded by Harold Ross and Jane Grant.
• 1925 —George P. Krapp publishes his two-volume  The English Language in America , the first comprehensive and scholarly treatment of the subject.
• 1926 —Henry Fowler publishes the first edition of his  Dictionary of Modern English Usage .
• 1927 —The first "speaking motion picture,"  The Jazz Singer , is released.
• 1928 — The Oxford English Dictionary  is published.
• 1930 —British linguist C.K. Ogden introduces  Basic English .
• 1936 —The first television service is established by the BBC.
• 1939 —World War II begins.
• 1945 —World War II ends. The Allied victory contributes to the growth of English as a lingua franca.
• 1946 —The Philippines gains its independence from the U.S.
• 1947 —India is freed from British control and divided into Pakistan and India. The constitution provides that English remain the official language for 15 years. New Zealand gains its independence from the U.K. and joins the Commonwealth.
• 1949 —Hans Kurath publishes  A Word Geography of the Eastern United States , a landmark in the scientific study of American regionalisms.
• 1950 —Kenneth Burke publishes  A Rhetoric of Motives.
• 1950s —The number of speakers using  English as a second language  exceeds the number of  native speakers .
• 1957 — Noam Chomsky  publishes  Syntactic Structures , a key document in the study of  generative  and  transformational grammar .
• 1961 — Webster's Third New International Dictionary  is published.
• 1967 —The Welsh Language Act gives the Welsh language equal validity with English in Wales, and Wales is no longer considered a part of England. Henry Kucera and Nelson Francis publish  Computational Analysis of Present-Day American English , a landmark in modern  corpus linguistics .
• 1969 — Canada  officially becomes bilingual (French and English). The first major English dictionary to use corpus linguistics— The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language —is published.
• 1972 — A Grammar of Contemporary English  (by Randolph Quirk, Sidney Greenbaum, Geoffrey Leech, and Jan Svartvik) is published. The first call on a personal cell phone is made. The first email is sent.
• 1978 — The Linguistic Atlas of England  is published.
• 1981 —The first issue of the journal  World Englishes  is published.
• 1985 — A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language  is published by Longman. The first edition of M.A.K. Halliday's  An Introduction to Functional Grammar  is published.
• 1988 —The Internet (under development for more than 20 years) is opened to commercial interests.
• 1989 —The second edition of  The Oxford English Dictionary  is published.
• 1993 —Mosaic, the web browser credited with popularizing the World Wide Web, is released. (Netscape Navigator becomes available in 1994, Yahoo! in 1995, and Google in 1998.)
• 1994 — Text messaging  is introduced, and the first modern blogs go online.
• 1995 —David Crystal publishes  The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language .
• 1997 —The first social networking site (SixDegrees.com) is launched. (Friendster is introduced in 2002, and both MySpace and Facebook begin operating in 2004.)
• 2000 —The Oxford English Dictionary Online (OED Online) is made available to subscribers.
• 2002 —Rodney Huddleston and Geoffrey K. Pullum publish  The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language . Tom McArthur publishes  The Oxford Guide to World English .
• 2006 —Twitter, a social networking and microblogging service, is created by Jack Dorsey.
• 2009 —The two-volume  Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary  is published by Oxford University Press.
• 2012 —The fifth volume (SI-Z) of the  Dictionary of American Regional English  ( DARE  ) is published by Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.

Resources and Further Reading

• Algeo, John.  The Origins and Development of the English Language , 6th edition. Wadsworth, 2009.
• Baugh, Albert C., and Thomas Cable.  A History of the English Language , 5th edition. Prentice Hall, 2001.
• Bragg, Melvyn.  The Adventure of English: The Biography of a Language . Hodder & Stoughton, 2003.
• Crystal, David.  The English Language . Penguin, 2002.
• Gooden, Philip.  The Story of English: How the English Language Conquered the World . Quercus, 2009.
• Hogg, Richard M., and David Dennison, editors.  A History of the English Language . Cambridge University Press, 2006.
• Horobin, Simon.  How English Became English: A Short History of a Global Language . Oxford University Press, 2016.
• Lerer, Seth.  Inventing English: A Portable History of the Language . Columbia University Press, 2007.
• McArthur, Tom.  The Oxford Companion to the English Language . Oxford University Press, 1992.
• McWhorter, John.  Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold Story of English . Gotham, 2008.
• Millward, C.M., and Mary Hayes.  A Biography of the English Language , 3rd ed. Wadsworth, 2011.
• Mugglestone, Linda.  The Oxford History of English . Oxford University Press, 2006.
• Nist, John.  A Structural History of English . St. Martin's Press, 1966.
• The Etymology of Words and Their Surprising Histories
• English As an Additional Language (EAL)
• What Does it Mean to Have English as a Native Language?
• English Language: History, Definition, and Examples
• What Is a Natural Language?
• Chicano English (CE)
• Standard English (SE)
• Definition of English as a Second Language (ESL)
• English as a Lingua Franca (ELF)
• English as a Global Language
• Old English and Anglo Saxon
• Middle English Language Explained
• Modern English (language)
• What Is World English?
• What Is Basic English?
• Loanwords in English

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A History of the English Language

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Ana Rodriguez

Pooran Chandra

The English language, from its inception as Old English to its present form in the postmodern age, has experienced an extraordinary evolution, making it one of the most widely spoken languages worldwide. It provides a comprehensive overview of English throughout various epochs, highlighting its significant influences and transformations throughout these epochs. From its Germanic roots and the Latin and French infusions during the Middle Ages, through the standardization of the Early Modern era, to the technological and socio-cultural shifts of the Late Modern and Postmodern eras, English has demonstrated remarkable adaptability. A number of internal and external factors have contributed to the trajectory of English, as highlighted in this study. This paper aims to demonstrate the dynamic nature of English, emphasizing its resilience, malleability, and its ability to reflect the ever-evolving human experience by charting these developments.

This work however, is presented from a different perspective. It does not see English as only one of several languages that emerged from Germanic heritage, grew into a distinguished culture, and spread its influence by global expansion, but also as the most influential European language in the world since the time of the Romans. With demonstration of how English is similar to and different from Greek, Latin, modern European languages, Arabic, and Chinese and through the examination of the historical events that cultivated these distinctive characteristics, it explains the reason why English, rather than French, German, or Italian has become the most widely spoken and read language in the world. It traces this exceptional and lasting influence less in the terms of colonial expansion or cultural imperialism than in the diverse, adoptive and adaptive capacity of English as a literary language. In short, instead of surveying the soil that nurtured English, this work provides a panoramic glimpse from a place where the world seems remote and its long span of history has shortened and became almost immediate. From this spot, English differs from other languages, as demonstrated by the following unique features.

Ronald I Kim

Originally written as exam study notes for "History of the English Language" at the Institute of English Philology, Wrocław University in 2007-08 and again in 2008-09.

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This handbook takes stock of recent advances in the history of English, the most studied language in the field of diachronic linguistics. Not only does ample and invaluable data exist due to English’s status as a global language, but the availability of large electronic corpora has also allowed historical linguists to analyze more of this data than ever before, and to rethink standard assumptions about language history and the methods and approaches to its study. In 68 chapters from specialists whose fields range from statistical modeling to acoustic phonetics, this handbook presents the field in an innovative way, setting a new standard of cross-theoretical collaboration, and rethinking the evidence of language change in English over the centuries. It considers issues of the development of Englishes, including creole and pidgin varieties. It presents various approaches from language contact and typology and rethinks the categorization of language, including interfaces with informat...

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Global English Language Development Essay

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Introduction

People who speak english across the world, causes of the global spread of english, beneficiaries of the global english, how english got to where it is today, advantages and disadvantage of the global spread of english.

Global English refers to the use of English language as the main means of communication, irrespective of its dialects. It also implies the process of using the English language as the standard mode of communication among global communities. Alternatively referred to as common English, general English, or universal English, global English implies the collective varieties of English language that people speak across the word. While studying how global English has spread across the word, differentiation of its dialects such as the American English, Australian English, and Britain English among others is important.

The need to facilitate trade has led to the deliberate universal spread of the English language. Although global English may suggest the standardisation of the language as a means of communication across the globe, there lacks consensus towards such a possibility. Although there have been proposals on how to internationalise English to ensure its higher accessibility among people from different nations, some steps such as the development of Basic English have incredibly failed. Major challenges emerge in the process of harmonising spellings and pronunciation of words. As the paper reveals, irrespective of the dialect, the number of people who speak the English language across the world continues to rise.

English constitutes one of the major languages that are spoken around the world. Yoshikawa (2005, p.354) states that it is spoken in nations such as ‘the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, and various Caribbean, and Pacific island nations.’ Indeed, English has been declared the national language in countries such as Singapore, Pakistan, Philippines, and some sub–Saharan African nations that include Kenya, Nigeria, and Uganda among other nations. However, in these nations, it does not imply that 100% of the population can fluently communicate in it.

Thus, determining the exact number of its speakers across the globe is problematic. While the census figures in nations where it is widely spoken may provide a more accurate approach to determining the precise number of its speakers, such figures approximate the population size. Nevertheless, not all people in the above-mentioned nations speak in it.

From the above expositions, all attempts to determine the number of English speakers across the word involves making approximations. Ethnologue (2015) informs that by 2014, English language had about 400 million speakers in 8 nations among them the US, South Africa, New Zealand, and the UK. Saville-Troike (2006) approximates that about 1.4 billion people speak English. Approximately 950 million individuals speak it as a second language while about 427 million are its native speakers. Why do people converse using the language?

People speak English to exchange ideas, opinions, feelings, and any other aspect of expression. The idea that people use English because of higher probabilities of getting the audience to understand it encounters immense criticism. For example, Saville-Troike (2006) claims that no statistical findings have been established to indicate precisely that the English language is the most spoken language across the globe. However, globalisation has led to the transfer of different cultures across societal and national boundaries. Language is one element of culture. Therefore, through the consumption of foreign products and services that come with globalisation, people often learn new languages, including English.

English has now spread across the globe so that the number of individuals who use it as a second or foreign language overshadows its native speakers (Jenkins 2006; McKay 2003). As Widdowson (1997) admits, English has developed into an intercontinental language. What has caused this spread? Is the global spread of English deliberate? These questions are important in the analysis of how English has spread to become an international language.

Jenkins (2006) and Bolton (2005) reveal how Braj B. Kachru’s model of three concentric circles of the English language can be deployed to explain well how the language has spread. Caine (2008, p.2) says that the model summarises the elements that define the stretch of English, including chronological, sociolinguistic, attainment, and fictitious aspects. Kachru’s model demonstrates how English spreads in a number of phases.

The first phase entails its spread that was witnessed in nations such as the British Isles, Ireland, and Scotland during the 16 th and 17 th centuries. The second phase followed thereafter through the spreading of the language in Australia, New Zealand, and North America. In the third phase, namely that Raj phase, the language spread in regions where its speaking communities had not existed before such as Asia and East Africa. This extension gave it a cross-cultural attribute so that it became a pluralistic language.

Although English language now spreads deliberately through advent of globalisation, it was not deliberate in the 18 and 19 th century. For example, people from English-speaking communities colonised non-English speaking communities. In the process, the colonised individuals learned the language of their master. Apart from making it possible to communicate with their masters, learning the coloniser’s language was an indication of civilisation in some communities. This observation was the case in Asia and East Africa (Saville-Troike 2006). Even in the US, people deliberately learn the language for them to fit in different systems, including the US education system. In the global age, products that are accessible via the global platforms are availed to one common market, namely the global market.

The global spread of English has benefited many international societies. Business people build their businesses’ competitive advantage around selling to people from multicultural backgrounds. In the trade relationships, they require a medium of communication. The wide prevalence of English in global societies means that these businesses have ease of access to international consumers. However, if success in the global markets depends on the ability to communicate in an international language, the degree of success in the markets depends on the level of accessibility of its learning. Thus, consistent with Master’s (1998) view, the main beneficiaries of the global spread of English are people who have the quickest accessibility to its learning. These are mainly its native speakers.

Upon considering that English receives its reputation from forces such as globalisation of power, its spreading benefits people who support only the same school of thought. For example, anti-globalisation groups are against the erosion of indigenous culture through the globalisation of the English language and its native cultures. Bolton (2005, p.74) supports this assertion by adding, ‘fearing a Disneyfication of the world with a corresponding loss of local cultures, languages, and lifestyles, the spread of English is frequently regarded with scepticism’.

Although it is true that English has colonised other languages and that it is not deployed to achieve only communication functions, it denies its native speakers the power to regulate its spreading. Many people modify it while introducing it in their cultures. They want prestige that is associated with its internationality. In this process, its native speakers can export their cultures and cultural products. Ultimately, English native speakers are the major beneficiaries of the global spreading of English language.

The spread of English started with the imperialistic process of empire building that was being explored by Britain. Political, economic, and cultural progression of the US followed to define neo-imperialism. By 1922, Britain had the biggest empire in the world. It occupied about 25% of the total surface of the earth where it covered a population of more than 450 million (Saville-Troike 2006). In the colonies, the primary the objective of education system was to acquire the English language. Therefore, the economic and academic success of the colonised people depended mainly on the capacity of mastering the language (Phillipson 1992).

When World War II ended, the colonised nations retained their dependence on the English language. They selected it as one of their national languages. Indeed, people who selected it were the products of the outgoing colonial regime education (Phillipson 1992).

This situation led to the dominance of English in more than 75 British colonies. After the attainment of sovereignty by the US and the disbanding of the Soviet Union, the United States became the only superpower across the world. In the 20 th and 21 st centuries, economic, political, and cultural influence of the US had been a major driver of prominence of the English language across the world. In the information-based global economy, more than 45 percent of websites had appeared in the English language by September 2012 where many of them were based in the US.

Today, China presents the only major threat to the proliferation of English as a global language through cultural, political, and economic influence of the US. However, distinct political, monetary, intellectual, or martial powers cannot foster the international spread of a language. For example, amid the enormous economic growth of Japan between 1960s and 1990s, Japanese never became a global language. Promulgation of a language into a global tongue requires the combination of cultural, economic, and political influence of its promulgators. It is on this account that Latin preceded English in its global spreading.

The spread of the English language promises improvements in terms of communication across the globe. However, it limits the opportunity for running global businesses for people who get chances to learn English (Caine 2008). This capitalism has led to the viral spreading of the English language, especially as people from all linguistic backgrounds now compete in the global market. For them to reach global mass consumers, a common medium of communication is needed.

Consequently, such people look for ways of learning the most commonly used language in global communication. Therefore, the spread of global English has had positive effects in global trade through the reduction of language barrier problems. Nevertheless, not all people have had an opportunity to learn it. Hence, linguistic capitalism remains an enormous negative implication of the spread of global English. The global spread of English has the advantage of easing communication between its learners. It helps in business negotiations across the globe in the effort to drive economies. It also gives people who study languages an opportunity to make translations. However, it also presents disadvantages. Its massive spread has made many businesses adopt it in their operations. As such, the spread has led to the loss of value of some indigenous languages and hence cultural fragmentation.

Bolton, K 2005, ‘Symposium on world Englishes today (part II): Where WE stands: Approaches, issues, and debate in world Englishes’, World Englishes, vol. 24 no. 1, pp. 69-83. Web.

Caine, T 2008, ‘Do You Speak Global? The Spread of English and the Implications for English Language Teaching’, Canadian Journal for New Scholars in Education , vol. 1 no. 1, pp. 1-11. Web.

Ethnologue 2015, Languages of the World: Statistical Summaries . Web.

Jenkins, J 2006, ‘Current perspectives on teaching world Englishes and English as a lingua franca’, TESOL Quarterly, vol. 40 no. 1, pp. 157-181. Web.

Master, P 1998, ‘Positive and negative aspects of the dominance of English’, TESOL Quarterly, vol. 32 no .4, pp, 716-727. Web.

McKay, S 2003, ‘Toward an appropriate EIL pedagogy: Re-examining common ELT assumptions’, International Journal of Applied Linguistics, vol. 13 no. 1, pp. 1-22. Web.

Phillipson, R 1992, Linguistic Imperialism , Oxford UP, Oxford, England. Web.

Saville-Troike, M 2006, Introducing Second Language Acquisition , Cambridge UP, Cambridge, UK. Web.

Widdowson, H 1997, ‘The forum: EIL, ESL, EFL: Global issues and local interests’, World Englishes, vol. 16 no. 1, pp. 135-146. Web.

Yoshikawa, H 2005, ‘Recognition of world Englishes: Change in Chukyo, University students’ attitudes’, World Englishes, vol. 24 no. 3, pp. 351-360. Web.

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The Evolution of the English Language: A Brief History

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What are the origins of English ? What are the key events in the evolution of the English language that were most instrumental in shaping it into the version we speak and write today?

English, as we know it today, is very different from its original Anglo-Saxon version. To understand how this came to be, we need to understand the evolution of the English language and the processes by which it transformed into English as we know it today.

Keep reading to learn about the evolution of the English language.

Unfolding the Evolution of English Through Time

The evolution of the English language happened in three phases: 1) the Anglo-Saxon phase, 2) the Medieval or the Middle English phase, 3) and the Modern English phase. Each phase is characterized by distinct influences and their resulting changes to the language’s vocabulary, syntax, grammar, and pronunciation.

1) The Anglo-Saxon Phase

The first evolutionary for the English language began when Germanic peoples known as the Angles and Saxons, hailing from what is now Northern Germany, began migrating to and conquering the Roman province of Britannia in the mid-5th century CE. 

These Angles and Saxons brought their North Sea Germanic dialects to their new home . The linguistic linkages between English and the dialects spoken in Northern Germany can still be detected today. They even gave their name to the new country—Angle-land, or England.

Different invading tribes settled in different regions of what is now England, lending their own unique linguistic stamp to different regions of the country. The echoes of this historical process of localized linguistic development can even be seen in the United States today, as different regions of North America were, in their turn, settled by people from different regions of the British Isles.

Old English

The proto-English spoken by the Angles and Saxons morphed over time into Old English . Christian missionaries arrived in 597 and began the process of Christianizing the population (or, at least, the political elite of the country). The rise of a new priestly class that needed to be able to read and write in order to understand and teach the Bible aided in the spread of literacy and helped give Old English a written form. 

Old English gradually supplanted the old Latin and Celtic influences in England. These latter linguistic traditions have left very little trace in modern England—astonishingly few English personal or place-names today have Latin or Celtic antecedents.

Old English is largely unintelligible to speakers and readers of Modern English . We can observe this by comparing lines of text. The Old English “Fæder ure şu şe eart on heofonum, si şin nama gehalgod” translates to the Modern English “Our father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name”—the opening lines of the Lord’s Prayer.

Despite the seemingly alien nature of Old English, it does have some similarities of structure and syntax to the language we speak and write today. Although influences from subsequent linguistic waves over the British Isles displaced much of the Old English language (only about 1 percent of our vocabulary can be traced to it) some of our most fundamental words owe their origins to Old English , particularly words related to family— man , wife , child , brother , and sister , to name a few.

There was a great outpouring of Old English literature during the Anglo-Saxon period of English history. The Venerable Bede, a Northumbrian monk, was the first English historian and chronicler; Caedmon was the first English poet; and Alcuin was the first English scholar of international reputation, a leading figure at the court of Charlemagne. In addition to these, we have a rich trove of Old English letters, charters, and legal texts that point to the vibrancy of the language. Works like Beowulf and Caedmon’s Hymn are the starting points of English literature.

The Vikings and the Scandinavian Influence

From the 8th to the 10th centuries CE, the British Isles suffered a new wave of invasion and settlement . This time, the invaders were Vikings from what are now the Scandinavian countries of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. Scholars are unclear as to why these invasions started when they did, but they left a profound and lasting influence on the English language. A political settlement with the Anglo-Saxon kings in the mid-9th century granted the Vikings a specified area in Northeastern England in which they could live and settle. This area was known as the Danelaw.

The linguistic stamp of the Danelaw can still be observed in England today, as the Viking invaders infused Old English with new loanwords taken from their Old Norse languages. Important words like husband , sky , and leg can be dated back to the Viking Age.

The importation of Scandinavian words also made the Old English language more flexible , because these words often supplemented words that already existed in Old English instead of completely replacing them. This gave Old English a host of synonyms and doublets that allowed different words to be used to express slightly different ideas. Old English also absorbed syntax and grammatical structure from Old Norse, a testament to the language’s fluidity, even at this early stage in its development.

2) The Middle English Phase

The second phase in the evolution of the English language started roughly at the intersection of the 11th and the 12th century, when the Norman king William I conquered England and displaced the reigning Anglo-Saxon ruling elite. The Normans were people from Normandy, in Northern France, themselves descended from Viking ancestors. The Norman Conquest, unlike the earlier Saxon and Viking invasions, was not a mass migration. Instead, it was a replacement of one set of elites by another—the Old English nobility was dispossessed and replaced by a new Anglo-Norman governing class, but life and language continued on normally for the vast majority of the English population.

Norman French, not English, was the language of the ruling elite in England for centuries after the Norman Conquest—after 1066, no English monarchs spoke English as their primary language until Henry IV’s coronation in 1399. The words imported into today’s English from Norman French distinctly show this social/linguistic split. It is no coincidence that the roughly 10,000 words that owe their origins to the Norman Conquest are disproportionately concentrated in subject matters like court ( duke , baron ) and jurisprudence ( jury , felony ), while words like baker and miller having to do with everyday life or ordinary trades are disproportionately Anglo-Saxon in origin.

Largely left to its own devices, English developed organically during the Middle Ages. The ruling Anglo-Norman elite took little notice of developments in English, because it was the language of commoners.

This was the era when English developed many of its more recognizable features, like uninflected verbs with stable consonants (inflection is a change in the form of a word, often the ending, to reflect different contexts like gender, mood, and tense). In English, however, verbs and other parts of speech tend to be the same regardless of these different contexts. As we shall see later, such developments were to prove greatly advantageous to English as it spread throughout the world.

Medieval Developments

By the mid-14th century, English had reasserted itself as a language of government and law , likely due to the fact that the political links between England and France were severed over the course of the centuries. Moreover, we see a shift in the character of written English—Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales is a clear departure from Old English. It is written in what we call Middle English, a form far more recognizable to modern readers.

The biggest part of this change was the loss of inflection and gender, but other forms of simplification and unification were taking place . For example, Old English had six noun endings to denote a plural, but only two survived into Middle and Modern English (“-s” as in hands and “-en” as in oxen , with the latter being extremely rare and used only for a handful of words). Verb forms were also being reduced, with fewer options to denote the tense of a word.

Although Medieval English dialects could vary widely even across short distances, the language was becoming more standardized in the Late Middle Ages . This had much to do with the influence of London. The relatively simple grammatical structure of the English dialect in this city as compared to other dialects, its large population, its role as the national seat of government and commerce, and its proximity to the universities of Oxford and Cambridge gave London English advantages that ensured its ultimate triumph over other, local forms of the language.

This was a long and uneven historical process—it didn’t happen all at once and it didn’t happen at the same speed everywhere. Vestigial irregular verbs (those whose conjugation does not follow the usual pattern remain in the language like bear/bore and wear/wore . In addition, there are still parts of South Yorkshire in the north of England where archaic pronouns like thee and thou survive to this day. Lastly, non-English Celtic languages for a long time remained the primary mode of speech in the fringes of the British Isles, like Western Ireland, Wales, and Highland Scotland.

3) The Modern English Phase

The Modern English phase extends from the 16th century to the present day. Perhaps the biggest change during this phase was the culmination of the revolution of the phonology of English ( the Great Vowel Shift ), running roughly from 1400-1600 CE, during which English speakers began pushing vowels closer to the front of their mouths. The word life , for example, was pronounced lafe in Shakespeare’s time, with the vowel lodged further back in the throat. 

At this time, English began to be regarded for its potential as a language of literature. No writer took greater advantage of the incredible flexibility and richness of the English language than Shakespeare . The Bard of Avon alone added some 2,000 words to the language, such as mimic , bedroom , lackluster , hobnob . He also introduced a host of new phrases we still use today, like “one fell swoop” and “in my mind’s eye.” Shakespeare greatly elevated and exalted the English language.

For much of the history of the evolution of the English language, however, words defied standard spelling, with even Shakespeare offering a bewildering array of different and inconsistent spellings for the same words throughout his works. The first steps toward standardization only began with the invention of the printing press in the 15th century and the gradual spread of written works (and thus, literacy) throughout England. 

By 1640, there were over 20,000 titles available in English, more than there had ever been. As printed works produced by London printers began to spread across the country, local London spelling conventions gradually began to supplant local variations. What this also meant was that old spellings became fixed just as many word pronunciations were shifting because of the Great Vowel Shift. Our inheritance is a written language with many words spelled the way they were pronounced 400 years ago. As a result, English spellings often bedevil non-native speakers, as well as those who’ve spoken the language their whole lives . Pronunciation and spelling are frequently divergent. To take just one example, the sh sound can be spelled sh as in mash ; ti as in ration ; or ss as in session . The troublesome orthography (the set of conventions for writing) of English can be seen in words like debt , know , knead , and colonel , with their silent letters, as well as their hidden, but pronounced letters.

Grammar Police

The organic and sometimes haphazard evolution of English has led some figures to call for the establishment of a central body to create rules about and regulate the usage of the language. Such bodies do exist in other languages. The Académie Française, founded by Cardinal Richelieu in the 17th century, still serves as the official body regulating proper usage of the French language (how seriously its rules are taken by actual Francophones is another matter). English men of letters like John Dryden, Daniel Defoe, and Jonathan Swift believed that English might benefit from the establishment of such an academy.

But this idea was also greeted with hostility by opponents like the great lexicographer Samuel Johnson , US President Thomas Jefferson, and theologian Joseph Priestley, all of whom argued that an “official” authority on English would inhibit the evolution of the language, exert an overly conservative and stodgy influence on usage, and freeze the language at a particular point in time . Ultimately, no “English Academy” was established.

Many celebrate this outcome as a positive development for the language, one that freed it from being saddled with a set of cumbersome and inflexible rules imposed by an elitist and out-of-touch body. In the absence of an official organization, English has relied upon informal and self-appointed grammarians and lexicographers to define its rules.

These figures write books and give lectures on proper or standard usage of the language, but they are usually ignored by the vast majority of the population. Even high-profile elites in the worlds of academia, politics, and culture frequently misuse words (confusing flout with flaunt , as US President Jimmy Carter once did in a televised address) or use technically improper forms of the language (splitting an infinitive as in the Star Trek phrase “to boldly go” instead of the more proper “to go boldly”).

Many of the rules of English we observe today are the arbitrary creations of self-appointed authorities who lived centuries ago and offered little or no rationale for the rules they promulgated . The 18th-century English clergyman and amateur grammarian Robert Lowth is a good example of such a figure. It is to Lowth that we owe many of the arbitrary rules of usage that we see in style guides and textbooks all over the English-speaking world such as not ending a sentence with a preposition, the prohibition against double negatives like “I don’t want no potatoes,” and the subtle, but different meanings of between and among . 

Other grammar police of the time and of later ages declared that it was unacceptable to combine Greek and Latin root words into a single new word, and so railed against words like petroleum (combining the Latin petro and the Greek oleum ). These deeply silly and pretentious dictums rested upon no logic or reason and ignored centuries of real-world use in England and her colonies by both ordinary people and the great English writers of the time.

The Creation of Words

We’ve explored the historical forces that shaped the overall structure of the English language. But in our effort to understand how English became the language we speak and write today, we need to delve deeper and understand the processes by which individual words themselves are formed. There are six primary ways words have entered the English language.

• Words are born through accident . Many English words are the product of simple mispronunciation, misspelling, mishearing, or misuse. For instance, sweetheart was once sweetard , but evolved into its present form through persistent misuse. In other cases, words are created through backfilling from plural to singular. For example, the word pease was once the singular form of pea. The word pea didn’t exist, but people mistakenly thought that pease was plural, so pea was created to correct this supposed error.
• Words are adopted from other languages, as we saw with loanwords from Old Norse and Norman French. English has proven to be a remarkably welcome home for “refugee” words. Even in Shakespeare’s time, English had already borrowed words from over 50 languages, a remarkable feat considering the difficulties of travel and communication in the pre-modern era. Indeed, loan words and phrases from other languages live on in English long after they have gone extinct in their native tongues (like nome de plume or double entendres , both of which no longer exist in their original French). Some words like breeze (derived from the Spanish briza ) have become so thoroughly anglicized that we forget they are actually derived from foreign sources. 
• Words are invented from nothing, with no known explanation as to their origin. We’ve already seen how Shakespeare single-handedly introduced hundreds of words into the language. Even as ubiquitous a word as dog only began to appear in the late Middle Ages; before this, the word for this animal was hound . Other times, new words come into existence as a by-product of new technologies—in our time, the internet has spawned its own mini-language.
• Existing words shift their meaning over time, even if they retain their spelling and pronunciation. Some words have undergone remarkable changes in definition over the centuries, even coming to mean the exact opposite of what they originally did. This latter phenomenon is called catachresis. Since Chaucer’s time, the word nice has meant everything from foolish to strange to wanton to lascivious. Only in the mid-18th century did it acquire something akin to its present meaning. The word has changed so much that it is sometimes impossible for historians and linguists to divine its precise meaning in antiquated texts.
• Existing words are altered or modified . The rich tapestry of prefixes and suffixes in English gives it a flexibility that makes it easy to modify words into different parts of speech or give them a different tense. An adjective like diverse can easily become a verb like diversify or a noun like diversification . But this leads to the same double-edged sword we’ve seen with English before—its flexibility simultaneously makes it adaptable to non-native speakers, while populating it with a maddening array of exceptions to the rules and irregular forms. For instance, there are eight separate prefixes just to express negation alone (such as non- , ir- , and in- ), but not all words that begin this way are negatives, as anyone familiar with the shared and highly confusing meanings of flammable and inflammable can attest. 

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• How English became a global language
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• Why English dictionaries are the most comprehensive found in any language
• ← Homo Deus: Meaning and Implications
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Darya Sinusoid

Darya’s love for reading started with fantasy novels (The LOTR trilogy is still her all-time-favorite). Growing up, however, she found herself transitioning to non-fiction, psychological, and self-help books. She has a degree in Psychology and a deep passion for the subject. She likes reading research-informed books that distill the workings of the human brain/mind/consciousness and thinking of ways to apply the insights to her own life. Some of her favorites include Thinking, Fast and Slow, How We Decide, and The Wisdom of the Enneagram.

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