1. History of the English Language

2. Why is English so inconsistent?
Through
Though
Bough
Ought
Cough
Rough

3. Linguistically Influential Periods of Early English History
1. Pre-Roman/Celtic Period  up to 55 B.C.
2. Roman Occupation  55 B.C. – 410 A.D.
3. Invasion of Angles, Saxons, & Jutes  410–1066 A.D.
4. Norman Conquest  1066 A.D.
5. Renaissance & Great Vowel Shift  aft. 14th century

4. (1) Pre-Roman/Celtic Period
Stonehenge was built during the time of the Celts.
Historical Notes:
The island we know as England was occupied by a race of people called the Celts. One of the tribes was called they Brythons or Britons (where we get the term Britain)
The Celts were Pagans and their religion was known as “animism,” a Latin word for “spirit.” Celts saw spirits everywhere.
Druids were their priests; their role was to go between the gods and the people.

5. (2) Roman Occupation Historical Notes:
Julius Caesar began invasion/occupation in 55 B.C.
Occupation completed by Claudius in 1st century A.D.
Hadrian’s Wall built about 122 A.D. to identify the northernmost reaches of the Roman Empire
Romans “left” in 410 A.D. because Visigoths attacked Rome
St. Augustine landed in Kent in 597 and converted King Aethelbert (king of Kent, the oldest Saxon settlement) to Christianity; Christianity began to take hold in England (but does not fully displace Paganism for several hundred years)

6. (2) Roman Occupation Some Characteristics of the Language:
LATIN influence:
Latin was the official language of the Romans and it heavily influenced the development of the English language
The Roman practice of recording history led to the earliest English “literature” being documented
The Latin Alphabet

7. (2) Roman Occupation Early Latin Borrowings caseus cheese pondo weight
Meaning
Mod. Eng
caseus
cheese
pondo
weight
pound
calx
chalk
uncia
twelfth
inch
milia
thousand paces
mile
strata
road
street

8. (3) Invasion of Angles, Saxons, & Jutes
Historical Notes:
The history of the English language really changed with the arrival of three Germanic tribes who invaded Britain during the 5th century AD. These tribes, the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes, crossed the North Sea from what today is Denmark and northern Germany.
The Angles were named from Engle, their land of origin. Their language was called Englisc from which the word, English derives.
Germanic invaders entered Britain on the east and south coasts in the 5th century.

9. (3) Invasion of Angles, Saxons, & Jutes
What happened to the Celts?
Most of the Celtic speakers were pushed west and north by the invaders, mainly into what is now Wales, Scotland and Ireland.
One group migrated to the Brittany Coast of France where their descendants still speak the Celtic language of Breton today.
Scotland
Ireland
Wales
Brittany Coast of France

10. (3) Invasion of Angles, Saxons, & Jutes
Germanic invaders called the native Celtic peoples “wealas,” meaning foreigners. Their territory became known as Wales.
The Celts called all Germanic invaders “Saxons,” regardless of tribe, but by the 6th century, the term ”Angli” began to be used. (This is where the term “Anglo-Saxon” is derived).
Because the language spoken by the German invaders was Englisc, their territory became known as Englaland (England).

11. (3) Invasion of Angles, Saxons, & Jutes
During the “Anglo-Saxon” Period, England was divided into seven sovereign kingdoms (heptarchy)
Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy= Seven Kingdoms
Northumbria
Mercia
East Anglia
Wessex (West Saxon)
Essex (East Saxon)
Sussex (South Saxon)
Kent 1 2 3 5 4 7 6

12. (3) Invasion of Angles, Saxons, & Jutes
Some Characteristics of the Language:
GERMAN / NORSE / DANISH / SCANDINAVIAN influence:
Old English, the earliest form of our language, finally developed.

13. Old English ( A.D.)
The invading Germanic tribes spoke similar languages, which in Britain developed into what we now call Old English.
Old English did not sound or look like English today. Native English speakers now would have great difficulty understanding Old English. Nevertheless, about half of the most commonly used words in Modern English have Old English roots. The words be, strong and water, for example, derive from Old English.
There were many dialects of Old English, because there were separate kingdoms founded by related , but different cultures: Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Scandinavians, etc.
Part of Beowulf, a poem written in Old English.

14. Old English (450-1066 A.D.) The Runic Alphabet
Old English was first written in an alphabet called Runic, derived from the Scandinavian languages, but shifted to the Latin alphabet that was reintroduced to the land by Christian missionaries coming from Ireland.

15. Old English ( A.D.)
Old English is mainly Germanic in grammar (syntax and morphology) and lexicon (words) the core of or modern English is vastly influenced by this early linguistic “DNA”

16. Old English (450-1066 A.D.) Old English vocabulary
an Anglo Saxon (German) base
borrowed words from the Scandinavian languages (Danish and Norse)
sky, egg, cake, skin, leg, window (wind eye), husband, fellow, skill, anger, flat, odd, ugly, get, give, take, raise, call, die, they, their, them
borrowed words from Latin
street, kitchen, kettle, cup, cheese, wine, angel, bishop, martyr, candle
surviving Celtic words (mainly place names and river names)
Devon, Dover, Kent, Trent, Severn, Avon, Thames
Many pairs of English and Norse words coexisted giving us two words with the same or slightly differing meanings. Examples below.
Norse
English
anger
wrath
nay no
fro
from
raise
rear
ill
sick
bask
bathe
skill
craft
ski
hide
skirt
shirt
scatter
shatter
skip
shift

17. This is how Old English looked. Can you figure out what this text is?
Fæder ure þu þe eart on heofonum,
Si þin nama gehalgod.
To becume þin rice,
gewurþe ðin willa, on eorðan swa swa on heofonum.
Urne gedæghwamlican hlaf syle us todæg,
and forgyf us ure gyltas, swa swa we forgyfað urum gyltendum.
And ne gelæd þu us on costnunge, ac alys us of yfele.
Soþlice.

18. Old English (450-1066 A.D.) What did Old English look like?
Line
Original
Translation
[1]
Fæder ure þu þe eart on heofonum,
Father ours, thou that art in heaven,
[2]
Si þin nama gehalgod.
Be thy name hallowed.
[3]
To becume þin rice,
Come thy rich (kingdom),
[4]
gewurþe ðin willa, on eorðan swa swa on heofonum.
Worth (manifest) thy will, on earth also as in heaven.
[5]
Urne gedæghwamlican hlaf syle us todæg,
Our daily loaf sell (give) us today,
[6]
and forgyf us ure gyltas, swa swa we forgyfað urum gyltendum.
and forgive us our guilts as also we forgive our guilty (lit. guiltants).
[7]
And ne gelæd þu us on costnunge, ac alys us of yfele.
And lead thou us not in temptation, but loose (release) us of evil.
[8]
Soþlice.
Soothly.

19. Old English ( A.D.)
What did Old English sound like?

20. (4) Norman Invasion Historical Notes:
In 1066 William the Conqueror, the Duke of Normandy (part of modern France), invaded and conquered England. The new conquerors (called the Normans) brought with them a kind of French, which became the language of the Royal Court and the ruling and business classes.

21. (Celtic, Latin, Germanic,
(4) Norman Invasion
Some Characteristics of the Language:
A period of linguistic class division…
Upper classes, political leaders, royal court: spoke French
Lower classes: spoke Old English
By the 14th Century…
English became dominant in Britain again, but with many French words added.
In 1399, King Henry IV became the first king of England since the Norman Conquest whose mother tongue was English. By the end of the 14th Century, the dialect of London had emerged as the standard dialect of what we now call Middle English.
OLD ENGLISH
(Celtic, Latin, Germanic,
Scandinavian) +
FRENCH =
Middle English

22. Middle English (1100-1485) WORDS: PLURALS: SPELLING:
Because the English underclass cooked for the Norman upper class, the words for most domestic animals are English (ox, cow, calf, sheep, swine, deer) while the words for the meats derived from them are French (beef, veal, mutton, pork, bacon, venison).
PLURALS:
The Germanic form of plurals (house, housen; shoe, shoen) was eventually displaced by the French method of making plurals: adding an s (house, houses; shoe, shoes). Only a few words have retained their Germanic plurals: men, oxen, feet, teeth, children.
SPELLING:
French also affected spelling so that the cw sound came to be written as qu (eg. cween became queen).
In 1066 the Normans conquered Britain. French became the language of the Norman aristocracy and added more vocabulary to English. More pairs of similar words arose.
French
English
close
shut
reply
answer
odour
smell
annual
yearly
demand
ask
chambre
chamber/room
desire
wish
power
might
ire
wrath / anger

23. Middle English ( )
Middle English was the language of the great poet Chaucer (c ), but it would still be difficult for native English speakers to understand today.

24. Middle English ( )
What did Middle English look and sound like?
       Whan that Aprill, with his shoures soote
The droghte of March hath perced to the roote
And bathed every veyne in swich licour,
Of which vertu engendred is the flour;
Whan Zephirus eek with his sweete breeth
Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne
Hath in the Ram his halfe cours yronne,
And smale foweles maken melodye,
That slepen al the nyght with open eye-
(So priketh hem Nature in hir corages);
Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages
And palmeres for to seken straunge stondes
To ferne halwes, kowthe in sondry londes;
And specially from every shires ende
Of Engelond, to Caunterbury they wende,
The hooly blisful martir for to seke
That hem hath holpen, whan that they were seeke.
       When in April the sweet showers fall
That pierce March's drought to the root and all
And bathed every vein in liquor that has power
To generate therein and sire the flower;
When Zephyr also has with his sweet breath,
Filled again, in every holt and heath,
The tender shoots and leaves, and the young sun
His half-course in the sign of the Ram has run,
And many little birds make melody
That sleep through all the night with open eye
(So Nature pricks them on to ramp and rage)
Then folk do long to go on pilgrimage,
And palmers to go seeking out strange strands,
To distant shrines well known in distant lands.
And specially from every shire's end
Of England they to Canterbury went,
The holy blessed martyr there to seek
Who helped them when they lay so ill and weak

25. Early English 1 2 3 GERMAN(IC) LATIN FRENCH
Roman Occupation 55 B.C.-410 A.D. 2
Anglo-Saxon and Viking Invasions 410 – 1066 A.D.
GERMAN(IC)
LATIN
The Norman Invasion (The Battle of Hastings) in 1066 A.D. 3
FRENCH

26. Modern English (1485-Present)
Modern English began around the 16th century (late 15th century).
Early Modern English ( )
(Late) Modern English (1800-Present)
Why did it change?

27. Modern English: Early Modern English (1485-1800)
Why did it change?
(1) Towards the end of Middle English, a sudden and distinct change in pronunciation (the Great Vowel Shift) started, with vowels being pronounced shorter and shorter.

28. Modern English: Early Modern English (1485-1800)
Why did it change?
(2) Other things that helped the evolution from Middle English to Modern English:
New words and phrases
Resulted from…
Increased contact with many peoples from around the world
The Renaissance of Classical learning
Standardization of language, dialect, spelling, grammar
Invention of printing
Mass availability of books
Increased literacy
Dialect of London standardized by publishing houses located there
Publication of the 1st English Dictionary (1604)

29. Modern English: Early Modern English (1485-1800)
Shakespeare wrote in Early Modern English.
Hamlet's famous "To be, or not to be" lines were written in Early Modern English by Shakespeare.

30. Modern English
Although Modern English began around the 16th Century, like all languages it is still changing.
One change occurred when the th of some verb forms became s (loveth, loves: hath, has).
Auxiliary verbs also changed (he is risen, he has risen).

31. Modern English: (Late) Modern English (1800-Present)
The main difference between Early Modern English and Late Modern English is vocabulary.
Late Modern English has many more words, arising from two principal factors:
(1) the Industrial Revolution and technology created a need for new words;
(2) the British Empire at its height covered one quarter of the earth's surface, and the English language adopted foreign words from many countries.

32. So what does the evolution of English look like?
Old English
Beowulf
(from Beowulf!)
“Gaæþ a wyrd swa hio scel” (OE) =
“Fate goes ever as it must” (MnE)
Middle English
Chaucer
(from CT)
“Whan that Aprille with his shoures soote ” (ME) =
“When that April with its sweet showers . . .” (MnE)
Early Modern English
Shakespeare
(from KL)
“Sir, I loue you more than words can weild ye matter” (EMnE) =
“Sir, I love you more than word can wield the matter” (MnE)
Modern English
1800-present
Austen
(from P&P)
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.
OE=Old English ME=Middle English EMnE=Early Modern English MnE=Modern English

33. What about “American” English?
From around 1600, the English colonization of North America resulted in the creation of a distinct American variety of English.
Some English pronunciations and words "froze" when they reached America. In some ways, American English is more like the English of Shakespeare than modern British English is. Some expressions that the British call "Americanisms" are in fact original British expressions that were preserved in the colonies while lost for a time in Britain (for example trash for rubbish, loan as a verb instead of lend, and fall for autumn; another example, frame-up, was re-imported into Britain through Hollywood gangster movies).
Spanish also had an influence on American English (and subsequently British English), with words like canyon, ranch, stampede and vigilante being examples of Spanish words that entered English through the settlement of the American West.
French words (through Louisiana) and West African words (through the slave trade) also influenced American English (and so, to an extent, British English).

34. Other Varieties of English
Today, American English is particularly influential, due to the USA's dominance of cinema, television, popular music, trade and technology (including the Internet). But there are many other varieties of English around the world, including for example Australian English, New Zealand English, Canadian English, South African English, Indian English and Caribbean English.

35. Bibliography http://www.englishclub.com/english-language-history.htm
Abrams, M. H., and Stephen Greenblatt, Eds. Introduction. The Norton Anthology of English Literature, seventh ed., vol. 1. New York: W.W. Norton, ,
Anderson, Robert, et al. Eds. Elements of Literature, Sixth Course, Literature of Britain. Austin: Holt, Rinehart and Winston,
Burrow, J. A. “Old and Middle English Literature, c ” The Oxford Illustrated History of English Literature. Ed. Pat Rogers. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1987.
Grant, Neil. Kings and Queens. Glasgow: Harper Collins, 1999.
Hollister, C. Warren. The Making of England, 55 B.C. to th ed. Lexington, Mass.: D.C. Heath, 1988
Pyles, Thomas and John Algeo. The Origins and Development of the English Language. 4th Ed. Fort Worth: Harcourt, 1993.
Wikipedia (articles on “Norman Invasion,” “Roman Occupation of Britain,” “King Alfred,” “King Aethelbert,” “Vikings,” and “Battle of Hastings”). Dates of access: August 10-20, 2006.