HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

INTRODUCTION
English language, primary language and communication system of the
UnitedKingdom, United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and
otherBritish-influenced countries, where they understand and speak the vast
majority of its inhabitants.
English belongs to the Anglo-Frisian, which in turn is included in the western
branch of the Germanic languages, a subfamily of the Indo-European languages.
Is related to the Frisian language, somewhat less with the Dutch and
certain dialects of Low German, and maintains links with the modern High German.
HISTORY OF THE LANGUAGE
In the evolution of English recognize three main stages: Old English, also known
asAnglo-Saxon, dated between AD 449 and 1066 or 1100; Middle English,
covering the period between the years 1066 or 1100 to the 1500, and modern, with
two stages, the classic, from 1500 until 1660, and the contemporary, from 1660
topresent.
Old English
It is a variant of the West Germanic language, which led to the island, around the
year449, the invading Jutes, Angles and Saxons. Since then, this nation, who had
beenRomanised and belonged to the realm of Celtic culture (especially that of the
Britons) came to be dominated by invaders who brought a language and
culture called Anglo-Saxon. We developed a variant of the language in which it
is tracking severaldialects, spoken by the Jutes, West Saxon, spoken by Saxon
and the different varieties of whites. In the ninth century the West Saxon was the
language most widely used in the prose written by King Alfred the Great, the
first legislator of England.Were translated into Latin the works of St. Augustine, St.
Gregory and Bede.However, the dialect of the Angles was the language in which
they wrote the epic poem Beowulf and elegiac poetry he had some interest.
The language took shape as a national language was influenced by Latin in two
stages: first, by contact with the Roman Empire, the second with the arrival and the
evangelization of St. Augustine, until the eleventh century. From this period come
the words relating to religious terminology, such as altar, priest, psalm ('altar',
'priest', 'Psalm', respectively).
As a result of the Viking invasions from the eighth century, the language was
influenced by Old Norse. This fact should be a series of words related to the sea
and navigation, and others related to social organization, such as law, take, cut,
both ('law', 'take', 'cut', 'two') and are, conjugated form of the verb to be.
Old English was a language with a greater degree of flexion than at present and
therefore the order of words in the sentence was more free. He had a dual number

for pronouns, declensions to four names and two adjectives, and gender variance.
The verb conjugation had only two periods: the present, which also acquired the
value of this Profuturo, and the past. It was a flexible language for the composition
of words because his vocabulary was limited and, together with morphological
procedure for the creation of neologisms, adopted and made numerous loans from
the languages they lived and came in contact. Therefore it is evident the influence
of Celtic substratum, although research by 10% figure common names from this
source. Other Celtic remains are believed to have come from the Welsh, Scots or
Scottish Gaelic.
navigation, and Others related to social organization s, such as law, take, cut, both
('law', 'take', 'cut', 'two') and are, conjugated form of the verb to be.
Was a language Espaol Old With A Greater Than degree of flexion at present and
THEREFORE the order of words in the sentence WAS more free. I Had a dual
number for pronouns, declensions to four names and two adjectives, and gender
variance. The verb conjugation HAD only two Periods: the present, Which Also
Acquire the value of This Profuturo, and the past. It Was a flexible language for the
composition of words WAS Because historical vocabulary limited and, together with
morphological procedure for the creation of neologisms, adopted and made loans
from the languages Numerous Lived and They Came in contact. Therefor it is
Evident the Influence of Celtic substratum, although research by 10% From this
figure common source names. Other Celtic Remains Believed To Have eat are
from the Welsh, Scots or Scottish Gaelic. During this period disappear gender,
dual, and the decline of the dative and accusative pronouns takes a unique way. To
avoid confusion, adopting the Scandinavian pronouns They, them, and gain value
on forms Who, which and that. In the conjugation endings disappear and uses a
single form for the singular and the plural in the past tense loud calls (equivalent to
the irregular Spanish).
At the beginning of this period takes place in the language input of many everyday
words that come from the Scandinavian or Nordic as egg, sky, sister, window
('egg', 'heaven', 'sister', 'window' ). The Normans, whose educated classes spoke
French, also brought about some nine hundred Anglo-Saxon words, such as baron
and noble terms as unknown classes and should be used in dealing with the new
masters. Although some nobles and clergy learned English, they also introduced
French words related to the government, church, military, courtly manners, and
others related to the arts, education and medicine.
In the fourteenth century real prestige acquired the language of the Angles, whose
cities arise in universities and develop a thriving economic and courtesan. It is the
area known as Midland, whose center is London, its influence extends south of the
Thames in Kent and Surrey. Use is enshrined in the works of Geoffrey Chaucer,
John Gower and John Lydgate, and the typographic work in this language made
the printer William Caxton.
As an example of Norman dialects that have survived since then it should be noted
the Scottish language or Lowlands Lowlands of Scotland.

Changing the vowel system

The transition to the modern Middle English is marked by a vigorous evolution
phonetic pronunciation of the vowels, which occurred between the fifteenth and
sixteenth centuries. Danish linguist Otto Jespersen has been called the Great
Vowel Shift, was to alter the articulation of vowels in relation to the positions of the
lips and tongue, which usually amounted to a degree. This meant that, of the 20
English vowels had the means, to change 18. The script remained unchanged as a
result of the advent of printing. Until then, the average Englishman had a more
phonetic writing, all consonants are pronounced, while today there are many silent
consonants l as walking.
The change began in the fifteenth century, when all the long
vowels are pronounced with a greater degree of elevation of the tongue
and mouth occlusion. Vowels thatwere not susceptible to this mutation is a
diphthong, so the phoneme / i / can be something like ee or ea in Need, as Meant,
the phoneme / u / is oo as in food. The mutation, which continues, is the reason
that English vowels are pronounceddifferently from other Western European
languages. Depending on the pronunciationof words are borrowed from
other languages, it is possible to date the time they wereintroduced into the
language. For example, we know that the Gallicism dame, ('Mrs.') came before
the mutation because the a is pronounced / e: /. Apparently this is dueto the
crossing of two systems of articulation, that of the Franco-Norman and AngloSaxons.
From eighteenth-century English pronunciation was highly similar to modern
English. And from that era that began producing most of the phonetic changes
which today are the foundation of the modern dialects.
Early Modern English
Early Modern English (Early Modern Espaol) is the older form of English today, as
a variant of Anglo-Saxon and English language media in particular that was
practiced up until then, this is the English spoken primarily in the Renaissance, and
most commonly associated with the literary language of William Shakespeare.
Chronologically is between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries in the areas
inhabited by the Anglo-Norman (years 1450 to 1700 approximately).
It is considered the evolutionary stage and close to today's English, and was
consolidated in large part due to the rise of British letters in that historical period
and the contribution they gave other foreign languages.
Language family
English is an Indo-European language of the West Germanic group. Although due
to the sociolinguistics of the British Isles from the Viking invasions and the
subsequent invasion of Normandy, has received major loans from the northern
Germanic languages and French, and much of its vocabulary has been reworked

on the basis of cultisms Latinos. The latter two influences are that English is
probably the most atypical Germanic languages in both vocabulary and grammar.
The relative living language more like English is undoubtedly the Frisian, a
languagespoken by about half a million people in the Dutch province of Friesland,
nearGermany, and a few islands in the North Sea. The similarity between
the Frisian and English is clearer when comparing the old Frisian Old English, as
the restructuring ofEnglish by foreign influences of modern English has a
language like Frisiansignificantly less than it had been in ancient times.
Spelling
The spelling of English is set to about the fifteenth century. Although the language
has since undergone considerable phonetic changes, especially vowels, which
makes the spelling is not a reliable guide to pronunciation. As an example we
consider the sequence-ea-, which has up to seven different pronunciaciones16
only partly predictable from phonetic context:
Meaning AFI transcription Sound Spelling
[e], [] head, health [hed] / [hd], [hel] / [hl] 'head', 'health'
[i ] heap, heat [hi p], [hi t] 'lot', 'heat'
[ ], [] Heard hearse [h d] / [hd], [h s] / [hs] 'ear' (to hear), 'hearse'
[ ], [] heart, hearken [h t] / [ht], [h kn ] / [hkn] 'heart', 'listen'
[i] zeal, heal [zil], [hil] 'zeal', 'heal'
[e] break, great, steak [bek], [get], [stek] 'break', 'great', 'steak'
[ie] create [kiet] 'create'
Difference between British English and North American
There are dozens if not hundreds of different ways of speaking English is
impossible to cover all variations of accents, dialects and English derivatives.
British English or UK English is the broad term used to distinguish the forms of
English used in the United Kingdom of forms used in other places such as North
America. The OED, the term applies to British English (British Espaol) "as it is
spoken or written in the British Isles, especially the forms of English used in Britain
by booking ..."," Hiberno English "for" English as is spoken and written in Ireland "
There are small regional variations in formal written English in the UK (for example,
although the words wee and little are interchangeable in some contexts, it
is possible to find wee written by someone in northern Britain (especially Scotland)
or IrelandNorth South by someone in England or Wales). Still, there is a
significant degree of uniformity in written English in the UK, and this can be
described as "British English".Forms of spoken English, however,
vary considerably in most areas of the worldwhere English is hablado4 and
a uniform concept of "British English" is thereforemore difficult to apply the
language spoken. According to Tom McArthur in the OxfordGuide
to World Espaol (p. 45), "[t] o many people ... especially in England, theBritish
English phrase is tautological" and share "all the ambiguities and tensions inthe

word British, and as a result can be interpreted in two ways, more broadly or
narrowly, within a range of blurring and ambiguity ".
The sound / r / may not be audible in some British English words, eg "car". The / r
/is deleted, as well as dialects of New York and Boston.
In American English the difference between "can" and "can not" is sometimes
difficult to distinguish, while in standard British English can see the
differenceclearly.
Americans tend to pronounce words like "reduce," "produced," "induce," "seduce"
(most of the verbs ending with "leads") with / doos /, while in British English is a
little different using / dyoos /.
Americans also tend to reduce words by omitting letters. The word "facts", for
example, sounds like "fax" in American English, where "t" is silent.
Sometimes the sounds of the vowels are omitted in British English, as in the word
"secretary", where the sound / a / is not pronounced.
The pronunciation of syllables sometimes varies in each version. For
example with the word "advertisement"
/ ad-ver-'taiz-ment / (American English)
/ ad-ver-TIZ-ment / (British English)
British English has a tendency to respect the pronunciation of many words of
French origin. Americans often take away points "that are not necessary", and
usually do not respect the pronunciation of words of French origin to give a
pronunciation more "American". Here are some examples:
British English/American English
Colour
Centre
Honor
Analyse
Fulfill
Cheque
Tire
Labor
Favour

Color
Center
Honour
Analyze
FulFil
Check (noun)
Tyre
Labour
Please

Interestingly, the "Received Pronunciation" (Received Pronunciation in English),

also known as "Queen's English" or "Oxford English" is used only by about 5% of
the UK population. This is because there are many dialects throughout the British
Isles.