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The Journey of The English Language

I liked this document on the history and evolution of the English language and wanted to share it on this platform. I wrote this article after doing close reading and research. It is intended to arouse the interest and curiosity of the general public and students of the English language and literature to learn about the evolution of the English language.

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29 views2 pages

The Journey of The English Language

I liked this document on the history and evolution of the English language and wanted to share it on this platform. I wrote this article after doing close reading and research. It is intended to arouse the interest and curiosity of the general public and students of the English language and literature to learn about the evolution of the English language.

Uploaded by

Monis Imam
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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The Journey of the English Language

The English we speak today is different from what it used to be a few centuries ago. This language evolved constantly
through the centuries having been influenced by the language of invaders, traders, settlers, migrants, and colonizers. The
language evolved through these four main stages: Old English, Middle English, Early Modern English, and Modern English.
To comprehend the text of the Middle English and the Early Modern English Period, you can refer to their paraphrased
versions. Though without paraphrasing, you can still make out some text. However, the original text of the Old English is
not comprehensible today. This shows the extent to which the English language evolved. Here is an example from an
Anglo-Saxon epic, Beowulf.

Text Paraphrased Version


Hwæt! We Gardena in geardagum, Listen! We have heard of the glory of the Spear-Danes
þeodcyninga, þrym gefrunon, in the old days, the kings of tribes,
hu ða æþelingas ellen fremedon. how noble princes showed great courage.

Old English or Anglo-Saxon Period (400 CE – 1066 CE)


It is considered the earliest form of English. The Germanic tribes, Angles and Saxons, who settled in England and Wales
during the 5th century, spoke Old English or Anglo-Saxon. Though Old English appears as a foreign language, half of our
most used short words today come from Old English: for example, the, talk, water, ear, and child.

Old English employed alliteration, used long compound words, and had different rules to form word derivatives. Old
English was influenced by Latin, the language of the Church, Celtic, that of the native Britons, and Old Norse, spoken by
the invaders, Vikings. Words like sky, bag, law, hit, and they came from Old Norse.

Middle English Period (1066 CE – 1400 CE)


English underwent a new wave of evolution after the French Normans conquered England in 1066. Middle English is also
very different from Modern English. For example, this is how the opening lines of The Canterbury Tales, from the late 14th
century, look like in Middle English:

Text Paraphrased Version


Whan that Aprille with his shoures sote When April with its sweet showers
The droghte of Marche hath perced to the rote, Has pierced the drought of March to the root,
And bathed every veyne in swich licour, And bathed every vein in such liquid,
Of which vertu engendred is the flour; By whose power the flower is created;

Changes during this period resulted in simpler words and unique word order. The Old English words ended with
inflections to indicate gender, case, and number. Most of these endings were dropped. Only the inflection endings to
indicate a plural noun was retained. The nouns now became simpler and the same in all cases. In addition to these
changes, many words, such as "crown", "royal", and "parliament" entered the English language from Norman French.
Apart from Norman French, Middle English was influenced by Latin, the language of the church and learning, and Greek,
the language of ancient philosophy and science at that time.

The Great Vowel Shift (15 century)


th

The Great Vowel Shift was a series of changes in the pronunciation of long vowels. Before the shift, English vowels
sounded more like the vowels in other European languages. For example, the word "mine" sounded like "meen", the
word "house" sounded like "hoose", and the word "name" sounded like "nahm". During the shift, these vowels changed
their places of articulation, i.e., they moved up or down in the mouth, changing their sounds. There were some
exceptions as some Modern English words escaped this shift.

Another change that began with the vowel shift was the emergence of silent letters. For example, “knife” used to be
pronounced with the "k" sound. Gradually, the Middle English speakers stopped pronouncing the "k" sound.

Early Modern English (1500 CE – 1700 CE)


The Great Vowel Shift propelled Middle English to Early Modern English, the language of Shakespeare, and the King
James Bible. Early Modern English was influenced by Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese languages. These were the
languages of the Renaissance scholars, explorers, and colonists. Early Modern English is closer to Modern English than
Middle English. For example, this is how a famous speech from Hamlet, a play by Shakespeare, looks like in Early
Modern English:

Text
To be or not to be, that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them?

Modern English (19th century to the present day)


This contemporary form of English is spoken across different countries and regions. It has been standardized by rules
and conventions prescribed by dictionaries, grammars, and style guides. English has spread as a lingua franca for trade,
education, science, and culture around the world. Influenced by technology and other languages, new words entered
the language over the past couple of centuries.

In conclusion, English has evolved over time from Old English to Modern English. It has been influenced by invasions,
migrations, colonization, technology, and various languages. These influences have made English a unique and diverse
language that can express a wide range of ideas and emotions.

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