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Historia de la Lengua Inglesa
3º Historia de la Lengua Inglesa
Grado en Estudios Ingleses
Facultad de Filología
UCM - Universidad Complutense de Madrid
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Historia de la Lengua Inglesa

INTRO:
SUMMARY OF THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE
The history of the English language really started with the arrival of three Germanic tribes
who invaded Britain during the 5th century AD. These tribes, the Angles, the Saxons and
the Jutes, crossed the North Sea from what today is Denmark and northern Germany. At
that time the inhabitants of Britain spoke a Celtic language. But most of the Celtic speakers
were pushed west and north by the invaders - mainly into what is now Wales, Scotland and
Ireland. From the Angles the words England and English derive.
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Old English (450-1100 AD) - 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. Old English was spoken until around 1100.
Middle English (1100-1500) - 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. For a period there was a kind of linguistic class
division, where the lower classes spoke English and the upper classes spoke French. In the
14th century English became dominant in Britain again, but with many French words added.
This language is called Middle English. It was the language of the great poet Chaucer
(c1340-1400), but it would still be difficult for native English speakers to understand today.
Early Modern English (1500-1800) - 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. From the 16th century the British had contact with many
peoples from around the world. This, and the Renaissance of Classical learning, meant that
many new words and phrases entered the language. The invention of printing also meant
that there was now a common language in print. Books became cheaper and more people
learned to read. Printing also brought standardization to English. Spelling and grammar
became to be fixed, and the dialect of London, where most publishing houses were,
became the standard. In 1604 the first English dictionary was published.
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: firstly, the Industrial Revolution and technology created a need
for new words; secondly, the British Empire at its height.
THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH IN 10 MINUTES
Anglo-saxon: the english language begins when the romans left england (410 A.D.) and
germanic tribes start coming in (450 A.D.). Among those tribes we have the anglos and the
saxons, that give us the term anglo-saxon. The jutes also came.
The anglo-saxon was used more than latin because it gave more words for everyday life
(house, women, werewolf.... ) Four of the names for the days of the week are named after
some anglo-saxon Gods.
The Christianization (579 A.D.) introduced words from latin, mainly those related with
religion (bishop, font…)
The Vikings (c. 800) then introduced more action words among others, like the verbs give
and take.
The norman conquest: 1066. William the conquest brought new concepts, like the french
language, the doomsaybook and the duty-free galarzapp multi pack. French was used for
official duties and introduced words such as judge, jury, evidence, justice… Therefore,
during this epoch the higher class spoke french while the less educated ones spoke english
(cow, sheep, pig come from the english speaking farmers, and beef or pork come from the
french-speaking class). This all ended with the hundred years wars against France ( 1331-
1453). This was when english took power as the language of power.
Shakespeare: about two thousand new words were invented by William Shakespeare
(1563-1616). Shakespeare's poetry showed the world that english was a rich, vibrant
language with limitless expressions and emotional power.
The King James Bible: 1611. This version expanded very fast. It contains a whole
glossary of metaphors and morality that still shapes the way English is spoken today.
The English of Science: (17th century. 1660) Great Britain was fill of physics. The royal
society was formed out of them. At the beginning they spoke in Latin but they then realized
that for transmitting the ideas it was better to do it in English. As science was discovering
things faster that they could name them, they had to invent words such as gravity,
pendulum, acid, electricity… Scientist then realised of the human body and coined new
words such as cardiac, tonsil, ovary or sternum. And the invention of pennis and vagina
made the sex education classes easier to follow.
English and Empire: When the British colony colonized other parts of the world, they
discovered new things and new words that they introduced into English. Some of them are
barbeque, cannibal or canoe, brought from The Caribbean; yoga or bungalow from India;
vudu or zombie from Africa; nooget, goomerang or walkabout from Australia. The British
colony expanded throughout all the world, leaving english to develop all over the globe.
The age of the dictionary: Dictionary of the English Language (1746-1755) containing the
right ways of writing and using words, for people to known. Somehow it established norms.
Words kept being invented, and in 1857 a new book was started, that would become the
Oxford English Dictionary.
American English: (1607) From the first moment people landed in America they needed
names for the new plants and animals, so they borrowed words like racoon, squash or
moose from the native americans. A lot of immigrants (like germans dutchs and italians)
went to that new world bringing their national products, introducing this way more words
into american english. This also brought a whole new line of capitalist vocabulary.
Internet English: 1972, the first email was send. The Internet arrived in 1991, a new way
of sharing information, ideas, etc… This brought, once again new words into english such
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as download, toolbar or firewall. Making as well shorter sentences that required more
informal and faster vocabulary (like abbreviations). Some of those changes even passed
into spoken English.
Global English: Nowadays around 1.5 million people speak English. Of theses, about a
quarter are native speakers, another quarter speak it as their second language, and a half
are able to ask for more basic things.
SOME HIGHLIGHTS ON THE HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
Before the Romans there were Celtic people who inhabited the British Isles. Even though
their languages still survive, it did not influence English a lot.
The first Roman expeditions were under Julius Caesar in 55 B.C., although the first real
conquest did not begin until 43 .B.C. . Roman ruled in Britain until the fall of Rome in 476
C.E.
After the Romans Latin did not become the language of the people, and was seen as the
language of the Church and of the Roman soldiers, so when romans left Latin was only
used in churches and monasteries.
Anglo-saxon was the first one to have a lasting impact on England. England is the land of
the angles.
During the Dark Ages, Celtic languages returned to wider uses. The Anglo-Saxon invasions
brought Germanic languages to Britain. Therefore, one of the antecesor languages of
Britain is German.
The Norman Invasions. In 1066 C.E., William Duke of Normandy led an army into Britain
to claim the throne of England, which was disputed after Edward the Confessor died
childless. The French duke, William was victorious, which meant that French would become
the official language of England. Therefore, the two ancestor languages of English are Latin
(French) and German (Anglo-Saxon languages). However, French was only the language
of government and international business; the Anglo-Saxon languages (and sometimes
even the old Celtic languages) were still the languages of the people. English is a “mutt
language”, and because of this it is so hard to spell, because you have words that come
from a lot of different languages with different rules.
The Hundred Years War. Beginning in the early 1300s, England and France began a
series of wars that have become known as The Hundred Years War, (the whole thing
actually lasted about 120 years). During this time the English started to reject all French
things, including the language.
This period was the beginning of the language we now call Middle English. Middle English
sounds more like Modern English, but it was before the “Great Vowel Shift”.
The Great Vowel Shift was the changing of the pronunciation of vowels, especially the “e”
at the ends of words.
Modern English and the Renaissance. The natural changes of any language over time
and the Great Vowel Shift combined to shift English into Modern English. Shakespeare
wrote in Modern English.
The Renaissance (1300s to 1600s) means “Rebirth”. It was a rebirth of Classical (Greek
and Roman) learning, especially in reading and writing. At this time, a lot of Greek and Latin
words started to be introduced to English, especially via literature and the sciences.
“The Hard Words”. Most of what we consider “hard words” in English come from Latin or
Greek - words like maladaptive or physiology. The “easy words” in English like the, and and
house tend to come from the Germanic side. This wife is an easy word for most English
speakers, spouse is considered a fancy word.
The Enlightenment (1600s to 1800s) was a time of great scientific and philosophical
advancement in Europe, and it was at this time that the first dictionaries were produced,
and English spelling became standardized and locked into place. Before the Enlightenment
people spelled things however they wanted to. It was at this time that the first dictionaries
were produced.
BEFORE ENGLISH:
THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH BEFORE ENGLISH (PREHISTORY - c. 500)
Indo-European: The Indo-European or Proto-Indo-European lived in Eastern Europe and

Central Asia from some time after 5000 B.C., and most of the European´s languages trace
its roots here. There is now evidence that shows us how the original Indo-European
language.
Spread of Indo-European Languages: Between 3500 B.C and 2500 B.C., the Indo-
Europeans began to spread across Europe and Asia, in search of new pastures and
hunting grounds, making their languages develop in different directions. By 100 B.C., the
original Indo-European language had split into a dozen or more major language groups or
families (main groups: hellenic, italic, indo-iranian, celtic, germanic, armenian, balto-slavic
and albanian). Those language groups divided over time into scores of new languages. The
common ancestry of diverses languages can sometimes be seen quite clearly in the
existence of cognates (similar words in different languages).
Germanic: The early Germanic languages themselves borrows some words from the
aboriginal tribes which preceded them, particularly words from the natural environment
(sea, land, seal…); for technologies connected with sea travel (ship, keel, sail…); for new
social practices (wife, bride, groom…); and farming or husbandry practices (oats, mare,
ram, sheep, kid, hound, lamb…). The Germanic group itself also slit over time as the people
migrated into other parts of continental Europe. We can say that English belongs to the
West Germanic branch of the Indo-European family of languages.
The Celts: The earliest inhabitant of Britain about which anything is known are the Celts
(the name from the Greek keltoi meaning “barbarian”). They probably started to move into
the area sometime after 800 B.C.. By 300 B.C., the Celts had become the most widespread
branch of Indo-Europeans in Iron-Age Europe. The Celts continued into Great Britain until
the Roman occupation. But the Celts were later marginalized and displaced. Celtic did not
influence a lot the actual English, but it left some words and the names of many places like
Kent, York, London, DOver, Thames, Avon… There is some speculation that Celtic had
some influence over the grammatical development of English. The Celtic languages
survives today only in the Gaelic languages of Scotland and Ireland, the Welsh of Wales
and the Breton language of Brittany.
The Romans: The Romans first entered Britain in 55 B.C. under Julius Caesar, although
they did not begin permanent occupation until 43 B.C.. Britain remained part of the Roman
Empire for almost 400 years. Although this first invasion had a profound effect on the
culture, religion geography, architecture and social behaviour of Britain, in linguistic terms it
didn´t. The linguistic legacy takes the form of less than 200 “loanwords” coined by Roman
merchants and soldiers. However, Latin would, at later time come to have a substantial
influence on the language.
OLD ENGLISH:
THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH: OLD ENGLISH (c. 500 - c. 1100)
Invasions of Germanic Tribes: Those invasions were more important than the Celts and
the Romans for the development of English language. During this period, the Jutes were
not the only newcomers to Britain, but other Germanic tribes soon began to make the short
journey across the North Sea. The Angles, the Frisian people, the Saxons… Over time,
these Germanic tribes began to establish permanent bases and to gradually displace the
natives. All these peoples all spoke variations of a West Germanic tongue, similar to
modern Frisian (see-sea,miel-meal, laam-lamb, goes-goose, tsiis-cheese, sliepe-sleep,
blau-blue, sniw-snow, boat-boat…), variations that were different but probably close enough
to be mutually intelligible. The influx of Germanic tribes gradually colonized most of the
island, with the exception of the most remote areas.
Despite the continued resistance, the Celts were pushed back by the invaders into the
wilds of Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, Ireland and some even flee to the Brittany region of
northern France.
The Germanic tribes settled in seven smaller kingdoms, governed by the Saxons, The
Angles and the Jutes. Evidence of the extend of their settlement can be found in the
number of place names in England ending with the Anglo-Saxon “-ing” meaning of people;
“-ton” meaning enclosure or village; “-ford” meaning river crossing; “-ham” meaning farm ;
and “-stead” meaning a site.
The new Anglo-Saxon nation became known as Anglaland or Engaland (the Land of the
Angles), later shortened to England. It is impossible to determine when did english became
a separate language rather than a Germanic dialect.
The Coming of Christianity and Literacy: St Augustine and his 40 missionaries from
Rome brought Christianity to the Pagan Anglo-Saxons of the rest of England in 597 A.D.
The Celts and the earlier Anglo-Saxons used an alphabet of runes. The early Christian
missionaries introduced the rounded alphabet. The Anglo-Saxons quite rapidly adopted this
new Roman alphabet, but with the addition of letters such as ...
The Latin language was still only used by the educated ruling classes and Chruch
functionaries. Most of the words introduced from Latin are related with religion (pope,
bishop, angle, monk, baptism, candle, temple, church…) However, other more domestic
words (chest, spider, school, tower, spade, fork…) also came into English from Latin.
Old English literature flowered remarkably quickly after Augustine's arrival.
The Anglo-Saxon or Old English Language: About 400 Anglo-Saxon texts survived from
this era, including many beautiful poems, telling tales… The best known is the long epic
poem “Beowulf”.
Old English was a very complex language, at least in comparison with modern English.
Nouns had three genders and up to five cases. There were seven classes of “strong” verbs
and three of “weak” verbs. Adjectives could have up to eleven forms. And word order was
much freer than today. Many of the most basic and common words in use in English today
have their roots in Old English (water, food, drink, sleep, night, strong…) But we have to be
careful with the so called “false friends”, words that appear to be similar in Orls and modern
English but which meanings have changed (wif- wife, any woman; sona-soon, immediately,
not just a while; fast-fast, fixed or firm…)
During the 6th century, the Anglo-Saxon consonant cluster “sk” changes to “sh” (skield-
shield; disk-dish, skip-ship…) This change affected all the “sk” words existing at that time,
so any modern English word containing the “sk” cluster came into the language after the
6th century.
Around the 7th century, a shift took place in Old English pronunciation, in which vowels
began to be pronounced more to the front of the mouth. The main sound affected was the
“i”, hence its common description as “i-mutation” or “i-umlaut”. As part of this process the
plurals of several nouns also started to be represented by change vowel pronunciations
rather than changes in inflection. These changes were sometimes, but not always, reflected
in revised spellings, resulting in inconsistent modern pairings such as foot-feet, goose-
geese- man-men, mouse-mice, blood-bleed, foul-filth, broad-breadth, long-length, old-
elder....
The Vikings: (8th Century) The Viking invasion made a treat in 878 with the Anglo-Saxons,
the Danelaw, that divided the country in two. The Vikings (Norsemen) controlled the north
and east, and the Anglo-Saxons the south and west. Although the Danelaw lasted less than
a century, its influence can be seen today in the number of place names of Norse origin in
northern England, including many place names ending in “-by”, “-gate”, “-kirk”, “-thorpe”, “-
thwaite”, “-toft”... As well as the “-son” ending on family names, as opposing to the Anglo-
Saxon ending “-ing”. Vikings spoke Old Norse, which was gradually merged into the English
language (kid, led, odd, ugly, ill, together, smile, hug…).Old Norse often provided direct
alternatives or synonyms for Anglo-Saxon words, and in some cases both have prevailed
(wish-want, sick-ill…). English also adopted some Norse grammatical forms, such as the
pronouns they, them and their, although these words did not enter the dialects of London
and southern England until as late as the 15th Century. During the Danelaw period,
inflections started to fall away, and prepositions like to, with, by, etc, became more
important to make meaning clear, although many inflections continued into Middle English,
particularly in the south and west.
Old English after the Vikings: Alfred the Great (871) believed in educating the people in
the vernacular English language, not Latin, and he himself made several translations of
important works into English. He raised the prestige and scope of English to a level higher
than that of any other vernacular language in Europe.
FROM INDO EUROPEAN TO OLD ENGLISH - Prof .J.H.
English belongs to the West Germanic branch of the Indo-European family.
Indo-European: is assumed to have been spoken in central Europe and south Asia
between 6000 and 4000 B.C.. The Indo-European began to travel West, developing a lot of
new dialects. This dialects progressively began independent languages. The languages of
the Indo-European languages are phonologically related in a principled way. This
phonological relationship was first formulated by Jacob Grimm. Grimm's law or the first
consonantal shift, shows that a regular shifting of consonants separated the Germanic
languages from the other Indo-European languages.
Indo.-European -> Germanic

/p,t,k/ /f, θ, h/
/bh, dh, kh/ /b,d,g/
/b,d,g/ /p,t,k/
Using the principles of Grimm´s law, we can establish a particular language family within
the Indo-European family and this is referred to as Germanic.
Germanic: THe germanic tribes started from the northwest of europe and extended with
new settlements down south. The main phonological difference between Germanic and
other Indo-European languages can be manifested on the basis of Grimm's law. Germanic
can be subdivided into three subfamilies: 1. West Germanic(English, German and Dutch);
2. North Germanic; 3. and East Germanic. The West Germanic branch can also be divided
into three: 1. Anglo-Frisian (English); 2. High German ; 3. and Low German.
Old English: The origin of Old English goes back to the 5th century after Christ, when
Germanic tribes invaded Britain. Old English underwent a number of linguistic influences
(Celtic, Scandinavian and Latin).
Varieties of OE: West Saxon, Kentish, Mercian and Northumbrian (those two are
sometimes referred to as Anglian). The E dialects different only slightly in terms of grammar
and vocabulary. At the end of the Old English period, West-Saxon became the main spoken
one, although it is not the direct ancestor of present day English.
THE OLD ENGLISH PERIOD - Prof .J.H.
The origin of Old English goes back to the 5th century after Christ.
England before the English

The celtic languages were dominant on the british isles until the birth of Jesus Christ.
Despite the attempts of the roman empire to invade Britain, it wasn't until 50 after Christ that most of
the land was under the roman´s control (except from the northern part, which remain unconquered).
The line between the roman empire and the celtic territory is represented by the hadrian's wall.
The roman territory gradually got romanized. But at 410 after christ roman legions had to retire from
britain. Picts came from the north, the scots from ireland, the jutes and saxons attacked the country
through the east coast.
Germanic speaking tribes substitute the celtic people and languages, which became minority.
The Arrival
The Venerable Bede. Bede(672 or 673-735 AD) was an historian and doctor of the church.His
greatest work was the ecclesiastical history of the english people, where he tells us something
about his own life. He told us where the people after the romans left came from and that the
common language was called English. The Venerable Bede is the earliest witness of pure gregorian
england.
Christaniazation
The anglo saxon religion of that time was germanic paganism. Pope Gregory sent a mission under
St. Augustine,northern england has been converted by missionaries from ireland. At the Synod of
Whitby, in 664, the differences were solved. Britain became united with Christianism. For the english
language was also very important because English adopted the latin alphabet and it was soon
written down extensively.
The Viking invasion

The first Viking invasion took place in 787 and from then constant invasions affected life in England.
King Alfred the Great (849-899) defended anglo saxon england from these viking invasions. He
formulated a code of law, religious activity and promoted education.
The Treaty of Wedmore (886 AD) divided wessex from Danelaw. Danelaw is the model of law that
prevailed in the past of England, before the Treaty of Wedmore. Danelaw was divided into four
main parts.
Between 1003 and 1013 the Sweyn of Denmark and Norway invaded England several times. In
1013 the english accepted him as his king, followed by his son Canute the Great.
The Norman Conquest

1066: The Norman Conquest.
The candidate for the throne was Edward the Confessor (1003/06-1066), who only spoke French
and wanted to build a new cathedral where all the kings would be crowned. This cathedral was build
at the west of the city (London, but not in London).
Harold Godwin(son) (1022-1066), was elected to succeed Edward the Confessor when he died.
Duke William did not agree with this decision, asin 1051 the crown of England had been promised
to him. Duke William then prepared to invade England.
The Tapestry of Bayeux.
September and october 1066: King Harold had problems in the north of England. Hardrada's
invasion from the north. Harold then decides to march from London to York, and he won a victory on
the 25th of september. Hardada died.
90 days after the battle, William of Normandy arrived in Kent to challenge Harold's army. The
fought in the Battle of Hastings, where Harold was killed, and William won the kingdom. William
became the first norman king of england (until 1087). French then became the official language of
the kingdom.
OE Literature
Basically is poetry, that can be divided into epic verse and short poems. Beowulf.
THE SOUND SYSTEM OF OE - Prof .J.H.
Varieties of OE
There were four main varieties of OE in written texts: West Saxon, Kentish, Mashin
and Northombria.
The West Saxon variety became the standard one towards the end of the OE period,
that is why it is treated as the lending variety of the OE today.
The OE Phonemes
 15 monophthones
o 7 long monophthongs (that were expressed with an - on top)
o 7 short monophthongs
o 1 central monophthone
 4 diphthongs
 17 consonants
Writing in OE
In OE they first used a runic alphabet called “fud oac”, where each run was a letter
and standed for a word. They first started using runes for magic.
The Irish monks were the ones that brought the Latin alphabet and new letters, some
of which are not used anymore nowadays.
OE MORPHOLOGY - Prof .J.H.
Tendencies
OE was an inflexional system more elaborated than the actual one. Most of the morphologic
aspects came from germanic, and it already exposed tendencies that contributed to its weakening.
 Paradigmatic leveling
o Nouns could have 3 genders, 2 numbers and 5 different cases, what lead us to 10
different endings in some cases.
 Stress shift
o Rout syllables were heavily stressed and occurred primarily at the beginning of the
sentences. They were several steps that lead to the weakening.
 Word order
 Loanwords
Declesion
 Nouns
o They had five different cases, while the actual english only has two.
 Adjectives
o In OE it followed the noun in gender, number and case. They could also take
comparative and superlative endings. Plus, they conserved the germanic principle of
two different declensions (weak and strong).
 Pronouns
o Is the most conservative one, and has only lost some of the inflectional distinctions
made in old english.
 Determiners
o OE had the same structure as present day english for determiners, with the
exception that it had no separate definite article. It was used for five different cases
and three genders.
Conjugation
OE inherited from germanic two tenses system:

 Present tense
 Past tense
o Strong verbs
o Weak verbs
OE SYNTAX - Prof .J.H.
OE had a greater freedom of word order due to the complexity of inflexion, but it never had
the syntactic freedom of latin.
Word Order
The word order in OE (compared to the actual one) was freer, allowing more variation. The
word order could be divided into:
 Basic Word Order (SVO, SOV,VSO,OSV,OVS,VOS)
 Head-Modifier Patterns (correlations)
o Adpositions (prepositions and postpositions)
o Attributes
Sentences were formed in a simpler way than nowadays. It was thanks to Case Syncretism, that
the language was weakened.
With the pass of the years, the OE syntax not only weakened but also symplified, getting
more similar to the actual one.
MIDDLE ENGLISH (c. 1100 - c. 1500):

THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH (MIDDLE ENGLISH)
Norman conquest: this was the event that began the transition from OE to ME. The
conquering Normans were descended from the Vikings who had settled in northern France
about 200 years before. However, they had completely abandoned their Old Norse
language and adopted French, to the extent that not a whole single Norse word survived in
Normandy.The Normans spoke a dialect from French with considerable Germanic
influences, usually called Anglo-Norman or Norman French.
While Anglo-Norman was the verbal language of the court, administration and culture,
though, Latin was mostly used for written language, specially by the Church and in in official
records. For example, the “Domesday Book”, in which William the Conqueror took stock of
his new kingdom, was written in Latin to emphasize legal authority. However, the peasantry
and lower classes continued to speak English -considered by the Normans a low-class,
vulgar tongue -.
Resurgence of English: it is estimated that up to 85% of Anglo-Saxon words were lost as

a result if the Viking and Norman invasions. The Hundred Year War (1337-1453) had the
effect of branding French as the language of the enemy and the status of English rose as a
consequence. The Black Death of 1349-1350 killed about a third of the English population,
including the disproportionate number of Latin-speaking clergy. After the plague, the
English-speaking labouring and merchant classes grew in economic and social importance
and, within the short period of a decade, the linguistic division between the nobility and the
commoners was largely over. By 1385, English had become the language of instruction in
schools.
Chaucer and the Birth of English literature: Most of Middle English literature is of
unknown authorship. Geoffrey Chaucer wrote his “Canterbury Tales” in the early 1380s in
English. There were also some other important works written in English such as William
Langland's “Piers Plowman” and the anonymous “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”.
However, in Chaucer's work we can find different vocabulary from French origin, and he
even introduced up to 2000 new words into the language. In this period there was a lot of
flexibility in spelling, and even authors spelled the same word in different ways in the same
work.
In 1384, John Wycliffe produced his translation of “The Bible” in vernacular English. This
challenges o Latin as the language of God was considered a revolutionary act if daring at
the time, and the translation was banned by the Church in no uncertain terms. Wycliffe’s
“Bible” was nevertheless a landmark in the English language. Over 1000 English words
were first recorded in it, most of them Latin-based, often via French (barbarian, birthday,
multitude, pollute, envy, puberty…) as well as well-known phrases (an eye for an eye, woe
is me...). However, not all of Wycliffe’s neologisms became enshrined in the language
(mandement, descrive, cratch…)
By the 14th and 15th Century the language had changed drastically, and Old English would
probably have been almost as incomprehensible to Chaucer as it is to us today, even
though the language of Chaucer is still quite difficult for us to read naturally. William Caxton,
writing and printing less than a century after Chaucer, is noticeably easier for the modern
reader to understand.
THE MIDDLE ENGLISH PERIOD - Prof .J.H.
The beginning of the Middle English period coincides with the battle of Hastings, the key
event in the Norman conquest of England. William the Conqueror. From 1100 to 1500 after
Christ.
The Periods of ME: The Norman invasions brought massive changes to England's political
and social structures., and it had an enormous impact on the English language. The Middle
English period can be divided into three phases:
1. English in decline (1066-1204): the English aristocracy was substituted by a Norman
aristocracy. The English language became the language of the lower classes.
English disappeared from the written language. The clergy used Latin and the ruling
classes used French.
2. English in ascent (1204-1348): In 1204 the King John, “Lackland”, lost his
possessions in France, leading to a gradual decline of French as an official language
in England. During this time there also was an increase in the communication
between different regions of England with different dialects, what was the base for a
new standard English based on the London dialect. English became the new
medium of instruction.
3. English triumphant (1348-1509): Despite the forehead mentioned, French remained
the official language of England until half of the 14th century, when two events
sealed its fate: 1. The Black Death (1348-1351) ; 2. The Hundred Years War (1337-
1453).
The Language: Middle English was Germanic but it had an extended Romance
vocabulary. (there was an adoption from two different kinds of French, anglo-norman french
->1200- c and central french-1200-1400-).
In ME, the structural complexity of OE had disappeared. The most significant development
was phonological.
The Literature: The many linguistic developments which identify the ME period are most
evident in the poetry and prose on the second half of the 14th century. Among them we find
the first translation of the bible into English by John Wyclif (The Wyclif Bible). Also to
mention from the epoch we have “Piers Plowman” of William Langland and “The
Canterbury Tales” of Geoffrey Chaucer.
The End of the ME Period: The introduction of the printing press to England in 1476 by
William Caxton lead to a spread of English. This facilitated the expansion of English
vocabulary, the regularization of inflection and syntax.The beginning of colonization from
1500 onwards, after the discovery of America, which led to a spread of the English
language. Henry VIII (1509), who cut the links between Rome and the English church.
In 1500 English started to change from a regional European language to a global system of
communication.
THE SOUND SYSTEM OF ME - Prof .J.H.
A ME reference variety: during the ME period (11-1500) dialectal differences were

becoming greater. During ME the new standard English was based on London speech
essentially, an East-Midland dialect.
From OE to ME: this transition was marked by a number of sound changes that affected
both consonants and vowels. The vowel changes were played an essential role in the
development of Middle English morphology. (in particular the realization and eventual loss
of unstressed syllables -´hearte, heart(e)´, heart-) . These changes affected the strict word
order from OE changing it mainly to the SVO in Middle English.
Consonant changes:
1. Voicing of fricatives. Whereas in OE the /f/ had two allophones, a voiced one and a
voiceless one. In ME those became two phonemes, /f/ and /d/. Possible situations
that might have caused this change: 1. French loanwords,; 2. dialectal mixture; 3.
and the loss of final vowels.
2. The loss of glottal fricatives before consonants /hC/->/C/.
3. The loss of the voiced velar fricative ɣ.
4. The loss of /w/ pronunciation after consonants.
5. The loss of /tʃ/ in unstressed syllables.
6. The change of the OE prefix <ge-> to <i/y->.
7. The loss of final /n/
Vocalic changes:
1. New diphthongs (due to the influence of France and to same consonant changes).
2. Monophthongal changes.
3. Vocalic weakening in unstressed syllables.
The ME Phonemes:
13 Monophthongs
7 long monophthongs
5 short monophthongs
1 central monophthong
6 Diphthongs
23 Consonants
ME Orthography: in general terms people spelled the language as they heard it, this is
why during ME period spelling styles vary greatly over time and in different areas of the
country. Looking at general alphabets of these time, we can see that there was no longer
use of macron, ash, eth and the thorn also gradually disappeared. There was a new
consonant (yogh) that supplemented the MIddle English alphabet. This alphabet is by and
large similar to the present day English alphabet.
MIDDLE ENGLISH MORPHOLOGY - Prof. J.H.
The Middle English period is marked by the great reduction in the inflexional system
inherited from Old English.
Reasons for Change:

1. Language Contact: The mixture of Old English and Old Norse languages, and the
only solution to make long words compatible with Middle English was to drop the
inflections completely.
2. Phonological Reasons: the weakening and eventual loss of unstressed syllables at
the end of words weakened many of the Old English inflections.
Declension: Middle English had changed from a synthetic language to a more analytical
language depending on word order and particles indicating the functional relationships
between the words in a sentence. The inflections of nouns, adjectives, pronouns and
determiners was heavily reduced.
Conjugation: despite all the changes, the verbs maintained all the earlier inflectional
categories: tense, mood, number and person, as well as the distinction between strong and
weak verbs. Other changes that affected Middle English was the beginning of the use of the
complex system of periphrastic verb phrases, verb phrases consisting of several elements,
what still characterized today´s English.
MIDDLE ENGLISH SYNTAX - Prof .J.H.
In ME there can be found some structural patterns different from present day English ones,
however, the trend was the actual SVO modern pattern (He takez his leave). The SOV
pattern was still possible (I him followed) . OVS was also used, (but hood wered he noon,
where the object is curiously split -hood, noon-). The last possible pattern was the VOS
(thus taughte me my dame), a structure common when the first element is and adverbial
(thus). This shows how Middle English word order was still very flexible and allowed more
options than in present-day English. Despite this, as inflections disappeared, word order
became more fixed, and by the end of the Middle English period the SVO structure was the
accepted one as the standard type, although you could still hear other less common but
probably accepted today structures. You could also find, but extremly rare and usually in
poetry, the OSV pattern (husbondes at chirche-dooreI have had five.)
Impersonal Constructions: Middle English had a number of “impersonal verbs”, without a

subject but with a topic expressed in the accusative auditive case. The number of those
constructions increased in ME. In this kind of sentenced the object acts like the topic (Me
dremyd, Methristed sare) ). As this group grew, this impersonal structures evolved into
more personal structures with their subjects in the nominative case. (TVX -> SVX),
changing from me thisted to I thisted or from me dremyd to I dreamed. (We know that I
thisted died out at the beginning of the Modern English period and we now say I am thirsty).
Head-Modifier Patterns: In ME both Head Modifier (H-M) and Modifier Head (M-H)
patterns were used. The tendency was towards H-M, although both structures were
possible.
Sentences: as in OE, ME prose favoured coordination rather than subordination.

Coordinate structures were linked by simple coordinators such as and, so, than (then)… In
poetry, the structures were basically the same as those for prose, however, poets were
likely to use inversions.
EARLY MODERN ENGLISH:

EARLY MODERN ENGLISH (1485-1600)
In the late 15th Century the vast majority of the English people lived in the countryside.
London was the largest city and the population there grew in an spectacular way. London
became the center of England's political and economic life, culture and fashion, and it
attracted both migrants and short-term visitors. But London was also a place where more
people died than were born because of epidemic and endemic diseases. London was
where news were made and circulated. The power and prestige attached to the Royal Court
attracted new media from early on. The first printing press by William Caxton in England in
1476. Politics was inseparable from religion throughout the period, but particularly in Henry
VIII´s reign, when the Catholic country was transformed into a Protestant one. The
Reformation affected many aspects of society, from land ownership to the language of
devotion.
In the late 15th century English was spoken only in England and to some extent in Ireland
and Wales. By the 1660s English speakers had emigrated to Ireland and North America.
Because of the short time English had been spoken in North America, few differences had
arisen between the English and American varieties by 1660. With regards to Scots, the
accession of King James VI of Scotland to the throne of England in 1603 as James I of
England and Scotland, made Scots suffer a faster process of anglicization. One important
factor in the process was the publication in 1611 of the Authorized Version of the Bible
(King James Bible), which became the version of the scriptures preached throughout the
realm.
THE GREAT VOWEL SHIFT - Prof .J.H.
The great vowel shift was a great change on the pronunciation of vowels. A shift on the
articulation of vowels respect to the positions of the tongue and lips.
Period:
During the ME and EMnE (middle english and early modern english).
The term was coined by the linguist Otto Jespersen (1860-1943). It affected the
pronunciation of almost all vowels (mostly the long morphemes). From the 14th century to
the 18th century.
What happened can be characterized as a kind of chain shift.
Stages:
Chain shift -> a type of phonetic change where several phonemes change along a scale.
The Great Vowel Shift was a general shift upwards. It can be seen as a multi stage process
where the stages overlap and did not occur in all dialects at the same time. Vowels raised
or became diphthongs.
After 1800 -> the diphthongization of /o:/
Irregularities:
The <ea> class [i:]
The <oo> class [u:]
Reasons:
1. Migrations after the pandemic black death, new middle class, invention of the
printing press.
2. Language contact (from french and latin)
THE EARLY MODERN ENGLISH PERIOD - Prof. Jürgen Handke.
Although English had won territory in the late ME period, Latin still had a great prestige as
the language of international learning and it was a long time until English replaced it in all
fields. The Early Modern English period was the first one in which English speakers took a
serious look at their own language.
The EMnE Period (1500-1700): The beginning of this period coincides with the
ascendency of Henry VIII to the throne (1509). The end of the Modern English Period is
marked by the completion of the Great Vowel Shift and the beginning of the scientific age at
around 1700. English from this period is sometimes referred to as Shakespearean´s
English.
Major changes in science and society gave the people of the Early Modern English period
new perspectives that influences their life and their language. The most influential factors
were: 1. The invention of printing (William Caxton, 1476), what helped to fix literary
language of England in the 16th century; 2. The Renaissance, that is characterized by an
interest in classical culture; 3. The Protestant Reformation, that got England separated from
the Romanic church (15434-1457); The Industrial Revolution; 4. in the late 16th century,
Exploration/Colonization; 5. The Dynasty (Henry VII and Elizabeth I mainly).
Shakespeare.
The EMnE Language: in this period most of today's morphological and syntactic patterns
had already been established. By this time morphology was mainly analytic and in syntax
the word order had been fixed to SVO. The main change that characterized the EMnE
language is mainly phonological, between 1450 and 1650 the Great Vowel Shift took place.
The revival of classical scholarship during the Renaissance brought Latin and Greek back
in terms of lexis, introducing loanwords. Scientific writers were in need of new words and
borrowed them from these languages, although not all of these borrowings survived.
Literature and Spelling: During the Renaissance, literature flourished in England. Names
such as Edmund Spenser, Thomas More and Christopher Marlowe are connected with that
period, but no one had such impact in language and literature as William Shakespeare did
(he invented a lot of new words). By the end of the 17th century the principle of a fixed
spelling for every word was firmly established for printed works, and personal spelling
started to follow after.

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3º Historia de la Lengua Inglesa

Grado en Estudios Ingleses

Historia de la Lengua Inglesa

SUMMARY OF THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE

THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH IN 10 MINUTES

SOME HIGHLIGHTS ON THE HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

Indo-European: The Indo-European or Proto-Indo-European lived in Eastern Europe and

FROM INDO EUROPEAN TO OLD ENGLISH - Prof .J.H.

English belongs to the West Germanic branch of the Indo-European family.

Indo.-European -> Germanic

THE OLD ENGLISH PERIOD - Prof .J.H.

England before the English

The Viking invasion

The Norman Conquest

THE SOUND SYSTEM OF OE - Prof .J.H.

OE MORPHOLOGY - Prof .J.H.

OE inherited from germanic two tenses system:

OE SYNTAX - Prof .J.H.

MIDDLE ENGLISH (c. 1100 - c. 1500):

Resurgence of English: it is estimated that up to 85% of Anglo-Saxon words were lost as

THE MIDDLE ENGLISH PERIOD - Prof .J.H.

THE SOUND SYSTEM OF ME - Prof .J.H.

A ME reference variety: during the ME period (11-1500) dialectal differences were

MIDDLE ENGLISH MORPHOLOGY - Prof. J.H.

Reasons for Change:

MIDDLE ENGLISH SYNTAX - Prof .J.H.

Impersonal Constructions: Middle English had a number of “impersonal verbs”, without a

Sentences: as in OE, ME prose favoured coordination rather than subordination.

EARLY MODERN ENGLISH:

THE GREAT VOWEL SHIFT - Prof .J.H.

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