BRIEF HISTORY OF ENGLISH

OLD ENGLISH usually refers to the period in the history of the English language covering the years
from 449 (or 450) to 1100 (or 1150). Around the year 450, England was invaded by the Germanic
tribes (the Angles, the Saxons, and the Jutes). These Germanic tribes are regarded as the “founders
of the English nation.” The account of these invasions is found in the Benedectine monk Bede’s
work Ecclesiastical History of the English People, which was completed in 731 (Baugh and Cable
2002). The earliest records of the language date back to about 700.

MIDDLE ENGLISH covers the period from 1100 (or 1150) to 1500. William of Normandy, a French
territory conquered England in 1066. The French rule brought change to the English language. The
Anglo-Saxons chronicle existed until 1154. By that time, the English language had taken on new
futures different from the ones of Old English.

MODERN ENGLISH covers from the period 1500 to the present in the history of the English
language. The introduction of the movable printing process into England by William Caxton in 1476
made possible the production of uniform copies of big numbers of books. The increase in the
number of books, in literacy production, and in travel and explorations brought change to the
language from the time of the Renaissance in the 1500s.

THE ANGLO-SAXON is the term that came about with reference to the Teutonic tribes that invaded
England. The term is often used to refer to “the earliest period of English” (Baugh and Cable 2002).

THE INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGE is the family of languages to which English belongs.

CELTS were “original inhabitants of the British isles before the arrival of the Romans.”

DIALECT is a variation of a language.

CASE is the choice of form depending on the function of words (nouns, pronouns, adjectives) in the
sentences in an inflected language.

STANDARDIZATION suggests an “ideal norm or model of usage.

MUTUALLY INTELLIGIBLE LANGUAGE indicated that the language are distinct from each other
and are not dialects of the same language.