The Major Periods in the Evolution of English
Peculiarities of the English Language Formation
The English language contains about 490,000 words, plus another 300,000 technical terms, the most in any language, but it is doubtful if any individual uses more than 60,000. In written English, the most frequently used words are in order: “the”, “of”, “and”, “to”, “a”, “in”, “that”, “I”, “it”, “for”, “as”. The most used in conversation is “I”.
The most overworked word in English is the word “set” which has 58 noun uses, 126 verbal uses and 10 as a participial adjective.
English developed from Anglo-Saxon and is a Germanic language. However, all the invading peoples, particularly the Norman French, influenced the English language and you can find many words in English which are French in origin. Nowadays all Welsh, Scottish and Irish people speak English (even if they speak their own language as well), but all the countries have their own special accents and dialects, and their people are easily recognizable as soon as they speak. Occasionally, people from the four countries in the UK have difficulty in understanding one another because of these different accents. A southern English accent is generally accepted to be the most easily understood, and is the accent usually taught to foreigners.
The Celts spoke Celtic which survives today in the form of Welsh, Scottish, Gaelic and Irish Gaelic. Less than a quarter of all Welsh people (600,000 out of 2,800,000) speak Welsh. Scottish Gaelic and Irish Gaelic are still spoken, although they have suffered more than Welsh from the spread of English. However, all three languages are now officially encouraged and taught in schools.
Many Scottish people still use some Scottish words when they speak English. Welsh is spoken by 16 to 20 per cent of the population, although in North and West Wales 50 per cent speak the language. The Welsh Language Act of 1967 said that all official documents should be in both languages, and most road signs are printed in English and Welsh. Since 1960s there has been increased interest in Welsh. At secondary schools almost 50 per cent of all pupils learn Welsh as a first or second language. Since 1982 there has also been an independent fourth TV channel broadcasting mainly in Welsh. Years ago, all Irish people spoke Gaelic, and this language is still spoken in some parts of Ireland, although today all Irish people speak English also.
What makes Scottish, Welsh, English and Northern Irish differ from each other? As you already know, about 2,000 years ago the British Isles were inhabited by the Celts who originally came from continental Europe. During the next 1,000 years there were many invasions. The Romans came from Italy in A.D.43 and, in calling the country “Britannia”, gave Britain its name. The Angles and Saxons came from Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands in the 5th century, and England gets its name from this invasion (Angle-land). The Vikings arrived from Denmark and Norway throughout the 9th century, and in 1066 (the one date in history which every British schoolchild knows) the Normans invaded from France. These invasions drove the Celts into what is now Wales and Scotland, and they remained, of course, in Ireland. The English, on the other hand, are the descendants of all the invaders, but are more Anglo-Saxon than anything else. These various origins explain many of the differences to be found between England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland - differences in education, religion and the legal systems, but most obviously, in language.
The Major Periods in the Evolution of English
We can distinguish 3 major periods in the evolution of English. The 1st, called Old English (OE), covers the period from the beginnings of the language to about 1066; the 2nd, Middle English (ME), from 1066 to 1500, and Modern English from 1500 to the present.
1. Old English, from the middle of the 5th century, the time of the invasion of the Anglo-Saxons, till 1066, the time of the invasion of the Normans. By Old English we mean the introduced Anglo-Saxon language as modified by the native Celts and by the Romanized part of the population in the south. It was further modified by the invasion of the Danes in the 8th century, who introduced many Scandinavian words. It was the languages of Anglo-Saxons and then Danes that formed the basis of the English language. As England was converted to Christianity by St Augustine many religious terms were borrowed from Latin. But as the economic life and feudal organization of the Anglo-Saxons changed very slowly, the basic structure of their language remained comparatively unchanged. The West Saxon dialect emerged as the main form of Old English and was used in the literature of the period. The English people today are using in their everyday speech many of the short simple Anglo-Saxon words.
2. The Middle English period (from the invasion of the Normans, 1066, till about 1500). By Middle English we mean the Anglo-Saxon language influenced by the Norman-French. In 1066 the Normans from France conquered Britain. They became the ruling class of the land. Their language became the language of the court and of literature, but not of the people, who continued to use their own Anglo-Saxon. In the 13th century the middle classes became economically stronger, and the Anglo-Saxon language, modified by the Norman-French, became the language of the court and of the parliament. The grammatical endings of nouns, verbs and adjectives of Old English became simplified. By the 14th century the East Mid-land dialect of London became the standard form of English and was used as the literary language.
3. The Modern English period (from about 1500 till the present time). During the Renaissance, the beginning of this period, the development of foreign commerce introduced many French, Spanish and Italian words, thus further latinizing the language. The translation of New Testament into English caused the revival of interest in Classical Latin and Greek led to many learned words being introduced into English. After the middle of the 17th century the use of the literary language was widely extended, due in large part to the development of the art of printing. Its further development was hindered by the conservatism of spelling, and changed very slowly. The first major English dictionary was published. It was written by Samuel Johnson. It attempted to fix and refine the language further.
The growth of British colonial power led to the spread of English as a world language and many varieties of English appeared in North America, South Africa and Australia.
Present-day English is an international language spoken in most parts of the world. During the last century spoken English has tended to approach the literary language, but the Old English dialects are still used by many of the industrial and country people.
Questions:
1. Do the people from the four countries in the UK speak the same language? What other languages except English do they speak?
2. What makes Scottish, Welsh, English and Northern Irish differ from each other?
3. What are the major periods in the evolution of English?
4. Describe each period and the development of the language during them. (3-5 sentences about each period)