HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH
LANGUAGE
Useful words
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language [ˈlæŋgwɪdʒ] - kalba
invade – įsiveržti, užgrobti
tribe - gentis
similar - panašus
develop – vystyti, plėsti, tobulinti
lower class – žemesnioji/darbininkų klasė
upper class – aukštuomenės klasė
dominant – vyraujantis, dominuojantis
introduce - supažindinti; pristatyti, įvesti
A short history of English
The history of the English language 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 people of
Britain spoke a Celtic language. The Angles came
from Englaland and their language was called
Englisc - from which the words England and
English are derived 1.
1 kilti
Old English (450-1100 AD)
The invading Germanic tribes spoke similar
languages, which in Britain developed into what
we now called Old English. Old English did not
sound or look like English today. Now it would be
difficult for English speakers to understand Old
English. However, about half of the words used
in Modern English have Old English roots1. The
words be, strong and water, for example, derive
from Old English. Old English was spoken until
around 1100.
1 šaknis
Part of Beowulf, a poem written in Old
English
Middle English (1100-1500)
In 1066 William the Conqueror[ˈkɒŋkərə],
occupied England. The Normans brought
French. At that time 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. This
language is called Middle English, but it would
still be difficult for English speakers to
understand today.
An example of Middle English by Chaucer
Early Modern English
From the 16th century the British had contacts with
many peoples from around the world. This and the
period of Renaissance introduced many new words
and phrases. The invention of printing also meant
that there was a common language1 in print. Books
became cheaper and more people learned to read.
Printing also brought standardization to English.
Spelling and grammar became fixed, and the dialect
of London became the standard. In 1604 the first
English dictionary was published.
1 bendrinė
kalba
Hamlet's famous "To be, or not to be" lines,
written in Early Modern English by Shakespeare.
Late Modern English
The main difference between Early Modern
English and Late Modern English is vocabulary.
Late Modern English has many more words,
which were created, firstly, during the Industrial
Revolution and technology; secondly, the British
Empire had a lot of colonies and the English
language adopted1 foreign words from many
countries.
1 skolintis,
paimti
Varieties of English
Today, American English is very influential 1, due
to the USA's dominance of cinema, television,
popular music, trade and technology (including
the Internet). But there are many other varieties2
of English around the world, including, for
example, Australian English, New Zealand
English, Canadian English, South African English,
Indian English and Caribbean English.
1 įtakingas 2įvairovė
Match the sentences T (true)/F (false)
1. Old English developed from similar Germanic
language.
2. Modern English is very different from Old
English.
3. Upper and lower classes spoke the same
language.
4. It is easy to understand Middle English for
English speakers.
5. A lot of new words appeared in English only
during the Industrial Revolution.