HISTORY
OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE
Proto Indo
European
Began in
We know
about it from
about
Agricultural
Tecnology
Climate and
geography
3000 years
ago
Reconstructe
d vocabulary
Refered to
Barley
Wheat
Flax
Apples
Cherries
Grapes
Vines
Mead
Beer
Winter
Snow
Birch
Beech
Pine
Wolf
Salmon
Bear
Otter
Elbe river
Learned from
Cognates
Sistematic
sound changes
Words of common
origin in different
languages
Grimm’s
law
Substratum
effect
p → f (ped/foot)
t → ө (tu/thou).
k→ h (cord/heart)
d → t (duo/two)
g → k (genu/knee).
One language is
systematically
influenced by the
languages of a
subjugated group.
PROTO INDO
EUROPEAN
Gothic.
Modern Scandinavian
languages
Modern
German,
Dutch,
Flemish,
Frisian,
and
English.
East
Germanic
North
Germanic
West
Germanic
Common
Germanic
language
Advance in written language
(runic inscriptions)
Consonant changes
/k/= /tʃ/ cild - child
/g/= /j/ gieldan – yield
/sk/= /ʃ/ skall – shall
/f/= /v/ half - halves
A kind of assimilation
Invaded by Celts (500 BC)
Invaded by Romans
(except Scots and Picts)
Weak Celts seek for help
Germanic Tribes
JUTES
ANGLOS
Invaded Britain
SAXONS
Change in front
vowels towards the
end of a word
affects the vowel of
a preceding syllable.
POE word Mann (man)
and the plural Manniz >
menniz > menn (men).
800 A.D.
875 A.D.
More serious
attacks
attacked
Wessex
was
Stealing
lands
English
resistance
Bad
organized
Lack of
unity
Vikings
controlled large
part of England
Strongest
saxon kingdom
from
850 A.D.
plundering
led to
1st Viking
attacks
was
Vikings and their
Influence on English
consisted on
History
.
King Alfred
Leader Guthrum
from
The Vikings
a.k.a.
Danes
agreed
Treaty of
Wedmore
Vikings leave
Wessex alone and
accept Christianity
establishing
Danelaw
Nouns
to
English
spoke
Scandinavian
a.k.a
DANES
Adjectives
Provide
Everyday
words
Norse
Verbs
Pronouns
bank, birth,
booth, egg,
husband, law,
leg, root,
score, sister,
skin, trust,
wing
and window
awkward, flat,
happy, ill, loose,
low, odd, sly,
ugly, weak, and
wrong
to cast, clip, crawl,
cut, die, drown,
gasp, give, lift, nag,
scare, sprint, take,
want., and the
present plural of
‘to be’, are
both,
same,
they,
them and
their
Celtic: Place Names (Thames,
Kent, London,York, Avon)
Latin: War (camp, streat, mil)
Trade (ceap, pund, win)
Domestic Life (cuppe, cycene,
disc)
Food (ciese, buttere, pipor)
Religion (abbot, altar, candle,
demon)
Scandinavian: Words given by
vikings and Anglo-Saxons.
Jutes, Anglos and Saxons
were Christianized
Adopt roman alphabet and
produce Christian literature
Inflectional endings
signal grammatical
function of words
Word order is less
important
Grammatical cases:
nominative, accusative,
genitive and dative.
Adjectives has
inflectional endings and
verb system too
Middle English Period
1100-1500
Begins with
The Norman invasion of
Englad in 1066 by the duke of
Normandy, William the
Conqueror
Norman French Influences
10,000 french words aprox. Were
included by the XIII century
Old- English words
suplanted
Doom (OE)- Judgment (F)
Hearty (OE) – Cordial (F)
House (OE) – Mansion
(F)
Norman French words borrowed belong to the
court, administration, law, army, Church. etc
Prince, Duke, Majesty,
Punish, Battle, soldier,
crime, prayer, prison,
saint.
Gramatical Changes
- The loss of inflections
- Loss of gramatical
genders
- Loss of case system
Less freedom in word
order
Greater use of
prepositions