While all languages naturally change over time, and
English is no exception, some dramatic changes have been induced or encouraged by major historical events as well. The following table presents some of the major influences and developments in the history of
English. The first section presents some of the major influences and developments in the external history of
English- that is, factors such as conquest of
English speakers by speakers of other languages; intellectual attitudes towards
languages; social, religious, and political changes, and so on, which affect how a language changes.
English has been influence by other languages throughout its development and has borrowed a great many
vocabulary items, samples of which are listed in parentheses following the events that started the new wave of borrowing. The secone section mentions some of the major landmarks in the internal history of
English- that is, the actual changes in the language itself which have been influenced by outside events.
EXTERNAL HISTORY
Pre English Stage:
Dates: ??? B.C.
Events: Settlement of
British Isles by
Celts
Language Influence:
Celtic--In
London,
Dover,
Avon,
Cornwall
Dates: 55 B.C.
Events: Beginning of
Roman Raids
Language Influence:
Latin
Dates: 43 A.D.
Events:
Roman occupation of '
Brittania'
Language influence:
Latin
Dates: Early 5th century
Events: Romans leave
British Isles
Dates: 449 A.D.
Events:
Germanic tribes defeat the
Celts
Language Influence:
Germanic
Dates: ca. 600 A.D.
Events:
England is converted to
Christianity. (borrowings:
abbot, altar, cap, chalice, hymn, relic, sock, beet, pear, cook, rue, school, verse.)
Language Influence: Latin
Old English Stage (450-1100)
Dates: ca. 750 A.D.
Events:
Beowulf writings were composed. (only extant manuscript written ca. 1000)
Dates: 9th-11th century
Events: Invasions by
Scandinavians (borrowings:
birth, sky, trust, take, skirt, disk, dike; simplified pronoun system)
Language Influence: Scandinavian
Date: 1066 A.D.
Events:
Battle of Hastings-
Norman Conquest (borrowings:
court, battle, nation, enemy, crime, justice, beef, pork, veal, mutton, charity, miracle.)
Language Influence:
French
Middle English Stage (1100-1450)
Dates: ca. 1200 A.D.
Events:
Normandy and
England are separated
Dates: 13th-14th centuries
Events: Growing sense of Englishness
Dates: 1340-1450
Events:
Chaucer
Dates: 1337-1450
Events:
Hundred Year's War
Early Modern English Stage (1450-1700)
Dates: 1476
Events: First
English book is published; spelling is eventually standardized
Dates: 1564-1616
Events: Shakespeare (borrowings:
anachronism, allusion, atmosphere, capsule, dexterity, halo, agile, external, insane, adapt, erupt, exist, extinguish)
Language Influence:
Latin and
Greek
Modern English (1700-present)
Dates: 16th-19th centuries
Events:
Imperialism
Language Influence: Various Languages (
Indian,
Native American,
African, etc.)
Dates: 19th-20th centuries
Events: Development of
American English. Scientific and Industrial Revolution
Language Influence: Technical Vocabularies
INTERNAL HISTORY
Era:
Proto-European to
Germanic
Events:
Grimm's Law
Era:
Old English to
Middle English
Events: Loss of /X/, Adoption of /zh/, Allophonic variants {f}/{v}, {th}/{ð}, {s}/{z}, {ng}/{n} become phonemic
Vowel reduction and subsequent loss of final schwa in unstressed syllable lead to loss of case endings, more rigid word order, greater use of prepositions.
Era:
Middle English to
Early Modern English (1300-1600)
Events:
Great Vowel Shift, Simplification of some initial consonant sequences: /kn/ > /n/ (
knee), /hl/ > /l/ (
hlaf > loaf); /hr/ > /r/ (
hring > ring); /wr/ > /r/ (
wrong).
From
The Language Files from the Department of
Linguistics at Ohio State University.