Since the outset of time, the English language has existed. People have known this truth for a long time. They use it to speak with one another and to convey feelings and emotions. It owns the title as an international language on the world stage. If you get an assignment on an English subject and you face a crisis, you can seek English assignment help from experts.
In this writing, you will learn about its roots and the various phases that it has gone through over the years. So, let’s start with the dawn of this language.
Origin of English Language
English is a West Germanic language whose origin dates back to Ingvaeonic dialects. It came to Britain in the mid-5th to 7th century A.D. The people who brought this language were Anglo-Saxon migrants. It is now northwest Germany, southern Denmark, and the Netherlands. These people settled in the British Isles and came to dominate the bulk of the south Great Britain.
The settlers of England and southern Scotland used to speak this dialect in the early Middle Ages. It displaced the Celtic languages and also British Latin which was before dominant. The dialect of late West Saxon became extra popular.
Timeline of English Language
The English lingo has gone through many shifts over time. It has seen many phases. Different eras were the cause of the influence as people of various cultures came and settled in Great Britain. The English language has gone through many tweaks and has become what it is today after much change.
Hence, let’s see the various stages, through which this dialect has gone. Moreover, what it is today and which more than half of the world’s population speaks.
Proto English
English has its roots among the Germanic people of the north European region. During the Roman Empire, some Germanic people served in the Roman military. Many troops like Batavia, Tungri, Menapii, and Frisi served in Britain under Roman command. Germanic power spread through the mitigation period. It also saw the fall of the Western Roman Empire.
The language spoken by these people was of German families who settled on the North Sea coast. These areas today are a part of modern Denmark, northwestern Germany, and the Netherlands. These dialects have German features like grammar and vocabulary. Though, some words were of Latin descent.
Old English
The Germanic settlers in the British Isles spoke a lot of dialects that later on were familiar as Anglo-Saxon. It displaced many languages in these parts of Britain later known as the Kingdom of England. Most of Scotland, Wales, and Cornwall still had Celtic tongues. Old English continues to show variation due to locality. It remains, you could find in modern English.
Old English was put down using a runic script known as Futhorc. It took over the version of the Latin alphabet that the Irish missionaries introduced in the 8th century. The most famous surviving work from the old English era is the epic poem Beowulf. The introduction of Christianity from around 600 also added 400 Latin words in old English.
Middle English
From the time of the Norman conquest in 1066 till the end of the 15th century, Middle English was the language. Anglo-Norman was the tongue of kings and high-ranking nobles. The lower-rank nobles and merchants were bilingual and also spoke old English. It also has Anglo-French influence. The courts and governments had both dialects. Even after the decline of Norman, french was the language of prestige.
It also has a deep connection to the romance tongue. The mixture of Norman French and Old English gave birth to Middle English. The language that we speak today is a mix of 60% of Latin words and French. English literature began to reappear after 1200. It was also due to the decline of Anglo-Norman.
The pleadings in the English Act, of 1362, also held up that only the English dialect will apply in court proceedings. The official record though was still in Latin. Many changes in grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation occurred in Middle English.
Early Modern English
The English language underwent many sound changes in the 15th century. Modern English dates back to the great vowel shift in that century. The language saw more changes due to the standardized London English. The courts and administration at that time used it. It also regularized capitalization. Modern English was the dialect, by the time of William Shakespeare (mid-16 and early 17th century).
The publication of the first English dictionary took place in 1604. Literacy and travel saw the adoption of many other tongues such as Latin and Greek.
Modern English
The publication, of the first full-featured and authoritative dictionary was in 1755 by Samuel Jhonson. The dictionary standardized both the English language and word usage. Early and late modern English usually differ in vocabulary. Modern English had many words that came from the Industrial Revolution. Moreover, technologies also led to the creation of new words and their international development.
The English language adopted foreign words from various countries. 400 million people spoke British and North American English. The total worldwide may surpass 1 billion. As time is growing at a great speed, it is also using new technologies and if you face some problem in them, you can take programming assignment help USA.
Phonological changes
Over the last 1200 years, many changes have occurred in vowels but not so much in consonants. In the old English language, many sound changes happened. That led to the diminishing of unstressed vowels. It led to the loss of grammar case and gender in the early middle English period. The most significant shift came after the great vowel shift, which changed the pronunciations of all long vowels.
This came to pass after the system of spelling was stable. The most vital change to the dialect was the development of rhotic and non-rhotic accents. Along with it, the trap-bath split in many tongues of British English.
Grammatical Changes
The English language had a wide declension system. It was Latin, Greek, Icelandic, and modern German. There was a distinction between the accusative, dative, nominative, and genitive cases in old English. Strong declined adjectives and some pronouns also have a separate instrumental case.
The dual number is split from plural and dual. The declension system detangled during the middle English era. The accusative and dative cases became single oblique cases. Whereas, genitive cases into prepositions.
Conclusion
Hence, you saw the history and rise of the English language. More than half of the population today speaks this tongue. It is a necessity these days, as it helps in communicating with people of different languages. If your teacher gives you a project on this language and you face issues, you can get English assignment help.
It also helps you in schools and colleges, as you submit most assignments in English. So, you should be thorough in this tongue as it will make the transition for you a lot easier. Moreover, it will also help you if you are an exchange student, as the most spoken dialect is English.
