History of English PDF

History of English Dan McIntyre Section A: INTRODUCTION An external history of English  Focus of this section To know how a language develops over time To know something about the society in which its speakers live and how historical events have affected them and their d...

History of English Dan McIntyre Section A: INTRODUCTION An external history of English  Focus of this section To know how a language develops over time To know something about the society in which its speakers live and how historical events have affected them and their development Language An actual substance Can be put under a microscope and examine Ex. Dividing a sentence into parts An intangible substance Cannot be separated from the people who use it Much more than a means of communicating with others (Ex. Expressing their identities to others) Language “It is constantly changing and developing. So too, of course, are the people who use it.”  Internal history of External history of a language a language A record of its linguistic A record of its speakers and development over time how they and their societies have developed Ex. how its vocabulary, grammar and phonology have changed Factors affecting the language change Intralinguistic factors Extralinguistic factors A change to one element of a Non-linguistic events affect the language can cause the development of a language development of other related Ex. The emergence of computer elements technology widened the meaning Ex. A change in the way that one of the word ‘mouse’. vowel is produced can affect the sound of the surrounding vowels. BC and AD, BCE and CE BC and AD BCE and CE AD stands for Anno Domini, Latin CE stands for “common (or current) for “in the year of the Lord”, while era”, while stands for “before the BC stands for “before Christ”. common BCE (or current) era” First proposed in the year 525 by Date from at least the early 1700s Dionysius Exiguus, a Christian Became more widespread in the monk later part of the 20th century, Standardized under the Julian and replacing BC/AD in a number of Gregorian calendars, the system fields, notably science and spread throughout Europe and the academia Christian world BC and AD, BCE and CE A1 Origins of English Origins of English Old English (OE) - the earliest form of English Derived from the Germanic language Emerged in the fifth century, around 449 CE. Used for over 600 years, of course, it was constantly changing A1.1 The Isles before English Language Common Brittonic was a Celtic language spoken in Great Britain between 6 BCE and 6 CE. By around 6 CE, it had developed into Welsh, Cornish, and Cumbric Pictish, Goidelic (Spoken by Scots, settlers from Ireland) People The native people called the Britons A1.2 The Romans in Britain The Roman Empire The most extensive political and social structure in western civilization Building upon the foundation laid by the Roman Republic Became the largest and most powerful political and military entity in the world up to its time and expanded steadily until its fall in 476  A1.2 The Romans in Britain The Roman Empire By 285, the empire had grown too vast to be ruled from the central government at Rome → divided by Emperor Diocletian (r. 284-305) into a Western and an Eastern Empire Regnavit or rexit, abbreviated as r., used in historiography to designate the ruling period of a person in dynastic power, to distinguish from his or her lifespan A1.2 The Romans in Britain The Roman Empire Began when Augustus Caesar (r. 27 BCE-14 CE) became the first emperor of Rome Ended, in the west, when the last Roman emperor, Romulus Augustulus (r. 475-476), was deposed by the Germanic King Odoacer (r. 476-493) A1.2 The Romans in Britain The Roman Empire In the east, it continued as the Byzantine Empire until the death of Constantine XI (r. 1449-1453) and the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks in 1453. The influence of the Roman Empire on western civilization was profound in its lasting contributions to virtually every aspect of western culture. A1.2 The Romans in Britain The attempted Roman invasion in 55 BCE led by Julius Caesar was not hugely successful A real sense of an occupation occurred when Claudius invaded almost a hundred years later. A1.2 The Romans in Britain In 61 CE, Boudica, a native leader of Britons, led a revolt against the Romans → The massacre of over 70,000 Romans → The Romans fled and the towns were sacked and burned. The Romans finally decided to challenge Boudica. → 80,000 Britons were killed. A1.2 The Romans in Britain The influence of the Romans Major roads, forts, bath houses, theatres and places of worship Water supplies and heating Language = Latin – the language of officialdom – had a prestige value – spoken by the Romans and the upper class native inhabitants