INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH LANGUAGE SYSTEM | LECTURE NO.

2
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
PREPARED BY: KEN LOVERAS

ANCIENT ORIGINS Germanic Tribes. Before that it had already

been diluted over the centuries, starting
The original origins of the English language, with the earliest understood inhabitants of
like many others in Europe, can be traced Britain, known as the Celts, through to the
all the way back to the Neolithic Period Latin of the Romans, and the Old Norse
around 5000 BC, to a prehistoric people language of Viking invaders.
known as the Indo-Europeans or Proto- Gradually the Germanic tribes had settled
Indo-Europeans. over most of the mainland, separating into
These ancient people lived in Eastern smaller kingdoms. To this day, many
Europe and Central Asia, and it’s widely modern-day place names still provide
thought that many of the world’s modern evidence of their settlements, like Reading,
languages are descended from the Indo- ending with the Anglo-Saxon “ing” –
European language, including those meaning “people of, and many more.
throughout most of Europe, North and Eventually, one kingdom became the most
South America.    dominant, the Saxons. This new Anglo-
Indo-Europeans began to spread across Saxon nation was known by a few names,
Europe and Asia around 3500-2500 BC, as a notably as Britannia under the Romans, but
result, their languages began to diverge and was soon called  Anglaland or England, later
develop. A particular branch settled in the shortened to England. It’s thought by many
regions of Germania, between modern historians that what’s now referred to as
Germany, and southern Sweden – and Old English, emerged around this time.
became known as Germanic or Proto- Old English gradually developed into four
Germanic. These Germanic tribes eventually distinct dialects, Northumbrian, Mercian,
migrated from the continent to Britain. West Saxon and Kentish. There are still a
few words in Old English that are
OLD ENGLISH recognisable or even identical in spelling to
words used today.
Him, he, for, on, and, of – are just a few
The ancient lexicon of Britain certainly
examples of words that have retained the
began to change with this invasion of
same spelling – whilst others bare some
resemblance to their modern meanings, shuffles, the English language proved
such as wæs to was and wæreto were. resilient, and still emerged as the dominant
speech of the country some 200 years after
MIDDLE ENGLISH the Norman Conquest.

After many centuries of transition – from SHIFTING TOWARDS MODERN ENGLISH

the coming of literacy with St. Augustine
and his Roman missionaries, through to the From the beginnings of modern English
time of huge Viking invasions and Alfred the literature with Geoffrey Chaucer’s famous
Great – Old English was constantly “Canterbury Tales” in the early 1380s to the
changing, expanding and progressing with Great Vowel Shift that extended from the
lexical enrichment. It had gradually sixteenth century to the modern day –
developed into a full poetic language, English slowly developed into the language
complete with alliteration, synonyms, we now recognise.
subtleties of meaning and more. The vowel pattern revolution effectively
It wasn’t until the Norman Conquest of redistributed their occurrence in many
1066, that Old English began to transition words, with higher long vowel sounds that
into what’s now known as Middle English. were pronounced further forward in the
William the Conqueror and the invading mouth – similar to their present pattern.
Normans spoke a rural dialect of French, Entire words changed as a result of the
with Germanic influences – called Anglo- difference in pronunciation, a few examples
Norman French. include, stone from stan, heart from here,
A huge section of the country’s population and rope from rap.
at this time, mainly the peasants and lower Innovations continued with the vocabulary,
class, still spoke English. The mix of Old the 16th and early 17th centuries witnessed
English and Anglo-Norman slowly grew as the English Renaissance, which included
the people speaking them started to massive Elizabethan and Shakespearean
intermarry, and Middle English was the influences. Another major factor in English
result. The Normans introduced thousands development also came with one of
of words into the English language, along history’s greatest technological innovations,
with many French-based synonyms, like the arrival of the printing press. This saw
amity instead of friendship, or liberty further Latin and Greek influences on the
instead of freedom. lexicon, and more importantly stabilised
Old English began to breakdown, but spelling and grammar.
despite the Viking and Norman lexical re-
Distinctive dialects later developed as
English mixed with other cultures all over
the globe, largely in colonised areas.
 
ENGLISH TODAY

The modern day English language is now

chock full of annoying inconsistencies, along
with inexplicable differences in spelling and
pronunciation, largely due to the rich and
complex history that we’ve only really
scratched the surface of here.  
Many will agree that it remains one of the
most influential and important languages in
the world today. English has proven itself to
be an extremely flexible and resilient
language, that’s been constantly able to
evolve and adapt itself to other
vocabularies and cultures.
It has absorbed and survived invasions and
incursions, saved itself from being wiped
out on numerous occasions, and has only
ever gotten stronger – evidenced by its
sheer worldwide diversity to this day.