History

 of  the  English  Language  

The  Importance  of  the  Language:  
It  is  the  means  by  which  man  communicates  his  thoughts  and  feeling  to  the  others  .  It  is  the  tool  with  which  he  
conducts  his  business  or  manage  the  government  affairs.  
It  is  the  vehicle  by  which  science  and  literature  are  transmitted  from  generation  to  another.  
It  is  assumed  that  every  educated  person  knows  something  about  the  structure  of  his  language  ,its  position  in  the  
world  and  its  relation  to  the  other  languages  ,the  source  of  its  vocabulary  and  the  prominent  political  ,social  and  
cultural  influences  which  have  affected  the  language  .  
2.  Influences  at  Work  on  Language:  
English  today  reflects  centuries  of  development  .It  has  been  mainly  affected  by  the  social  and  political  events.  Some  
of  such  events  are:  
•The  Christianizing  of  Britain  in  597  which  caused  the  contact  between  the  two  civilization  Latin  and  Britain  and  
consequently  resulted  in  the  increase  of  the  English  vocabulary.  
•Other  events  are  the  Scandinavian  invasion,  the  Norman  ,the  hundred  years  war  ,  the  expansion  of  the    British  
empire  and  other  factors  .  
In  short  ,the  English  language  results  in  its  entire  development  from  the  political  ,social  and  cultural  history  of  the  
English  people.      
Growth  and  Decay:  
Do  languages  change?  
English  as  well  as  other  languages  are  subject  to  growth  and  decay  .  
When  a  language  ceases  to  change  ,we  call  it  a  dead  language  .(  Latin  2000  years)  .  The  change  in  the  language  that  
could  be  observed  is  mainly  in  the  vocabulary  .  Old  word  die  out  ,new  words  are  added  and  existing  words  change  
their  meanings.  
What  causes  the  introduction  of  new  words  into  the  language  ?  
To  meet  the  new  conditions  of  life  e.g.  for  the  change  in  meaning  Shakespeare's    nice  =  foolish    
Change  in  pronunciation  OE    stan=  stone              cu=cow  
The  changes  are  controlled  by  ‘  sound  low’  
Changes  in  the  grammatical  forms  (could  be  a  result  of  the  gradual  phonetic  modification)  
It  coul  be  the  result  of  unconditioned  analogy(e.g.)    knowed*  
This  process  may  affect  the  sound  and  meaning  as  well.  
The  Importance  of  a  Language:  
Is  the  relation  between  the  language  and  the    people’s  who  speak  it  very  strong?  
A  language  lives  only  if  there  are  people  who  speak  it.  
Do  you  think  that  learning  about  the  historical  background  of  the  language  is  limited  to  English  students?  
All  educated  people  .  
Why  is  the  English  language  important  ?  
A  language  is  important  if  the  people  who  speak  it  are  important    politically,  economically  and  culturally.  
Give  examples  of  important  languages  (  English  ,  French  and  German)    
some  languages  are  important  due  to  the  cultural  value  of  ethnic  group.  classical  Greek,for  instance  is  important  for  
it  represents  a  great  civilization.  
Importance  of  English:  
It  is  spoken  by  great  number  of  people,  approximately  500  million  2012  late  statistics  .  
Is  it  the  largest  language  in  the  world  ?  
India  300  million  china  880  million  .  
The  importance  is  not  limited  to  numbers  of  speakers  .It  depends  on  the  importance  of  the  people  who  speak  it  .  The  
political  role  of  its  nation  and  their  influence  in  the  international  commerce  ,  their  role  in  art  and  literature  ,  in  
science  ,  invention.  In  short,  it  depends  on  their  contribution  to  the  progress  of  the  world.  
It  is  important  as  a  “  lingua  franca  “  =  common  means  of  communication  among  people  of  diverse  tongues.  
   
The  Future  of  English:  
 Growth  of  population:  
Most  native  speakers  of  English  live  in  the  developed  countries  which  constitutes  smaller  proportion  of  the  world’s  
population  .However  ,  English  is  widely  used  as  a  second  language  throughout  the  world.  In  India  which  is  one  of  the  
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developing  countries  English  is  one  of  the  official  languages.(  Philippins  and  Nigeria)  In  some  countries  English  is  a  
neutral  language  among  various  languages.  Available  textbooks  in  English  grant  it  supremacy  over  the  other  
vernaculars  .  
Will  English  become  a  world  language?  
Positive  consequences:  
1. Travel  communication  
2.  business  conduction  
3.  observation  and  spread  of  science  and  knowledge.  
4.  world  peace  
More  scientific  research  is  probably  published  in  English  than  any  other  language.  Moreover  the  preminence  of  
English  in  commercial  use  is  obvious  .  
The  revolution  in  communication  helped  the  spread  of  English.  
Could  the  world  enforce  an  international  language?  
It  is  the  effect  of  economic  and  cultural  forces.  
which  may  determine  such  a  language  .Since  world  war  II  English  was  the  official  language  of  one  fourth  of  the  
population  of  the  world  .  
Even  after  the  independent  of  the  British  colonies  English  continued  to  be  used  alongside  the  vernaculars  either  as  
the  primary  language  or  a  necessary  second  in  school,  court  and  business.    
Assets  and  Liabilities:  
There  are  some  features  of  great  advantage  in  facilitating  the  acquisition  of  English  by  foreigners  .  
The  ability  to  express  the  multiplicity  of  ideas  and  refinements  of  thoughts  .  
Is  it  easy  to  learn  English?  
1.Cosmopolitan  vocabulary  :  
One  of  the  assets  of  English  is  its  vocabulary.  
*  It  is  classified  as  Germanic  language  (same  group  to  which  belong  German  ,Dutch  ,Flemish  …    
*  More  than  half  of  its  vocabulary  is  derived  directly  or  indirectly  from  Latin  ,French  and  other  Romance  
languages  .Thus  it  shares  a  lot  of  the  vocabulary  with  such  European  languages  which  are  derived  from  Latin  ,French  ,    
Italian…  
*It  has  the  capacity  of  assimilating  word  from  other  languages  e.g  Italy  balcony  ,piano  ,Spanish    alligator,  mosquito  .  
"
2.Inflectional  Simplicity:  
It  is  an  inflected  language  however  inflection  in  the  noun    as  spoken  have  been  reduced  to  a  sign  of  the  plural  and  a  
form  for  the  possessive.  The  Germanic  inflection  of  the  adjective  has  been  reduced  to  the  indication  of  the  
comparative  degree.  The  verb  has  been  simplified  by  the  loss  of  personal  endings  singular  and  plural.  
3.Natural  Gender  :  
Unlike  other  European  languages  English  has  adopted  natural  gender  in  place  of  grammatical  gender  .  Gender  in  
English  is  determined  by  meaning  .  All  nouns  naming  living  creatures  are  masculine  or  feminine  .  According  to  the  sex  
of  the  individual  ,  and  all  other  nouns  are  neuter  .  
   Liabilities:  
There  are  some  difficulties  in  learning  English  .  Idioms  are  forms  of  expression  peculiar  to  one  language  .  All  
languages  have  their  own  way  of  saying  things  .  Another  difficulty  for  foreigners  is  spelling  and  the  frequent  lack  of  
correlation  between  spelling  and  pronunciation  .e.g.  the  vowel  sound  in  believe,  receive,leave,see,be  is  in  each  case  
represented  by  a  different  spelling  .In  the  case  of  consonants  for  example  we  have  fourteen  spellings  for  the  sound  of    
sh    shoe,  sugar,  issue,  manssion  ,mission,  nation,  suspicious,  ocean,  nauseous,  conscious,chaperon  ,schist,fuchsia,  
pshaw.  
The  causes  of  such  diversity:  
One  cannot  tell  how  to  spell  an  English  word  by  its  pronunciation  or  how  to  pronounce  it  by  its  spelling.  
"
"

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 Chapter  2  

The  Indo-­‐European  Family  of  Languages  
A  Language  is  constantly  changing  .Usually  people  associate  language  with  writing  although  writing  is  only  a  
conventional  device  for  recording  sounds  and  it  is    primarily  speech  .  As  long  as  the  language  lives  and  in  actual  use  it  
is  in  constant  change  .  The  language  of  any  district  or  country  is  merely  the  sum  total  of  the  individual  speech  habits  .    
Dialect  Differences:  How?  
Separating  one  community  from  another  for  a  considerable  time  may  cause  differences  between  them.  The  
differences  may  be  slight  if  the  separation  is  slight  .  The  result  would  be  merely  local  dialects.  However  ,  the  
differences  may  become  considerable  as  to  render  the  language  of  one  district  unintelligible  to  the  speakers  of  
another.    
In  spite  of  the  differences  ,languages  preserve  some  common    
features  that  indicate  their    mutual  origin.  Since  English  is  a  Germanic  language  notice  a  close  relationship  e.g.  milch  
and  milk    brot  and  bread  ,wass  and  water  …..There  are  some  common  words  among  different  languages  .Although  
sometimes  the  differences  in  the  initial  consonants  may  obsecure  the  relationship  .  Thus  the  languages  of  a  large  
part  of  Europe  and  part  of  Asia  were  at  one  time  identical.  
The  Discovery  of  Sanskrit:  What?  
Sanskrit  is  the  language  of  ancient  India.  
In  addition  to  the  vocabulary  sanskrit  preserved  an  unusually  full  system  of  declensions  and  conjunctions  by  which  it  
became  clear  that  the  inflections  of  these  languages  could  be  traced  to  a  common  origin  .  (table  p.18)  
In  fact  the  hindu    grammarian  traced  the  roots  and  classified  the  formative  elements  ,and  worked  out  the  rules  
according  to  which  certain  sound  changes  occurred.  
"
Grimm’s  Law:  
Who?  German  philologist  called  Jacob  Grimm.  
He  formulated  an  explanation  which  systematically  accounted  for  the  correspondences  between  certain  consonants  
in  the  Germanic  languages  and  those  found  for  example  in  sanskrit  ,  Greek,  and  Latin  e.g.  according  to  Grimm  a  /  p/  
in  Indo  –European  ,preserved  as  such  in  Latin  and  Greek  was  changed  to  an  /f/  in  Germanic  languages  .  
Latin                        piscis                                          pes  
English                fish                                                  foot  
"
"
The  original  voicless  stops  /  p,t,k/  were  changed  to  spirants/f,p,h/  
The  cause  of  such  change  is  not  known  .It  must  have  taken  place  sometimes  after  the  segregation  of  the  Germanic  
from  nighbuoring  dialects  of  the  parent  language  .The  formulation  of  these  correspondences  of  sounds  among  
languages  is  known  as  Grimm’s  Law.    
It  could  have  resulted  from  a  contact  between  Germanic  and  non  Germanic  population  .  The  shifting  was  still  
occurring  as  late  as  about  the  fifteenth  century  .  The  Germanic  sound-­‐shift    is  the  most  distinctive  feature  marking  of  
the  Germanic  languages  from  the  languages  to  which  the  y  are  related.  
The  Indo  European  Family:  
The  languages  brought  into  relationship  by  descent  or  progressive  differentiation  from  a  parent  speech  are  
conveniently  called  a  family  of  languages.  
Philologist  named  this  family  different  names  (  Indo-­‐Germanic,  
 Indo-­‐Teutonic..)  but  a  most  widely  term  used  is  the  Indo  –European  family  which  indicates  the  geographical  extent  
of  the  family.  The  parent  tongue  from  which  the  Indo  –European  languages  have  sprung  have  already  become  
divided  and  scattered  long  time  ago.  
The  surviving  languages  show  various  degrees  of  similarity  to  one  another  which  indicates  more  or  less  direct  
relationship  to  their  geographical  distribution.  They  are  mainly  divided  into  eleven  groups  :Indian  ,  Iranian  ,  Armenian  
,  Hellenic  ,  Albanian  ,Italic  ,  Balto-­‐slavic,Germanic  ,Celtic  ,  Hittite  and  Tocharian.    
1.Indian:  
The  old  literary  texts  preserved  in  any  Indo-­‐European  language  are  the  old  books  of  Indian  .  The  language  in  which  
they  were  written  is  called  Sanskrit.  It  was  first  restricted  to  religious  writings  and  later  it  was  extended  to  other  
types  of  writings.  Sanskrit  was  given  a  fixed  ,literary  form  .  In  this  form  it  is  known  as  classical  Sanskrit  which  is  the  
medium  of  an  extensive  indian  literature.  For  a  certain  period  of  time  it  was  looked  upon  as  a  learned  language  and  
held  a  place  in  India  similar  to  that  occupied  by  Latin  in  medieval  Europe    .  Later  it  ceased  to  be  a  spoken  language  .  
Alongside  Sanskrit  there  existed  a  large  number  of  local  dialects.  From  these  dialects  descended  the  present  
languages  of  India  ,Pakistan  and  Bangladesh.  

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(Hindi,  Urdu,  Bengali)  .Thus  urdu  is  by  origin  and  present  structure  is  closely  related  to  Hindi.  However.It  differs  
mainly  in  its  considerable  mixture  of  Persian  and  Arabic  and  in  its  perso-­‐Arabic  script  instead  of  sanskrit  characters.  
2.Iranian:  
The  Indo-­‐European  population  which  settled  this  region  had  lived  and  probably  traveled  for  a  considerable  time  in  
company  with  the  members  of  the  Indian  branch  .Thus  there  are  a  number  of  linguistic  features  which  the  two  
groups  have  in  common.  The  region  where  those  people  settled  has  been  subjected  to  semitic  influence  and  many  of  
the  early  texts  are  preserved  in  semitic  scripts.  
In  this  region,  since  the  9th  century  ,persian  has  been  the  language  of  an  important  culture  and  an  extensive  
literature  .Persian  contains  a  large  Arabic  admixture  so  that  today  its  vocabulary  seems  almost  as  much  as  Arabic  as  
Iranian.  Other  related  languages  in  the  near  territory  are  Afghan  or  Pushtu  and  Beluchi  Kurdish  in  kurdistan        
3.  Armanian:  
Armanian  is  found  in  a  small  area  south  of  the  caucasus  Mountains.  
It  lacks  the  grammatical  gender  and  it  shows  a    shifting  of  certain  consonants  (Grimm’s  Law).  It  is  known  from  the  
fifth  century  since  the  Armanian  were  under  persian  domination  for  several  centuries  ,the  vocabulary  shows  such  
strong  Iranian  influence  to  the  extent  that  it  was  classified  as  an  Iranian  language  .  
4.  Hellenic:  
Represented  in  Greek  and  other  dialects  .  The  conquest  of  Alexander  established  the  language  in  as  in  Syria  and  as  
well  as  Egypt  and  other  coutries  
5.Albanian:  
In  the  northwest  of  Greece.  It  is  probably  the  descendant  of  Illyrian.    
A  language  spoken  in  the  Northwestern  Balkans.  The  vocabulary  of  the  Albanian  is  mixed  with  Latin  ,Greek,Turkish..  
As  a  consequent  of  the  constant  conquests.  It  was  first  classed  with  the  Hellenic  group  but  since  the  beginning  of  the  
20th  century  it  was  recognized  as  an  independent  member  of  the  family.  
6.  Italic  :  
It  has  its  center  in  Italy.  Italy  in  ancient  times  suggest  Rome  and  the  language  of  Rome  ,Latin.  However  Latin  was  only  
one  of  a  number  of  languages  found  in  that  area.  In  fact  ,  the  various  languages  that  represent  the  survival  of  Latin  in  
the  different  parts  of  the  Roman  Empire  are  known  as  the  Romance  or  Romanic  languages.  Examples  of  such  
languages  are  French,  Spanish,  Portuguese  and  Italian.  These  languages  did  not  descend  from  classical  Latin  which  
was  a  literary  language  with  elaborate  and  artificial  grammar  .  They  descended  from  vulgar  Latin  of  the  common  
people  which  is  simpler  in  inflection  and  syntax.      
7.Balto-­‐Slavic:  
It  covers  a  vast  area  in  the  eastern  part  of  Europe  and  it  is  divided  in  groups  
,  the  Baltic  and  the  Slavic.  The  Baltic  languages  are  three  in  number  :Prussian  ,  Lettish  and  Lithuanian.  The  latter  is  
spoken  by  3million  people  in  the  Baltic  state  of  lithuania  .  It  is  important  among  the  Indo-­‐European  languages  
because  of  its  conservatism.(a  lithuanian  fesant    can  understand  simple  phrases  in  Sanskrit  )  .  Lithuanian  preserves  
some  very  old  features  which  have  disappeared  from  practically  all  the  other  languages  of  the  family  .  
Slavic  languages  cover  Russia  ,Poland  ,Czechoslo  vakia  ,Bulgaria  ,Serbo-­‐croatian.  
8.Germanic:  
The  language  descending    from  Germanic  fall  into  three  groups    
East  Germanic  ,  North  Germanic  and  west  Germanic  the  principal  language  of  East  Germanic  is  gothic.  North  
Germanic  is  found  in  Scandinavia  and  Denmark.  West  Germanic  is  of  interest    to  us  as  the  group  to  which  English  
belong  particularly  to  the  low  Germanic  branch.    
9.  Celtic:  
The  celtic  languages  are  consider  the  most  extensive  groups  in  the  
 Indo-­‐European  .  Beside  these  languages  there  are  two  :Hittite  and  Tocharian.  
The  Home  of  the  Indo-­‐Europian  Family:    
"
The  indo-­‐European    languages  are  spoken  today  in  many  cultures  which  until  recently  have  had  completely  unrelated  
heritages.  Considering  the  language  variety  of  people  who  have  spoken  these  languages  from  early  times,  it  is  quite  
possible  that  the  people  of  the  original  Indo-­‐European  community  already  represented  a  wide  ethnic  diversity.  
It  is  assumed  that  the  original  home  of  this  family  was  in  that  part  of  the  world  in  which  the  language  of  the  family  
are  chiefly  to  be  found  today.  Thus  we  may  exclude  Africa  ,Australia  and  the  American  continents  since  we  know  that  
the  extension  of  Indo-­‐  European  languages  in  these  areas  has  occurred  in  historical  times.  In  general  we  could  say  
that  the  only  regions  in  which  it  is  reasonable  to  seek  the  original  home  of  the  Indo-­‐European  family  are  the  
mainland  of  Europe  and  western  part  of  Asia.  
Observation  about  the  Indo-­‐European  language,  show  that  they  have  a  common  word  for  ‘winter’  and  for  ‘snow’  
which  indicate  that  the  original  home  of  the  family  was  in  a  climate  which  at  certain  seasons  at  least  was  fairly  cold.  
On  the  other  hand  it  is  not  certain  that  there  was  a  common  word  for  the  sea.  The  original  community  was  
apparently  an  inland  one,  but  not  necessarily  situated  at  a  great  distance  from  the  coast.  

4
 Chapter  3

Old  English  
1.The  Languages  in  England  before  English:  
 English  is  always  associated  with  people  ,  however  English  was  introduced  to  England  about  the  middle  of  the  fifth  
century  .  Since  that  time  a  number  of  races  inhabited  the  island  (England).  
The  first  people  in  England  about  whose  language  recognized  are  the  Celts  (the  last  group  of  the  immegrants  to  
settle  in  Britain  before  the  arrival  of  the  Anglo-­‐Saxons  ).  Celtic  was  the  first  Indo-­‐European  tongue  spoken  in  Englang  
and  it  is  still  spoken  by  a  considerable  number  of  people  .  
Another  language  was  Latin  which  was  introduced  when  Britain  became  a  province  of  the  Roman  Empire  and  it  was  
used  for  about  four  centuries.  
2.The  Romans  in  Britain  and  the  Roman  Conquest

The  Roman  attempts  to  conquer  Britain  were  at    the  reign  of  Ceaser  55BC.  Then  it  was  promoted  at  the  reign  of  
Claudius    43AD.

"
3.  Romanization  of  the  Island  
The  conquest  of  England  under  the  Roman  Empire  resulted  in  the  adoption  of  various  Roman  habits  and  life  style.  
The  Roman    conquest  in  fact  developed  England.  By  the  third  century  christianity  had  made  some  progress  in  the  
Island.      
4.The  Latin  language    
Among  the  evidences  of  Romanization  of  England  is  the  use  of  Latin  .  It  didn’t  replace  Celtic  .  It  was  confined  upon  
occasions  to  the  upper  class  and  inhabitants  of  the  cities  and  towns  .  Thus  its  use  wasn’t  widespread  to  the  extent  
that  cause  it  to  survive.  
5.  The  Germanic  Conquest  
About  the  year  449  began  the  invasion  of  certain  Germanic  tribes  to  Britain  .  These  tribes  for  more  than  a  hundred  
years  migrated  from  Denmark  and  settled  in  Britain  specially  in  the  south  and  the  east.  The  Germanic  tribes  are  
called  Juts  ,Saxons,  Angles  and  Frisians.        
6.Anglo-­‐Saxon  Civilization:  
         In  some  districts  the  Anglo  –Saxons  probably  settled  down  beside  the  Celts  in  more  or  less  peaceful  contact.  In  
others  however  they  met  resistance  (the  impact  on  the  language)  
7.  The  Names  ‘English’  and  ‘England:  
                   The  Celts  called  their  Germanic  Conqueror  ‘Saxons’  probably  because  had  their  first  contact  with  through  the  
Saxons  .Soon  the    name’  Anglia  ‘  occurred  beside  ‘Saxons’.  From  the  beginning  writers  called  their  language  Englisc  
(English  )  which  is  derived  from  Angles  and  it  was  used  to  describe  the  language  of  all  the  invading  tribes  .  
From  about  the  year  1000  ‘England’  (land  of  the  Angles)  began  to  take  its  place.  The  name  English  is  thus  older  than  
the  name  ‘England’  .English  belongs  to  the  low  west  Germanic  branch  of  the  Indo-­‐European  family  which  means  that  
it  shares  certain  characteristics  common  to  all  Germanic  languages  e.g  shifting  consonants  “Grimms  Law”.  
Although  English  belongs  to  the  Germanic  languages  ,it  was  affected  by  other  languages  for  it  has  some  features  in  
common  with    them  which  enable  us  to  distinguish  a  west  Germanic  group  as  contrasted  with  Scandinavian  
languages  (North  Germanic)  and  Gothic  (East  Germanic).      
8.  The  Periods  in  the  History  of  English:  
The  fifteen  hundred  years  of  the  existence  of  English  in  England  could  be  divided    into  three  main  periods.  The  
dividing  lines  between  them  purely  arbitrary.  The  period  from  450  to  1150  is  known  as  Old  English  .  It  is  described  as  
the  period  of  full  inflections.  
From  1150  to  1500  the  language  is  known  as  Middle  English.  During  this  period  the  inflections,  which  had  begun  to  
break  down  towards  the  end  of  old  English  period,  became  greatly  reduced  .It  was  known  as  the  period  of  leveled  
inflections.  
The  language  since  1500  is  called  Modern  English.  Since  then  a  large  part  of  the  original  inflectional  system  has  
disappeared  and  therefore  it  is  called  the  period  of  lost  inflection.    
9.  THE  Dialects  of  English:  
Old  English  has  four  distinctive  dialects  .Northumbrian  ,  Mercian  ,West  Saxon  ,  and  Kentish  
10.  Some  Characteristics  of  Old  English:  
The  differences  between  OE  and  Modern  English  concern    spelling  and  pronunciation  ,  vocabulary  and  
grammar.Examples  of  such  differences  in  pronunciation  are  the  long  vowels  in  particular  have  undergone  
considerable  modification.  /stan/=/stone/  ,/rap    /=  /rope/,  /bat/=  /boat/  
Some  of  the  first  look  of  strangeness  which  old  English  has  to  the  modern  reader  is  the  differences  of  spelling  e.g.  Old  
English  made  use  of  two  characteristics  to  represent  the  sound  of  /th/  :/p/  and  /ð/  as  in  the  word  /wip/=with  or  /ða/  
=then,  

5
/  sh  /  represented    by  /sc/  sceap=  sheep  ,  scip=ship  
A  second  feature  of  Old  English  would  distinguish  it  from  modern  English  is  the  absence  of  words  derived  from  Latin  
and  French  which  form  so  large  a  part  of  our  present  vocabulary  .  The  vocabulary  of  old  English  is  almost  purely  
Germanic.  Studies  show  that  about  85%  of  old  English  vocabulary  no  longer  in  use.  The  old  English  vocabulary  which  
survived  are  basic  elements  of  the  language  such  as  pronouns  ,prepositions,  conjunctions  ,auxiliary  verbs  and    words  
that  express  fundamental  concepts  e.g.  man  ,  wife,  child,  house,  leaf,  bird..  
Another  feature  that  distinguish  Old  English  from  the  English  today  is  grammar  .  Inflectional  languages  fall  into  two  
classes  :  synthetic  and  analytic  .  A  synthetic  language  :is  one  which  indicates  the  relation  of  words  in  a  sentence    
largely  by  means  of  inflections  (OE)  
An  analytic  language:  is  one  which  make  extensive  use  of  prepositions  and  auxiliary  verbs  and  depend  s  upon  word  
order  to  show  other  relationships  and  modern  English  is  an  analytic  one.    
11.  The  Resourcefulness  of  the  Old  English  Vocabulary:  
         It  might  seem  that  Old  English  a  language  which  lacked  the  large  number  of  words  borrowed  from  Latin  and  
French  would  be  limited  in  resources.  However  ,  Old  English  had  its  own  way  to  enrich  its  vocabulary  through  affixes  
and  self  –explaining  compounds.    
           Old  English  had  great  flexibility,  a  capacity  for  bending  old  words  to  new  uses  by  means  of  prefixes  and  suffixes  a  
single  root  is  made  to  yield  a  variety  of  derivatives  .  In  fact  Old  English  showed  remarkable  capacity  for  derivation  and  
word  formation  .  It  was  more  resourceful  in  utilizing  its  native  material  than  modern  English  .  Part  of  the  flexibility  of  
the  vocabulary  of  Old  English  is  that  it  comes  from  the  generous  use  of  prefixes  and  suffixes  to  form  new  words  from  
old  words  e.g.  suffixes  :full  ,  ness  ,  dom  etc….and  e.g.  prefixes  :fore,  mis  ,  un  ,under  
Compounds  consist  of  two  or  more  native  words  whose  meaning  is  combination  is  either  self-­‐evident  or  has  been  
rendered  clear  by  association  and  usage  :  steamboat  ,railroad  ,sewing  machine  ,  one  –way  street.    
12.  Old  English  Literature:  
             The  language  of  the    past  time  is  known  by  the  quality  of  its    
literature.  It  is  in  literature  that  a  language  displays  its  full  power  ,its  ability  to  convey  in  vivid  and  memorable  form  
the  thoughts  and  emotions  of    people.  The  literature  of  the  Anglo  Saxons  is  one  of  the  richest  and  most  significant  of  
any  preserved  among  the  early  Germanic  people  .  Old  English  literature  is  of  two  sorts  .One  is  that  which  was  
brought  to  England  by  the  Germanic  conquerors  and  represent  the  pagan  stream  whereas  the  other  stream  is  the  
christian  which  was  evolved  by  the  introduction  of  christianity  into  the  island  at  the  end  of  the  6th  century.    
The  greatest  work  of  Old  English  literature  is  the  Bewolf  a  poem  of  some  3000    lines  known  as  the  folk  epic.  In  the  
development  of  literature  ,prose  comes  late  and  vers  is  more  effective  for  oral  delivery  and  more  easily  retained  in  
the  memory.        
"
"

6
 Chapter.  4  
 1.Foreign  Influences  on  Old  English  
The  basis  of  Old  English  goes  back  to  the  Germanic  tribes.  However,  it  was  brought  into  contact  with  three  other  
languages  .  At  early  times  when  it  was  introduced  into  the  island  (during  the  first  seven  hundred  years  of  its  existence  
in  England  ).  The  language  of  the  Celts  ,the  Romans  ,and  the  Scandinavian  .  The  apparent  influence  was  the  addition  
to  its  vocabulary  .  
A. The  Celtic  Influence  :  
The  conquest  of  the  Celts  by  the  Anglo-­‐Saxsons  resulted  in  mixture  of  their  languages  which  is  natural  consequences.  
The  adoption  of  the  native  language  was  not  equal  in  all  regions  .  
A1.  Celtic  place  names  :  
The  language  showed  evidence  of  Celtic  place-­‐names  e.g  the  kingdom  of  Kent  owes  its  name  to  the  Celtic  word  
(canti)  .  Many  districts  today  specially  in  the  west  and  southwest  preserve  their  original  Celts  names.  
The  name  London  although  the  origin  of  the  word  is  somewhat  uncertain  most  likely  goes  back  to  Celtic  .  The  
Thames  is  a  Celtic  river  name.  
A2  .  Other  Celtic  Loan  Words  :  
Other  than  place  names  Celtic  words  in  English  were  of  two  groups    
1.    Those  which  the  Anglo-­‐Saxson  learned  through  everyday  contact  with  the  natives  (orally  trnasmitted  and  of  
popular  character)  
2.  Those  which  were  introduced  by  the  Irish  missionaries  in  the  north.  (connected  with  religious  activities  and  were  
more  or  less  learned  .    
Generally  speaking  the  influence  of  the  Celts  upon  the  Anglo-­‐Saxons  was  slight  because  the  relation  of  the  Celts  to  
the  
 Anglo-­‐Saxsons  was  that  of  a  submerged    race  and  they  were  not  in  a  position  to  make  any  contribution  to  Anglo-­‐
Saxson’s  civilization.  
B.  Three  Latin  Influence  s  on  Old  English:  
The  second  great  influence  upon  English  was  Latin  .  Latin  had  great  influence  on  OE  because    
It  was  the  language  of  a  higher  Civlization  .  The  Germanic  tribes  who  became  the  English  ,had  various  relations  later  
with  the  Romans  through  which  they  acquired  a  considerable  number  of  Latin  words.  When  they  came  to  
England  ,they  saw  the  evidence  of  the  long  Roman  rule  in  the  Island  and  learned  from  the  Celts  a  few  additional  Latin  
words.    
Generally  speaking  the  character  of  the  words  sometimes  give  some  clue  to  its  date.  Common  words  among  English  
and  other  Germanic  languages  indicate  that  these  words  were  not  borrowed  after  the  settlement  in  the  Island(e.g.  
copper)  
B1.  Contenental  Borrowing  (Latin  influence  of  the  zero  period:  
The  first  Latin  words  to  find  their  way  into  the  English  language  owe  their  adoption  to  the  early  contact  between  the  
Romans  and  the  Germanic  tribes  in  the  continent    e.g.  of  the  borrowed  Latin  words  :kitchen,  cup  ,cheese  ,wheat  
pepper  ,butter  etc….    
The  Romans  contributions  to  the  building  arts  are  evident:  tile,  chalk…  
The  great  number  of  Latin  words  adopted  by  the  Germanic  language  indicated  the  relationship  between    the  two  
people.  
B2.  Latin  through  Celtic  transmission  (Latin  influence  of  the  first  period)  
The  use  of  Latin  as  a  spoken  language  didn’t  long  survive  the  end  of  Roman  rule  in  the  island  and  even  the  minimum  
portion  of  the  language  which  survived  was  lost  in  the  disorders  that  accompanied  the  Germanic  invasions.  There  
was  no  opportunity  for  direct  contact  between  Latin  and  Old  English  in  England  .  Such  Latin  words  in  English  would  
have  come  through  Celtic  transmission.  
B3.  Latin  influence  of  the  second  period  (the  chrisianizing  of  Britain)  
The  greatest  influence  of  Latin  upon  OE  was  occasioned  by  introduction  of  Christianity  into  Britain  in  597  .  
B4.  Effect  of  Christianity  on  English  civilization  :  
Schools  were  established  .  Were  they  taught  different  fields  of  knowledge  (poetry,  astronomy  ,  etc….  
B5.The  Earlier  Influence  of  Christianity  on  the  Vocabulary  
During  the  five  hundred  year  since  the  introduction  of  Christianity  to  the  close  of  old  English  ,Latin  words  must  have  
been  making  their  way  gradually  into  English  Language.  Vocabulary  of  this  period  were  those  related  to    religion  and  
its  organization  .  
B6.  Bendictine  Reforms  Influence  on  English  :  
The  influence  of  Latin  upon  the  English  language  rose  and  fell  with  the  state  of  the  church  and  learning  at  this  period  
started  to  borrow  and  describe  less  popular  words  expressing  ideas  of  a  scientific  and  learned  character.  
B7.  The    Application  of  Native  Words  to  New  Concepts:    
English  didn’t  always  adopt  a  foreign  word  to  express  a  new  concept  .Often  an  old  word  was  applied  to  anew  thing  
and  by  a  slight  adoption  made  to  express  a  new  meaning  .  Anglo-­‐Saxon  God  instead  of  Latin  Deus.  
7
B  8.  The  Extent  of  the  Influence:  
The  influence  on  the  language  is  seen  in  the  number  of  words  borrowed  as  a  result  of  Christianizing  of  Britain  about  
450  Latin  words  appear  in  English  writings  without  the  derivatives  and  the  proper  names  .The  Latin  influence  of  the  
second  period  was  thorough  and  makes  the  beginning  of  the  English  habit  of  incorporating  foreign  elements  into  its  
vocabulary.  
C.The  Scandinavian  Influence  –The  Viking  Age:  
         Near  the  end  of  the  Old  English  ,English  underwent  a  third  foreign  influence  as  a  result  of  the  contact  with  another  
important  language  ,the  Scandinavian.  Scandinavian  peninsula  and  Denmark  were  one  time  neighbours  of  the  Anglo-­‐  
Saxsons    and    closely  related  in  blood  and  language  .  In  the  eighth  century  they  began  to  attack  the  island  .  In  fact  
from  the  middle  of  the  eighth  century  to  the  beginning  of  the  eleventh  century  it  was  known  as  the  Viking  Age.      
C  1.The  Scandinavian  Invasion  of  England:  
The  Scandinavian  attacks  upon  England  have  three  well  recognized  stages.  The  first  is  the  period  of  early  raids  in  787  .  
The  second  stage  which  is  marked  by  the  extensive  settlement  in  850.The  third  stage  cover  the  period  of  political  
adjustment  and  assimilation  from  878  to  1042.  
C  2.  The  Settlement  of  the  Dans  in  England  :  
The  Scandinavian  settlement  in  the  island  was  evident  from  the  1,400  
Places  in  England  bear  Scaninavian  names  specially  in  the  north  and  east.  
"
C  3.The  Amalgamation  of  the  Two  People  :  
There  was  a  close  kinship  between  the  Anglo-­‐Saxon    and  the  Scandinavians  .  Those  groups  who  settled  peacefully  in  
Britain  .  
"
C  4  .The  Relation  of  the  Two  languages  :    
There  was  an  extensive  interaction  of  the  two  languages  upon  each  other.  This  interaction  is  evident  in  the  number  
of  Scandinavian  elements  found  in  English  .  
C  5.  The  Test  of  Borowed  Words:  
The  similarity  between  Old  English  and  the  Scandinavian  language    
makes  it  at  times  very  difficult  to  decide  whether  a  given  word  in  
 modern  English  is  a  native  or  a  borrowed  one.  e.g  the  development    
of  the  sound  /  sk  /  in  old  English  was  early  palatalized  to  /  sh  /written    sc  .  
Whereas  in  the  Scandinavian  countries  it  retained  its  hard  /  sk  /  sound  .    
Consequently  ,  while  native  word  like  ship  ,shall,  fish  have  /sh/  sound  
 in  modern  English  words  borrowed  from  the  Scandinavian  are  
 still  pronounced  with  /sk/:  sky,  skill,  scrub  ,bask.  
C  6  .  Scandinavian  Place  Names:  
Among  the  most  notable  evidences  of  the  extensive  Scandinavian    
Settlement  in  England  is  the  large  number  of  places  that  bear    
Scandinavian  names  (more  than  600  places  e.g  Derby,  Rugby  etc..)    
C  7.The  Earlier  Borrowing:  
At  the  early  stage  of  Scandinavian  invasion  words  borrowed  were  limited  to  those  associated  with  sea-­‐roving  and  
predatory  people  
e.g:  cnearr(  small  warship)  lip  (fleat)  dreng  (worrior)  
"
C  8.  Scandinavian  loan  –Words  and  Their  Character:  
It  was    after  the  Danes  had  begun  to  settle  in  the  Island  and  enter  into  the  ordinary  relations  of  life  with  the  English  
that  Scandinavian  words  commenced  to  enter  in  numbers  into  the  language  .  
Their  settlement  brought  the  English  in  contact  with  a  civilization    very  much  like  the  English  .  The  words  borrowed  
have  the  character  of  everyday  use.  e.g:  die  ,egg  ,dirt  ,  leg  ,kid  ,loan  ,race  ,  root..    
C  9.The  Relation  of  Borrowed  and  Native  Words:  
The  borrowed  Scandinavian  words  may  not  supply  real  need  in  English  vocabulary.  It  resulted  as  a  consequent  of  the  
mixture  of  the  people  .  The    Scandinavian  and  the  English  word  were  used  side  by  side  and  the  survival  of  one  or  the  
other  must  often  have  been  a  matter  of  chance.  
C  10.  Form  Words:  
   The  Scandinavian  words  that  made  their  way  into  English  were  not  confined  to  nouns  ,adjectives  ,  and  verbs,    but  
they  were  extended  to  pronouns  ,prepositions  ,adverbs  and  even  a  part  of  verb  to  be  .  Such  parts  of  speech  are  not  
often  transferred  from  one  language  to  another  and  this  is  an  evidence  of  the  intimate  relationship  that  existed  
between  the  two  languages.    
C  10.Scandinavian  Influence  Outside  the  Standard  Sspeech  :  
Scandinavian  elements  were  used  in  dialects  too.  
8
C  11.        Effects  on  Grammar  and  Syntax  :  
The  Scandinavian  influence  not  only  affected  the  vocabulary  but  extended  to  matters  of  grammar  and  syntax  as  well  .  
Inflections  are  seldom  transformed  from  one  language  to  another  .  A  number  of  inflectional  elements  peculiar  to  the  
Northumbrian  dialect  have  been  attributed  to  Scandinavian  influence  ,  among  others    -­‐s  of  the  third  person  
singular  ,present  indicative  of  verbs.    
In  many  words  the  English  and  Scandinavian  languages  differed  chiefly  in  their  inflectional  elements  .  Such  ending  
may  create    some  obstacles  in  the  way  of  mutual  understanding.      
Syntax  however  was  less  affected  than  vocabulary  .  The  probability  of  such  influence  naturally  varies  with  the  degree  
of  intimacy  that  exist  between  the  speakers  of  two  languages.  
C  12.  Period  of  Extent  of  the  Influence:  
The  number  of  borrowed  Scandinavian  words  that  exist  in  standard  English  may  reach  nine  hundred  .  Such  words  
represent  common  everyday  things  and  fundamental  concepts.  The  English  Dialect  Dictionary  contains  1154  simple  
words  beginning  with  sc-­‐    (sk)  which  is  a  characteristic  of  Scandinavian  
Language.  The  Scandinavian  influence  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  of  the  foreign  influences  that  have  contributed    
to  the  English  language.    
"
"

9
 Chapter  five  
The  Norman  Conquest  and  the  Subjection  of  English  1066-­‐1200  
1.The  Norman  Conquest:  
                                   Towards  the  end  of  the  old  English  period  an  event  occurred  which  had  a  greater  effect  on  the  English    
language  than  any  other  in  the  course  of  history.  This  event  was  the  Norman  conquest  in  1066.Such  event  
resulted  in  the  reduction  of  inflection  and  the  loss  of  a  great  number  of  Germanic  vocabulary.  It  also  
resulted  in  the  adoption  of  enormous  number  of  French  words  to  the  extent  that  makes  English  almost  as  
much  as  Romance  languages  as  Germanic  language.  
2.The  Origin  of  Normandy:  
Normandy  is  a  district  in  the  northern  coast  of  France  directly  across  the  channel.  It  became  in    1000  one  of  the  
districts  of  the  kingdom  
of  France.    The  Normans  soon  absorbed  the  most  important  elements  of  French  civilization  .  They  adopted  the  
important  features  of    Frankish  law  ,  including  the  idea  of  jury.  It  was  at  that  time    one  of  the  outstanding    legal  
systems  of  the  world.  Most  important  event  is  that  they  have  gave  up  their  own  language  and  learned  French.  
Before  the  Norman  conquest  the  relations  between  England  and  Normandy  had  been  fairly  close.      
Illustration  
The  relation  between  Normandy  and  England  
1002  AEthelred  the  Unready  married  a  Norman  lady.  
He  was  exiled  by  the  Danes  and  took  refuge  with  his  brother  –in-­‐law    in  France.  
His  son  Edward  the  Confessor(who  was  brought  up  in  France)  was  restored  to  the  throne  in  1042  from  which  his  
father  was  driven  .    
3.The  year  1066  :  
At  the  beginning  of  1066,after  the  reign  of  twenty-­‐four  of  Edward  the  Confessor  who  died  childless  ,  England  was  
faced  again  with  the  choice  of  a  successor.  They  elected  Harold  earl  of  the  West  Saxon.  
Before  his  death  Edward  assured  his  second  cousin  William  the  duke  of  Normandy  that  he  should  succeed  him  .In  
early  manhood  Edward  had  had  to  face  a  number  of  crucial  contests  with  rebellious  barons,  powerful  neighbors  ,and  
even  his  overlord  the  French  King.    
In  1066  the  Normans  under  the  leadership  of  William  won  the  battle  of  Hastings  and  then  they  had  burnt  and  
pillaged  the  southeast  of  England  .  By  the  end  of  1066  William  was  crowned  the  king  of  England.  
4.  The  Norman  Settlment:  
Many  of  the  English  higher  class  had  been  killed  on  the  field  of  Hastings.Thus  William  brought  his  Norman  followers  
to  replace  such  class  .  This  process  took  place  for  the  next  four  years  .  In  1072  only  one  of  the  twelve  earls  in  England  
was  an  Englishman  .At  the  reign  of  William  as  well  as  the  reign  of  his  sons  the  important  positions  were  mostly  held  
by  Normans  or  men  of  foreign  blood.  
5.  The  use  of  French  by  the  Upper  Class:    
The  numbers  of  the  new  ruling  class  were  sufficiently  predominant  to  continue  to  use  their  own  language  (  French)  
For  two  hundred  years  after  the  conquest  French  remained  the  language  of  the  upper  class  in  England  .The  
distinction  between  those  who  spoke  French  and  those  who  spoke  English  was  not  ethnic  but  largely  social.    
6.Cicumstances  Promoting  the  Continued  Use  of  French:  
The  most  important  factor  in  the  continued  use  of  French  by  the  English  upper  class  until  the  beginning  of  the  
thirteenth  century  was  the  close  connection  that  existed  through  all  these  years  between  England  and  the  
continent  .  
7.The  Attitude  Toward  English:  
English  become  uncultivated  tongue  ,it  was  the  language  of  a  socially  inferior  class  but  there  was  an  evidence  of  
mutual  respect  and  peaceful    cooperation.  During  the  period  up  to  1200  the  attitude  of  the  king  and  the  upper  class  
towards  the  English  language  may  be  characterized  as  one  of  simple  indifference  .  They  didn’t  cultivate  English  
because  their  activities  in  England  did  not  necessitate  it  and  their  constant  concern  with  continental  affairs  make  
French  for  them  more  useful.  
8.  French  Literature  at  the  English  Court:  
Literature  played  an  important  part  in  the  lives  of  the  leisured  class.  Thus  a  considerable  body  of  French  literature  
being  produced  in  England  from  the  beginning  of  the  12th  century.  
9.Fusion  of  the  Two  People:  
After  a  few  years  of  the  conquest  people  accepted  the  new  order  as  a  fact  and  adjusted  themselves  to  it.  All  the  
inhabitance  of  England  were  described  as  English  .  This  early  fusion  between  French  and  English  was  evident  in  the  
marriage  of  the  Normans  to  English  women.  It  is  evident  from  the  way  in  which  the  English  gave  their  support  to  
their  rulers.  
10.  The  Disfusion  of  French  and  English:  
French  was  the  language  of  the  court  and  the  upper  classes,  English  was  the  speech  of  the  mass  of  the  people.  The  
relation  of  two  folds:  
10
a) knowledge  of  English    among  the  upper  class:  
               French  was  not  confined  to  persons  of  foreign  extraction  ,  but  all  those  who  were  associated  with  the  governing  
class  soon  acquired  a  command  of  it.  It  was  a  mark  of  social  distinction.  Since  English  was  the  language  of  the  
largest  part  of  the  population  ,many  of  the  upper  class  would  acquire  some  familiarity  with  it.  Most  of  them  
could  understand  the  language  but  could  not  speak  it  .English  survived  for  a  considerable  time  in  some  
Monastries  for  some  bishops  could  not  speak  English.  
b)  Knowledge  of  French  among  the  middle  class:  
By  the  end  of  the  12th  century  a  knowledge  of  English  was  not  unusual  among  the  upper  class,  and  French  was  also  
found  among  the  lower  social  scale  .  knights  as  well  as  the  middle  class    cultivated  French.      In  the  period  preceding  
the  loss  of  Normandy  in  1204  there  were  some  who  spoke  only  French  and  many  more  who  spoke  only  English  and  
there  was  a  considerable  number  of  bilinguals.


11
 Chapter  6  
The  Re-­‐establishment  of  English  1200-­‐1500  
Changing  conditions  after  1200:  
As  long  as  England  held  its  conditional  territory  and  the  nobility  of  England  were  united  to  the  continent  by  ties  of  
property  and  kinder,  a  real  reason  existed  for  the  continued  use  of  French  among  the  governing  class  in  the  island  .  
After  1200  conditions  changed  
England  lost  an  important  part  of  its  possessions  abroad  .  The  nobility  gradually  relinquished  their  continental  states.  
Consequently    new  feelings  developed  such  as  rivalry  between  the  two  countries  accompanied  by  an  anti  foreign  
movement  in  England.  Therefore  the  maintenance  became  artificial  .Due  to  social  and  economic  changes  in  the  14th  
century  English  won  its  way  back  to  universal  use.  In  the  15th  century  French  almost  disappeared  .    
The  Facts  that  Caused  the  Disappearance  of  French:  
The  loss  of  Normandy:  
in  1204  king  John  lost  Normandy  which  was  binding  England  to  the  continent  .  (the  bridge  of  England  to  the  
continent  ).  He  married  Isabel  who  was  betrothed  engaged(in  marriage  contract)  to  a  head  of  powerful  and  
ambitious  family.  John  attacked  this  family  which  complained  to  the  king  of  France    Philip.  
The  latter  summoned  john  1202  to  appear  before  his  court  at  Paris  .    John  thought  that  since  he  was  the  king  of  
England  he  wasn’t  subject  to    the  French  law  .  On  the  day  of  the  trial  John  did  not    
appear,  therefore  the  court  declared  his  territory  (Normandy)confiscated  .  
Thus  Philip  carried  out  the  decision  of  the  court  and  invaded  Normandy.  After  loosing  Normandy  ,john  lost  his  
supporters  one  after  another.  
He  lost  his  popularity  after  the  death  of  his  nephew  who  was  married  to  Philip’s  daughter  who  was  murdered  too.  
The  loss  of  Normandy  was  beneficial  to  the  English  language  as  well  as  to  the  other  aspects  .The  King  and  nobels  
started  to  look  upon  England  as  their  priority  .  The  island  king  soon  had  his  own  political  and  economic  goals  which  
were  not  the  same  of  those  of  France.  
Separation  of  the  French  and  the  English  Nobilty:  
After  the  Norman  conquest  a  large    number  of  the  nobility  held  lands  in  both  countries  (  England  and  France)Thus  
existed  a  kind  of  interlocking  aristocracy  and  it  was  difficult  for  some  of  the  English  nobility  to  say  whether  they  
belonged  to  England  or  to  the  continent.  
In  1204  the  king  of  France  announced  that  he  had  confiscated  the  lands  of  several  great  barons.  The  families  who  
had  estates  on  both  sides  where  forced  to  give  up  one  or  the  other.  
Some  nobles  preferd  their  larger  holdings  in  England  and  gave  up  their  Norman  lands  .After  1250  all  the  nobility  of  
England  consider  themselves  English.  
France  Reinforcements:  
With  the  separation  of  French  and  English  Nobility  ,the  Norman  nobility  was  forced  to  identify  itself  with  England.  
Consequently  the  country    witnessed  the  invasion  of  foreigners  mainly  from  south  of  France  at  the  reign  of  king  
john  .  It  increased  at  the  time  of  his  son  Henry  III  (his  mother  and  wife  were  French)  
During  king  Henry’s  reign  all  the  native  officials  of  the    court  were  dismissed  from  their  offices    and  replaced  by  
foreigners  .  Those  foreigners  were  placed  in  charge  of  everything  and  they  oppress  the  English  subjects  and  nobles  
and  accused  them  of  treachery  to  the  king.    
In  1236  Henry  was  married  to  Eleanor    .  Many  of  the  relatives  came  to  England  and  the  king  rewarded  them  with  
lands  possessions  and  money.  e.g  (one  of  her  uncles  was  appointed  earl  of  Richmond)Henry  III  1216-­‐1272  during  his  
long  reign  the  country  was  eaten  up  by  strangers  who  were  not  only  French  but  of  other  nations  such  as  Romans  and  
Spanish.  
The  Reaction  Against  Foreigners  and  Growth  of  National  Feeling:  
in  1234  started  the  policy  of  (England  for  the  English)  
A  number  of  bishops  told  the  king  that  the  situation  was  not  wise  or  safe    but  rather  dangerous  to  the  whole  country  
because  these  aliens  hate  the  English  people.    
Upon  this  threat  the  king  dismissed  the  foreigners  from  offices.  Those  foreigners  didn’t  understand  the  English  
tongue  ,  they  lacked  faith  and  cause  the  country  to  be  poor.  
The  reaction  against  foreigners  caused  some  wars  “Baron’s”        was  in    (1258-­‐1265)  during  which  the  foreigners  were  
driven  from  England  when  peace  was  finally  restored  and  Edward  I(1272-­‐1307)  came  to  the  throne  we  enter  upon  a  
period  in  which  England  became  conscious  of  its  unity  when  the  governmental  officials  are  for  most  part  English.  
Thus  the  foreign  attack  in  the  thirteenth  century  undoubtedly  delayed  the  natural  spread  of  the  use    of    English  by  
the  upper  class.  
French  Cultural  Ascendency  in  Europe:  
The  stimulus  given  to  the  use  of  French  in  England  by  foreign  additions  to    
the  upper  class    coincides  with  the  wide  popularity  that  the  French  language  enjoyed  all  over    Europe  during  the  
thirteenth  century  .Even  some  books  were  translated  into  French  because  it  was  common  to  all  people.  The  prestige  
of  French  civilization  was  carried  out  by  the  greatest    
12
medieval  literature  By  the  fame  of  the  university  of  France  and  by  the  Normans  themselves.  These  were  the  reasons  
for  the  continued  use  of  French  among  political  circle  in  England.    
English  and  French  in  the  Thirteenth  Century  :  
The    thirteenth  century    was  described  as  a  period  of  shifting  emphasis  
 upon  the  two  languages  spoken  in  England.  
The  upper  class  continued  to  use  French  as  was  the  case  in  the  12the  century  however,  the  reasons  for  doing  so  were  
not  the  same  .  
French  became  a  cultivated  tongue  supported  by  social  custom  and  by  business  and  administrative  conventions  .At  
the  same  time  English  was  restoring  its  recognition  when  the  separation  of  the  English  nobles  from  their  interest  in  
France  had  been  completed  (English)  it  was  becoming  generally  used  by  the  upper  classes  .It  was  at  this  time  the  
adoption  of  the  French  words  into  the  English  language  took  place  on  a  large  scale.  Their  French  words  occurs  when  
those  who  know  French  and  have  been  accustomed  to    use  it  try  to  express  themselves  in  English.  Moreover  the  
literature  intended  for  polite  circles  begin      to  be  made  over  from  French  into  English  .  By  the  end  of  the  century  the  
young  generation  of  nobility  started  to  speak  English  as  their  mother  tongue  and  had  to  be  taught  French  with  
English  glosses.    
French  was  used  by  the  upper  class  as  well  as  in  parliament,  in  the  low  court,  public  negotiations.  French  was  read  by  
the  educated  .  As  the  use  of  French  declined  French  appeared  as  either  in  court  or  peculiar(example  :mistaken  in  
gender  by  some  writers  using  La  before  a  man’s  name  and  Le  before  a  wonan’s  name  .  
Compare  to  the  decline  of  the  use  of  French  the  use  of  English  spread  among  the  upper  .  Evidence  of  the  spread  of  
English  is  little  treaties  to  teach  children  French  when  French  was  treated  as  a  foreign  language.  
Latin  was  the  language  of  record.    
To  sum  up  the  situation  in  the  latter  part  of  13th  century  ,  English  was  widely  known  among  all  classes  ,though  not  
recognized  by  everyone.  
Attempts  to  Arrest  the  Decline  of  French:  
After  the  close  of  13th  century  it  was  clear  that  the  use  of  French  was  very  weak.  The  people  had  a  strong  tendency  
to  speak  English  specially  in  church  and  university.  
The  100  years  war:  
During  he  12th  century  the  connection  of  England  with  the  contenint  have  been  broken.  It  caused  a  hostile  
atmosphere.  One  of  the  causes  of  such  conflect  between  England  and  France  was  the  interference  of  France  in  
England’s  efforts  to  control  Scotland.  This  led  to  Edward  III  invasion  of  France.These  wars  lasted  from  1337-­‐1453.  
 The  100  was  no  doubt  one  of  the  causes  of  the  disuse  of  French.  
 The  Rise  of  the  Middle  Class:  
One  of  the  main  reasons  for  the  restoration  of  the  English  prestige  was  the  improvement  of  the  conditions  of  the  
majority  of  people  and  the  rise  of  the  middle  class.  
The  importance  of  a  language  is  largely  determined  by  the  importance  of  the  people  who  speak  it.    What  gives  
importance  to  the  language  ?    
During  the  last  part  of  the  middle  English  period  the  condition  of  the  laboring  class  was  rapidly  improving.  (e.g.  fixed  
money  payment)The  reason  for  the  change  ?  In  the  year  1348  appeared  in  the  southeast  of  England  the  first  case  of  
a  disease,  which  spread  fast  for  it  was  contagious  once  it  hits  in  two  or  three  days  the  victim  either  died  or  showed  
signs  of  recovery.  The  death  rate  approximated  30%.  Therefore  it  was  called  “ The  Black  Death’  Plague.  This  calamity    
affected  the  poor  more  than  the  rich.  The  loss  of  great  number  of  the  poor  caused  shortage  of  labor  which  
consequently  caused  the  rise  in  wages.  
The  black  death  increased  the  economic  importance  of  the  laboring  class  along  with  the  importance  of  the  English  
language  which  they  spoke  .What  caused  the  rise  of  the  importance  of  the  English  language.  After  the  black  death  
(  the  rise  of  the  importance  of  laboring  class  who  
 spoke  English  witnessed  the  rise  of  another  group  The  Craftsmen  and  the  Merchants  class.    
As  the  towns  fold  were  engaged  in  trade  and  or  in  manufacturing  craft  and  they  were  unified  for  their  mutual  
protection  and  advantages  .    
Thus  ocurred  In  each  town  an  independent    wealthy  and  powerful  class  between  rural  peasants  and  the  
aristocracy  .Such  changes  in  the  social  and  economic  life  benefited  particularly  the  English  –speaking  part  of  the  
population.    
General  Adoption  of  English  in  the  Fourteenth  century:  
At  the  beginning  of  the  14th  century  English  was  once  more  known  by  everyone  .  So  learned  and  unlearned  
understand  English.This  situation  was  proved  by  texts  from  that  age.  More  over  it  was  even  spoken  by  many  nobles.  
However  French  still  was  used  at  the  court.  Some  writings  indicated  that  French  was  the  language  of  two  groups  ,  the  
educated  class  and  the  French  ,  church,  low  court  (educated  people  include  legal  profession)  up  to  1362In  fact  
people  who  could  speak  French  in  the  14th  century  were  billingulals.(  e.g  Edward  III  knew  English.)    
In  1362  for  the  first  time  English  was  used  in  the  parliament  .    

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The  best  description  to  the  situation  is  to  say  that  in  the  14th  century  English  became  again  the  mother  tongue  of  all  
England.  As  for  schools  it  was  after  1349  that  English  began  to  be  used  in  the  schools.      
 Increasing  Ignorance  of  the  French  in  the  Fifteeth  Century:  
By  the  15th  century  the  ability  to  speak  French  fluently  was  an  accomplishment  .  Even  the  ability  to  write  it  was  
becoming  less  general  among  people  of  position.  
French  was  a  language  of  culture  and  fashion.  
When  French  went  out  of  use  as  a  spoken  language  in  England  the  reasons  for  using  French  has  changed  .  They  
stated  three  reasons  for  learning  French  :  first  it  was  the  need  to  communicate  with  their  French  neighbors  in  France.  
Second,  the  laws  are  largely  in  French.  And  finally  sofesticated  letters  were  written  in  French.  The  first  of  course  is  
valid  today.  But  the  other  two  disappeared  by  the  time.        
The  Use  of  English  in  Writing:  
Latin  was  the  language  of  writing  for  along  time  because  people  who  could  write  Latin  could  do  so  because  of  its  
international  character  and  the  feeling  that  it  was  a  language  that  had  become  fixed  while  the  languages  seemed  to  
be  variable,  unregulated  and  in  a  constant  state  of  change.  It  was  in  the  15thcentury  that  English  succeed  in  displacing  
both  Latin  and  French    in  writing  .It  was  the  reign  of  Henry  V(  1413-­‐1422)  that  marked  the  turning  point  in  the  use  of  
English  in  writing.  
1425  represents  the  time  at  which  English  begins  to  be  generally  adopted  in  writing  .    
Middle  English  Literature:  
The  literature  written  in  England  during  the  middle  English  period  reflects  the  changes  in  the  use  and  neglect  of  
English  .  The  time  French  was  the  language  of  the  upper  class  ,  the  books  they  read  were  in  French.From  1150-­‐1250  
English  was  the  language  of  the  middle  and  lower  class.  After  the  separation  of  the  English  nobility  from  France  shift  
towards  the  use  of  English  began  and  that  affected  its  literature  started  to  have  romantic  literature  and  translations  
and  adoptions,  from  French  begin  to  be  made.  
The  general  adoption  of  English  by  all  classes  in  the  latter  half  of  the  14th  century  ,  gave  rise  to  a  body  of  literature  
which  represents  the  high  point  in  English  literary  achievement  in  the  middle  ages.  
1340-­‐  1400  period  of  great  individual  writers.    Chauser  greatest  English  poet  before  Shakespeare.  The  literature  at  
the  latter  14th  century  form  an  outstanding  period  in  Middle  English  literature.  They  present  proof  of  the  Secure  
position  of  the  English  language  had  attained.  
15th  century  is  known  as  imitative  period  because  much  of  the  poetry  written  was  written  in  emulation  of  Chaucer.  
And  also  called  transition  period  because  it  covers  a  large  part  of  the      interval  between  the  age  of  Chaucer  and  the  
age  of  Shakespeare  .Middle  English  literature  throw  interesting  lights  on  the  fortunes  of  the  English  language.  
"
"

14
          Chapter  7  
Middle  English  1150-­‐1500:  
Middle  English  is  a  period  of  great  change.  
This  period  has  witnessed  drastic  change  in  the  English  language  more  than  any  time.  
The  causes  of  such  changes:  
1.  The  Norman  conquest.  
2.  Conditions  that  followed  the  conquest.  
3.  Tendencies  to  manifest  themselves  in  old  English.  
Do  you  think  changes  would  have  happened  in  the  language  if  the  Norman  conquest  didn’t  occur?  
Due  to  the  conquest  the  changes  took  place  rapidly.  The  changes  of  this  period  affected  English  in  both  its  grammar  
and  vocabulary.  
     Regarding  the  grammar  it  reduced  English  from  a  highly  inflected  language  to  analytic  one.  As  for  the  vocabulary  
large  part  of  the  old  English  word-­‐stock  was  lost  and  thousands  of  French  and  Latin  were  borrowed.  
Decay  of  Inflectional  English:  
The  distinctive  changes  in  grammar  was  marked  by  the  reduction  of  inflectional  endings  of  the  noun  and  adjective  ,  
making  distinctions  in  number,  case  or  gender  were  altered  in  pronunciation  that  they  lost  their  distinctive  form  and  
hens  their  usefulness.  
The  loss  of  inflection  appeared  also  in  verbs.  
The  reasons  for  the  loss  of  inflectional  endings:  
1.The  phonetic  changes.  
2.  The  operation  of  analogy.    
The  earliest  was  the  change  of  final-­‐m  to  -­‐n  either  for  plural  nouns  or  adjectives  e.g.  the    muðum  (mouths)  
muðun  .Such  –n  of  inflectional  ending  was  later  dropped  (muðu  )  
The  vowels  (a,o,u,e)  in  inflectional  endings  were  transferred  to  a  sound  called  “indeterminate  vowel”  which  came  to  
be  written  “e”  and  rarely  (I,y,u).  Consequently  a  number  of  originally  distinct  endings  (-­‐a,-­‐u,-­‐e,  -­‐an  ,-­‐um)  were  
reduced  to  a  uniform  –e.  
Such  changes  have  been  found  in  the  old  English  10th  century.  Though  the  pronunciation  has  changed  the  letters  
were  preserved  in  writing  due  to  the  tendency  of  the  (conservatives)  scribes  to  preserve  the  traditional  spelling.  
The  Noun:  
The  most  distinctive  ending(suffix)  is  the  –s  of  the  possessive  singular  and  of  the  nominative  and  accusative  plural.  
Since  these  two  cases  of  the  plural  ,  were  those  most  frequently  used.  The  –s  came  to  be  thought  of  as  the  sign  of  
the  plural  and  was  extended  to  all  plural  forms.(which  is  identical  to  what  is  used  today).In  early  Middle  English  only  
two  methods  of  indicating  the  plural  remained  :  the  –s  or  –es  (from  the  strong  declension    and  –en  (oxen)from  the  
weak  declension.  In  fact  –s  has  become  the  universal  sign  of  the  plural  .    
The  Adjectives:  
Changes  in  the  forms  of  adjectives  as  the  nouns  were  partly  a  result  of  the  sound  changes  and  partly  a  result  of  the    
extensive  working  of  analogy.  1  distinction  between  plural  and  singular  disappeared  both  forms  ended  with  –e  blinda  
,blindan  =    blinde  
The  only  ending  which  remained  to  the  adjectives  was  often  without  distinctive  grammatical  meaning.  In  the  
fourteenth  century  final  –e  ceased  to  be  pronounced  yet  it  was  maintained  in  writing  .  Thus  the  adjective  became  
uninflected  word  by  the  end  of  the  middle  period.    
The  Pronouns:  
Due  to  the  decay  of  inflections  the  language  depend  less  upon  formal  indications  of  gender  ,  case  and  number(as  in  
adjectives).  
It  depends  on  word  order  and  the  prepositions  to  indicate  the  relation  of  words  in  a  sentence.  The  reduction  of  
inflection  was  apparent  in  the  demonstratives  which  used  to  have  different  forms  for  number  ,  gender  and  case  that  
disappeared  and  they  were  reduced  to  what  are  known  today  :this  ,that  ,those  and  these.  
However  regarding  personal  pronouns  there  was  a  need  for  separate  forms  for  the  different  genders  and  cases,  thus  
most  of  the  distinctions  that  existed  in  old  English  were  retained.    
The  changes  happened  earlier  were  the  combination  of  the  dative  and  accusative  cases  under  that  of  the  dative  
(him,  her,  them)  
For  the  nuter  the  form  of  the  accusative  (  he  ,  it)  became  the  objective  case  because  it  was  like  the  nominative  and  
because  the  dative  would  (him)  be  confused  with  corresponding  case  of  the  masculine.  
 One  of  the  changes  (simplification)  was  the  loss  of  the  dual  number.      The  change  was  gradual  and  both  the  strong  
and  weak  forms  were  used  side  by  side  .e.g  the  verbs  which  changes  to  the  weak  form  have  the  old  strong  form  
preserved  as  in  (  climb-­‐clomb)        
The  Verbs:  
The  prominent  changes  in  the  verbs  during  the  Middle  English  
 period  were  the  loss  of  strong  conjugation  (inflection  of  verbs)  
15
Few  verbs  survived  as  strong  forms  where  as  others  have  changed  over  the  course  of  time  to  the  weak  inflection.  
1/3  of  the  old  English  strong  verbs  died  out  early  in  the  Middle  English.  Some  were  preserved  in  spoken  English  but  
not  recorded  (dialects).  
A  few  of  the  old  English  verbs  were  recorded  in  the  literary  works.  
Moore  than  200  of  the  old  English  strong  verbs  were  lost  at  the  beginning  of  the  middle  English  period  and  
continued.  
The  great  number  of  loss  of  strong  verbs  occured  at  the  beginning  of  the  Middle  English.  
Verbs  either  passed  to  the  weak  conjucation  or  had  developed  weak  forms.  
Today  more  than  half  of  the  old  English  strong  verbs  
 have  disappeared  from  the  standard  language.    
Since  English  was  at  that  time  the  language  of  the  lower  class  and  it  was  removed  from  the  restraining  influences  of  
education  and  literary  standard,  it  was  natural  that  many  speakers  wrongly  apply  the  pattern  of  weak  verbs  to  some  
which  have  been  strong  .  
The  tendency  of  the  verbs  change  to  the  weak  form  existed  in  old  English  but  was  very  limited  ,then  it  was  extended  
to  the  previous  mentioned  conditions.  
Towards  the  end  of  the  Middle  English  period  such  movement  slowed  down  due  to  the  rise  of  English  in  the  social  
scale.  
And  the  standarizing  effect  of  printing.  
Grammatical  Gender:  
One  of  the  consequences  of  the  decay  of  inflections  was  the  elimination  of  the  grammatical  gender.  Generally  the  
decay  of  the  inflection  started  in  the  north  and  later  in  the  south  .  
The  gender  of  old  English  nouns  was  not  often  determined  by  meaning  sometimes  it  contradicts  the  meaning  e.g.  
woman  in  OE  was  masculine  .  Wife  and  child  were  neuter  but  some  genders  in  OE  were  determined  according  to  
their  neutral  gender.  By  the  time  the  disappearance  of  grammatical  gender  the  idea  of  sex  became  the  only  factor  in  
determining  the  gender  of  English  nouns    
Grammatical  Changes  and  the  Norman  Conquest:  
Languages  usually  borrow  words  but  do  not  borrow  grammatical  structures.  Thus  the  effect  of  the  Norman  conquest  
on  the  grammatical  changes  was  indirect.  
Some  idioms  and  syntactical  usage  that  appear  in  middle  English  were  the  result  of  the  contact  with  the  
French  .Whereas  the  decay  of  inflections  and  other  development  in  the  middle  English  grammar  were  the  result  of  
the  conditions  created  by  the  Norman  Conquest  (by  making  English  the  language  of  uneducated  people  which  
caused  the  grammatical  changes  to  go  forward  unchecked.    
French  Influence  on  the  Vocabulary:  
French  influence  was  apparent  with  respect  to  vocabulary  .  French  and  English  lived  side  by  side  for  along  time  (and  
the  relations  between  people  were  intimate).    Thus  considerable  transference  of  words  from  one  language  to  the  
other  was  inevitable.  
The  interchange  was  mutual.  However  the  number  of  the  English  words  that  entered  French  was  not  as  large  as  that  
of  the  French  words  introduced  into  English.      
Why  were  there  more  word  borrowed  from  French  into  English  ?  
Because    English  represented  an  inferior  culture,had  more  to  learn  from  French.    
The  number  of  French  words  into  English  were  the  greatest  
 in  number  in  the  whole  history  of  the  English  language  .  This  effect  was  the  result  of  political  and  social  
consequences  of  the  conquest.  
This  change  started  slow  and  continued  for  along  time.  
Borrowing  from  French  at  that  era  made  it  easy  to  borrow  from  other  languages.  
There  were  two  distinct  phases  for  French  borrowing  (early  and  late)  
1.  The  borrowing  of  this  stage  was  less  numerous.  
2.  It  showed  the  peculiarities  of  Anglo-­‐Norman  phonology.  
3.  A  bout  900  words  were  the  result  of  the  contact  of  the    lower  class  with  a  French  speaking  nobility  (baron  ,  nobles  
servant  messengers)  
 After1250  the  Conditions  Changed:    
1.Those  who  used  to  speak  French  started  to  use  English  .  So  they  used  the  French  words  either  to  supply  deficiency  
in  the  English  vocabulary  or  to  cover  their  own  imperfect  command  of  English.  
People  transferred  much  of  their  governmental  and  administrative    vocabulary  ,their  escleiastical  ,legal  and  military  
terms,  their  familiar  words  of  fashion  ,food  and  social  life  the  vocabulary  of  learning  and  medicine.  
 Army  and  Navy  :  
e.g.p:  170  
During  the  Middle  ages  the  control  of  the  army  was  in  the  hands  of  the  those  who  spoke  French.  
Fashion  ,meals  and  social  life  p:171  
16
Art  ,  learning  and  medicine  p:172  
Breadth  of  the  French  Influence:  
The  contribution  of  French  vocabulary  into  English  covered  all  important  departments  ,  it  included  thousands  of  all  
types  of  vocabulary  nouns  ,adjectives  ,  verbs  and  phrases  and  expresions  .  
Anglo-­‐Norman  and  Central  French:  
The  French  words  introduced  into  English  as  a  result  of  the  Norman  conquest  have  different  appearance  from  that  
which  they  have  in  modern  French  .  Such  difference  is  a  result  of  the  subsequent  developments  which  have  taken  
place  in  the  two  languages.  e.g.:    
OE                                                            ME                                          MOE                                        MF  
Fest                                                        feste                                        feast                                      fete  
Forest                                                                                                          forest                                    foret  
The  difference  is  not  always  revealed  by  the  spelling  but  is  apparent  in  the  pronunciation.  The  English  word    judge  
and  chant  preserve  the  early  French  pronunciation  of    j    and    ch  which  was  softened  in  French  in  the  13th  century  to  /
ʒ/  and/ʃ/.  Thus  words  such  as  ;  change,  charge  ,  chamber,  just  ,  jewl  ,  majesty  and  many  others  are  considered  from  
early  borrowing  .  
While  words  like  chaperon  ,chiffon  ,  rouge  show  by  their      pronunciation  that  they  have  came  into  the  language  at  a  
later  date.  
"
The  second  reason  for  the  difference  between  French  and  English  words  is  that  the  Anglo  Norman  or  Anglo  –French  
dialect  spoken  in  England  differed  from  the  language  of  Paris  (central  French)  
Popular  and  Literary  Borrowing:  
Although  most  of  the  French  borrowed  words  were  those  of  everyday  popular  words  ,  much  of  Middle  English  
literature  was  based  directly  on  French  originals  (adopting  many  popular  speech  paved  the  way  for  the  entrance  of  
literary  words)  
The  number  of  words  in  the  15th  century  were  less  than  those  in  the  former  century  yet  they  were  more  prominent  
because  the  adoption  of  popular  words  nearly  disappeared  with  the  disappearance  of  French  as  a  spoken  language  in  
England.  
The  Period  of  Great  Influence:  
The  years  from  1250-­‐1400  mark  the  period  of  influence  where  English  was  everywhere  replacing  French  .During  
these  150  years  40%  of  all  the  French  words  in  the  language  came  in.  Some    statistics  showed  that  the  number  of  
French  words  adopted  during  the  Middle  English  period  was  slightly  over  ten  thousand.15%  of  which  are  still  in  
current  use.  
Assimilation:  
Adopted  French  words  were  assimilated  rapidly  e.g.  English  challing  were  added  to  them  as  was  the  case  with  English  
words.  Gentle  was  later  compounded    
gentlewoman  ,  gentleman  ,  gentlness  and  gently  .  Apparently  the  adverbial  endings  –ly  seems  to  have  been  added    
to  sn  adjectives  .  
Loss  of  Native  Words:  
It  is  known  that  there  are  no  exact  synonyms  in  English  .  There  are  usually  certain  peculiarity  of  meaning  or  use  that  
distinguish  a  word  from    terms  with  which  it  has  much  in  common.  
There  is  always  a  tendency  towards  economic  usage  of  words  which  lead  people  to  get  red  of  a  word  when  its  
function  is  fully  performed  by  some  other  word  .After  the  Norman  conquest  duplications    resulted  .  In  such  cases  one  
of  two  words  was  lost  or  if  both  survived  they  were  differentiated  in  meaning  .  In  most  cases  the  old  English  words  
were  lost.    
Differenciation  in  Meaning:  
Where  both  the  English  and  the  French  words  survived  they  were  generally  differentiated    in  meaning  .  The  
discrimination  between  them  has  been  a  matter  of  gradual  growth  but  it  justifies  the  retention  of  both  words  in  the  
language  .e.g.  
English  (represents  living  animals)                                French  (meat)  
ox                                                                                                                                                                  beef  
sheep                                                                                                                                                    mutton  
calf                                                                                                                                                                  veal  
The  Curtailment  of  O.E  Processes  of  Derivation:  
As  a  form  of  human  activity  language  always  displays  (shows)  
tendencies  which  one  recognize  as  characteristic  of  the  speech  of  a  given  people  at  a  given  time.  Such  habits  may  be  
altered  by  circumstances  .e.g.  old  English  enlarged  its  vocabulary  by  the  use  of  prefixes  and  suffixes.  After  the  
Norman  conquest  there  was  a  decline  in  the  use  of  these  methods  of  word-­‐formation  .    
Prefixes:  many  of  the  OE  prefixes  gradually  lost  their  vitality  .e.g.  for-­‐  used  to  intensify  the  meaning  of  a  verb  or  to  
add  the  idea  of  destructive.  In  MOE  it  is  preserved  in  verbs  such  as    forget  ,  forgive  .  
17
"
 Suffixes:  the  decline  in  suffixes  was  less  noticeable  than  prefixes  because  
some  important  ending  have  remained  active  e.g.  –ness  ,  -­‐ful  ,  -­‐less  ,-­‐some,  
-­‐ish    .  Generally  there  was  a  gradual  change  in  English  habits  of  word  formation  resulting    from  the  available  supply  of  
French  words  with  which  to  fill  the  needs  of  everyday  need  by  the  native  resources  of  the  language.  
Self-­‐explaining  compounds:  
E.g.  bookhouse              declined  
Because  French  word  could  have  been  borrowed  instead  of  compounding  words  from  the  native  language  to  create  
new  meaning.  
The  Language  Still  English:  
In  spite  of  the  extensive  modification  of  the  English  language  the  language  retained  its  characteristics  as  English  
language  .p:  188  
           
Latin  Borrowing  in  Middle    English:  
The  Norman  conquest  is  called  the  Latin  influence.  Latin  was  a  spoken  language  among  religious  men  and  men  of  
learning  .  The  number  of  words  entered  the  language  through  this  path  is  less  than  that  entered  through    literature  .  
English  had  some  Latin  terms  relating  to  law,  medicine  ,  science,  theology  and  literature.  Among  them  ,  several  with  
endings  like  –able,        -­‐ible  ,    -­‐ent  ,-­‐dl  ,-­‐ous,  -­‐ive…which  became  familiar  in  English  and  reinforced  by  French.  In  
addition  unusual  words  from  Latin  by    writers  of  prose  (stylistic)    were  borrowed.    
The  borrowing  from  Latin,  French  and  Native  dialects  made  English  rich  in  synonyms.  English  was  also  influenced  by  
(Romance)  the  languages  of  the  low  countries  ;  Flemish  ,Dutch  and  low  German  which  were  similar  to  English.  It  was  
difficult  to  realize  whether  a  word  has  been  adopted  from  one  of  these  languages  or  of  native  origin.  
Dialectal  Diversity  of  Middle  English:  
Middle  English  has  great  variety  in  the  different  parts  of  England.  This  variety  included  the  spoken  language  as  well  as  
written  literature.  With  absence  of  literary  standard  writers  naturally  wrote  in  their  dialects.  
 The  Middle  English  Dialects:  
We  can  distinguish  four  principal  dialects  of  Middle  English  Northern,  East  Midland  ,  West  Midland  and  southern  .  
These  dialects  differ  in  respect  of  pronunciation,  vocabulary  and  inflection.  
The  Rise  of  Standard  English  :  
Out  of  this  variety  of  local  dialects  emerged  toward  the  end  of  14th  century  a  written  language  which  became  
recognized  as  the  standard  in  speech  and  writing.  This  dialect  was  very  close  to  the  East  Midland  dialect  of  London  .  
 What  were  the  causes  for  the  standarization  of  East  Midland  dialect  ?    
1. The  English  of  this  region  occupied  a  middle  position.  Less  conservative  than  the  southern  dialect  and  less  
radical  than  the  Northern.  
2. 2.  The  East  Midland  dialect  district  was  the  largest  and  most  populous(inhabitance).  
3. 3.  The  presence  of  the  universities  Oxford  ,  Cambridge  in  this  region.    
The  importance  of  London  English:  The  most  influential  factor  in  the  rise  of  standard  English  was  the  importance  of  
London  as  the  capital  of  England.  London  was  the  political  and  commercial  center  of  England.  
The  Spread  of  the  London  Standard:  
In  the  latter  part  of  the  15th  century  London  standard  had  been  accepted  at  least  in  writing  in  most  parts  of  the  
country.  The  standarization  of  London  dialect  promoted  by  the  introduction  of  printing  in  1476.  
"
"

18
 Chapter  8  
The  Renaissance  1500-­‐1650  
Changing  condition  in  the  Modern  Period:  
The  development  of  languages  is  affected  by  some  events.  The  beginning  of  Modern  English  period  which  is  marked  
at  1500  was  a  result  of  certain  conditions  among  which  the  printing  press  ,the  rapid  spread  of  popular  education  ,the  
increased  communication  and  means  of  communication  ,  and  the  growth  of  what  may  be  called  social  
consciousness  .    
The  invention  of  printing  in  Germany  about  the  middle  of  the  15th  century  created  a  powerful  force  for  promoting  a  
standard  ,uniform  language  .It  also  helped  to  spread  that  language  throughout  the  country.  The  influence  of  printing  
was  activated  by  the  rapid  progress  of  education  which  eliminate  literacy  .  In  the  later  Middle  Ages  almost  half  of  the  
people  could  at  least  read.      
Moreover  as  a  result  of  popular  education  the  printing  press  has  been  able  to  exert  its  influence  upon  language  as  
upon  thought.  A  third  factor  of  great  importance  to  language  in  modern  time  is  that  of  commerce  ,transportation  
and  the  rapid  means  of  communication  which  brought  the  different  parts  of  the  world  together  .    
Social  consciousness:  
People  have  a  tendency  to  identify  themselves  with  a  certain  social  or  economic  group.  Consequently  a  man  would  
speak  the  language  of  his  class.  However  ,due  to  the  democratic  conditions  that  prevail  today  a  man  became  able  to  
lift  himself  into  a  different  economic  or  intellectual  or  social  level.  He  is  probably  would  try  to  adopt  the  standards  of  
grammar  and  pronunciation  of  the  people  with  whom  he  has  identified  himself  with.  Awareness  that  there  are  
standards  of  language  is  a  part  of  his  social  consciousness.            
Effect  upon  grammar  and  vocabulary  :  
Such  mentioned  forces  could  be  described  as  both  radical  and  conservative.  Radical  means  anything  that  promotes  
change  in  language  whereas  conservative  force  means  conservative  force  mean  to  preserve  the  exiting  status.  
Thus  the  printing  press  ,the  reading  habit  and  all  forms  of  communication  advocate  change  and  stimulate  the  growth  
of  vocabulary.  Semantainiously  these  forces  together  with  social  consciousness  promote  and  are  likely  to  encourage  
the  maintenance  of  standard  specially  the  in  grammar  and  usage.  
     The  Problem  of  the  Vernaculars:  
In  the  Middle  Ages  the  development  of  English  took  place  as  a  result  of  Norman  conquest  which  was  peculiar  to  
England  other    than  the  other  languages  of  Europe  as  mentioned,  the  conquest  imposed  a  foreign  tongue  upon  the  
dominant  social  class  and  left  the  native  speech  in  the  hands  of  the  un  cultivated.  
However  ,by  the  end  of  the  Middle  English  period  English  had  made  a  remarkable  recovery.  In  the  16th  century  the  
modern  language  faced  three  great  problems.  
1. Recognition  in  the  fields  where  Latin  had  for  centuries  been  supreme.    
2. The  establishment  of  a  more  uniform  orthography  .  
3. The  enrichment  of  the  vocabulary  so  that  it  would  be  adequate  to  meet  the  demands  that  would  be  made  
upon  it  in  its  wide  use  .  
Elaboration  :  
The  struggle  for  recognition  :  
Although  English  had  established  a  position  as  the  language  of  popular  literature  ,there  was  a  strong  tendency  
towards  the  use  of  Latin  in  all  fields  of  knowledge.  Tendency  was  strengthen  by  the  revival  of  learning  (words  of  
Greek  and  Latin  ).  
Latin  and  Greek  were  the  keys  to  world’s  knowledge.  
Much  of  highly  sophisticated  literature  was  read  in  such  languages  .  Moreover  Latin  enjoyed  universal  currency  .  
contrary  to  the  former  opinion  there  were  supporters  of  the  modern  languages  .p:  203  quotations  .(Italian  French  
and  English  writers)  
The  real  force  behind  the  use  of  English  was  a  popular  demand  ,the  demand  of  all  sorts  of  men  in  practical  life  to  
share  in  the  fruits  of  Renaissance.  The  revival  of  learning  had  revealed  the  richness  of  the  civilization  of  Greece  and  
Rome.  In  order  to  learn  from  their  knowledge  in  all  fields  (military,  political  and  government  ).  
In  order  to  spread  their  knowledge  such  knowledge  has  to  be  expressed  in  the  language  that  everybody  read.  
The  demand  was  met  by  translations  and  original  works  .  e.g.  the  great  works  of  Homer  p;204  
From  a  commercial  point  of  view  ,  the  market  for  English  books  was  naturally  greater  than  for  Latin.  Arabic  p:206  
mentioned  as  one  of  the  languages  of  learning  around  the  world  at  that  time.  By  the  end  of  the  century  English  has  
won  recognition  as  a  language  of  serious  thought.  (Sir  Philip  Sidney  quotations  p;207in  1583.      
"
"
The  Problem  of  Orthography:  
Spelling  or  ‘right  writing  ’for  the  English  and  other  Europeans  in  the  16th  century  was  important  .The  problem  was  
that  there  was  generally  not  accepted  system  that  everyone  could  conform  to.  The  spelling  of  modern  languages  in  
the  Middle  Ages  had  attempted  successfully  to  represent  the  pronunciation  of  words  although  some  Norman  scribes  
19
introduced  some  confusion  as  they  tried  to  write  a  language  which  they  imperfectly  know  and  carried  over  habits  
which  they  had  formed  in  writing  French.  In  some  cases  there  was  a  difference  between  inserted  in  words  where  
they  were  not  pronounced  (like  the  b  in  debt  and  doubt).    Because  the  corresponding  word  in  Latin  was  so  spelled  
(detium  ,  jubitare  )  light  ,night  where  the  gh  had  formerly  represented  actual  sound            
The  variability  of  English  spelling  was  an  important  part  of  the  instability  which  people  felt  characterized  the  English  
language  in  the  16th  century  as  compared  with  Latin.  In  spite  of  the  Variety  in  Elizabethan  spelling  ,by  1550  many  of  
the  features  of  English  spelling  today  were  becoming  established.    
There  was  a  problem  of  spelling  which  was  that  pronunciation  constantly  changes.  Richard  Mulcaster  pp.211-­‐212    
spent  efforts  to  stabilize  spelling  through  a  book  which  included  the  recommended  spelling  for  about  7,000  of  the  
most  common  words.  
The  influence  of  his  book  was  obvious  on  certain  later  writers  .  During  the  first  half  of  the  17th  century  the  tendency  
towards  uniformity  increased.  The  fixation  of  English  spelling  is  associated  in  most  people’s  minds  with  Dr.  Johnson  
(Dictionary)  .  The  problem  of  orthography  was  settled  during  the  period  1500-­‐1650  .        
The  Problem  of  Enrichment:  
There  was  an  effort  to  enrich  the  language.  The  Renaissance  
was  a  period  of  increased  activity  in  almost  every  field.  The  language  was  enriched  as  a  result  of  some  consequences  
and  efforts.  
The  rediscovery  of  Latin  and  Greek  Literature  drew  the  attention  to  them  as  the  medium  of  literary  expression.  
The  scholarly  dominance  of  Latin  have  had  left  vernaculars  un  developed,  however,  at  the  Renaissance  this  
dominancy  was  broken  .  And  consequently  the  deficiency  of  English  was  revealed.          
The  act  of  translation  made  the  translator  borrow  from  other  languages  (du  to  the  limitation  of  his  language  ).This  
way  many  foreign  words  were  introduced  .  Words  borrowed  were  mainly  in  particularly  needed  in  various  technical  
fields  (military  terms  )  English  acquired  in  the  16th  and  early  17th  century  thousands  of  new  words  .  The  greatest  
number  of  words  were  borrowed  from  Latin  .Some  from  Greek  great  many  from  French  and  some  from  Italian  and  
Spanish.      
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"

20
 Chapter  9  
The  Appeal  to  Authority  1650-­‐800:  
The  Temper  of  the  Eighteenth  century:  
The  first  half  of  the  eighteenth  century  is  commonly  known  as  the  Augustan  Age  in  England  this  period  has  some  
features  :    
A  strong  sense  of  order  and  the  value  of  regulation  which  involves  conformity  to  a  standard  that  the  consensus  
recognizes  as  good  .  
The  most  important  consideration  in  the  foundation  of  this  standard  is  reason  .  A  great  satisfaction  was  felt  in  things  
that  could  be  logically  explained  and  justified  .  Reason  was  often  supported  by  the  force  of  authoritative  example  if  
possible.  The  spirit  of  scientific  rationalism    reflected  in  many  other  demands  of  thought  .  Not  only  in  literature  but  in  
language  Latin  was  looked  up  as  a  model.  Generally  precedence  was  to  classical  production.  The  18th    century  ,like  
many  other  period  in  history  ,was  quietly  conscious  of  its  own  superiority.  
"
Its  reflection  on  the  Attitude  toward  the  language:  
The  intellectual  tendencies  in  the  18th  century  represented  in  the  efforts  to  standardize  ,  refine  and  fix  the  English  
Language  .  
At  this  age  (18th  century)  the  focus  was  on  grammar,  it  was  discovered  that  English  grammar  was  un  codified  or  un  
systematic.  
The  ancient  languages  had  been  reduced  to  rule,  one  would  know  what  was  right  and  what  was  wrong,  but  in  English  
everything  was  uncertain.  In  many  matters  of  grammatical  usage  there  was  much  variation  even  among  men  of  
education.  
This  was  un  pleasant  to  an  age  that  was  looked  upon  as  an  orderly  universe  by  all  nations  around  them.  The  respect  
for  Authoritative  example,  especially  for  classical  example,  took  the  form  of  appeals  to  the  analogy  of  Latin.  Generally  
it  was  the  desire  of  the  18th  century  to  give  the  English  language  a  position.    
   
Ascertainment:  
The  procedure  of  reforming  English  in  the  18th  century  focus  on  three  purposes:  
1. To  reduce  the  language  to  rule  and  set  up  a  standard  of  correct  usage.  
2. To  refine  it  through  removing  supposed  defects  and  introduce  certain  improvement  .  
3. To  fix  it  permanently  in  the  desired  form  .    
             One  of  the  main  noticeable  defects  of  English  in  the  end  of  the  17th  century  was  the  absence  of  a  standard  which  
means  that  the  language  did  not  posses  certain  rules  .  
In  the  18th  century  the  need  for  standardization  and  regulation  was  expressed  in  the  word  “  ascertainment”  Dr.  
Johnson  defined  this  word  as  “a  settled  rule  ,an  established  standard”  
The  need  was  for  a  dictionary    to  record  the  proper  use  of  words,  and  a  grammar  which  should  settle  authoritatively  
the  correct  usage  in  matter  of  construction.  
The  problem  of  refining  the  language:    
During  the  18th  century    English  had  some  defects:  
1. uncertainty.  
2. The  lack  of  a  standard  to  which  all  might  conform  ,caused  some    corruptions.  
The  case  resulted  in  a  lament  for  the  various  periods  in  the  past  which  were  supposed  to  represent  the  highest  
perfection  of  English  .For  Swift  the  Elizabethan  age  was  the  golden  age.  
Regarding  language  Swift  was  a  conservative  .  He  opposed  the  tendency  to  innovations  :  
1.Tendency  to  clip  and  shorten  words  which  should  retain  their  full  polysyllabic  form  .  
2.  The  tendency  to  contract  verbs  such  as  drug’d  ,  fled  
3.  Some  new  words  used  in  religious  contexts.  
"
The  Desire  to  fix  the  Language  :  
One  of  the  most  ambitious  hops  of  the  eighteenth  century  was  to  establish  it  in  a  permanent  form.  
The  Example  of  Italy  and  France:  
In  an  attempt  to  solve  the  problem  of  standardizing  ,  refining  and  fixing  ,those  who  are  concerned  about  the  
language  had  to  look  at  the  experience  of  other  countries.  Since  Italy    and  France  were  a  model  of  inspiration    for  a  
long  time.  In  Italy  they  had  an  academy  and  it  had  the  objective  of  purification  of  the  Italian  language  .  It  published  
for  this  purpose  in  1612  a  dictionary  which  was  modified  in  several  editions.  
In  France  they  established  The  French  Academy  which  started  with  six  men  and  increased  to  forty.  They  used  to  meet  
once  a  week  to  talk  about  books  and  to  exchange  views  of  literature  .  
The  purpose  of  that  Academy  was  to  set  definite  rules  to  their  language  (French).  To  achieve  their  goals  they  
compiled  a  dictionary.  

21
Thus  at  the  time  England  was  lamenting  the  lack  of  an  adequate  dictionary,  Italy  and  France  had  both  achieved  this  
object  through  agency  of  academies  .    
"
An  English  Academy  :  
Following  the  example  of  Italy  and  France  the  suggestion  of  an  academy  occurred  early  in  the  17th  century  .  Learned  
societies  had  been  known  in  England  since  1572  .  They  were  concerned  with  the  study  of  antiquity  and  history  .  It  
was  composed  of  men  famous  in  politics  ,law  ,science  ,literature  ,history  and  the  like.  
In  1664  on  word  there  was  a  call  for  a  committee  for  improving  the  English  language  and  Dryden  was  one  of  its  
advocates.  
Besides  Dryden  another  famous  figure  was  Roscommon.  
Thus  in  1697  the  idea  of  an  academy  was  published  by  Defoe  where  he  advocated  an  academy  for  England  ,which  he  
recommended  as  the  authority  that  would  be  consulted  by  writers.  
Swift  ‘s  Proposal  1712:  
By  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century  the  ground  had  been  prepared  for  an  academy  .  Swift  addressed  a  letter  
to  the  earl  of  Oxford  under  the  title:  
A  proposal  for  correcting  ,  improving  and  ascertaining  the  English  tongue.  
The  Effect  of  Swift’s  proposal:  
The  publication  of  his  proposal  marked  the  beginning  towards  the  movement  for  an  English  Academy.  However  
Swifts  proposal  was  opposed  by  John  Oldmixon  .In  spite  of  Swifts  attempts  no  serious  effort  was  made  to  accomplish  
the  purpose  .  Thus  other  thought  that  it  would  be  useless  to  try  again.  
His  proposal  in  fact  directed  the  pubic  and  authoritative  attention  to  the  problem  of  language.      
Objection  to  an  Academy:  
Though  the  idea  of  an  academy  died  hard  ,  the  18th  century  showed  a  growing  tendency  toward  it.  
The  objection  to  the  academy  was  the  result  of  the  spirit  of  personal  liberty  in  the  use  of  language.  
Substitutes  for  an  Academy:  
As  the  proposal  of  Swift  Failed  ,  some  of  those  advocated  the  establishment  of  an  academy  brought  about  the  
reforms  the  reforms  which  they  believed  necessary  and  sat  standard  .  Writers  such  as  Cooke  published  “  Proposals  
for  Perfecting  the  English  Language  “  
He  extended  the  reforms  to  changing  of  all  strong  verbs  to  week  ,  the  formation  of  all  plurals  of  nouns  by  means  of    -­‐
s  or  –es  ,  the  comparison  of  adjectives  only  with  only    more  and  most  .  There  was  a  belief  that  a  standard  was  to  be  
brought  about  by  general  consent  rather  than  autherative  edict.  
There  was  a  need  for  a  dictionary  and  grammatical  rules.    without  these  there  would  be  no  certainty  in  diction  and  
no  standard  of  correct  construction  .  The  first  was  supplied  by  Johnson’s  dictionary  in  1755  the  latter  however,  was  
met  by  some  grammarians  .  
Johnson’s  Dictionary:  
 Publishing    the  dictionary  in  1755  “  A  Dictionary  of  the  English  Language  “  was  a  great  accomplishment  .  It  represent  
s  the  effort  of  one  man  over  seven  years  .  It  supplied  thousands  of  questions  examples  illustrating  the  use  of  words.  
Johnson  praised  his  dictionary  as  having  the  same  function  as  the  dictionary  of  an  academy.  He  was  described  as  the  
founder  of  reformation  and  his  dictionary  as  the  corner  stone.  
“the  man  who  had  great  conferred  stability  on  the  language  of  his  country”  (Boswell)              
The  Eighteenth-­‐century  Grammarians  and  Rhetoricians:  
As  early  as  the  16th  century  treaties  on  English  grammar  had  appeared  and  in  the  17th  were  compiled  by  even  such  
men  as  Ben  Johnson  and  Milton  .  These  works  were  written  for  the  purpose  of  teaching  foreigners  the  language  or  
providing  a  basis  for  the  study  of  Latin  grammar.  It  was  only  in  the  18th  century  that  English  grammar  viewed  as  a  
subject  worth  studying  .    
The  decade  beginning  1760  witnessed  a  striking  interest  in  grammar  .  Consequently    many  books  of  grammar  were  
published  .          
"
"
The  Aims  of  the  Grammarians:  
The  aims  of  the  18th  century  grammarians  were    
1. To  codify  the  principles  of  the  language  and  reduce  it  to  rules.  
2.  To  settle  disputed  points  and  decide  cases  of  divided  usage.  
3.  To  point  out  the  common  errors  or  what  were  supposed  to  be  errors,  and  thus  correct  and  improve  the  
language.  
The  Beginning  of  Prescriptive  Grammar:  
To  prescribe  and  to  proscribe  were  the  aims  of  the  grammarians.  
Prescribe  =  advise  or  order  the  use  of  .  
Proscribe  =  restrict  the  use  of    
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Grammarians  had  settled  up  many  disputed  matters  of  usage  .  Many  of  the  conventions  now  accepted  and  held  up  
as  preferable  in  our  handbooks  were  first  introduced  in  the  second  half  of  the  18th  century.    
e.g.  you  were  (was)  
Different  from  (different  than  or  to)  
"
With  regard  to  pronouns  Lowth  expressed  the  view  that  has  since  been  accepted  ,that  the  pronoun  is  determined  by  
the  construction  to  be  supplied  or  understood  278.  
e.g.  he  is  older  than  she    
He  likes  you  better  than  me  .      
Grammarians  opposed  the  use  of  double  negative.  Why?  
Because  as  Lowth  stated  two  negatives  in  English  destroy  one  another  or  are  equivalent  to  an  affirmative  .  (They  
haven’t  done  nothing)    .  
   
Methods  of  Approach:  
The  consideration  by  which  the  questions  of  usage  were  settled  were  three:  reason  (logic),  etymology  and  the  
example  of  Latin  and  Greek.  
1. Reason  :  Lowth  objected  to  I  am  mistaken  Since  it  should  properly  mean:  “  I  am  misunderstood  and  not  (  I  
am  wrong)    
2.  Etymology  :  Johnson  and  Lowth  stated  “  when  the  etymology  is  from  an  ancient  or  foreign  language  or  from  
obsolete  roots  in  our  language  ,or  when  it  is  obscure  or  doubtful,  no  regard  should  be  had  to  it  .the  case  is  
different  ,  when  the  root  either  are  ,or  strongly  appear  to  be  ,English  ,  are  in  present  use  ,  and  clearly  suggest  
another  meaning.  Beholden  for  obliged  or  indebted  ..”  p:280  
"
3.The  example  of  Latin  :  according  to  Johnson  it  wasn’t  commonly  cited  “  every  language  must  be  servility  formed  
after  the  model  of  some  one  of  the  ancient  ,if  we  wish  to  give  durability  to  our  works.”  
Such  an  attitude  derived  in  part  from  concerns  with  universal  grammar  (that  grammar  which  only  respects    those  
principles  ,  that  are  essential  to  al  languages)  .Most  of  the  ideas  of  universal  grammar  were  derived  from  the  literary  
traditions  of  Latin  and  Greek.  
The  Doctrine  of  Usage:  
In  the  latter  half  of  the  18th  century  appeared  the  beginnings  of  the  modern  doctrine  that  the  most  important  
criterion  of  language  is  usage.  Campbell  inquire  what  constituted  the  body  of  usage  which  he  recognized  as  so  
authoritative  and  redefined  it  as  present  ,national  and  reputable  use.  Such  a  definition  so  reasonable  and  sound  that  
it  has  been  accepted  ever  since.      
"
Results  :  
Results  of  the  18th  century  that    grammarians  had  achieved:    
The  grammarians  were  attempting  to  “ascertain”  the  language  and  give  definiteness  and  order  to  a  body  of  
uncodified  practice  in  order  to  avoid  the  description  of  English  as  a  language  without  rules.    
Consequently  a  considerable  number  of  disputed  points,  rightly  or  wrongly  ,were  settled  and  have  since  became  
established  .  Thus  with  the  settlement    of  many  matters  which  were  in  disputed  much  of  the  uncertainty  was  
removed  .  For  this  and  other  reasons  English  escaped  the  artificial  restraints  and  in  the  influence  of  an  academy  .      
"
Weakness  of  the  Early  Grammarians  :  
Though  the  efforts  of  the  18th  grammarians    are  acknowledged    
,  yet  there  were  some  limitations  ;  
1. The  failure  to  recognize  the  importance  of  usage  as  sole  arbiter  in  linguistic  matter.  
2. They  didn’t  realize  that  changes  in  language  often  appear  to  be  un  reasonable.    
3.  Their  ignorance  of  the  process  of  linguistic  change.  
"
Attempts  to  Reform  the  Vocabulary  :  
Weaknesses  characterized  the  attempts  to  reform  the  vocabulary  every  one  felt  competent  to  purify  the  language  by  
proscribing  words  and  expressions    because  they  were  too  old  or  too  new.  Individual  objection  to  particular  
expression  was  not  limited  to  the  18th  century.  
In  fact  most  of  the  words  criticized  are  still  in  use  and  the  efforts  to  abandon  them  failed  because  they  interfere  with  
the  natural  course  of  linguistic  history  .  
"
Objection  to  Foreign  Borrowing:  
One  of  the  main  concerns  of  the  18th  century  for  the  purity  of  the  language  was  to  purify  English  from  foreign  words.  

23
Dryden  objection  “  a  turning  English  into  French”  and  many  other  writers  objected  to  foreign  words.  It  is  not  difficult  
to  see  how  French  was  in  a  strong  position  to  influence  English.  French  was  at  the  height  of  its  prestige.  
Travel  to  France  was  necessary  part  of  one’s  education    Latin  (middle  Ages  =  French  18th    century.  
The  number  of  French  words  admitted  to  the  language  in  the  period  from  1650-­‐1800  was    not  that  large.  Many  of  
them  were  useful  .  The  expansion  of  the  British  Empire.  
"
The  expansion  of  the  British  Empire:  
In  this  period  the  foundations  were  being  laid  for  that  wide  extension  of  English  in  the  world  which  has  resulted  in  its  
use  throughout  more  than  quarter  of  the  earth’s  surface.    
The  beginning  of  colonization  started  as  early  as  1492  when  Columbus  discovered  America  and  Vasco  De  Gama  
reached  India  1498.  Their  achievements    were  due  to  Spanish  and  Portuguese  enterprise.  When  the  wealth  of  
America  and  Canada  started  pouring  into  Spanish  and  Portuguese  lands,  the  other  countries  envy  and  ambitions  
were  aroused.  
The  English  settlements  began  at  the  Atlantic  boarders  and  spread  to  different  areas.  
"
Although  the  American  Revolution  deprived  England  of  one  of  her  most  promising  colonies  ,  it  didn’t  prevent  the  
language  of  this  region  from  remaining  English.  
Meanwhile  England  was  getting  foothold  in  India  .    
By  the  Middle  of  the  18th  century  the  two  great  rivals  in  India  as  in  America  were  England  and  France  .  
The  beginning  of  the  English  occupation  of  Australia  also.  Occurred  in  the  18th  century.  After  the  American  Revolution  
they  decided  to  exile  criminals  to  Australia.  
"
Some  Effect  of  Expansion  of  the  language:  
The  most  obvious  effects  of  English  Expansion  are  to  be  seen  in  the  vocabulary.  New  territories  mean  new  
experience,  activities  ,  new  products    all  of  which  are  reflected  in  the  language.  Trade  was  an  important  way  for  
transmission  of  ideas  .  
In  America  contact  with  the  Indians  resulted  in  number  of  words  and  contact  with  other  people  in  America  ,Spanish  
partly  used  added  words  to  the  languagep:290  =  different  words  from  different  origins.  
"
Development  of  Progressive  verb  forms:  
One  important  characteristic  in  this  century  in  English  grammar  is  that  English  is  distinctly  more  varied  and  flexible  in  
some  of  its  verbal  expressions  than  other  languages  .  The  development  of  the  progressive  is  attributed  to  the  16th  
century    
The  progressive  passive  :  
The  extension  of  such  form  to  the  passive  was  a  latter  development  (the  house  is  being  built  –  the  car  is  being  stolen)  
Such  structures  appeared  at  the  end  of  18th  century  .  The  history  of  the  progressive    passive  shows    that  English  is  a  
living  and  growing  thing  that  its  grammar  is  not  fixed.    
"
"

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 Chapter  10  
The  Nineteenth  Century  and  After:  
Influences  Affecting  the  Language:  
The  century  witnessed  tow    great  reform  in  the  Parliament  that  led  to  establishing  English  society  on  a  more  
democratic  basis.  Such  reform  lessened  the  distance  between  the  upper  and  lower  class.  
The  establishment  of  the  first  cheap  newspaper  (1816)  and  of  cheap  postage(1840)  and  the  improved  means  of  
travel  and  communication  brought  about  by  the  railroad  ,the  steamboat  and  the  telegraph  had  the  effect  of  uniting  
more  closely  the  different  parts  of  England  and  of  spreading  the  influence  of  the  standard  speech.  
During  the  first  half  of  the  19th  century  the  world  war  and  the  troubled  period  following  them  affected    the  people  
and  the  language  .  
In  the  20th  century  some  events  and  changes  are  reflected  in  the  English  vocabulary  .The  contribution  came  from  the  
great  developments  in  science  and  the  rapid  progress  in  every  field.  
The  Growth  of  Science  :  
Due  to  the  revolution  in  science  and  scientific  discovery  there  has  been  need  for  thousands  of  new  terms  in  different  
fields  (medicine  ,  chemistry  .One  of    the  most  prominent  events  of  the  1060’s  and  1970’s  were  the  achievements  of  
scientific  and  engineering  in  the  exploration  of  space.  These  decades  reflect  the  interest  of  the  country.  
Autombile,Film  and  Broadcasting:  
The  importance  of  the  new  word  depended  on  the  usefulness  of  such  invention  in  the  life  of  the  public.  
The  World  Wars:  
Between  1914and  1918  as  a  direct  consequence  of  world  war  I  ,the  language  was  affected  by  the  introduction  of  
many  words  that  were  military  specific  representing  warfare.  
World  war  II  was  less  productive  of  words  .it  made  its  contribution  to  the  language  in  the  form  of  certain  new  words.  
Language  as  a  Mirror  of  Progress:  
Since  words  are  symbols  by  means  of  which  a  man  expresses  his  ideas  ,they  are  an  accurate  measure  of  the  range  of  
his  thought  at  any  given  time.  The  date  when  a  new  word  enter  the  language  is  in  general  the  date  when  the  
object  ,experience  .observation  or  whatever  it  is  that  calls  it  forth  has  entered  his  consciousness.  
From  the  history  of  words  one  may  realize  history  of  civilization.      
The  appearance  of  words  like  railway  ,  locomotive  about  1835  indicated  that  
That  was  the  time  of  introducing  steam  railways.  
Sources  of  the  New  Words:  
Borrowing:  
Most  of  the  words  that  entered  the  English  language  since  1800  have  been  derived  from  the  same  source  have  long  
been  familiar.    
Self  Explaining  Compounds:  
Self  explaining  compound  is  a  second  source  of  new  words.  Its  an  old  method  of  word  formation  .  The  old  
compounds  became  familiar  so  that  they  no  longer  look  newly  coined  .  The  new  word  s  are  distinct  by  a  hyphen  or  as  
separate  words.  
Compounds  Formed  From  Greek  and  Latin  Elements:  
The  method  of  compounding  from  elements  derived  from  Latin  and  Greek  also  were  popular.  Some  roots  may  entre  
into  more  than  a  word:  
Auto(self)                                    
prefixes  and  suffixes  :  
It  is  a  method  of  expanding  the  vocabulary  by  appending  prefixes  and  suffixes    to  existing  words.  
Coinage:  great  number  of  new  words  were  attributed  to  deliberate  inventions  some  trade  marks  had  been  treated  as  
common  nouns      to  refer  to  certain  items  of  all  brands  e.g.  zerox,  Kleenex  .  
Words  are  formed  by  combining  the  initial  or  first  few  letters    of  two  or  more  words  are  known  as  acronyms  e.g.  
 radar  =radio  detecting  and  ranging  .  
Opec=  organization  of  petroleum  exporting  countries  .    
Common  Words  from  Proper  Names:  
Another  source  from  which  many  English  words  have  been  derived  in  the  past  is  the  name  of  persons  and  places  e.g.:  
Sandwich  =  the  earl  of  Sandwich  once  put  slices  of  meat  between  slices  of  bread.  
A  limousine  =  from  the  name  of  a  province  in  France.  
More  than  500  common  words  in  English  have  been  traced  to  proper  names  and  they  must  be  considered  as  
illustrating  one  of  the  sources  from  which  new  words  are  still  being  derived  .  
Old  Words  with  New  Meanings:  
The  resources  of  the  vocabulary  are  some  times  extended  from  within  by  employment  of  an  old  word  in  a  new  sense  
e.g.  =  
Skyline  =  horizon  but  now  it  is  common  in  such  an  expression  as  the  New  York  skyline  .  
Broadcast  =seeds  (  radio)  
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With  each  word  we  can  convey  a  specific  often  technical  meaning  quite  different  from  the  sense  which  these  which  
expressions  previously  had  .  
The  Influence  of  Journalism:  
Journalism  and  magazine  played  an  important  role  in  increasing  and  spreading  importance  (  import)  of  the  new  
words.  In  the  19th  century  journalism  was  a  new  force  affecting  language  and  it  had  the  tendency  constantly  to  renew  
the  vocabulary  and  its  ability  to  bring  about  the  adoption  of  new  words.  
Changing    of  Meaning  :  
Some  words  may  gradually  change  their  meaning  .  This  is  a  common  tendency  of  any  language  at  any  time  e.g.  lovely  
=worthy  to  be  loved    
She  is  lovely=kind  nice    
A  box  of  candy  might  be  lovely.  
Cultural  Levels  and  Functional  Verities:  
There  were  different  types  of  languages  according  to  the  type  of  people  using  them.  There  were  local  and  class  
dialects  technical  and  occupational  vocabularies    ,slang  and  other  forms  of  speech  less  reputable.  
There  were  the  literary  standard  ,the  spoken  standard  and  vulgar  speech.  Such  varieties  differ  in  their  social  
implications.  Thus  the  difference  between  the  spoken  standard  and  vulgar  speech  is  in  their  association  with  broadly  
different  class.  
The  Standard  Speech:  
The  spoken  standard  or  as  it  is  sometimes  called  the  received  standard  varies    in  different  parts  of  the  English  
speaking  world  .  In  England  it  is  the  type  of  speech  used  by  educated  people  in  great  public  schools    as  well  as  by  
cultivated  people.  
It  is  a  class  rather  than  a  regional  dialect.  
It  is  not  the  same  spoken  standard  of  the  United  States  or  Canada  or  Australia.  
The  spread  of  English  all  over  the  world  has  changed  the  concept  towards  a  standard  English  .  The  speech  of  England  
can  no  longer  be  considered  the  norm  by  which  all  others  must  be  judge.  
English  Dialects:  
In  addition  to  the  educated  standard  in  each  English  speaking  
country  there  are  local  forms  of  the  language  known  as  regional  dialects.    The  United  States  has  many  different  
dialects    however  the  improvement  in  transportation  and  communication  have  reduced  such  differences  .  
However  in  Great  Britain  the  difference  between  dialects  is  great  .  The  dialect  of  Scotland  and  Ireland  are  distinct  
from  the  standard  English  of  England.  Scotch  dialect  have  preserved  so  many  old  words.          
English  in  the  Empire:  
In  the  various  parts  of  the  former  English  Empire  as  in  the  USA  ,  the  English  language  has  developed  differences  
which  distinguish  it  from  the  language  of  England.  
The  differences  were  mainly  apparent  in  pronunciation  and  vocabulary.    
In  Australia  the  constant  movement  of  the  convict  from  place  to  another  brought  the  development  of  a  mixed  dialect  
which  became  homogeneous  throughout  the  settled  territory  and  distinct  from  any  of  the  British  dialects.    
In  the  Republic  of  South  Arica  it  has  been  occupied  by  many  countries  before  England  among  which  Dutch.  
Some  old  English  words  are  preserved  in  the  dialects  while  it  is  lost  
To  standard  English  e.g.  Africa  .  
.  Other  African  colonies  some  has  retain  their  African  language  however  English  was  used  as  the  official  language  of  
the  country.  It  was  chosen  in  order  to  avoid  ethnic  jealousy  which  would  arise  from  the  selection  of  one  of  the  
African  languages.  
In  India  ,  the  Indian  constitution  of  1950  recognized  14  Indian  languages  ,of  which  Hindi  was  to  be  the  first  national  
language.  English  was  to  serve  as  a  transitional  language  with  Hindi  until  1965  but  it  has  continued  to  be  used  as  an  
official  language  .  English  is  spoken  by  the  influential  Indian  population,  including  leaders  in  government,  education,  
and  the  press.  The  variety  recognized  as  standard  in  India  and  in  Pakistan  will  be  distinctively  South  Asian  variety  in  
its  pronunciation  ,  syntax  and  vocabulary.  It  is  affected  by  the  culture  and  native  languages  of  south  Asia  and  it  will  
affect  those  languages  .  

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