History of English Language

Language: English

Father of English Literature: Geoffrey Chaucer. He was born in London sometime between 1340 and 1344. He was an English author, poet, philosopher, bureaucrat (courtier), and a diplomat. He is also referred to as the father of English Literature.

Speakers: 360 million people. Out of the world's approximately 7.5 billion inhabitants, 1.5 billion speak English — that's 20% of the Earth's population. However, most of those people aren't native English speakers. About 360 million people speak English as their first language. Interestingly, the Language Chinese has scored the highest number of Speakers in the world; 1.2 billion, roughly a billion of whom speak Mandarin — but there's no doubt it's the most spoken language in the world. If you wish to learn a language that one in six people in the world speak, this is the one for you. Ironically, English is still the International Language, though it ranks third with reference to the Number of Speakers; after Chinese followed by Spanish. HIndi stays at the fourth and Arabic enjoys the fifth rank.

International Status: English Speaking Countries speak English as the first language; whereas, the rest of the world speaks English as ESL i.e. English as Second Language since English is considered as International Language of Communication.

Evolution of English:

3 Germanic Tribes invaded Britain during the 5th Century of the Common Era, CE. These tribes: the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes, crossed the North Sea when the inhabitants of Britain used to speak a Celtic language but most of the Celtic speakers were pushed west and north by the invaders into what is now Wales, Scotland and Ireland. Out of the 3 tribes, the Angles came from Englaland and their language was known as Englisc, from which the words England and English were derived, later.

Proto English: the Beginning

English has its roots in the languages of the Germanic peoples of northern Europe. During the Roman Empire, most of the Germanic-inhabited area (Germania) remained independent from Rome, although some southwestern parts were within the empire. Some Germanics served in the Roman military, and troops from Germanic tribes such as the Tungri, Batavi, Menapii and Frisii served in Britain (Britannia) under Roman command. Germanic settlement and power expanded during the Migration Period, which saw the fall of the Western Roman Empire. These Germanic imprints are even visible till today. For instance, the predecessor of Modern English wine had been borrowed into early Germanic from the Latin vinum.

A few Useful Tables of differentiation:

Table 1 The following table shows the principal developments in the stressed vowels, from Old English through Modern English (C indicates any consonant):

Old English (c. 900 AD)	Middle English (c. 1400 AD)	Early Modern English (c. 1600 AD)	Modern English	Modern spelling	Examples
ɑː	ɔː	oː	oʊ əʊ (UK)	oa, oCe	oak, boat, whole, stone
æː, æːɑ	ɛː	eː	iː	ea	heal, beat, cheap
eː, eːo	eː	iː		ee, -e	feed, deep, me, be
iː, yː	iː	əi or ɛi	aɪ	iCe	ride, time, mice
oː	oː	uː	uː	oo, -o	moon, food, do
uː	uː	əu or ɔu	aʊ	ou	mouse, out, loud
ɑ, æ, æɑ	a	æ	æ	a	man, sat, wax
	aː	ɛː	eɪ	aCe	name, bake, raven
e, eo	e	ɛ	ɛ	e	help, tell, seven
	ɛː	eː	iː	ea, eCe	speak, meat, mete
i, y	ɪ	ɪ	ɪ	i	written, sit, kiss
o	o	ɔ	ɒ ɑ (US)	o	god, top, beyond
	ɔː	oː	oʊ əʊ (UK)	oa, oCe	foal, nose, over
u	ʊ	ɤ	ʌ	u, o	buck, up, love, wonder
		ʊ	ʊ		full, bull

Table 2

Interrogative Pronouns:

	Case	Old English	Middle English	Modern English
Masculine, Feminine (Person)	Nominative	hwā	who	who
	Accusative	hwone, hwæne	whom	whom, who1
	Dative	hwām, hwǣm
	Instrumental
	Genitive	hwæs	whos	whose
Neuter (Thing)	Nominative	hwæt	what	what
	Accusative	hwæt	what, whom
	Dative	hwām, hwǣm
	Instrumental	hwȳ, hwon	why	why
	Genitive	hwæs	whos	whose2

Table 3

First Person Personal Pronouns

	Case	Old English	Middle English	Modern English
Singular	Nominative	iċ	I, ich, ik	I
	Accusative	mē, meċ	me	me
	Dative	mē
	Genitive	mīn	min, mi	my, mine
Plural	Nominative	wē	we	we
	Accusative	ūs, ūsiċ	us	us
	Dative	ūs
	Genitive	ūser, ūre	ure, our	our, ours

Table 4
Second Person Personal Pronoun.

Old and Middle English singular to the Modern English archaic informal
	Case	Old English	Middle English	Modern English
Singular	Nominative	þū	þu, thou	thou (you)
	Accusative	þē, þeċ	þé, thee	thee (you)
	Dative	þē
	Genitive	þīn	þi, þīn, þīne, thy; thin, thine	thy, thine (your, yours)
Plural	Nominative	ġē	ye, ȝe, you	you
	Accusative	ēow, ēowiċ	you, ya
	Dative	ēow
	Genitive	ēower	your	your, yours

Table 5 
Formal and informal forms of the second person singular and plural

Old English

Middle English

Modern English

Singular

Plural

Singular

Plural

Singular

Plural

Case

Formal

Informal

Formal

Informal

Formal

Informal

Formal

Informal

Formal

Informal

Formal

Informal

Nominative

þū

ġē

you

thou

you

ye

you

Accusative

þē, þeċ

ēow, ēowiċ

thee

you

Dative

þē

ēow

Genitive

þīn

ēower

your, yours

thy, thine

your, yours

your, yours

Table 6
Third Person Personal Pronouns

	Case	Old English	Middle English	Modern English
Masculine Singular	Nominative	hē	he	he
	Accusative	hine	him	him
	Dative	him
	Genitive	his	his	his
Feminine Singular	Nominative	hēo	heo, sche, ho, he, ȝho	she
	Accusative	hīe	hire, hure, her, heore	her
	Dative	hire
	Genitive		hir, hire, heore, her, here	her, hers
Neuter Singular	Nominative	hit	hit, it	it
	Accusative		hit, it, him
	Dative	him
	Genitive	his	his, its	its
Plural	Nominative	hīe	he, hi, ho, hie, þai, þei	they
	Accusative		hem, ham, heom, þaim, þem, þam	them
	Dative	him
	Genitive	hira	here, heore, hore, þair, þar	their, theirs

Old English: 450-1100 CE The invading Germanic tribes spoke similar languages, which in Britain developed into what we now call Old English. It is difficult to be understood due to a lot many changes but a few English words still maintain their original form, such as: be, strong, water etc.

Middle English: 1100-1500 CE In 1066 CE William the Conqueror, the Duke of Normandy (part of modern France), invaded and conquered England. The new conquerors (called the Normans) brought with them a kind of French, which became the language of the Royal Court, and the ruling and business classes. For a period there was a kind of linguistic class division, where the lower classes spoke English and the upper classes spoke French. In the 14th century English language became dominant in Britain again, but with many French words added. This language is called Middle English. It was the language of the great poet Chaucer, but it would still be difficult for native English speakers to understand today.

Modern English: 1500-Present CE

1. Early Modern English 1500-1800 CE

Towards the end of Middle English, a sudden and distinct change in pronunciation (the Great Vowel Shift) started, with vowels being pronounced shorter and shorter. This, and the Renaissance of Classical learning, meant that many new words and phrases entered the language. Spelling and grammar became fixed, and the dialect of London, where most publishing houses were, became the standard. In 1604 CE the first English dictionary was published.

2. Late Modern English 1800-Present CE The main difference between Early Modern English and Late Modern English is vocabulary. Late Modern English has many more words, arising from two principal factors: firstly, the Industrial Revolution and technology created a need for new words; secondly, the British Empire at its height covered one quarter of the earth's surface, and the English language adopted foreign words from many countries. In some ways, American English is more like the English of Shakespeare than modern British English is. Some expressions that the British call "Americanisms" are in fact original British expressions that were preserved in the colonies while lost for a time in Britain (for example trash for rubbish, loan as a verb instead of lend, and fall for autumn; another example, frame-up, was re-imported into Britain through Hollywood gangster movies). Spanish also had an influence on American English (and subsequently British English), with words like canyon, ranch, stampede and vigilante being examples of Spanish words that entered English through the settlement of the American West. French words (through Louisiana) and West African words (through the slave trade) also influenced American English (and so, to an extent, British English).Today, American English is particularly influential, due to the USA's dominance of cinema, television, popular music, trade and technology (including the Internet). But there are many other varieties of English around the world, including for example Australian English, New Zealand English, Canadian English, South African English, Indian English and Caribbean English.

Adaptation from Geoffrey Chaucer's 

Canterbury Tales

Whan that Aprill with his shoures soote

The droghte of March hath perced to the roote,

And bathed every veyne in swich licour

Of which vertu engendred is the flour.