Practical work in English.

Index.
 INTRODUCTION.
English has come a long way: what began as a dialect of invading peoples has been
enriched by the contribution of diverse cultures until it has become the most
important language in the world.

When three tribes crossed the North Sea from what we know today as Denmark and
northern Germany, they called their own language English, a word that became English
as we know it today.

From this point it began its evolution, passing through Old English, Middle English or
Medieval English, Early Modern English and Late Modern English until it reached the
English we know today.
 FUNDAMENTATION.
The main objective of the project is to expose the history through time of English, a
fundamental language for the contemporary world, and to show its origins as well as
its evolution until today, which will allow us to see the language with a different and
deeper perspective for a better learning and understanding.

As students of this important language, we should not only learn to speak it, but we
should internalize and understand the background of the language, seeing its roots
and its different stages.
 Overall goal.
Disseminate the history of English and understand its roots as a language for a better
learning by going deeper into it.

Specific objectives.
- Elaborate a digestible summary of the history of English.
- Define essential moments in its history in order to differentiate its main
stages.
- Study its evolution through time.
 The history of English.
The history of the English language is divided into 3 periods of time:

 Old English
 Middle English
 Modern English

Old English or Anglo-Saxon.

Is the language of the Anglo-Saxons spoken up to about 1150. It has a large Germanic
vocabulary.

They and the Jutes settled in Britain around 540 AD. These dialects formed Anglo-
Saxon and at some point, this language developed into Old English.

This is the earliest form of the English language, spoken and written in England and in
southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. I was use for a long period of
time by the Germanic invaders and settlers to Britain up to the Norman Conquest of
1066, and beyond into the first century of Norman rule in England.

Old English is a very complex language compared to modern English.

Middle English.
The Norman Conquest of 1066 began the transition from old English to Middle English.
When William the Conqueror invaded Britain he chased away the Anglo-Saxons living
there and gave some of the land to Normans and some English who helped and
supported him. The Normans that conquered Britain were descended from Vikings
who had settle in northern France about 200 years ago. They had abandoned their Old
Norse language and adopted French.

Anglo-Norman French became the official language in Britain of the court,

administration and culture for 300 years long and Latin was mostly used for writing.
The peasants and lower classes continued speaking English. This is how Anglo-Norman
and Old English mixed and developed into Middle English.

The great Vowel shifts.

Is a major change in the pronunciation of the English language that took place between
1200 and 1600. It changed the pronunciation of all Middle English long vowel and
standardized the English spelling in the 15th and 15th centuries. The pronunciation of
the vowels “moved” This took a long time and many generations.

We don’t know why people started pronouncing vowels in a different way, but there
are some theories:
  Population migration.
 French word borrowings.
 Hypercorrection of the middle class due to the growing prestige of the French
pronunciations.
 War with France.

Modern English.
Modern English is the form of the English language spoken since the Great Vowel Shift.
It is spoken from about 1800-present day. Modern English is divided into two phases:
Early Modern English and Late Modern English. The big difference between those two
phases lies in its vocabulary. The pronunciation, grammar and spelling did not change a
lot.

History.
Late Modern English gathered many more words as a result of two main historical
factors: the Industrial Revolution many new words were needed for things that not
existed before, and during the rise of the British Empire, English adopted many foreign
words and made them its own.

Present Day.
World War II was a major influence on English becoming the universal language. With
the war and the massive destruction, it left in its wake, Europe was severely damaged.
The United States became an active cooperating partner in reviving the countries hit
economically by the war, so European businessmen and workers, a priori, were forced
to learn the native language of their trade allies in search of prosperity.

American companies flourished where the British East India Company had been
centuries before, taking English around the world as a language of commerce. The
great influence of American companies, combined with the linguistic legacy left by the
British Empire, made English the number one language of international trade in the
19th century.

The English language nowadays is still changing and growing, and expanding to new
slangs, technologies, toys, foods and gadgets. According to one research, English is
expanding by over 8.500 words per year. At the beginning of the 20 th Century, it was
estimated that English only increased with around 1.000 words per year.

Influences of other languages on English.

The English language uses a lot of words and expressions from languages all over the
world. This is caused by trade. According to a study by the publishers of the Oxford
dictionary, 28% of English word have a Latin origin and 25% of the words have a French
origin. Old German, Norse and Dutch have also influenced a big part of the English
Words.
 Conclusion.
English has had a long evolution through time to become what it is today, and like
most languages today, it has influences from other languages, much of it coming from
Latin and French.
It has been molded along with the society and nowadays new words are constantly
being added to it, remaining latent in spite of its hundreds of years of history.
It is undeniable that English is nowadays the main language of international
communication, being of utmost importance to learn to speak it in an interconnected
world.
Anexx.
 Bibliography.
 www.static.arpitakarwa.com

 www.en.ppt-online.org

 www.prezi.com

 www.slideserve.com

 en.m.wikipedia.org

 www.english-culture.com