{"id":153,"date":"2024-04-17T12:21:01","date_gmt":"2024-04-17T16:21:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/openbooks.macewan.ca\/using-h5p-objects-in-online-courses\/?post_type=chapter&p=153"},"modified":"2025-02-11T17:45:29","modified_gmt":"2025-02-11T22:45:29","slug":"timeline-english","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/openbooks.macewan.ca\/using-h5p-objects-in-online-courses\/chapter\/timeline-english\/","title":{"raw":"Timeline of English (page)","rendered":"Timeline of English (page)"},"content":{"raw":"The following is the original learning content about the timeline of English; later it was presented in a Timeline H5P object. See the final version on the previous page.<\/strong>\r\n\r\n
\r\n\r\nFamiliarize yourself with the following timeline of English, including the information\/content details provided within the timeline (i.e., you must click on each of the cells to read the details provided and familiarize yourself with them):\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_691\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"909\"]\"Timeline<\/a> Figure 1.10 Timeline of English by MacEwan Centre for Teaching and Learning licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0<\/a>.[\/caption]\r\n

Linguistic Periods<\/h2>\r\n

Proto-Indo-European<\/h3>\r\nThe homeland for the Proto-Indo-European people is thought to have been in modern-day eastern Ukraine and southern Russia, just northeast of the Black Sea.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_812\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"615\"]\"Migration<\/a> Figure 1.11 Migration of the Indo-Europeans<\/a> by Koba-chan licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0<\/a>.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nFrom here, they migrated north and westward, throughout Europe, and south and eastward across central Asia and all the way to present-day northern India.\r\n

Proto-Celtic and Proto-Germanic<\/h3>\r\nAs groups of the Proto-Indo-Europeans settled different lands and others continued on their migration, the common language originally spoken by these people started to evolve into numerous different varieties. The tribes who settled in central and northern Europe spoke Proto-Germanic.\r\n\r\nProto-Celtic was spoken by the tribes who continued their migration to the western periphery of the continent and on to what is now called the British Isles.\r\n

Celtic<\/h3>\r\nIn the first millennium B.C.E., Proto-Celtic split into a variety of distinct languages.\r\n\r\nOriginal versions of the following languages were spoken in distinct regions: Irish was spoken in Ireland, Scots Gaelic in Scotland, Welsh in Wales, Cornish in southwestern Britain, and Manx on the Isle of Man.\r\n

Germanic<\/h3>\r\nAround 1000 B.C.E., Proto-Germanic differentiated from other Indo-European languages in its pronunciation of certain sounds, which has been called the First Sound Shift.\r\n\r\nThe Germanic languages spoken on the western periphery of the continent formed a group called the West Germanic Branch, spoken by the Angles, the Saxons, the Jutes, and the Frisians, who went on to invade Britain beginning around 449 C.E. (see Anglo Invasion of Britain).\r\n\r\nThe Germanic languages spoken in modern-day Scandinavia formed a group called North Germanic, spoken by the Vikings (Norse) who invaded Britain a few centuries later, around 793 C.E. (See Viking Invasion of Britain).\r\n

Old English<\/h3>\r\nFrom 449 C.E. to 1100 C.E., waves of invasion, migration, and settlement of Germanic tribes from modern-day Denmark and Germany (the Angles, the Saxons, the Jutes, and the Frisians) pushed the Celtic-speaking people to the outlying regions of Britain (Cornwall, Wales, Scotland) and established the Anglo-Saxon people as the main population in Britain. (See the Anglo Invasion of Britain.)\r\n\r\nThe language (which was constantly changing and evolving) spoken by these people is called Anglo-Saxon, and it formed the base for Old English.\r\n\r\nThe Norse people from modern-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, who spoke North Germanic languages, started to invade Britain in the late eighth century. They settled in the north and east of Britain. (See Viking invasion of Britain.)\r\n\r\nDue to the influence of the Norse languages, the vocabulary of Old English was expanded (with the addition of sk<\/em> words like sky, skin, skill, <\/em>and skirt<\/em>, for example) and the complicated system of inflectional endings on nouns and verbs was simplified or levelled<\/strong>.\r\n

Middle English<\/h3>\r\nThe Middle English period lasted from 1100 C.E. to 1500 C.E.\r\n\r\nThe biggest change in the language came about from the influx of French vocabulary introduced by the French-speaking ruling and upper classes for the few centuries after the Norman invasion.\r\n\r\nSome characteristics of the language were the thou<\/em> series of pronouns being used as well as simple negation and interrogation.\r\n\r\nThe Great Vowel Shift had begun (but not ended) and the printing press had been invented, which led to some spelling standardization.\r\n

Modern English or Present-Day English<\/h2>\r\nModern English dates from 1650 to the present day.\r\n\r\nModern English is an international language used as a first or second language throughout the world. (See World Englishes.)\r\n

The People and Main Events<\/h2>\r\n

European Copper Age<\/h3>\r\nThe Copper Age was a transitional period between the Stone Age (when most tools were made of stone) and the Bronze Age (when tools were instead made of certain metals, especially bronze). In the Copper Age, stone tools were used alongside early metal ones, often made of copper.\r\n\r\nIn Europe, the Copper Age lasted for a period sometime in the fourth millennium B.C.E. (that is, sometime between 4000 B.C.E. and 3000 B.C.E.).\r\n

Celtic Tribes Reach Britain<\/h3>\r\nCeltic tribes had reached and settled in Britain, including modern-day Ireland, by the late Iron Age, sometime around 300 B.C.E. (which was the period of maximum Celtic expansion).\r\n

Roman Empire Reaches Britain<\/h3>\r\nThe main Roman invasion of Britain took place in 43 C.E., although, prior to that, smaller incursions had taken place and certain trading and diplomatic relationships had been established between Roman forces and outposts and the Celtic peoples of southern Britain.\r\n\r\nRoman forces took control of all of present-day England and Wales but never reached present-day Ireland or Scotland.\r\n\r\nIn fact, the Romans gave up trying to conquer the Pictish and Celtic tribes in that region, so they built Hadrian\u2019s Wall (starting around 122 C.E.) to contain them in the north.\r\n\r\nSome Roman soldiers settled in Britain and intermarried with the local Celtic population. They formed a distinct society and called themselves Britons (hence the land was called Britain).\r\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Anglo-Invasion of Britain<\/h3>\r\nWaves of invasion and migration of several Germanic tribes (Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Frisians) from present-day southern Denmark and northern Germany began around 449 C.E.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1171\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"254\"]\"Anglo-Saxon<\/a> Figure 1.12 Anglo-Saxon Migration in the 5th Century<\/a> by my work licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0<\/a>,[\/caption]\r\n\r\nBy this time, the bulk of Roman military hierarchy had abandoned Britain, leaving the people in Britain with no defences and allowing the Germanic tribes to take control of the island fairly easily.\r\n\r\nThe word English <\/em>comes from Angles<\/em> (hence the land came to be called England).\r\n

Viking Invasion of England<\/h3>\r\nStarting in about 793, Viking tribes from present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden began invading the eastern shores of Britain.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_901\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"507\"]\"Map<\/a> Figure 1.13 Viking expansion in Europe<\/a> by Max Naylor under public domain.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nA type of peace treaty, the Danelaw was established in 878 and restricted the region in which the Norse invaders were allowed to settle.\r\n\r\nEventually, many of these Scandinavian people settled in Britain and intermarried with the local Anglo-Saxon population thus changing how the language developed in the Old English period.\r\n

Norman Invasion of England<\/h3>\r\nIn 1066, William the Duke of Normandy (north-central France) and his Norman forces invaded; William the Conqueror, as he came to be known, took the throne as the King of England.\r\n\r\nThe Normans took control of all government, administration, and church affairs, thus introducing many French words into the vocabulary of English.\r\n\r\nFrench was the main language of the ruling and upper classes for almost four centuries, until the end of the Hundred Years\u2019 War.\r\n

Imperialism and Colonization; Discovering New People<\/h3>\r\nThe years from 1500 to the early 1900s marked a period of exploration, domination, and colonization for England.\r\n\r\nEngland started by establishing plantations in parts of Ireland before extending its reach across the Atlantic and colonizing parts of North America.\r\n\r\nImperial expansion also took place to the east with colonization of Indonesia and India, and eventually to the South Pacific, primarily Australia.\r\n\r\nIn the late 1800s to early 1900s, England colonized many regions in Africa.\r\n\r\nToday\u2019s Commonwealth is a grouping of 53 independent nations, most of which were once British colonies.\r\n

Global Communications and Interdependence<\/h3>\r\nModern technology allows for fast and cheap global communications.\r\n\r\nJust as ideas, products, and commodities are being shared between nations, so are words<\/strong>!\r\n\r\nEnglish has borrowed words from all over the globe just as other languages are borrowing English words to talk about our modern world.\r\n

Inward Influx of Peoples\/Languages<\/h3>\r\nFor the first several thousands of years in which people have inhabited the British Isles, much of the linguistic change has been the result of waves of different people migrating to and\/or invading the islands (for example, Celts, Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Vikings, Normans).\r\n

Outward Expansion and Contact with Societies Around the Globe<\/h3>\r\nFor the last 500 years much of the new vocabulary has been due to English-speaking people exploring, conquering, and colonizing places all around the globe.\r\n\r\nAs these speakers encountered new societies, new animals, new foods, new technologies, and so forth, they needed words to talk about these objects, so they often borrowed the words that the local populations used.\r\n

Other Key Events<\/h2>\r\n

The Birth of Christ<\/h3>\r\nThis event is important for the development of English because, in the fourth century, Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire.\r\n\r\nEven after the withdrawal of Roman forces from Britain, Christian monasteries were established through the support of Rome in an effort to convert the inhabitants of the British Isles to Christianity.\r\n\r\nAll of the proceedings of the Church were carried out in Latin. Monasteries were also places of education, thus many Latin religious and educational terms entered the language.\r\n

Roman Withdrawal from Britain<\/h3>\r\nBy around 410 all Roman troops had left Britain to fight battles on the continent, leading up to the eventual fall of the Roman Empire.\r\n

Danelaw Established<\/h3>\r\nIn 878, Anglo-Saxon king Alfred the Great defeated the Vikings and established a region in which they were to live and peacefully coexist with the English.\r\n

The Black Death<\/h3>\r\nThe Black Death (bubonic plague) spread through Europe in the late 1340s and reached England around 1348.\r\n\r\nIt killed a quarter to a third of Europe\u2019s population in the years 1347 to 1350.\r\n\r\nEngland was particularly harshly hit, with 70 percent of the population dying.\r\n\r\nEngland\u2019s pre-plague population was around 7 million by 1400, the population was only 2 million.\r\n\r\nNumerous but less devastating outbreaks of the bubonic plague continued to torment Europe until the 1700s.\r\n\r\nEngland\u2019s social structure was greatly affected with the peasant classes gaining upward mobility due to the labour shortage and more available land.\r\n\r\nAs a result, classes were intermingling much more, which is one suggestion for why the Great Vowel Shift occurred.\r\n

Printing Press<\/h3>\r\nAround 1440, Johann Gutenberg invented the printing press in Germany, and it was soon reproduced throughout Europe.\r\n\r\nThe printing press allowed for mass production of written text. This resulted in\r\n