As we were able to see in the previous video, the English language went through several transformations and suffered and evolution as it passed through different generations of speaker who gave their contribution for influencing the creation and transformation of the words, the pronunciation and grammar of the language. This evolution was based on three different periods.

Old English - 450-1100 D.C. : It occurred with the invasion of the Germanic tribes in Britain, bringing linguistic influences.

Middle English – 1100-1500:. It took place with the Norman invasion which influence of the French language was incorporated in the English language.

Modern English

Early Modern English -1500-1800: Since the 16th century, the British were in contact with different people around the world and collected several linguistic influences from all of them.

Late Modern English – 1800- nowadays: This period was characterized by the extensive introduction of new vocabulary, a fact determined by the following circumstances:

a) The Industrial Revolution, with the increasing use of technology, required the introduction of more words.

b) The British Empire dominated a wide part of the world and, influenced by the colonized countries, they ended up adopting several words, introducing them in the English vocabulary.

For more information about the origin of the English language, please check the following link:

http://www.infoescola.com/ingles/origens-da-lingua-inglesa/

Next up

Previous

Checkpoint 2