AL English: Papers 3 and 4
Different types of English have been spoken and written in different time periods over the course of history.
Ex. ‘Old English’ — spoken by the Anglo-Saxons in England, AD 500 to roughly 1066
No fixed parameters for linguistic labels of language as they are a gradual change over long periods of
time. Labels applied retrospectively to examine the changes as a natural social phenomenon.
Timeline — transitions of the English Language
Old English (AD 500—1066) Early Modern English (1500—1800)
Began when Angles, Saxons and Jutes 1530s, The Reformation (establishment of the Protestant church)
conquered the Celts in Britain 1536, English made the official language of Wales by the Act of Union
AD 878, Danelaw established; northern 1556—1603, reign of Elizabeth I
England under Danish rule, southern England 1576, first attempt at colonisation by the British in Canada
under Anglo-Saxons 1611, first King James Bible created (English translation of the Christian Bible)
AD 1000, Beowulf (Old English epic poem) 1755, Dr Samuel Johnson’s English Dictionary published in England
written down 1760—1840, Industrial Revolution
1776, American colonies win independence, forming the first English-speaking
country not ruled by Britain
Middle English (1066—1500)
1788, British penal colony established in Australia
1066, Norman Conquest of England, Norman
French becomes language of upper-castes,
English is a spoken-only language Late Modern English (1800—present*)
1385, English replaces Latin in schools (*most recent part of late modern English is referred to as Contemporary
1473, first book printed in English by Caxton English, used in the 21st century)
1476, Caxton prints Chaucer’s The 1806, Webster’s A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language published
Canterbury Tales (written late 14th century) 1828, Webster’s An American Dictionary of the English Language published
mid-19th century, English well-established throughout colonial settlements
1922, BBC founded
1928, first edition of the Oxford English dictionary
1960s, social revolutions in several countries (ex. 1968 student revolution in
France, hippie movements in UK/USA)
1990, Internet invented
5.2 Early Modern English
(1500—1800)
English, language of the lower classes under Norman French rule. Was only beginning to be seen as a
‘worthy’ language for writing at the beginning of the Early Modern period.
Printing introduced in England at the beginning of Early Modern period — William Caxton introduced
printing press from Germany in 1476, printing Canterbury Tales among other works
Lexis — vocabulary, range of different words used
Semantics — analysis of the meanings of words and phrases in a language
Pragmatics — analysis of how context contributes to meaning
Graphology — analysis of physical characteristics of letters in written or printed text
Grapheme — smallest written representation of meaning (single letter or symbol)
Morphology — study of the internal structure of words and parts of words such as stems, root words,
prefixes, and suffixes.
Morpheme — the smallest unit of grammatical meaning (Ex. ‘s’, a marker of plurality, ‘dis-‘, a negative
prefix)
At the time, spelling was not standardized — people used spellings that reflected their pronunciation
of the word (Ex. the morpheme ‘-ed’, marker of a verb conjugated in past tense, was often rendered
with a ‘t’ – walked, walkt, walk’d).
Idea of consistent spelling did not evolve until the Late Modern period.
Inflection — a form or change of form that distinguishes between different grammatical forms of the same
root word
, (Ex. ending in ‘-s’ to distinguish between plural and singular)
Early Modern period, English was beginning to break free of the tendency to use lots of different word
endings as inflections
Orthography — analysis of spelling system of a language
Phonology — analysis of system of speech sounds within a language.
Phoneme — smallest spoken representation of meaning (single sound).
Coalescence — combining of phonemic elements to create a new phoneme
Ex. yod coalescence, where ‘y’ sounds (in between plosives and certain vowels) are combined with the
plosives to create a ‘ch’ or ‘j’ sound instead, such as in ‘duty’ and ‘Tuesday’
Syntax — arrangement of words into well-formed sentences
graphology: PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS of letters
orthography: SPELLING
morphology: INTERNAL STRUCTURE of words
phonology: SPEECH SOUNDS
syntax: ARRANGEMENT of words in sentences
lexis: RANGE of words used
semantics: MEANINGS of words and phrases
pragmatics: CONTEXT contributing to meaning
grammar
Early Modern period coincides with the English Renaissance — era characterised by revival of interest in
the arts and sciences, marking advent of printing and rise in popularity of English literature and theatre.
Coupled with religious upheaval in Britain and across Europe.
‘Inkhorn controversy’ — a key linguistic event of the period, where some people regarded the influx of
new words as unnecessary snobbery
Etymology — origin or formation of a word or phrase
Borrowing — adoption of a new word directly from another language
New discoveries in science and mathematics at that time came from the study and development of
the work of ancient Greek philosophers and mathematicians — as a result, scientists used Greek
and Latin names for their discoveries, rather than English-sounding words.
The mass borrowing from Latin was made easier because English had already absorbed lots of French
words from previous centuries.
Derivation — act of creating new words from existing words
Many scientific terms in use today are derived from Greek or Latin
The new terms were either
direct or lightly anglicised loan words from other languages (Ex. equilibrium, specimen)
formed by affixation (creation of a new word by adding a suffix or prefix to an existing word) of
Greek or Latin morphemes
Conversion / zero derivation — creation of a new word in a word class from an existing word of a
different word class without any change in form
Ex. noun ‘green’ used in golf, referring to the putting-green, is a conversion of the adjective ‘green’
Early modern period, generally regarded as the time when written English became standardised, and one
particular set of rules was arrived at. Over time, one existing form of English became recognised as the
‘standard’ form.
This was influenced by several factors
a) Geographical centrality — regional dialect spoken around the powerful triangle of London, Oxford
and Cambridge
b) Status and education — dialect’s association with the universities of Cambridge and Oxford, and
with the government and law courts of London
c) Rise in printing — how much of written material in the dialect was being printed for mass audiences
Different types of English have been spoken and written in different time periods over the course of history.
Ex. ‘Old English’ — spoken by the Anglo-Saxons in England, AD 500 to roughly 1066
No fixed parameters for linguistic labels of language as they are a gradual change over long periods of
time. Labels applied retrospectively to examine the changes as a natural social phenomenon.
Timeline — transitions of the English Language
Old English (AD 500—1066) Early Modern English (1500—1800)
Began when Angles, Saxons and Jutes 1530s, The Reformation (establishment of the Protestant church)
conquered the Celts in Britain 1536, English made the official language of Wales by the Act of Union
AD 878, Danelaw established; northern 1556—1603, reign of Elizabeth I
England under Danish rule, southern England 1576, first attempt at colonisation by the British in Canada
under Anglo-Saxons 1611, first King James Bible created (English translation of the Christian Bible)
AD 1000, Beowulf (Old English epic poem) 1755, Dr Samuel Johnson’s English Dictionary published in England
written down 1760—1840, Industrial Revolution
1776, American colonies win independence, forming the first English-speaking
country not ruled by Britain
Middle English (1066—1500)
1788, British penal colony established in Australia
1066, Norman Conquest of England, Norman
French becomes language of upper-castes,
English is a spoken-only language Late Modern English (1800—present*)
1385, English replaces Latin in schools (*most recent part of late modern English is referred to as Contemporary
1473, first book printed in English by Caxton English, used in the 21st century)
1476, Caxton prints Chaucer’s The 1806, Webster’s A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language published
Canterbury Tales (written late 14th century) 1828, Webster’s An American Dictionary of the English Language published
mid-19th century, English well-established throughout colonial settlements
1922, BBC founded
1928, first edition of the Oxford English dictionary
1960s, social revolutions in several countries (ex. 1968 student revolution in
France, hippie movements in UK/USA)
1990, Internet invented
5.2 Early Modern English
(1500—1800)
English, language of the lower classes under Norman French rule. Was only beginning to be seen as a
‘worthy’ language for writing at the beginning of the Early Modern period.
Printing introduced in England at the beginning of Early Modern period — William Caxton introduced
printing press from Germany in 1476, printing Canterbury Tales among other works
Lexis — vocabulary, range of different words used
Semantics — analysis of the meanings of words and phrases in a language
Pragmatics — analysis of how context contributes to meaning
Graphology — analysis of physical characteristics of letters in written or printed text
Grapheme — smallest written representation of meaning (single letter or symbol)
Morphology — study of the internal structure of words and parts of words such as stems, root words,
prefixes, and suffixes.
Morpheme — the smallest unit of grammatical meaning (Ex. ‘s’, a marker of plurality, ‘dis-‘, a negative
prefix)
At the time, spelling was not standardized — people used spellings that reflected their pronunciation
of the word (Ex. the morpheme ‘-ed’, marker of a verb conjugated in past tense, was often rendered
with a ‘t’ – walked, walkt, walk’d).
Idea of consistent spelling did not evolve until the Late Modern period.
Inflection — a form or change of form that distinguishes between different grammatical forms of the same
root word
, (Ex. ending in ‘-s’ to distinguish between plural and singular)
Early Modern period, English was beginning to break free of the tendency to use lots of different word
endings as inflections
Orthography — analysis of spelling system of a language
Phonology — analysis of system of speech sounds within a language.
Phoneme — smallest spoken representation of meaning (single sound).
Coalescence — combining of phonemic elements to create a new phoneme
Ex. yod coalescence, where ‘y’ sounds (in between plosives and certain vowels) are combined with the
plosives to create a ‘ch’ or ‘j’ sound instead, such as in ‘duty’ and ‘Tuesday’
Syntax — arrangement of words into well-formed sentences
graphology: PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS of letters
orthography: SPELLING
morphology: INTERNAL STRUCTURE of words
phonology: SPEECH SOUNDS
syntax: ARRANGEMENT of words in sentences
lexis: RANGE of words used
semantics: MEANINGS of words and phrases
pragmatics: CONTEXT contributing to meaning
grammar
Early Modern period coincides with the English Renaissance — era characterised by revival of interest in
the arts and sciences, marking advent of printing and rise in popularity of English literature and theatre.
Coupled with religious upheaval in Britain and across Europe.
‘Inkhorn controversy’ — a key linguistic event of the period, where some people regarded the influx of
new words as unnecessary snobbery
Etymology — origin or formation of a word or phrase
Borrowing — adoption of a new word directly from another language
New discoveries in science and mathematics at that time came from the study and development of
the work of ancient Greek philosophers and mathematicians — as a result, scientists used Greek
and Latin names for their discoveries, rather than English-sounding words.
The mass borrowing from Latin was made easier because English had already absorbed lots of French
words from previous centuries.
Derivation — act of creating new words from existing words
Many scientific terms in use today are derived from Greek or Latin
The new terms were either
direct or lightly anglicised loan words from other languages (Ex. equilibrium, specimen)
formed by affixation (creation of a new word by adding a suffix or prefix to an existing word) of
Greek or Latin morphemes
Conversion / zero derivation — creation of a new word in a word class from an existing word of a
different word class without any change in form
Ex. noun ‘green’ used in golf, referring to the putting-green, is a conversion of the adjective ‘green’
Early modern period, generally regarded as the time when written English became standardised, and one
particular set of rules was arrived at. Over time, one existing form of English became recognised as the
‘standard’ form.
This was influenced by several factors
a) Geographical centrality — regional dialect spoken around the powerful triangle of London, Oxford
and Cambridge
b) Status and education — dialect’s association with the universities of Cambridge and Oxford, and
with the government and law courts of London
c) Rise in printing — how much of written material in the dialect was being printed for mass audiences
