Our Class essay – 13-LANC2
Evaluate the idea that the English Language is continuously
evolving over time. [30 marks]
Diachronically it is evident that the English language has drastically changed from the 5 th
century to the 21st century. There is not just one event that has contributed to the phenomenon
of language evolution throughout old English, middle English, early modern English and
modern English. The constant debate between whether language change is benefiting our
society has been argued from a descriptivist and prescriptivist viewpoint, one stating
language change is good whilst the other opposes that saying that processes such as clipping,
initialism and pejoration negatively affects language resulting in purists believing that there
should be one standard, elite and prestige form of English. Social contact and cultural need is
ultimately a driving force for language change and is present in all eras. In the 21 st century,
English is currently still changing through the influence of technology and English becoming
the lingua franca producing a variety of World Englishes. This essay will therefore explore
the advantages and disadvantages of the English language continuously evolving overtime.
Firstly, it is undeniable that English has evolved diachronically. The events occurring
throughout history have had a large influence on English. Before the invasion of the
Normans, the Anglo-Saxon settlers from the regions of Denmark and Northern Germany
would influence the pronunciation and formation of words, for example the kenning Bone-
house (bãnhūs) was the Anglo-Saxon term for the human body, singān was sing and onslepte
was asleep. Whilst the Anglo-Saxon influenced the alphabet, Viking invasions across the
British Isles would cause change in certain regions, mostly the North, as they implemented
for example ‘sk’ into words such as ‘sky’, ‘skirt’. This shows how key historical events
would trigger phonetically and lexical change in language. After the Norman invasion of
England in 1066, English evolved hugely for the next 400 years as the elitists of society
spoke French whilst those who did not have access to it continued to develop English. French
was the language of the court and administration whilst Latin remained important in written
documentation, especially in the church due to the bible and towards the end of the Middle
Age period, English began to form through Geoffrey Chaucer and his conscious choice to
write in English, symbolizing the rebirth of English as a national language. Throughout the
Middle Ages, the language changed drastically in comparison to what it was in the Old
English period as they replaced the ‘cw’ in ‘cwen’ with ‘qu’, they introduced ‘gh’ in
spellings, replacing just h, replaced u in words with ou and k, z and j began to frequently
appear.
The French invasion of England and increased travel around the globe would cause the
vocabulary to also change as the language would use words from French, for example:
baptism, jail and temptation, as well as words from Latin like alias, client and collect. As the
language entered the Early Modern English period, Caxton’s printing press caused the
language to standardise in terms of orthography. The letters ‘I’ and ‘y’ being used
interchangeably, the letter u and v were variations of the same letter and instead of t in the
ending of the now usual suffix -tion, it was replaced by c so instead of creation, it’d be
creacyon. During the Renaissance era of the 15th and 16th century, the language would
complicate further as spelling reformers attempted to re-model English spelling, influenced
by Latin and Ancient Greek to make it look more sophisticated and proper. For example,
scholars introduced the letter ‘B’ into words like debt, doubt and subtle, as well as s into
Evaluate the idea that the English Language is continuously
evolving over time. [30 marks]
Diachronically it is evident that the English language has drastically changed from the 5 th
century to the 21st century. There is not just one event that has contributed to the phenomenon
of language evolution throughout old English, middle English, early modern English and
modern English. The constant debate between whether language change is benefiting our
society has been argued from a descriptivist and prescriptivist viewpoint, one stating
language change is good whilst the other opposes that saying that processes such as clipping,
initialism and pejoration negatively affects language resulting in purists believing that there
should be one standard, elite and prestige form of English. Social contact and cultural need is
ultimately a driving force for language change and is present in all eras. In the 21 st century,
English is currently still changing through the influence of technology and English becoming
the lingua franca producing a variety of World Englishes. This essay will therefore explore
the advantages and disadvantages of the English language continuously evolving overtime.
Firstly, it is undeniable that English has evolved diachronically. The events occurring
throughout history have had a large influence on English. Before the invasion of the
Normans, the Anglo-Saxon settlers from the regions of Denmark and Northern Germany
would influence the pronunciation and formation of words, for example the kenning Bone-
house (bãnhūs) was the Anglo-Saxon term for the human body, singān was sing and onslepte
was asleep. Whilst the Anglo-Saxon influenced the alphabet, Viking invasions across the
British Isles would cause change in certain regions, mostly the North, as they implemented
for example ‘sk’ into words such as ‘sky’, ‘skirt’. This shows how key historical events
would trigger phonetically and lexical change in language. After the Norman invasion of
England in 1066, English evolved hugely for the next 400 years as the elitists of society
spoke French whilst those who did not have access to it continued to develop English. French
was the language of the court and administration whilst Latin remained important in written
documentation, especially in the church due to the bible and towards the end of the Middle
Age period, English began to form through Geoffrey Chaucer and his conscious choice to
write in English, symbolizing the rebirth of English as a national language. Throughout the
Middle Ages, the language changed drastically in comparison to what it was in the Old
English period as they replaced the ‘cw’ in ‘cwen’ with ‘qu’, they introduced ‘gh’ in
spellings, replacing just h, replaced u in words with ou and k, z and j began to frequently
appear.
The French invasion of England and increased travel around the globe would cause the
vocabulary to also change as the language would use words from French, for example:
baptism, jail and temptation, as well as words from Latin like alias, client and collect. As the
language entered the Early Modern English period, Caxton’s printing press caused the
language to standardise in terms of orthography. The letters ‘I’ and ‘y’ being used
interchangeably, the letter u and v were variations of the same letter and instead of t in the
ending of the now usual suffix -tion, it was replaced by c so instead of creation, it’d be
creacyon. During the Renaissance era of the 15th and 16th century, the language would
complicate further as spelling reformers attempted to re-model English spelling, influenced
by Latin and Ancient Greek to make it look more sophisticated and proper. For example,
scholars introduced the letter ‘B’ into words like debt, doubt and subtle, as well as s into
