HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE - A short description made by Professor Amarino Maciel for his college students of Englsh Culture subject at UFAM's IEAA in the city of Humaitá.
By amarino
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Period: 1000 BCE to 50
Old English Period
The only record we have from this period iis a long poem called Beowulf, which tells us the history of the English people prior the coming or invasion by continental European inhabitants. -
Period: 50 to 500
Early Middle English Period
Period in which the island of Great Britain underwent a lot of changes due to the influence of new comers/invaders from Eastern and Southern surroundings. -
Period: 500 to 1500
Middle English Period
Period of the English language completely influenced by the language of invaders, such as French, Saxon,, Jute and Frisian. The most important document from tghis period is The Canterbury Tales, by Geoffrey Chaucer. Other records were written in French and Latin, concurring with the Middle English style. -
Period: 1500 to
Late Middle English or Early Modern English
This is the period in which Shakespeare wrote his famous sonnets, plays (tragedies and comedies) and biographies. It's a time of great evolution for the English language, with Shakespeare contributing with more than 2,000 new words and King James determination to create a grammar, dictionary and tranlating the Holy Bible into a new version. -
Period: to
Modern English Period
Period which initiates the way the English language is spoken up to nowadays. A lot of records have been written during this time all over the world. During the early Modern English period, the British Empire had been expandded to all the continents and many parts of the world has been subjected to the English rulers, including the obligation of the local people from differents parts of the world to speak the English language as their official language.