The Evolution of the English Language

By Maxpete122
  • 500

    500 A.D. Invasion

    Angles, Saxons, and the Jutes invade England push the Celtic speakers to the outer regions of England such as wales, Scotland, and Ireland. This is what developed old English
  • 1100

    Another Invasion

    Normans invaded and brought French which became the language of the royal court. This caused upper classes to speak french and lower classes to speak English.
  • 1400

    Middle English Arrives

    Both French and Old English finally merged to form a type called Middle English. While being close to ours, it would be difficult for people of today to understand.

  • Early Modern English

    Due to England traveling to many other countries, vowels in words started to become shorter and shorter. This brought about Early Modern English. Classical learning also meant many new words and phrases entered the language as well.

  • Lat Modern English or present day.

    The industrial revolution brought more words into the English language along with new vocabulary. Due to the invention of the printing press, this language could now stay almost unchanged because it was now available to the masses.