SZKOLENIA JĘZYKOWE

In the last article a lot was said about the medieval history of English and what changes it was subject to under the Norman rule. Although much evidence pointed to the castration of English as the official language of the country, the clash of the two immense linguistic civilizations, that of the Angles and the Francs, was in some measure fortunate, particularly for the centuries to follow.

ENGLISH RENAISSANCE

After having been downgraded to the plebeian status, English was no longer subject to any restrictions as to its official ranking and regulation. This meant that lower classes, including merchants and ordinary workers, could use it to their advantage when trying to communicate with their foreign counterparts. For these reasons, grammatical structures were significantly simplified by custom, while others were rendered obsolete. As a consequence, English was subject to a steady process of generalisation when it comes to its syntax and vocabulary structures, which to this date is one of its most important advantages over any other world language. But this was just the beginning of what came forth as the renaissance of the English language in the next decades.

After a few centuries of the Norman rule, in 1399, Henry IV became the first English-speaking monarch since before the conquest and this led to an avalanche of events that brought English back into its rightful position of a sovereign over the Isles. 14th century, for example, saw a special enactment by the British Parliament which replaced French with English as the language of the law, instruction and politics.

OFFICIAL STATUS

Thanks to this amendment, English started to be used in official parliamentary sessions for the first time. By the turn of the same century, English became the language of teaching in schools and at universities across Britain. In 1476, William Caxton established the first English printing press, paving the way for gradual standardisation of the general grammar and spelling rules.

Throughout next decades, written works became more accessible across the society allowing for the linguistic division between the nobility and the commoners to disappear. The first daily English-language newspaper and the first English dictionary were published at the beginning of the 17th century, marking the end of the Middle English and the beginning of its modern form, which flourished until the end of the 18th century.

William Shakespeare, an English poet and playwright, is widely acclaimed to be the greatest writer in the English language to have ever lived. Most of his plays were created at the turn of the 17th century but they still continue to be performed more often than those of any other playwright. The last two centuries of the Dark Agessaw a rebirth of English as the language of invention and flexibility.

This was partly on account of a myriad of changes in the Elizabethan Britain, including successful colonisation of the New World, development of diplomacy and navigation techniques as well as expansion of philosophy and political sciences. Fluctuant in structure and vocabulary, Middle English was unable to accommodate modern ideas, trends and various discoveries.

ENGLISH POETRY

It was in this context that poets and writers of the time, including William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe and Thomas Dekker, enabled for English revival. Through their works, they began formulating new words and attributing multiple meanings to the existing vocabulary. Thanks to the growing sociological role of the theatre and performed arts, these attempts paved the way for the popularisation of the new language forms and further standardisation of English in the late 17th and 18th century.

Perhaps one of the most important developments in the history of the English language was the 17th-century conquest of North America by the British, French and Spanish monarchies. 17th century is widely marked by the historians as the colonisation era, but it was also the period when a distinct American variety of English was created.

BRITISH EMPIRE

With heavy Spanish and French influences, colonial English was subject to linguistic mutations which were later transposed to British English through the movement of people. Different varieties of English were also created in other overseas territories that belonged to Britain, including Australia, India, Canada and South Africa. It is of no surprise that the history of modern English as we know is said to have started with the expansion of the British Empire over almost one quarter of the globe in the 19th century.

After spreading around the globe as the language of discoveries and colonial supremacy in the 18th century, the following decades witnessed an expansion of English in the field of trade and industry. During the 19th-century phenomenon of the Industrial Revolution, for example, Britain became a pioneer with large-scale manufacturing projects being carried out there. The system of telegraph was discovered and patented in England and English became its official language. In order to reflect these rapid changes in science and technology, many new English words were invented and the existing vocabulary modified.

ENGLISH TODAY

In the century that followed, English continued to dominate world affairs in various spheres, from advertising to marine exploration. The shift of focus to the US as the new political, military and economic superpower in the 20th century as well as the computer and Internet revolution reinforced the role of English as the language hegemon for ever.

English still continues to expand and develop at all linguistic levels. It is a living organism that absorbs changes and external influences taking place around it. With its immense vocabulary estimated at over 1 million words, linguistic supremacy in more than 54 countries worldwide and a dominant role in the life of the World Wide Web, it is rightfully called the lingua franca of today.

So as you can see, English has an incredible history behind. I hope these two articles have at least made you look with some wonder at that unique language. In my next post I will go back in time to the 13th century and will try to bring back some of the funniest and most interesting examples of medieval English. See you then!

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