I-Sem (Old English)

 

I Semester, Modern English (1500 to the Present Day)

 

Modern English can be divided into two parts. They are Early Modern English (1500 – 1800) and late Modern English (from 1800 to the Present Day). During the Early Modern English, the Great Vowel Shift began. It actually started in the 14^th century and Completed by 17^th Century.

 The Great Vowel Shift changed some of the Pronunciation Techniques in English Language. It began in Southern England and has influenced all dialects of English effectively. Based on the Vowel Shift, the Pronunciation of all Middle English Vowels changed and it brought some modifications into consonant sounds also. Standardization of English spelling in the 15^th and 16^th centuries began because of the impact of the Vowel Shift. This Great Vowel Shift was studied by a Danish Linguist and Anglicist named Otto Jespersen. He coined the term Great Vowel Shift.  The reason for the Great Vowel Shift in Britain was the effect of Black Death. The plague made people to migrate from various places into England. Middle class hyper connection, French loan Words and War with France also made the clash of Dialects to happen and resulted in the shift of the Vowel.

 In 15^th Century differences in the Vocabulary were noticed in the books of the Writers. It was clearly found in the works of William Shakespeare. Along with this, Printing of The King James bible was also considered as the example of Modern English Style oriented one. In fact, The King James version was described as one of the most important books in English Culture and a driving force in shaping of English Speaking World. During the early Modern English period, English saw other spellings and Pronunciation.

 Examples:

1)Cough, Laugh (underlined letters are pronounced as ‘f’

2)lamb (final ‘b’ is silent)

3)walk, talk (‘l’ is silent)

4)Knee, Knight, Gnaw (‘K’ and ‘G’ are silent)

5)Render, Terror (‘r’ after a vowel is not pronounced)

6)Debt, Doubt (‘b’ is silent)

 Double Consonant is placed before a short vowel.

Ex ; Sitting

In grammar, a Sentence never ends with a preposition and an infinitive should never be Separated.(But, The rule of infinitive was opposed by Joseph priestly in his rudiments of English Grammar.

Along with the above rules, in Grammar, some other rules were also formed. Word order became more fixed. ‘es’ came to be used instead of ‘eth’, for the third person singular, and ‘s’ was used in place of ‘en’ for plural noun.

 Example: Speaketh – speakes; Marketh – Marks

 ‘ing’ is used as participle and the verb ‘do’ came to be used as an Auxialiary.

 Printing press played a major role in standardizing the language. East Midland Dialect remained Standard English. Words like though, they, them, their were accepted from northern English. Dictionaries like ‘A table Alphabetical, ‘An Universal Etymological English Dictionary’ and ‘Dictionary of English language’ wee published. Out of all these Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary of English language became popular and considered as the first reliable dictionary. It was printed in 1755 and included 4300 wordds.

Late Modern English (From 18^th Century to the present Day)

Later Modern English is characterized with a vast expansion of the vocabulary that came as a result of two factors. First one was the Industrial Revolution of the 18^th and 19^th centuries and the Second One was the rise of the British Empire.

 Most of the innovations of the Industrial revolution of the late 18^th and 19^th centuries were of British origin. A lot of words were coined for new products, Machines and processes and in some cases old words were given entirely new meaning. British Colonialism, on the other hand was a new phenomena. Many words borrowed into English from the Colonized Nations (Example: Shampoo, tank, jungle, Boomerang, Kangaroo, etc.).

With the emergence of colonialization, different variants of English started to emerge. But, although there were speculations that this world would lead to whole new branches of English. Another English speaking Country, the USA continued the English language Dominance. There appeared minor differences in the spellings and pronunciation of some words between American and British English (Example: gotten (A.E) – got (B.E), lift – Elevator, tap – faucet, etc, ).

Writers like William Shakespeare, Jane Austin, Mary Shelley, Lewis Carroll, etc., introduced new ideas, new concepts and new words. They took English to a whole new level. Compounds worlds also were used exceptionally. In the 20^th Century, exposure to wars, electronic Gadgets, etc., included words like Radar, Byte, robotics, download and blog, etc. Verbification of Nouns was used like ‘to email’ and ‘to google’. The language continues to change and develop. Vocabulary continues to expand with new Jargons, Slangs, technologies, Toys, Food and gadgets.