History of the English Language Research Assignment

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History of the English Language
In attempting to understand any subject, it is critical to understand its history. An understanding of the subject requires an empirical examination of its roots. Questions are asked, and the answers to them critically examined. Often, the answers to these questions bring forth even more questions. In the process, of finding the answers we begin to unearth the history of a given subject. Thus, in our search for understanding of the history of the English language, we must determine its roots. The path that the language has taken prior to emerging as a global language utilised by billions of people. The paper, therefore, will look at the different forms of the English language. These include; Old English, Middle English, Modern English, and Global EnglishCITATION Ray05 \p 54 \l 1033 (Hickey 54). The paper in its dissection of these forms of the English language will concentrate on the following sub-topics. The most important feature in a particular form of language and literature contains its impact on our understanding of that form and other features. The paper, therefore, will examine the different forms of English with the aim of making a critical examination of their relevance to the modern age and to the specific audience of the time. The paper will attempt to determine if there is a correlation between the study of the history of language and any importance to humanity.
Old English
This form of English is the earliest form of English in recorded history. It was largely utilised by the Anglo-Saxons and had a heavy influence from Germanic tribesCITATION Rin14 \p 113 \l 1033 (Ringe and Taylor 113). As such, the language was similar to the German language. Inscriptions in the language were written using the runic system where the characters were referred to as futhorc. The Anglo-Saxon invasion of England and Scotland was instrumental in establishing Old English as the language of choice. It replaced Latin and Common Brittonic as the languages in use at the timeCITATION Ray05 \p 54 \l 1033 (Hickey 54).
Key features of Old English include; the phonology of Old English was such that the pronunciation of the language and writing were similar to a large extent. The diphthongs in Old English consisted of two short and long diphthongs that made up the sound. The language had a low level of arbitrariness due to the connection between the spoken language and written language. Old English was also a synthetic language typeCITATION Tim10 \p 231 \l 1033 (Timofeeva 231). This fact owing from its syntax where the grammatical properties of a word were expressed via its inflectional endingsCITATION Rin14 \p 114 \l 1033 (Ringe and Taylor 114). Old English was also transferrable in that non-native speakers who could learn to speak it frequently. Old English nouns had a component of gender similar to modern day French. As such, a noun was either masculine, feminine or neutralCITATION Rin14 \p 113 \l 1033 (Ringe and Taylor 113).
The literature in old English enables us to appreciate the communicative ability of the language. It enables us to see how the language was utilized to achieve its main purpose of communication. An analysis of literature in Old English allows us to appreciate the Morphology and Orthography of the language. We can understand their use of prose and to an extent, the nature of the people that used the language. An example of literature in Old English is the poem "Beowulf"CITATION Tim10 \p 232 \l 1033 (Timofeeva 232).
Middle English
This form of language followed immediately after Old English as a result of the Norman Conquest of the English Countries. Its utility lasted until the 15th century. Its writing customs were based on the Chancery standard. The period resulted in a dramatic decline in Middle English Literature. French at the time was considered the Language of choice, especially by the elite. The language laid the basis for modern English with grammatical inflections and pronunciation of words being created. It ultimately led to the disappearance of most grammatical cases in English as well as the simplification of inflections.
During the period of Middle English, a number of changes were made on the phonology of the language. Diphthongs metamorphosed into monophthongs. However, new diphthongs emerged as a result of vowels being broken up in Middles EnglishCITATION Nor10 \p 174 \l 1033 (Nordhoff, Hammarström and Forkel 174). Change in some vowels such æ into the modern day a.æ was also raised to ɛ and most front rounded vowels were unrounded. Fricative consonants emerged as voiced in contrast to the voiceless ones in Old English. Noun ending inflections also changed with the reduction in the use of the – (e) n form for plural. Middle English utilised the Carolingian script as the Alphabet of choice replacing the runic system in Old English. In its orthography, it is important to note that Middle English did not have silent letters. All letters in a word, therefore, were pronounced. Vowels, especially single vowels were pronounced differently in Middle English depending on their position in a given sentence CITATION Wri12 \p 99 \l 1033 (Wright 99).
Scholars are in general agreement in the use of sense for sense translation in translating text from Middle English to Modern English rather than using direct translation. This is because the syntactic structure of the prose is different. Thus the use of direct translation might result in the loss of meaning in a given text. The existing literature in Middle English allows us to decipher the growth of English as a language in a given period of time. We are able to note the growth of the language, noting its influences and to an extent the reason behind change where it occurs CITATION Alg13 \p 128 \l 1033 (Algeo and Butcher 128).
CITATION Car14 \p ":slideshare.net " \l 1033 (Marque :slideshare.net )
Modern English
It is the form of English spoken immediately after the decline of Middle English. Scholars credit the end of the 15th century as the time of the rise of Modern English. Popular writers, such as William Shakespeare, wrote in Middle English. The rise of Middle English coincided with the global trade renaissance. As such, Middle English spread throughout the globe and dialect of it emerged. Some of these dialects include; American English, Canadian English, South African English, etc. In each of these dialects, the local populace would add onto the language making it unique to the region. Some scholars refer to Modern English as Elizabethan English owing to its popularity during the reign of the Queen Elizabeth, the first Queen of England.
Modern English emerged in part as a result of the vowel split from Middle English. Key features include its phonology. Vowels in Modern English could undergo mutation such that there were silent letters in Modern English. All long vowels in Middle English were raised as a result of the Great Vowel Shift. An example of this is; a and e was now pro...