36. Formation of the national literary English Language

We can speak about the English nominal language as a language understood and mainly used throughout the country beginning with the late Middle English. The end of the middle English and the beginning of New English periods are marked by the following events in life of the English people:

1. The end of the was between the White and the Red Rose and the establishment of the absolute monarchy with Henry Tudor.

2. The introducing of printing by William Caxton.

Printing was invented in Germany by Johann Gutenberg in 1438. It quickly spread to other countries. The 1^st English printing office was founded in 1476 by William Caxton and in 1477 there appeared the 1^st book to be printed in England called The Dictes and Sayings of the Philosophers. The end of the 15^th century the English began its development as the language of the English nation, whereas up to that time, beginning with the Germanic conquest of British in the 5^th century and up to the 15^th century, what we call the English language was no more than a conglomerate of dialects. The English national language was formed on the bases of the London dialect which was uppermost among Middle English dialects due to the political, geographical, economical and “linguistic” position of London which became the capital of England already in the 11^th century. The importance of the London dialect as the foundation of the English national language grew also because of the fact that many of the best writers of the 14^th – 15^th centuries, and Geoffrey Chauser among them, whose poetry achieved tremendous contemporary prestige and popularity, were Londoners or used the London dialect in their writings. The 15^th century is generally referred to as the time of the beginning of the English national language. But the literary norm of ht language was established later, already in Early New English.

36. Lengthening of Vowel in OE

37. Latin Borrowings thought the development of the English language

The fist Latin borrowings entered the language before the Germanic tribes of Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Frisian invaded the British Isles, at the time when they still lived on the continent. Due to trade relations with their southern powerful neighbour – the Roman empire – Germanic tribes learned a number of products that had been unknown to then, and, consequently, their names. So the 1^st stratum of borrowings are mainly words connected with trade. Many of them are preserved in Modern English: pound, pepper, cheese, wine, apple, pear, etc.

The 2^nd stratum of words was composed of loan Latin words that the Germanic tribes borrowed already on British soil from the romanized Celts, whom they had conquered in the 5^th century. Those were words connected with building and architecture.

The 3^rd stratum of Latin loan words was composed of words borrowed after the introduction of the Christian religion. They are generally of a religious nature: bishop, devil, monk.

As Latin was the language of learning at the time, there also entered the language some words that were not directly connected with religion: master, school, lion, tiger, plant, astronomy.