История английского языка. Часть I. Конспект лекций. Учебно-методическое пособие

2. Middle

11th

1066

Norman Conquest. England passed into

English

-15th

French hands under

centuries

William the Conqueror. French was used

as the language of government, business

and the ruling classes for 300 years.

The grammatical endings of nouns,

verbs and adjectives in Old English

became simplified.

Henry IVbecame the 1st Englishspeaking

king of England to rule

since 1066. By the 14th century the East

Midland dialect of

London became the standard form

of English and was used as the literary

language.

1399

3. Early

15th –

1475

The spread of printing which helped

Modern

16th

to stabilize the written language.

English

centuries

Translation Bible into English.

1525

The revival of interest in Classical Latin

and Greek led to many

learned words being introduced into Eng-

lish.

Acts of Union which united England and

1536-

Wales after the

1543

conquest.

4. Later

18th

1707

Act of Union between England and

Modern

-19th

Scotland under QueenAnne.

English

centuries

The countries became known as Great

Britain.

1st major English dictionary was

1755

published. It was written by Samuel

Johnson. It attempted to

fix and refine the language further.

The growth of British colonial power led

to the spread of English

as a world language and many varieties

of English appeared in

NorthAmerica, SouthAfrica and

Australia.

19th

century

5. Present-day

20th-21st

Present-day English is an

English

centuries

international language spoken in

most parts of the world.

Stages in the

Date

Major authors and literary works

developmen

t of the English

language

Old English

8th -10th

Beowulf is a mythological poem which is written

(Anglo-Saxon

centuries

in the West Saxon dialect of Old English and

English)

contains more than 3000

lines. The author combined the floating legends

of those times into one epic whole. The poem

consists of three main

stories, which tell of the battles of the most

famous of all heroes (Beowulf) with the monster

(Grendel), Grendel’s mother

(a water-troll) and a dragon. In the last battle

Beowulf was fatally wounded.

Middle

11th14th

G. Chaucer, an English writer best known for his

English

centuries

poem Canterbury Tales, in which the members of

a group of pilgrims tell each other stories, many

of which were funny and humorous.

«Whan (When) thatApril with his shoures

(showers ) soote (sweet) the droghte (drought)

of March hath perced (pierced) to the roote,

and bathed every veyne (vein) in swich (such)

licour (moisture) of (by) which vertu (power)

engendered is the flour (flower).»

Early

16th -17th

W. Shakespeare, an English writer of plays, one

Modern

centuries

of the most famous ever.

English

Among the most famous of his plays are tragedies

of Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, Othello,

King Lear, Macbeth, and Hamlet, the comedies

of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Merchant

of Venice, and Twelfth night, and historical plays

Richard III, and Henry V.