1. Introduction

The English language – is the second language (after the Chinese language) in the world by importance, by amount of people, who talks it by. For four hundreds millions people English – is a native language, for three hundreds millions – the second state language, also hundred millions own it, as foreign. The English language belongs to the German branch of Indo-Europeans family of languages. From the German languages, Frisian is closest to English. Also is close lower-Saxon language that is distributed in the east of the Netherlands and in the north of Germany. There is less general with Danish, African and German. There are a lot of borrowings from French in English lexicon that was caused by Norman Conquest of England, about what there will be a speech in this work.

The year 1066 is one of the most pivotal dates in English history. In that year, William the Bastard invaded from Normandy, seized the crown and became the first Norman king of England. Unlike the Viking invasions that had preceded it the Norman Conquest brought lasting changes in government, culture and language, shaping the way we think and our attitudes right up to the present day. England now entered Europe at centre stage.

The Conquest was recorded in an amazing piece of pictorial history, the Bayeux Tapestry, which has come down to us as a unique reminder of the events of 1066. (see app. №1) Only by standing at one end of this amazing work can one really appreciate it. Gazing down its length is remarkable enough yet when one reaches the end of the room in which it is displayed, the Tapestry curves round and continues up the other side. Historians still argue over its content, its meaning, where it was made and who made it. In this book I hope to highlight some of the many problems in its interpretation. It is a rare document and must be used with caution.

The Norman Conquest was the last successful invasion of England by a foreign claimant. Others have tried – such as the Spanish, the French, the Germans – and failed. We can therefore look back on the Norman Conquest as helping to shape the England of the present. The importance of 1066 is seen in the permanence of those changes.

Under Norman’s authority Anglo-Saxons were four hundred years. This period was connected to the establishment of the Anglo-French arrangement and with active and long influence of the French language to English. French became the language of the aristocrats, and English became the language of simple people.

French so much has affected on English, that the carriers of Мodern language do not understand the Old English (see app.№2).

After the Norman influences, the English language has lost many features and has received a plenty of the French lexicon…

The topicality of this investigation consists in detection changes in Modern English with views for the past of this language, historical events, which accompanied its forming. The importance of our research is to explain the reason for such a phenomenon as not only from the scientific point of view, but also from the point of view of psychology, analyzing some period of English history. The aim of our research is to know the reason for existing such a phenomenon of “changes” in English language.

The object of our investigation is Anglo-Norman (a northern dialect of Old English), as the language, which displaced Old English

The subject of our investigation is analyzing the modern state of this phenomenon in English and explanation of in what way it influences in Modern English.

Task:

─ Analyze the changes in English;

─ Analyze the reasons of the rise of this phenomenon;

─ Analyze the modern state of these changes;

─ Explain the ways how these changes influences in Modern English.

Hypothesis:

─ The English language that is spoken today is the direct result of 1066 and the Norman Conquest;

─ Modern English is vastly different from that spoken by the English prior to the Conquest, both in its word-hoard and its grammar;

─ English suffered such changes, which simplified it;

─ Norman Conquest of England made such consequences which showed up not only in culture but also in its language;

─ In order to understand what happened, and why, it is necessary to look languages which were before 1066, and then the English that resulted from their interaction.

Methods:

─ Theoretical: analysis of used literature;

─ Practhimatrical: analysis of experimental results obtained after personal investigation;

The scientific research consist of introduction, 13 chapters, conclusion, references and appendixes.