“English Periods”

Lucia Estela Páramo Zorrilla

5-E
 Old English
450 - 1066
MAIN CHARACTERS OF OLD ENGLISH PERIOD

Alfred the Great

(849 – 26 October 899)

He was King of Wessex from 871 to 899.

Alfred successfully defended his kingdom
against the Viking attempt at conquest, and
by the time of his death had become the
dominant ruler in England. He is one of only
two English monarchs to be given the
epithet "the Great", the other being the
Scandinavian Cnut the Great. He was also
the first King of the West Saxons to style
himself "King of the Anglo-Saxons".

William the Conqueror

(1028 – 9 September 1087)

Usually known as William the Conqueror

and sometimes William the Bastard,was the
first Norman King of England, reigning from
1066 until his death in 1087. A descendant
of Rollo, he was Duke of Normandy (as
Duke William II) from 1035 onward. After a
long struggle to establish his power, by
1060 his hold on Normandy was secure,
and he launched the Norman conquest of
England six years later.

IMPORTANT BOOOKS IN OLD ENGLISH

Beowulf
is an Old English epic poem consisting of
3182 alliterative lines. It may be the oldest
surviving long poem in Old English and is
commonly cited as one of the most impor-
tant works of Old English literature.
 Old English
450 - 1066
1.- WORD ORDER

VSO = V (verb) + S (subject) + O (object)

2.- NOUNS
- Nouns could be of 3 genders: masculine, feminine or neuter. There were assigned
arbitrarily.
- Numbers could be either singular or plural
- There were 4 fases: Nominative, accusative,dative, and genitive.
- There were 7 groups of declesions for nouns.

3.- VERBS
- The Infinitive of verbs ended in –an.
- In the present tense, all verbs had markers for number and person.
- The weak past tense added –de.
- The strong past tenseusually involved a vowel change.
- Old English also had many more strong verbs tan modern English.

4.- ADJETIVES
- adjetives could be weak or strong.
- If preceded by determiner, the weak ending was added to the adjetive.
- if no determiner preceded the adjetive, then the strong endings were used.
- Adjetives agreed in gender, case and number with the nouns they described.

5.- ADVERBS
- Adverbs were formed by adding –e to the adjetive, or –lic.

6.- SYNTAX
- The syntax of old English was much more flexible tan Modern English
because of the declensions of the nouns.

7.- PRONUNCIATION
- Pronunciation was characterized by a predictable stress pattern on the first syllable.
- The length of the vowels was phonemic as there were 7 long and 7 short vowels.

8.- WRITING SYSTEM

- Characters used in old English writing:
- æ (a ligature of “a” and “e”)
- (now writen “th”)
- β (for the “ss” or “sz” sound)

9.- PRONOUNS
- Old English had distinctive forms for all genders, persons and cases.
- Old English had a set of forms for two people or two things- the dual number
ic (I), wit (we two) wē (we plural)
 MiddleEnglish
1066 - 1500
MAIN CHARACTERS OF MIDDLE ENGLISH PERIOD

Geoffrey Chaucer
(1343 – 25 October 1400)

Known as the Father of English literature, is

widely considered the greatest English poet
of the Middle Ages and was the first poet to
be buried in Poets' Corner of Westminster
Abbey.

IMPORTANT BOOOKS IN MIDDLE ENGLISH PERIOD

The Canterbury Tales

It is a collection of 24 stories that runs to over 17,000 lines
written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer. In 1389
Chaucer began working on his most famous text, The Canter-
bury Tales. The tales (mostly written in verse, although some
are in prose) are presented as part of a story-telling contest
by a group of pilgrims as they travel together on a journey
from London to Canterbury to visit the shrine of Saint Thomas
Becket at Canterbury Cathedral.

Wycliffe's Bible translation

Is the name now given to a group of Bible translations into
Middle English that were made under the direction of John
Wycliffe. They appeared over a period from approximately
1382 to 1395. John Wycliffe is credited with the first transla-
tion of the Bible into English, there were, in fact, many trans-
lations of large parts of the Bible centuries before Wycliffe's
work.
 MiddleEnglish
1066 - 1500
1.- WORD ORDER

SVO = S (subject) + V (verb) + O (object)

2.- NOUNS
- Middle English lost the case suffixes at the ends of nouns.
- The generalized plural market became –s, but it still comperes with –n.

3.- VERBS
- The third person singular and plural was marked with – ( e ) th; but the singular also
competes with – ( e )s.

4.- ADJETIVES
- Adjetives lost agreement with the noun, but the weak ending –e still remained.

5.- ADVERBS
- The adverb ending –lic became –ly;

6.- SYNTAX
- syntax was stricter and more prepositions were used.
- New compound tenses were used.
- The use of the verbs will and shall for the future tense were first used too.

7.- PRONUNCIATION
- Lost of initial h in the cluster ( hleapan – to leap; hnutu-hut).
- [w] lost between consonant and back vowel (w is silent in two, sword,answer).
- [v] lost in middle of words (heofod-head; hæfde – had)

8.- WRITING SYSTEM

- p and ð were replaced by “th”
- c before i or e became “ch”
- “sc” became “sh”
- an internal “h” was added after “g”
- “hw” became “wh”.
- “cw” became “qu”

9.- PRONOUNS
- The dual number disappeared in the pronouns.
- The dative and accusative became the object forms of the pronouns.
- “She” started being used for the feminine singular subject pronoun.
- “You” (plural form was used in the singular as a status marker f
or the formal.
 Early Modern English
1500 - Present
1.- WORD ORDERMAIN CHARACTERS OF EARLY MODERN PERIOD

William Caxton
SVO = S (subject) + V (verb) + O (object)
(c. 1422 – c. 1491)
2.- NOUNS
- Middle English lost the case suffixes at the ends of nouns.
English merchant, diplomat, writer and printer. He is thou-
- The generalized plural market became –s, but it still comperes with –n.
ght to be the first Englishman to introduce a printing press
3.- VERBS into England, in 1476, and was the first English retailer of
- The third person singular and printed books.
plural was marked with – ( e ) th; but the singular also competes
with – ( e )s.

4.- ADJETIVES
William Shakespeare
- Adjetives lost agreement with the noun, but the weak ending –e still remained.
(1564 – 1616)
5.- ADVERBS
He was an English poet, playwright, and actor, widely regarded as
- The adverb ending –lic became –ly;
the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-emi-
6.- SYNTAX nent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet, and the
"Bard of Avon".His
- syntax was stricter and more prepositions extant works, including collaborations, consist of
were used.
- New compound tenses were used.approximately 38 plays,154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and
a fewfor
- The use of the verbs will and shall other
the verses, somewere
future tense of uncertain authorship
first used too.

7.- PRONUNCIATION
Samuel Johnson
- Lost of initial h in the cluster ( hleapan – to leap; hnutu-hut).
- [w] lost between consonant and back vowel (w is silent in two, sword,answer).
(1709 -1784)
- [v] lost in middle of words (heofod-head; hæfde – had)

8.- WRITING SYSTEM Often referred to as Dr. Johnson, was an English writer who made
- p and ð were replaced by “th”lasting contributions to English literature. Johnson's A Dictionary of
- c before i or e became “ch” the English Language was published in 1755. It had a far-reaching
- “sc” became “sh” effect on Modern English and has been described as "one of the
greatest
- an internal “h” was added after “g” single achievements of scholarship"
- “hw” became “wh”.
- “cw” became “qu”

9.- PRONOUNS
Thomas Jefferson
- The dual number disappeared in the pronouns.
(743 –the
- The dative and accusative became 1826)
object forms of the pronouns.
- “She” started being used for the feminine singular subject pronoun.
- “You” (plural form was used inHe
thewas an American
singular Founding
as a status markerFather
f who wrote the Declaration of
or the formal. Independence and later served as the third President of the United
States from 1801 to 1809.
Early Modern English
1500- Present
IMPORTANT BOOOKS IN THE EARLY MODERN ENGLISH

Table Alphabeticall
Robert Cawdrey's Table Alphabeticall, published in 1604, was
the first single-language English dictionary ever published.
With 130 pages, it presents a selection of 2,543 words and
their first-ever definitions.

Shakespeare´s First Folio

Mr. William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies
is the 1623 published collection of William Shakespeare's
plays. Modern scholars commonly refer to it as the First Folio.

The Daily Courant

The Daily Courant,initially published on 11 March 1702, was
the first British daily newspaper in english-language.

Webster American English Dictionary

Webster's 1828 Dictionary contains the foundation of America's
heritage and principal beliefs. It is contemporary with the American
Constitution.

The Oxford English Dictionary

Is a descriptive dictionary of the English language, published
IN 1928 by the Oxford University Press.
 Early Modern English
1500 - Present
1.- WORD ORDER

SVO = S (subject) + V (verb) + O (object)

2.- NOUNS
- Possessives based on a contraction of the possessive pronoun -s (his).
- The –es of plurals and Genitive Singular was established.
- Plurals in –en and zero plurals are reduces to their modern extent by the end of the
17th
- The –es Genitive was interpreted as his and this led to forms like for Christ his sake.

3.- VERBS
- More strong verbs became weak and the third person singular form became –(e)s
intead of –(e)th.
- An increase in the use of progressive form.
- Differences in inflection are more noticeable.

a).- “to be” forms alondside the forms used in current modern english example: I
be/Thou beest/we, you,they be.

The perfect of transitive verbs of motion, continued to be frequently formed with to be

rather than with to have

b).- “to do” In the negative and affirmative direct questions: do/did you(not) love?
Negative declaratives or imperatives: did not love/do not love
The periphrastic construction in affirative declarative sentences disappeard in the late
16th century: i do/did love

4.- ADVERBS
- Without the ending -ly were much commoner in this period.
- The compound adverbs of the form here, there, and where + preposition were in
widespread use as equivalents of preposition + this, that (or it), and what,
e.g. ‘To make there through a nauigable passage’ (Thomas Blundeville, 1594)

5.- ADJETIVES
- Lost all endings except for in the comparative and superlative forms.
- Comparative and Superlatives degrees.
- Double Superlative and doublé comparative (Shakespeare´s times)
- Monosyllables take er and est.
- The adjetives with two syllables take more and most.
 Early Modern English
1500 - Present
6.- SYNTAX
- Inversion of verb and subject; after an adverbial element, a conjuction or an object.
- The multiple negative; in OE and ME, it was unexceptional to negate more tan one
element of a sentence.

7.- PRONUNCIATION
- Great Vowel Shift: Basically, the long vowels shifted upwards; that is, a vowel that
used to be pronounced in one place in the mouth would be pronounced in a different
place, higher up in the mouth.

- Consonants:
-Voiceless palatal fricative disappeared—Bright,Sight,Weight
-Voiceless velar fricative disappeared or changed---[F]
-The sequence –mb/ -b disappeared---Limb
-The [l] of the sequence –ol disappeared---holmes, yolk, folk
-Reduction of final –nd ---- laund (ME)> Lawn (EModE)

- Stress:
Many words were stressed otherwise tan they are in current speech. Example:
Character, ilustrate,concéntrate > all streessed on their second syllable.

Polysyllabic words ending in able/ible had initial stress.

8.- PRONOUN
- The disuse of : Thou,Thy and Thee OE and ME
Thou, Thy, Thee…. Singular forms
Ye, you, your ………Plural forms (Early modern english replaced the singular ones)

- The introduction of “you” for “ye” as a nominative case: Nomv…. Ye / Objetive…You

(both pronunced alike ( j )

- The introduction of “its” as the possessive of it: he, she, it … nominative and objeti-
ve case. There was a need for distinctive form in the possessive case.