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Derek Birkbeck
ENG3U
Mrs. Junkin
April 28, 2014
The Effects of a Linguistic Invasion
Welcome, species, mutton, fact, absurdity: these are all examples of words that English
has borrowed from other languages. English is a complex language and its historical tendency
to borrow words from many different languages has made it very diverse. Although, within the
diverse collection of languages that have influenced English, none has had as important an
influence as the French language. In the beginning, English was a simple, strictly verbal
language with few words. However, this all changed during the Middle period with the Normans
invasion of England. During the Norman rule, their spoken and written French was heavily
influential on the as yet strictly verbal language of English. This resulted in an increase in
English vocabulary and the formation of modern day prefixes and suffixes. Thus, the English
language progressed from a primitive form of communication with few words to the vast,
complex, and ever-changing language it is presently, due to the influences of other languages.
In the early stages of the development of the English language, Englisc, as it was
called, was a basic and purely oral language. Englisc was the language of the Celts, the
inhabitants of what is now modern day England, until the Roman invasion led by Julius Caesar
in 55 BC. Unlike many other regions that were conquered by the Roman Empire, Latin was not
forced upon the inhabitants of England. If the Romans had believed that England was worth
controlling, modern day English would certainly be a Latin-based language. When the Romans

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left England for the final time in 450 AD, the Celts felt themselves increasingly vulnerable to
attack(Old English). As a result, they invited the leaders of the Jutes to settle on the eastern
coast. While the Jutes were immigrating to England:
[t]he Angles (from a region called Angeln, the spur of land which connects
modern Denmark with Germany) gradually began to settle in increasing numbers
on the east coast of Britain, particularly in the north and East Anglia. The Frisian
people, from the marshes and islands of northern Holland and western Germany,
also began to encroach on the British mainland from about 450 AD onwards. Still
later, from the 470s, the war-like Saxons (from the Lower Saxony area of northwestern Germany) made an increasing number of incursions into the southern part
of the British mainland. Over time, these Germanic tribes began to establish
permanent bases and to gradually displace the native Celts.(Old English)
These Germanic tribes pushed the Celts into what is now modern day Wales, a name that
originates from the old English word weales, meaning slaves. This continued for three
centuries until the Vikings invaded during the 8th century, bringing with them an estimated 1000
words that became a part of the English language. Among these words are skin, sister, husband,
smile, and awkward. The Vikings continued to inhabit the country of England until the Normans
invaded.
The Middle English period started in 1066 AD when William the Conqueror led the
Normans in the invasion of southern England, bringing with them their heavily Germanicinfluenced French dialect. Thus, during this time period, French became the language of the
upper class while English, considered by the Normans a low-class, vulgar tongue(Middle

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English), was reserved for the peasants and the lower class. As only the members of the upper
class had the privilege and the ability to write, English consequently returned to being a purely
verbal language. It remained as such for almost two centuries. While the Normans ruled
England, many of their Germanic or Anglo-French words were assimilated into the lexicon of
English; in fact, over 10 000 words were added, increasing the English vocabulary to over four
times its previous size. Therefore, most modern English words dealing with nobility,
government, law, church, fashion, art, literature, and the culinary arts, as well as many modern
prefixes and suffixes, are Norman in origin.
With the influence of the Hundred Years War designating French as the language of the
enemy, French was losing its prevalence as the language of the upper-class. Meanwhile, the
Normans who inhabited England grew [i]ncreasingly out of touch with their properties in
France and with the French court and culture in general, they soon began to look on themselves
as English [and] Norman French began [to gradually] degenerate(Middle English). This led to
English not only becoming the native language of England, but a written language for the first
time in many centuries. This return to a written language was in fact considered the birth of
English literature, spawning the first English classic, Geoffrey Chaucers The Canterbury Tales,
and marked the beginning of the transition from the Middle to the Modern period.
The Modern period is credited with the beginnings of the Great Vowel Shift, the
widespread change in how vowels sound, which continued into the latter half of the 19th century.
In addition, Europe was in the midst of the English Renaissance (c. 1500-1600); a time in which
humanity made great advances in the fields of art, poetry, and literature. During this time,
William Shakespeare played a very important role in the development of English literature and

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language. For example, he is attributed with adding an estimated 2,000 neologisms or new
words(Early Modern).
In 1450, Johann Gutenberg invented the printing press which greatly influenced the
development of the English language. That is, the printing press standardized spelling, and
mass-produced books became cheaper and more commonly available(Early Modern). With
books now more affordable and available, the lower-class people learned how to read and write,
leading to widespread literacy. English had the luck of being in the right place at the right time
again and again, which led to English becoming the single most important language in the
world and the closest thing to a global language the world has ever seen(Late Modern).
Effectively, English has done what no other language has been able to; unite countries all around
the world.
English is the superpower of all languages; it is spoken in more countries around the
world than any other, and it is constantly changing. English originated from a tribe of Celts who
had poor language skills, and its development was dependant on the invasion of the Normans.
Before the Normans intervened, Englisc was a simple language with few words. The invasion
of the Normans marked the beginning of the Middle period and quickly increased the English
lexicon, which is evident in the world today. The development of modern English has followed a
remarkable path. The history of the English language demonstrates how minor events have a
huge impact on the future.

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Works Cited
Before English (Prehistory - c. 500AD). The History of English. Web. 24 Apr. 2014.
< http://www.thehistoryofenglish.com/history_before.html >
Old English (c. 500 - c. 1100). The History of English. Web. 24 Apr. 2014.
< http://www.thehistoryofenglish.com/history_old.html >
Middle English (c. 1100 - c. 1500). The History of English. Web. 24 Apr. 2014.
< http://www.thehistoryofenglish.com/history_middle.html >
Early Modern English (c. 1500 - c. 1800). The History of English. Web. 24 Apr. 2014.
< http://www.thehistoryofenglish.com/history_early_modern.html >
Late Modern English (c. 1800 - Present). The History of English. Web. 24 Apr. 2014.
< http://www.thehistoryofenglish.com/history_late_modern.html >
Junkin, S. History of the English Language British Scholar. Toronto: Macmillan of Canada,
2009.