The History of English - Part 3
The Standardisation of English
Despite the
wealth of vocabulary and borrowed words, spelling in English was still very
random. The reason why there are many words in the English language that are
pronounced very differently from how they look they should be pronounced when
written down, is due to the changing of spoken language over time, but the
standardisation of spellings, which does not reflect so quickly the changing
nature of spoken language.
The printing
press was brought to England by William Claxton in 1476, making books much
cheaper, and therefore literacy much higher among the English people. This also
helped begin the greater standardisation of spelling and grammar. The first
English dictionary, A Table Alphabeticall,
compiled by English school teacher, Robert Cawdrey, was published in 1604.
However, it was found rather unreliable. It was not until Samuel Johnson
produced A Dictionary of the English
Language in 1755 that the dialect of London became the official English
standard.
Borrowed Words
More new
words seeped into the English language after the year 1700, when the English
language has started to spread all around the world, with the development of
England’s new colonies. In the 17th and 18th centuries,
new scientific discoveries meant that more new words had to be invented to
describe the new findings; many of the words of this industrial age were
borrowed from Latin.
Words
borrowed from Latin, French or Spanish may have been already borrowed at a
previous time in English language history, causing a new meaning and/or
pronunciation to develop. For example the word ‘chef’ and the word
‘chief’ are both borrowed from French; ‘chef’ was borrowed by Modern
English whereas ‘chief’ came into the language during Middle English. This
is why the same root has resulted in different words in English.
Return to start of The History of
English
