Although it’s impossible to point to an exact time at which any language begins, we can say with relative accuracy that the English language came into existence when the Anglo-Saxons came to Britain. Starting in 449 AD, Germanic invaders aggressively settled Britain, bringing with them a mix of Northern European languages that quickly overtook the local Celtic. Few traces of Celtic remain in modern English, aside from place names such as London and Kent. Historians know little of this period due to a shortage of written records, but it is assumed that the languages spoken in the region at the time would have reflected the diversity of the invading peoples. From this time, only about 400 Anglo-Saxon texts survived, most of which were beautiful poetry describing epic battles and heroic journeys. The vocabulary from these texts that has survived into modern English includes basic words such as earth, house, and sleep.
The sixth century saw the influx of Christian missionaries led by Augustine from 597 AD onwards who moved throughout the land, converting Anglo-Saxons from their pagan beliefs to a Catholic Christian faith. The missionaries had great linguistic influence because of the biblical texts and manuscripts they brought with them, and from which English acquired such Latin words as altar, mass, school, and monk, amongst others. However, the Viking invasions that began in 789 AD brought far more words, injecting around 2000 new vocabulary into the English language. Examples of words derived from Norse include anger, die, skirt, and smile. The distinct North Germanic language of the Norseman heavily influenced the development of English in terms of grammar as well. It mixed with the existing Old English, which was also based on a Germanic grammatical structure, and the new hybrid language showed up in written English after the Norman Conquests. What appeared during this Middle English period was a breakdown of Old English and the emergence of the same system of English we have today, to which Alfred the Great referred to officially as ‘English’ in the ninth century as a way to develop a sense of national identity that would help defend Britain from constant invasions.
But try as he might, Alfred the Great was unable to prevent Britain from being taken over by the Normans in 1066 during what are known as the Norman Conquests. Many cultural and linguistic shifts took place during the 300 years that French was imposed as the language of the royalty, aristocrats, and powerful officials. It was the language used in both spoken and written contexts, with political documents, administrative documents, and literature being in French. The exception to this was the Church, which retained the use of Latin. Thus, trilingualism in English, French and Latin was very common in the professional sectors. As for the general population, the vast majority of them continued to speak English, and following Britain’s independence through the 100 Years War, French was regarded as the language of the enemy and ceased to be used. However, the influence of the French language on modern English is unmistakable, with thousands of French words such as castle, beauty, colour, and art having become embedded in the language.
But the standardisation of English didn’t really take place until the late medieval and early modern periods, the latter of which was the time when writing really took off. Thanks in large part to the development of print technology, London English was spread and became to dominate, especially in formal contexts and amongst nobles. Speaking London English became a status symbol and the marker of an educated, professional individual. A stigmatisation of other regional linguistic varieties resulted, and people began to seek out education in the more accepted form of English.
A major aspect of this standardisation of London English was the development of a unified system of pronunciation. The changes that took place, collectively referred to as the Great Vowel Shift, involved the loss of the original vowel sounds of words derived from continental European languages and the shift to using purely English pronunciations. In the process, the phonetic pairings of many long and short vowel sounds disappeared, being replaced by awkward English pronunciations that have obscured the non-English roots of many words.
The next phase of the English language development can be referred to as the period of colonisation and globalisation. During the medieval and early modern periods, English spread throughout the area now known as the United Kingdom. But from the early seventeenth century onwards, British exploration, colonisation and overseas trade led to the spread of English worldwide. But the influence wasn’t one-way; English absorbed words from all across the globe, and particularly from other imperial nations such as Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands. Then, as English colonies appeared overseas, new varieties of English, such as American English, emerged. Due to the economic and military power of not only Britain but also its English colonies, the English language became the global language used by most countries for international communications and an official second language of many nation states.