§ 84. The sixth period extends from the mid-17th c. To the close of the 18th c. In the history of the language it is often called “the age of

normalisation and correctness”, in the history of literature — the “neo­classical” age. This age witnessed the establishment of “norms”, which can be defined as received standards recognised as correct at the given period. The norms were fixed as rules and prescriptions of correct usage in the numerous dictionaries and grammar-books published at the time and were spread through education and writing.

It is essential that during the 18th c. literary English differentiated into distinct styles, which is a property of a mature literary language. It is also important to note that during this period the English language extended its area far beyond the borders of the British Isles, first of all to North America.

§ 85. Unlike the age of Shakespeare, the neo-classical period dis­couraged variety and free choice in pronunciation, vocabulary and gram­mar. The 18th c. has been called the period of “fixing the pronunciation”, The great sound shifts were over and pronunciation was being stabilised. Word usage and grammatical construction were subjected to restriction and normalisation. The morphological system, particularly the verb system, acquired a more strict symmetrical pattern. The formation of new verbal grammatical categories was completed. Syntactical struc­tures were perfected and standardised.

§ 86. The English language of the 19th and 20th c. represents the seventh period in the history of English — Late New English or Modern English. By the 19th c. English had achieved the relative stability typi­cal of an age of literary florescence and had acquired all the properties of a national language, with its functional stratification and recognised standards (though, like any living language, English continued to grow and change). Theclassical language of literature was strictly distinguished from the local dialects and the dialects of lower social ranks. The dialects were used in oral communication and, as a rule, had no literary tradition; dialect writing was limited to conversations interpolated in books composed in Standard English or to recording folklore.

The 20th c. witnessed considerable intermixture of dialects. The local dialects are now retreating, being displaced by Standard English. The “best” form of English, the Received Standard, and also the regional modified standards are being spread through new channels: the press, radio, cinema and television.

Nevertheless the two dimensions of synchronic functional stratifi­cation of English are as important as before; the horizontal stratifica­tion in Britain applies to modified regional standards and local dialects, while the vertical dimension reflects the social structure of the English- speaking communities.

The expansion of English overseas proceeded together with the growth of the British Empire in the 19th c. and with the increased weight of the United States (after the War of Independence and the Civil War). English has spread to all the inhabited continents. Some geographical varieties of English are now recognised as independent variants of the language.

§ 87. In the 19th and 20th c. the English vocabulary has grown °n an unprecedented scale reflecting the rapid progress of technology, science and culture and other multiple changes'in all spheres of man’s activities. Linguistic changes in phonetics and grammar have been con­fined to alterations in the relative frequency and distribution of linguistic units: some pronunciations and forms have become old-fashioned or even obsolete, while other forms have gained ground, and have been accept­ed as common usage.

Though most of these changes are difficult to notice and to define, it is apparent that an English speaker of the 1950s or 1980s uses a form of language different from that used by the characters of Dickens or Thackeray one hundred and fifty years ago. Therefore we may be fully justified in treating the 19th and 20th c. as one historical period in a general survey of the history of English. But in order to describe the kind of English used today and to determine the tendencies at work now, the span of the last thirty or forty years can be singled out as the final stage of development, or as a cross-section representing Present- day English.

2. Old English dialects.

. The migration of the Germanic tribes to the British Isles and the resulting separation from the Germanic tribes on the mainland was a decisive event in their linguistic history. Geographical separation, as well as mixture and unification of people, are major factors in lin­guistic differentiation and in the formation of languages. Being cut off from related OG tongues the closely related group of West Germanic dialects developed into a separate Germanic language, English. That is why the Germanic settlement of Britain can be regarded as the begin­ning of the independent history of the English language.

The history of Anglo-Saxon Britain from the 5th to the 11th c. has been reconstructed from multiple sources: Bede’s ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY, Celtic and Anglo-Saxon historical chronicles and le-

] documents. Some events of external history have a direct bear­ing ^on development of the language and therefore must be re­called here. They are: the economic and social structure of society, the introduction of Christianity and the relations between the kingdoms.

The period from the 5th till the Uth c. (which is called Old English in the history of the language) was a transitional period from the tribal and slave-owning system to feudalism.

The basic economic unit was the feudal manor; it was a self-contained economic unit, as it grew its own food and carried on some small industries to cover its needs. Consequently, there was little social intercourse be­tween the population of neighbouring areas. Tribal and clan division was gradually superseded by townships and shires, which were local entities having no connection with kinship. The new economic and geo­graphical groupings and barriers did not necessarily correspond to the origins! areas of tribal settlement.

These conditions were reflected in the development of the West Germanic tongues brought to Britain. The economic isolation of the regions as well as the political disunity of the country led to the for­mation of new geographical boundaries between the speech of different localities. The growth of feudalism was accompanied by the rise of regional dialectal division replacing the tribal division of the Germanic settlers. These forces, however, worked together with the unifying force: the complete separation from related continental tribes (and tongues) united the people into one corporate whole and transformed their closely related dialects into a single tongue different from its continental rela­tions.

Old English Dialects. Linguistic Situation

§100. The Germanic tribes who settled in Britain in the 5th and 6th c. spoke closely related tribal dialects belonging to the West Ger­manic subgroup. Their common origin and their separation from other related tongues as well as their joint evolution in Britain transformed them eventually into a single tongue, English. Yet, at the early stages of their development in Britain the dialects remained disunited. On the one hand, the OE dialects acquired certain common features which distinguished them from continental Germanic tongues; on the other hand, they displayed growing regional divergence. The feudal system was setting in and the dialects were entering a new phase; tribal dialectal division was superseded by geographical division, in other words, tribal dialects were transformed into local or regional dialects.

The following four principal OE dialects are commonly distinguished:

Kentish, a dialect spoken in the area known now as Kent and Surrey and in the Isle of Wight. It had developed from the tongue of the Jutes and Frisians.

West Saxon, the main dialect of the Saxon group, spoken in the rest of England south of the Thames and the Bristol Channel, except Wales and Cornwall, where Celtic tongues were preserved. Other Saxon dialects in England have not survived in written form and are not known to modern scholars.

Mercian, a dialect derived from the speech of southern Angles and spoken chiefly in the kingdom of Mercia, that is, in the central region, ^fr°m the Thames to the Humber.

Northumbrian, another Anglian dialect, spoken from the Humb'er north to the river Forth (hence the name — North-Humbrian).

The distinction between Mercian and Northumbrian as local OE dialects testifies to the new foundations of the dialectal division: region­al in place of tribal, since according to the tribal division they represent ^one dialect, Anglian.

The boundaries between the dialects were uncertain and probably Movable, The dialects passed into one another imperceptibly and dia-

lectal forms were freely borrowed from one dialect into another; however, information is scarce and mainly pertains to the later part of the OE period. Throughout this period the dialects enjoyed relative equality; none of them wa« fhe dominant form of speech, each being the main type used over a limited area.

As mentioned above, by the 8th c. the centre of English culture had shifted to Northumbria, which must have brought the Northumbrian dialect to the fore; yet, most of the writing at that time was done in

Latin or, perhaps, many OE texts have perished. In the 9th c. the polit­ical and cultural centre moved to Wessex. Culture and education made great progress there; it is no wonder that the West Saxon dialect has been preserved in a greater number of texts than all the other OE dia­lects put together. Towards the 11th c. the written form of the West Saxon dialect developed into a bookish type of language, which, prob­ably. served as the language of writing for all English-speaking people.

§ 101. It follows from the above description that the changes in the linguistic situation justi5y the distinction o5 two historical periods. In Early OE from the 5th to the 7th c. the would-be English language consisted of a group of spoken tribal dialects having neither a written nor a dominant form. At the time of written OE the dialects had changed from tribal to regional; they possessed both an oral and a writ­ten form and were no longer equal; in the domain of writing the West Saxon dialect prevailed over its neighbours. (Alongside OE dialects a foreign language, Latin, was widely used in writing.)

3. The Norman Conquest and its influence on the development of the English language.

. Soon after Canute's death (1042) and the collapse of his em­pire the old AS line was restored but their reign was short-lived. The new English king, Edward the Confessor (1042-1066), who had been reared in France, brought over many Norman advisors and favourites; he distributed among them English lands and wealth to the consi­derable resentment of the Anglo-Saxon nobility and appointed them to important positions in the government and church hierarchy. He not only spoke French himself but insisted on it being spoken by the nobles at his court. William, Duke of Normandy, visited his court and it was rumoured that Edward appointed him his successor. In many respects Edward paved the way for Norman infiltration long before the Norman Conquest. However, the government of the country was still in the hands of Anglo-Saxon feudal lords, headed by the powerful Earl Godwin of Wessex.

¹ See ffpueaa B. H. PaaBHtue HaunonajibKoro JiHTepa-rypHoro aHiviHiiCKoro nsuxa. M.. 1969., p. 48 ff.

§ 284. In 1066, upon Edward’s death, the Elders of England (OH Witan) proclaimed Harold Godwin king of England. As soon as the news reached William of Normandy, he mustered a big army by prom­ise of land and plunder (one third of his soldiers were Normans, others, mercenaries from all over Europe) and, with the support of the Pope, landed in Britain.

In the battle of Hastings, fought in October 1066, Harold was killed and the English were defeated. This date is commonly known as the date of the Norman Conquest, though the military occupation of the country was not completed until a few years later. After the victory at Hastings, William by-passed London cutting it off from the North and made the Witan of London and the bishops at Westminster Abbey crown him king. William and his barons laid waste many lands in Eng­land, burning down villages and estates. They conducted a relentless campaign of subjugation, devastated and almost depopulated Northum­bria and Mercia, which tried to rise against the conquerors. Scores of earthen forts and wooden stockades, built during the campaign, were soon replaced by huge stone Norman castles. Most of the lands of the Anglo-Saxon lords passed into the hands of the Norman barons, Wil­liam's own possessions comprising about one third of the country. The Normans occupied all the important posts in the church, in the govern­ment, and in the army.

Following the conquest hundreds of people from France crossed the Channel to make their home in Britain. Immigration was easy, since the Norman kings of Britain were also dukes of Normandy and, about a hundred years !ater, tcok possession of the whole western half of France, thus bringing England into still closer contact with the continent. French monks, Iradesmen and craftsmen flooded the south-western towns, so that not only the higher nobility but also much of the middle class was French.

Effect of the Norman Conquest on fhe Linguistic Situation

§ 285. The Norman Conquest was not only a great event in British political history but also the greatest single event in the history of the English language. Its earliest effect was a drastic change in the linguistic situation.

The Norman conquerors of England had originally come from Scan­dinavia (compare Norman, and Northman). About one hundred and fifty years before they had seized the valley of the Seine and settled in what was henceforth known as Normandy. They were swiftly assim­ilated by the French and in the 11th c. came to Britain as French speakers and bearers of French culture. They spoke the Northern dialect of French, which differed in some points from Central, Parisian French. Their tongue in Britain is often referred to as “Anglo-French" or “Anglo- Norman”, but may just as well be called French, since we are less con­cerned here with the distinction of French dialects than with the contin­uous French influence upon English, both in the Norman period of history and a long while after the Anglo-Norman language had ceased to exist.

In the early 13th c., as a result of lengthy and inefficient wars with France John Lackland lost the French provinces, including the dukedom of Normandy. Among other consequences the loss of the lands in France _cut off the Normans in Britain from France, which speeded up the de­cline of the Anglo-French language.

§ 286. The most immediate consequence of the Norman domination in Britain is to be seen in the wide use of the French language in many spheres of life. For almost three hundred years French was the official language of administration: it was the language of the king's court, the law courts, the church, the army and the castle. It was also the every­day language of many nobles, of the higher clergy and of many towns­people in the South. The intellectual life, literature and education were in the hands of French-speaking people; French, alongside Latin, was the language of writing. Teaching was largely conducted in French and boys at school were taught to translate their Latin into French instead of English.

For all that. England never stopped being an English-speaking country. The bulk of the population held fast to their own tongue: the lower classes in the towns, and especially in the country-side, those who lived in the Midlands and up north, continued to speak English and looked upon French as foreign and hostile. Since most of the people were illiterate, Ihe English language was almost exclusively used for spoken communication.

At first the two languages existed side by side without mingling. Then, slowly and quietly, they began to permeate each other. The Nor­man barons and the French town-dwellers had to pick up English words to make themselves understood, while the English began to use French words in current speech. A gccd knowledge of French wcufd mark a person of higher standing giving him a certain social prestige. Probably many people became bilingual and had a fair command of both lan­guages.

§287. These peculiar linguistic conditions could not remain static. The struggle between French and English was bound to end in the com­plete victory of English, for English was the living language of the entire people, while French was restricted to certain social spheres and to writing. Yet the final victory was still a long way off. In the 13th c. only a few steps were made in that direction. The earliest sign of the official recognition of English by the Norman kings was the famous PRCCLAMATION issued by Henry 111 in 1258 to the councillors in Parliament. It was written in three languages: French, Latin and Eng­lish.

§ 288. The three hundred years of the domination of French affect­ed English more than any other foreign influence before or after. The early French borrowings reflect accurately the spheres of Not man in­fluence upon English life; later borrowings can be attributed to the con­tinued cultural, economic and political contacts between the countries. The French influence added new features to the regional and social dif­ferentiation of the language. New words, coining from French, could not be adopted simultaneously by all the speakers of English; they were first used in some varieties of the language, namely in the regional dia­lects of Southern England and in the speech of the upper classes, but were unknown in the other varieties. This led to growing dialectal dif­ferences, regional and social. Later the new features adopted from French extended to other varieties of the language.

The use of a foreign tongue as the state language, the-diversity of the dialects and the decline of the written form of English created a situation extremely favourable for increased variation and for more intensive linguistic change.

4. The effect of the Scandinavian Conquest.

Effect of the Scandinavian Invasions