6. Chronological Division in the History of English

The historical development of a language is a continuous uninterrupted process. It goes on without sudden breaks or rapid transformation. Therefore, any periodisation with precise dates might appear artificial, sometimes even arbitrary. Yet in all language histories, periodisations are used for teaching and research purposes. These are divisions into periods and cross-sections of a certain length.

The commonly accepted, traditional periodosation divides English history into three periods: Old English, Middle English, New(Modern) English. The boundaries between them are attached to definite dates and historical events affecting the language.

The Old English period begins with the Germanic settlement of Britain (5^th century), or with the beginning of writing (7^th century), and ends with the Norman Conquest (1066). The Middle English period begins with the Norman Conquest and ends on the introduction of printing (1475). 1475 is the start of the Modern English or New English period. The New English period lasts to the present day. There are some amendments to the traditional periodisation. They shift the boundary lines or they envisage other divisions within the main periods. Albert Baugh suggested that Middle English really began later, in 1500, for the effect of the Norman Conquest on the language could not have been immediate. Henry Sweet considered that we should single out periods of transition. He subdivided the three main periods into early, classical and late. Some authors prefer a division of history by centirues (M.Schlauch), or a division into periods of two hundred years (B.Strang). Our native linguists A.Illyish, V.Arakin, T.Rastorguyeva also worked out the systems of periodisation of the English language. A.Illyish distinguishes the traditional periods but the dates are somewhat different:

• the Old English period – from the 5^th- 7^th centuries up to 1100;

• the Middle English period – from 1100 up to 1500;

• the Modern English or New English period – from 1500 up to the present day.

V.Arakin suggests the following periodisation:

• the Proto Old English period – from the first centuries A.D. up to the 7^th- 8^th centuries;

• the Old English period – from the 7^th up to the 11^th centuries;

• the Middle English period – from the 11^th up to the 15^th centuries;

the Modern English or the New English period – from the end of the 15^th century T.Rastorguyeva includes subsequent subdivisions within three main periods:

• the Old English period is subdivided into the Early Old English or the Pre-written Old English period (450-700) and the Old English or the Written Old English period (700-1066);

• the Middle English period is subdivided into the Early Middle English period (1066-1350) and the Middle English or the Classical Middle English period (1350-1475);

• the Modern English or the New English period includes the Early New English period (1476-1660), the Normalization period or the Age of Correctness, or the Neo-Classical period (1660-1800) and the Late Modern (New) English period (1800 - including the Present-day English period since 1945).

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