Change of English language between 1400-1600

Early Modern English is the stage of the English language used from about the end of the Middle English period (the latter half of the 15th century) to 1650. Thus, the first edition of the King James Bible and the works of William Shakespeare both belong to the late phase of Early Modern English. Prior to and following the accession of James I to the English throne in 1603 the emerging English standard began to influence the spoken and written Middle Scots of Scotland. Between 1400-1600 English underwent a couple of sound changes. One change was the elimination of a vowel sound in certain unstressed positions at the end of the words. The change was important because it effected thousands of words and gave a different aspect to the whole language. The other change is what is called the "Great Vowel Shift". This was a systematic shifting of half a dozen vowels and diphthongs in stressed syllables. For example the word name had in Middle English a vowel something like that in the modern word 'father';...etc. The shift effected all the words in which these vowels sounds occurred. These two changes produced the basic differences between Middle English and Modern English. But there are several other developments that effected the language. One was the invention of printing. It was introduced to England by William Caxton in 1475. After this books became cheaper and cheaper, more people learned to read and write, and advanced in communication. The period of Early Modern English was also a period of English Renaissance, which means 'the development of the people'. New ideas increased.

Change of English language between 1400-1600

English language had grown as a result of borrowing words from French, Latin and Greek. The greatest writer of the Early Modern English period is Shakespeare and the best known book is the King Jones version of the BIBLE. In Early Modern English, there were two second-person personal pronouns: thou, the informal singular pronoun, and ye, which was both the plural pronoun and the formal singular pronoun. (This usage is analogous to the modern French tu and vous and modern southern German du and ihr). Thou was already falling out of use in the Early Modern English period, but remained customary for addressing God and certain other solemn occasions, and sometimes for addressing inferiors. Like other personal pronouns, thou and ye had different forms depending on their grammatical case; specifically, the objective form of thouwas thee, its possessive forms were thy and thine, and its reflexive or emphatic form was thyself; while the objective form of ye was you, its possessive forms were your and yours, and its reflexive or emphatic forms were yourself and yourselves. In other respects, the pronouns were much the same as today. One difference is that my and thy became mine and thine before words beginning with a vowel or the letter h (or, more accurately, the older forms "mine" and "thine" had become "my" and "thy" before words beginning with a consonant other than "h," while "mine" and "thine" were retained before words beginning with a vowel or "h"); thus, mine eyes, thine hand, and so on.

Up to Shakespeare's English

Change of English language between 1400-1600

This period is estimated to be c. AD 14001600. Loss of most remaining diphthongs.

/ai/ (and former /i/, merged into /ai/ in Early Middle English) became // before the Great Vowel Shift. /ou/ (and former /u/, merged into /ou/ in Early Middle English) became /o/ and /ei/ became /e/ after the shift causing the long mid mergers.

/au/ became // after the shift.

The dewnew merger: /u/ and /iu/ merge, and they then become /ju/ after the shift. The veinvain merger: /ai/ and /ei/ merge, so that vain and vein are now homonyms. The dewduke merger: /y/ and /iu/ merge, so that dew and duke now have the same vowel.

/oi/ remained.

In a few regional accents, including some in Northern England, East Anglia, South Wales, and even Newfoundland, monophthongization has not been complete, so that pairs likepane /pain and toe/tow are distinct. (Wells 1982, pp. 19294, 337, 357, 38485, 498) /x/ (written gh) lost in most dialects causing the tauttaught merger. Great Vowel Shift; all long vowels raised or diphthongized.

/a/, //, /e/ become //, /e/, /i/, respectively. //, /o/ become /o/, /u/, respectively. /i/, /u/ become /i/ and /u/, later /ai/ and /au/. New // developed from old /au/ (see above).
3

Change of English language between 1400-1600

Note that //, /o/, /u/, /au/ effectively rotated in-place.

//, /e/ are shifted again to /e/, /i/ in Early Modern English, causing merger of former /e/ with /i/; but the two are still distinguished in spelling as ea, ee.[2]

Loss of // in final syllables.

Initial cluster /n/ loses first element; but still reflected in spelling. /kn/ reduces to /n/ in most dialects, causing the notknot merger. /r and /r/ merge to a single sound in most dialects, causing the rapwrap / merger.

Doubled consonants reduced to single consonants.

The period from 1400 to 1660 is central to the development of Modern English and the formation of the standard. The writing system of the fourteenth century were constructs which reflected nobodys spoken language. The same applies to the new standardized variety which was constructed in fifteenth century and which is now called Chancery Standard or Samuels Type IV. During the fourteenth century, French was replaced by English in many official documents and in other writings. When Parliament was addressed for the first time in English the records of that meeting were written in French . At the end of the fourteenth century, we can see the expansion of composition in English and in the use of English in official meetings. More and more people used English in public and official gatherings. The important change comes from Henry V who came to the throne in 1413. In 1415 he renewed the war against France and

Change of English language between 1400-1600

enjoyed great success. Naturally the war against France promoted English nationalism and brought a huge wave of support and sympathy for Henry V. The most important decision for the English language made by Henry V was his use of English for all the letters which he sent from France after he arrived there for the second time in 1417. Henry used English in almost all private correspondence. Henry V gave the necessary impetus to establish English as the official written language. The Signal office was closely related to the Chancery. The Chancery was the secretary of the state in all departments of late medieval government. The Chancery acted as a training school not only for its own clerks, but for those in other situations. Many of the documents issued from the Chancery head legal status and so had to be written in English. In the fourteenth century 3 languages were used in England: English, French and Latin. English was primarily spoken language and Latin and French were the languages of writing. Writing in English was becoming more common and this was what allowed for the formation of standardized varieties. Praise of English is most marked at the end of the sixteenth century and is motivated by the output of outstanding literary work. Further elegance and acceptability of English was found in the translations of the Bible which were made in 16th and 17th centuries.