MAKING OF MODERN ENGLISH

Modern English Period is said to begin around 16th century. There were three important
linguistic landmarks to be considered- the first one is the contributions of William
Shakespeare, the second one is King James’s Bible and finally, Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary.
To understand the linguistic developments, one needs to understand the historical
background. The three main events that were important included the Renaissance,
Reformation and Restoration.

Renaissance, Reformation and Restoration

Renaissance means rebirth and from the linguistic perspective Renaissance means
rediscovery and revival of Classical learning in Greek and Latin. It is also the period of
expansion of knowledge and flowering of art and literature influenced by Classical models
and contemporary events like Columbus’s discovery of the New World. Renaissance was
also the period in which vernacular languages like French, Italian and English began to grow
without being considered as inferiors. All these changes along with the invention of printing
press led to an increase in the use of books and spread of education.

Reformation can be traced back to 14th century but was re-launched by Henry VIII with his
divorce issues and thus broke from the Catholic Church and this led to the translation of Bible
into English which gave people access to God through English vernacular instead of through
the mediation of Church Latin and this was the basis of Protestant thinking. English started
becoming written language instead of Latin. Earlier the clergy were the only people who
were able to read and write and this was the reason why Latin was given such importance.
Restoration period saw the emergence of standardised English.

Latin and English

This was also the period when Latin and English coexisted. Renaissance figures like Thomas
Moore and Francis Bacon wrote in English but embellished it with Latin. Classical language
of Latin and Greek held strong position in universities like Oxford and Cambridge and thus
Latin loanwords were mainly associated with learning and science. These include words like
area, circus, exit, genius, fungus, species, vacuum, orbit, album, apparatus, encyclopaedia,
focus, lens, formula, specimen, series and status. Latin suffix –atus became –ate when it came
to English (desparatus became desperate and associatus became associate). Latin ending –
tas became –ty (celeritas became celerity).

Remodelling of Latin words is also quite common during this period. Some words previously
borrowed from French were remodelled to resemble Latin originals.

Latin English word via French English word from Latin

Corpus Corps Corpse
Factum Feat Fact
Historia Story History

Sometimes we can also find three words with similar meanings.

Old English French Latin

Ask Question Interrogate
Kingly Royal Regal

We also have hybrid words which is a combination of native elements with Latin prefixes or
suffixes (starve+ation=starvation; similarly we have talkative and heathenism)

William Shakespeare was an extremely productive writer and he has produced 2 long poems,
154 sonnets and 37 plays within 20 years and he has used around 23,000 words. Of these
many have acquires new meanings. For example, ecstasy meant madness, fond meant foolish
and learn had two meaning- teach and learn. King James Bible came in 1611 and this was
known as The Authorised Version in the Anglican Church. Many of the old English words
were retained. Johnson’s Dictionary came up in 1755 and it aimed at fixing pronunciation but
judging by modern standards it was painfully inadequate.

The English grammar was like Latin and is Prescriptive Grammar.

Nouns had only minor difference from that of Middle English.

 Use of apostrophe to show possession: singular (sister’s), plural (sisters’)

 Mutated vowel plurals survived without adding –s plural marker (feet, mice, man,
teeth, lice, women)
 Some –n plural remained in early Modern English (eyen, children, oxen)

Pronouns

 Possessive pronouns his, her and their were used as Genetive marker (Keanu’s book
is beautiful was also written as Keanu his book is beautiful)
 Ye, you and your were used to address superiors and show politeness while thou, thee,
thy and thine were used to show intimacy
(Queen: Hamlet, thou hast thy Father much offended
Hamlet: Mother, you have my father much offended)
 Ye and you were separately used earlier but now written interchangeably

Adjective: The comparative –er and superlative –est were retained.

Verbs

 Old English had 4 principal parts (infinitive, past singular, past plural, past participle)
and this was reduced to just 3
  Regular verbs included weak verbs like talk, talked, talked
Irregular verbs included both weak (think, thought, thought) and strong (sing, sang,
sung)
 Contracted forms of verbs like don’t, doesn’t, won’t and isn’t came in 17th century
 Dummy auxiliary do was important in maintaining structure but didn’t carry any
meaning.
It provides stress (He did not read that book) and helps in the formation of negative
sentences (He did not read that book)

Great Vowel Shift

Changes in pronunciation happened with the Great Vowel Shift. It affected both long vowels
in front series and long vowels in back series.

Long vowels in front series:

[i:] → [aı] fi:r becomes fire

Closed [e:] → [i:] me:t becomes meet

Open [e:] → [i:] se: becomes sea

Long vowels in back series:

[u:] → [aᴜ] hu:s becomes house

[o:] → [ᴜ:] fo:t becomes foot

[o:] → [ou] fo:d becomes food

[a:] → [eı] na:ma becomes name

[ᴜ] → [ᴧ] sun

Vocabulary

Science: neurosis, trauma, schizophrenia, anorexia, psychotherapy, chlorophyll, protoplasm,

monolith, pterodactyl, nanotechnology, insectivorous, bibliophile, telepathy.

Loan words:

1. Persian- Magic, Jasmine, Bazaar

2. Arabic- Elixir, Mosque, Alchemy
 3. Hebrew- Camel, Cinnamon, Amen
4. Italian- Soprano, Fiasco, Piano
5. India- Chutney, Karma, Raja
6. American India- Tobacco, Tapioca, Hammock
7. Africa- Zebra, Gorilla, Oasis
8. Russia- Tsar, Bolshevik, Vodka
9. German- Yatch, Dock, Cruise
10. Chinese- Mandarin, Tea, Typhoon
11. Japanese- Kimono, Samurai, Sushi

Contributions of World War

WWI: battle plane, tank, gas mask, hand grenade, machine gun

WWII: blackout, blister, airrade, dive bombing, paratroops, landing strip, crash landing,
road block, radar, shelter, resistance, movement

After war: cold war, iron curtain, front organisation, police state, fellow traveller