Brief analysis of three different phases of English development

Now English is the most commonly used language. During the development process for the language, English has experienced three different phases, i.e. Old English, Middle English and Modern English. Well, what are the characteristics in each phase? Now let us make some specific analysis.

Phase of Old English

This phase begins in year of 449. Compared with modern English, there are hardly any alien words in Old English, but many derivatives in stead. Moreover, there are also many descriptive compound words in Old English, such as the word “world” being called “age of man”. Till year of 787, Vikings from areas like Denmark have gradually entered into Great Britain, and occupied most of England in the following three hundred years, which brings change in English as the Vikings bring confession in English, as well as words like husband and window. As a result, the pronunciation and spelling of Old English is quite different from that of modern English.

Middle Age English

The main event in this phase is the Norman Conquest, which brings many changes in English. During this nearly three hundred years, the official language in Great Britain is French, which is also the language for the ruling class, while English, used by common people, is granted to be the lowest language. Until the year of 1300 AD, French began to fade away. Till the end of the 14th century, English once again became the official language. In the following nearly four hundred years, Normans have brought more alien words to English, which also influenced the society and life of the British people.

Modern English

Modern English begins from the year of 1500. With the use of imported printing machines in Britain, English has entered into the Modern English phase. The English vocabulary has developed towards normalization, standardization and immobilization and the gap between pronunciation and spelling is also changing. As different kinds of trades become globalized, Modern English has also been greatly impacted. A large number of alien words have also brought great influence on development of Modern English.