Christian Monks adapted the Latin alphabet to English in the 6th century. The Normans brought more changes in pronunciation and sounds, along with suffixes, spelling practices, and analogies. The Great Vowel Shift occurred in the 15th century and altered the character of English spelling forever and increased spelling irregularities. In […]
English
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With the arrival of Christian Christian monks in the 6th century England, they wrote down the Anglo-Saxon language, adapting the Latin alphabet to English, adding extra letters for all the sounds. The arrival of the Normans, with their French influence, affected pronunciation and spelling practices. In his book, SPELL IT […]
In writing down the Anglo-Saxon language, Christian monks adapted the Latin alphabet to English, adding extra letters for all the sounds. The arrival of the Normans and their French scribes with their spelling conventions introduced many changes in vocabulary, pronunciation, and spelling. The French scribes opted to keep the spelling […]
Any language can incorporate foreign words and most have. Simple contact between cultures is all it takes. John McWhorter in The Power of Babel, says “intercultural contact is the very heart of human history, and thus the six thousand human languages are replete with the results of it.” And, he […]
There was no discrete dividing line between Old English, according to John McWhorter in The Power of Babel, which as spoken would have taken days to recognize as related to what we speak, and “English” as we know it. As it happened, Shakespeare wrote in a period (1500s becoming 1600s) […]