Unit1　ThewrittenwordPeriod1　Welcometotheunit，Reading课件（牛津译林版选修8）.ppt

①The history of the English language really started with the arrival of three Germanic tribes who invaded Britain during the 5th century AD. These tribes, the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes, crossed the North Sea from what today is Denmark and northern Germany. At that time the inhabitants of Britain spoke a Celtic language. ;But most of the Celtic speakers were pushed west and north by the invaders－mainly into what is now Wales, Scotland and Ireland. The Angles came from England and their language was called English，from which the words England and English are derived. ; In 1066 William the Conqueror, the Duke of Normandy (part of modern France), invaded and conquered England. The new conquerors (called the Normans) brought with them a kind of French, which became the language of the Royal Court, and the ruling and business classes. For a period there was a kind of linguistic class division, where the lower classes spoke English and the upper classes spoke French. a．In the 14th century English became dominant in Britain again, but with many French words added.This language is called Middle English. It was the language of the great poet Chaucer (1340～1400), but it would still be difficult for native English speakers to understand today.; Towards the end of Middle English, a sudden and distinct change in pronunciation (the Great Vowel Shift) started, with vowels being pronounced shorter and shorter. From the 16th century the British had contact with many peoples from around the world. This, and the Renaissance of Classical learning, meant that many new words and phrases entered the language. The invention of printing also meant that there was now a common language in print. Books became cheaper and more people learned to read. Printing also brought standardization to English. Spelling and grammar became fixed, and the dialect of ;London, where most publishing houses were, became the standard. In 1604 the first English dictionary was published. b. The main diff