Early Modern English or Early New English (sometimes abbreviated EModE, EMnE, or ENE) is the stage of the
English language
English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...
from the beginning of the
Tudor period
The Tudor period occurred between 1485 and 1603 in History of England, England and Wales and includes the Elizabethan period during the reign of Elizabeth I until 1603. The Tudor period coincides with the dynasty of the House of Tudor in Englan ...
to the English
Interregnum
An interregnum (plural interregna or interregnums) is a period of discontinuity or "gap" in a government, organization, or social order. Archetypally, it was the period of time between the reign of one monarch and the next (coming from Latin '' ...
and
Restoration
Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to:
* Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage
** Audio restoration
** Film restoration
** Image restoration
** Textile restoration
* Restoration ecology
...
, or from the transition from
Middle English
Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English p ...
, in the late 15th century, to the transition to
Modern English, in the mid-to-late 17th century.
Before and after the accession of
James I James I may refer to:
People
*James I of Aragon (1208–1276)
*James I of Sicily or James II of Aragon (1267–1327)
*James I, Count of La Marche (1319–1362), Count of Ponthieu
*James I, Count of Urgell (1321–1347)
*James I of Cyprus (1334–13 ...
to the English throne in 1603, the emerging English standard began to influence the spoken and written
Middle Scots
Middle Scots was the Anglic language of Lowland Scotland in the period from 1450 to 1700. By the end of the 15th century, its phonology, orthography, accidence, syntax and vocabulary had diverged markedly from Early Scots, which was virtually ...
of Scotland.
The grammatical and orthographical conventions of literary English in the late 16th century and the 17th century are still very influential on modern
Standard English
In an English-speaking country, Standard English (SE) is the variety of English that has undergone substantial regularisation and is associated with formal schooling, language assessment, and official print publications, such as public service a ...
. Most modern readers of English can understand texts written in the late phase of Early Modern English, such as the ''
King James Bible
The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an Bible translations into English, English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and publis ...
'' and the works of
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
, and they have greatly influenced Modern English.
Texts from the earlier phase of Early Modern English, such as the late-15th-century ''
Le Morte d'Arthur
' (originally written as '; inaccurate Middle French for "The Death of Arthur") is a 15th-century Middle English prose reworking by Sir Thomas Malory of tales about the legendary King Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot, Merlin and the Knights of the Rou ...
'' (1485) and the mid-16th-century ''
Gorboduc
Gorboduc ('' Welsh:'' Gorwy or Goronwy) was a legendary king of the Britons as recounted by Geoffrey of Monmouth. He was married to Judon. When he became old, his sons, Ferrex and Porrex, feuded over who would take over the kingdom. Porrex tried ...
'' (1561), may present more difficulties but are still closer to Modern English grammar, lexicon and phonology than are 14th-century Middle English texts, such as the works of
Geoffrey Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer (; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for ''The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He wa ...
.
History
English Renaissance
Transition from Middle English
The change from
Middle English
Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English p ...
to Early Modern English was not just a matter of changes of vocabulary or pronunciation; a new era in the history of English was beginning.
An era of linguistic change in a language with large variations in dialect was replaced by a new era of a more standardised language, with a richer lexicon and an established (and lasting) literature.
*1476 –
William Caxton
William Caxton ( – ) was an English merchant, diplomat and writer. He is thought to be the first person to introduce a printing press into England, in 1476, and as a printer (publisher), printer to be the first English retailer of printed boo ...
starts printing in
Westminster
Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster.
The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Bu ...
; however, the language that he uses reflects the variety of styles and dialects used by the authors who originally wrote the material.
=Tudor period (1485–1603)
=
*1485 – Caxton publishes
Thomas Malory
Sir Thomas Malory was an English writer, the author of '' Le Morte d'Arthur'', the classic English-language chronicle of the Arthurian legend, compiled and in most cases translated from French sources. The most popular version of '' Le Morte d' ...
's ''
Le Morte d'Arthur
' (originally written as '; inaccurate Middle French for "The Death of Arthur") is a 15th-century Middle English prose reworking by Sir Thomas Malory of tales about the legendary King Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot, Merlin and the Knights of the Rou ...
'', the first print bestseller in English. Malory's language, while archaic in some respects, is clearly Early Modern and is possibly a Yorkshire or Midlands dialect.
*1491 or 1492 –
Richard Pynson
Richard Pynson (c. 1449 – c. 1529) was one of the first printers of English books. Born in Normandy, he moved to London, where he became one of the leading printers of the generation following William Caxton. His books were printed to a high s ...
starts printing in London; his style tends to prefer
Chancery Standard
Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English p ...
, the form of English used by the government.
Henry VIII
* 1509 – Pynson becomes the king's official printer.
*From 1525 – Publication of
William Tyndale
William Tyndale (; sometimes spelled ''Tynsdale'', ''Tindall'', ''Tindill'', ''Tyndall''; – ) was an English biblical scholar and linguist who became a leading figure in the Protestant Reformation in the years leading up to his executi ...
's Bible translation,
which was initially banned.
*1539 – Publication of the ''
Great Bible
The Great Bible of 1539 was the first authorised edition of the Bible in English, authorised by King Henry VIII of England to be read aloud in the church services of the Church of England. The Great Bible was prepared by Myles Coverdale, working ...
'', the first officially authorised Bible in English. Edited by
Myles Coverdale
Myles Coverdale, first name also spelt Miles (1488 – 20 January 1569), was an English ecclesiastical reformer chiefly known as a Bible translator, preacher and, briefly, Bishop of Exeter (1551–1553). In 1535, Coverdale produced the first c ...
, it is largely from the work of Tyndale. It is read to congregations regularly in churches, which familiarises much of the population of England with a standard form of the language.
*1549 – Publication of the first ''
Book of Common Prayer
The ''Book of Common Prayer'' (BCP) is the name given to a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion and by other Christian churches historically related to Anglicanism. The original book, published in 1549 in the reign ...
'' in English, under the supervision of
Thomas Cranmer
Thomas Cranmer (2 July 1489 – 21 March 1556) was a leader of the English Reformation and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and, for a short time, Mary I. He helped build the case for the annulment of Henry' ...
(revised 1552 and 1662), which standardises much of the wording of church services. Some have argued that since attendance at prayer book services was required by law for many years, the repetitive use of its language helped to standardise Modern English even more than the ''
King James Bible
The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an Bible translations into English, English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and publis ...
'' (1611) did.
*1557 – Publication of ''
Tottel's Miscellany
''Songes and Sonettes'', usually called ''Tottel's Miscellany'', was the first printed anthology of English poetry. First published by Richard Tottel in 1557 in London, it ran to many editions in the sixteenth century.
Richard Tottel
Richard To ...
''.
Elizabethan English
![Gorboduc TP 1565](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/50/Gorboduc_TP_1565.jpg)
;
Elizabethan era
The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The symbol of Britannia (a female personifi ...
(1558–1603)
*1582 – The
Rheims and Douai Bible is completed, and the New Testament is released in
Rheims
Reims ( , , ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French department of Marne, and the 12th most populous city in France. The city lies northeast of Paris on the Vesle river, a tributary of the Aisne.
Founded by ...
, France, in 1582. It is the first complete English translation of the Bible that is officially sponsored and carried out by the
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
(earlier translations into English, especially of the Psalms and Gospels existed as far back as the 9th century, but it is the first Catholic English translation of the full Bible). Though the Old Testament is ready complete, it is not published until 1609–1610, when it is released in two volumes. While it does not make a large impact on the English language at large, it certainly plays a role in the development of English, especially in the world's heavily Catholic English-speaking areas.
*
Christopher Marlowe
Christopher Marlowe, also known as Kit Marlowe (; baptised 26 February 156430 May 1593), was an English playwright, poet and translator of the Elizabethan era. Marlowe is among the most famous of the Elizabethan playwrights. Based upon the ...
,
*1592 – ''
The Spanish Tragedy
''The Spanish Tragedy, or Hieronimo is Mad Again'' is an Elizabethan tragedy written by Thomas Kyd between 1582 and 1592. Highly popular and influential in its time, ''The Spanish Tragedy'' established a new genre in English theatre, the reveng ...
'' by
Thomas Kyd
Thomas Kyd (baptised 6 November 1558; buried 15 August 1594) was an English playwright, the author of ''The Spanish Tragedy'', and one of the most important figures in the development of Elizabethan drama.
Although well known in his own time, ...
*c. 1590 to c. 1612 –
Shakespeare's plays
Shakespeare's plays are a canon of approximately 39 dramatic works written by English poet, playwright, and actor William Shakespeare. The exact number of plays—as well as their classifications as Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy, Shakespearean ...
written
17th century
Jacobean and Caroline eras
=Jacobean era (1603–1625)
=
*1609 –
Shakespeare's sonnets published
*Other playwrights:
**
Ben Jonson
Benjamin "Ben" Jonson (c. 11 June 1572 – c. 16 August 1637) was an English playwright and poet. Jonson's artistry exerted a lasting influence upon English poetry and stage comedy. He popularised the comedy of humours; he is best known for t ...
**
Thomas Dekker
**
Beaumont and Fletcher
Beaumont and Fletcher were the English dramatists Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher, who collaborated in their writing during the reign of James I (1603–25).
They became known as a team early in their association, so much so that their jo ...
(
Francis Beaumont
Francis Beaumont ( ; 1584 – 6 March 1616) was a dramatist in the English Renaissance theatre, most famous for his collaborations with John Fletcher.
Beaumont's life
Beaumont was the son of Sir Francis Beaumont of Grace Dieu, near Thrin ...
and
John Fletcher)
**
John Webster
John Webster (c. 1580 – c. 1632) was an English Jacobean dramatist best known for his tragedies '' The White Devil'' and ''The Duchess of Malfi'', which are often seen as masterpieces of the early 17th-century English stage. His life and car ...
*1607 – The first successful permanent English colony in the New World,
Jamestown, is established in Virginia. Early vocabulary specific to
American English
American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the Languages of the United States, most widely spoken lan ...
comes from indigenous languages (such as
moose
The moose (in North America) or elk (in Eurasia) (''Alces alces'') is a member of the New World deer subfamily and is the only species in the genus ''Alces''. It is the largest and heaviest extant species in the deer family. Most adult mal ...
,
racoon
The raccoon ( or , ''Procyon lotor''), sometimes called the common raccoon to distinguish it from other species, is a mammal native to North America. It is the largest of the procyonid family, having a body length of , and a body weight of ...
).
*1611 – The ''
King James Version
The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an Bible translations into English, English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and publis ...
'' is published, largely based on Tyndale's translation. It remained the standard Bible in the
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
into the twentieth century.
*1623 – Shakespeare's ''
First Folio
''Mr. William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies'' is a collection of plays by William Shakespeare, commonly referred to by modern scholars as the First Folio, published in 1623, about seven years after Shakespeare's death. It is cons ...
'' published
=Caroline era and English Civil War (1625–1649)
=
*1630–1651 – William Bradford, Governor of
Plymouth Colony
Plymouth Colony (sometimes Plimouth) was, from 1620 to 1691, the British America, first permanent English colony in New England and the second permanent English colony in North America, after the Jamestown Colony. It was first settled by the pa ...
, writes in his journal. It will become ''
Of Plymouth Plantation
''Of Plymouth Plantation'' is a journal that was written over a period of years by William Bradford, the leader of the Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts. It is regarded as the most authoritative account of the Pilgrims and the early years of the ...
'', one of the earliest texts written in the
American Colonies
The Thirteen Colonies, also known as the Thirteen British Colonies, the Thirteen American Colonies, or later as the United Colonies, were a group of British colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America. Founded in the 17th and 18th centur ...
.
*1647 – Publication of the first
Beaumont and Fletcher folio
The Beaumont and Fletcher folios are two large folio collections of the stage plays of John Fletcher and his collaborators. The first was issued in 1647, and the second in 1679. The two collections were important in preserving many works of En ...
Interregnum and Restoration
The
English Civil War
The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...
and the
Interregnum
An interregnum (plural interregna or interregnums) is a period of discontinuity or "gap" in a government, organization, or social order. Archetypally, it was the period of time between the reign of one monarch and the next (coming from Latin '' ...
were times of social and political upheaval and instability.
The dates for
Restoration literature
Restoration literature is the English literature written during the historical period commonly referred to as the Stuart Restoration, English Restoration (1660–1689), which corresponds to the last years of Stuart period, Stuart reign in Engl ...
are a matter of convention and differ markedly from genre to genre. In drama, the "Restoration" may last until 1700, but in poetry, it may last only until 1666, the ''
annus mirabilis
''Annus mirabilis'' (pl. ''anni mirabiles'') is a Latin phrase that means "marvelous year", "wonderful year", "miraculous year", or "amazing year". This term has been used to refer to several years during which events of major importance are rem ...
'' (year of wonders), and in prose lasts until 1688. With the increasing tensions over succession and the corresponding rise in journalism and periodicals, or until possibly 1700, when those periodicals grew more stabilised.
*1651 – Publication of ''
Leviathan
Leviathan (; he, לִוְיָתָן, ) is a sea serpent noted in theology and mythology. It is referenced in several books of the Hebrew Bible, including Psalms, the Book of Job, the Book of Isaiah, the Book of Amos, and, according to some ...
'' by
Thomas Hobbes
Thomas Hobbes ( ; 5/15 April 1588 – 4/14 December 1679) was an English philosopher, considered to be one of the founders of modern political philosophy. Hobbes is best known for his 1651 book ''Leviathan'', in which he expounds an influent ...
.
*1660–1669 –
Samuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys (; 23 February 1633 – 26 May 1703) was an English diarist and naval administrator. He served as administrator of the Royal Navy and Member of Parliament and is most famous for the diary he kept for a decade. Pepys had no mariti ...
writes in his diary, which will become an important eyewitness account of the Restoration Era.
*1662 – New edition of the ''Book of Common Prayer'', largely based on the 1549 and subsequent editions. It long remains a standard work in English.
*1667 – Publication of ''
Paradise Lost
''Paradise Lost'' is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton (1608–1674). The first version, published in 1667, consists of ten books with over ten thousand lines of verse (poetry), verse. A second edition fo ...
'' by
John Milton
John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet and intellectual. His 1667 epic poem '' Paradise Lost'', written in blank verse and including over ten chapters, was written in a time of immense religious flux and political ...
and of ''
Annus Mirabilis
''Annus mirabilis'' (pl. ''anni mirabiles'') is a Latin phrase that means "marvelous year", "wonderful year", "miraculous year", or "amazing year". This term has been used to refer to several years during which events of major importance are rem ...
'' by
John Dryden
''
John Dryden (; – ) was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who in 1668 was appointed England's first Poet Laureate.
He is seen as dominating the literary life of Restoration England to such a point that the per ...
Development to Modern English
The 17th-century
port town
A port is a maritime law, maritime facility comprising one or more Wharf, wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge Affreightment, cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can a ...
s and their forms of speech gain influence over the old
county town
In the United Kingdom and Ireland, a county town is the most important town or city in a county. It is usually the location of administrative or judicial functions within a county and the place where the county's members of Parliament are elect ...
s. From around the 1690s onwards, England experienced a new period of internal peace and relative stability, which encouraged the arts including literature.
Modern English can be taken to have emerged fully by the beginning of the
Georgian era
The Georgian era was a period in British history from 1714 to , named after the Hanoverian Kings George I, George II, George III and George IV. The definition of the Georgian era is often extended to include the relatively short reign of Willi ...
in 1714, but
English orthography
English orthography is the writing system used to represent spoken English, allowing readers to connect the graphemes to sound and to meaning. It includes English's norms of spelling, hyphenation, capitalisation, word breaks, emphasis, and p ...
remained somewhat fluid until the publication of Johnson's ''
A Dictionary of the English Language
''A Dictionary of the English Language'', sometimes published as ''Johnson's Dictionary'', was published on 15 April 1755 and written by Samuel Johnson. It is among the most influential dictionaries in the history of the English language.
T ...
'', in 1755.
The towering importance of
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
over the other Elizabethan authors was the result of his
reception
Reception is a noun form of ''receiving'', or ''to receive'' something, such as art, experience, information, people, products, or vehicles. It may refer to:
Astrology
* Reception (astrology), when a planet is located in a sign ruled by another p ...
during the 17th and the 18th centuries, which directly contributes to the development of
Standard English
In an English-speaking country, Standard English (SE) is the variety of English that has undergone substantial regularisation and is associated with formal schooling, language assessment, and official print publications, such as public service a ...
.
Shakespeare's plays
Shakespeare's plays are a canon of approximately 39 dramatic works written by English poet, playwright, and actor William Shakespeare. The exact number of plays—as well as their classifications as Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy, Shakespearean ...
are therefore still familiar and comprehensible 400 years after they were written, but the works of
Geoffrey Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer (; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for ''The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He wa ...
and
William Langland
William Langland (; la, Willielmus de Langland; 1332 – c. 1386) is the presumed author of a work of Middle English alliterative verse generally known as ''Piers Plowman'', an allegory with a complex variety of religious themes. The poem tr ...
, which had been written only 200 years earlier, are considerably more difficult for the average modern reader.
Orthography
![Shakespeare](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a2/Shakespeare.jpg)
The
orthography
An orthography is a set of conventions for writing a language, including norms of spelling, hyphenation, capitalization, word breaks, emphasis, and punctuation.
Most transnational languages in the modern period have a writing system, and mos ...
of Early Modern English was fairly similar to that of today, but spelling was unstable. Early Modern English, as well as Modern English, inherited orthographical conventions predating the
Great Vowel Shift
The Great Vowel Shift was a series of changes in the pronunciation of the English language that took place primarily between 1400 and 1700, beginning in southern England and today having influenced effectively all dialects of English. Through ...
.
Early Modern English spelling was similar to
Middle English orthography
Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English p ...
. Certain changes were made, however, sometimes for reasons of etymology (as with the
silent that was added to words like , and ).
Early Modern English orthography had a number of features of spelling that have not been retained:
*The letter had two distinct
lowercase
Letter case is the distinction between the Letter (alphabet), letters that are in larger uppercase or capitals (or more formally ''majuscule'') and smaller lowercase (or more formally ''minuscule'') in the written representation of certain lang ...
forms: (short ''s''), as is still used today, and (
long ''s''). The short ''s'' was always used at the end of a word and often elsewhere. The long ''s'', if used, could appear anywhere except at the end of a word. The double lowercase ''S'' was written variously , or (the last
ligature
Ligature may refer to:
* Ligature (medicine), a piece of suture used to shut off a blood vessel or other anatomical structure
** Ligature (orthodontic), used in dentistry
* Ligature (music), an element of musical notation used especially in the me ...
is still used in German
ß). That is similar to the alternation between medial (σ) and final lowercase
sigma
Sigma (; uppercase Σ, lowercase σ, lowercase in word-final position ς; grc-gre, σίγμα) is the eighteenth letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of 200. In general mathematics, uppercase Σ is used as ...
(ς) in Greek.
*
and
were not considered two distinct letters then but as still different forms of the same letter. Typographically, was frequent at the start of a word and elsewhere: hence ' (for modern ''unmoved'') and (for ''love''). The modern convention of using for the vowel sounds and for the consonant appears to have been introduced in the 1630s.
[Salmon, V., (in) Lass, R. (ed.), ''The Cambridge History of the English Language'', Vol. III, CUP 2000, p. 39.] Also, was frequently represented by .
*Similarly,
and
were also still considered not as two distinct letters, but as different forms of the same letter: hence ' for ''joy'' and for ''just''. Again, the custom of using as a vowel and as a consonant began in the 1630s.
*The letter (
thorn
Thorn(s) or The Thorn(s) may refer to:
Botany
* Thorns, spines, and prickles, sharp structures on plants
* ''Crataegus monogyna'', or common hawthorn, a plant species
Comics and literature
* Rose and Thorn, the two personalities of two DC Com ...
) was still in use during the Early Modern English period but was increasingly limited to handwritten texts. In Early Modern English printing, was represented by the Latin (see
Ye olde), which appeared similar to thorn in blackletter typeface
. Thorn had become nearly totally disused by the late Early Modern English period, the last vestiges of the letter being its ligatures, (thee), (that), (thou), which were still seen occasionally in the 1611 ''King James Version'' and in Shakespeare's Folios.
*A
silent was often appended to words, as in ' and '. The last
consonant
In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are and pronounced with the lips; and pronounced with the front of the tongue; and pronounced wit ...
was sometimes doubled when the was added: hence ' (for ''man'') and ' (for ''run'').
*The sound was often written (as in ''son''): hence ', ' (for modern ''summer'', ''plumb'').
*The final syllable of words like ''public'' was variously spelt but came to be standardised as ''-ick''. The modern spellings with ''-ic'' did not come into use until the mid-18th century.
* was often used instead of .
*The vowels represented by and (for example in ''meet'' and ') changed, and became an alternative.
Many spellings had still not been standardised, however. For example, ''he'' was spelled as both and in the same sentence in Shakespeare's plays and elsewhere.
Phonology
Consonants
Most consonant sounds of Early Modern English have survived into present-day English; however, there are still a few notable differences in pronunciation:
*Today's "silent" consonants found in the
consonant clusters
In linguistics, a consonant cluster, consonant sequence or consonant compound, is a group of consonants which have no intervening vowel. In English, for example, the groups and are consonant clusters in the word ''splits''. In the education fie ...
of such words as ''knot, gnat, sword'' were still fully pronounced up until the mid-to-late 16th century and thus possibly by Shakespeare, though they were
fully reduced by the early 17th century.
The digraph
<ght>, in words like ''night'', ''thought'' and ''daughter'', originally pronounced in much older English, was probably reduced to simply (as it is today) or at least heavily reduced in sound to something like , , or . It seems likely that much variation existed for many of these words.
*The now-silent ''l'' of ''would'' and ''should'' may have persisted in being pronounced as late as 1700 in Britain and perhaps several decades longer in the
British American colonies
The British colonization of the Americas was the history of establishment of control, settlement, and colonization of the continents of the Americas by England, Scotland and, after 1707, Great Britain. Colonization efforts began in the late 1 ...
. The ''l'' in ''could'', however, first appearing in the early 16th century, was presumably never pronounced.
*The modern phoneme was not documented as occurring until the second half of the 17th century. Likely, that phoneme in a word like ''vision'' was pronounced as and in ''measure'' as .
*Most words with the spelling , such as ''what'', ''where'' and ''whale'', were still pronounced , rather than . That means, for example, that ''wine'' and ''whine'' were
still pronounced differently, unlike in most varieties of English today.
*Early Modern English was
rhotic. In other words, the ''r'' was always pronounced,
[Crystal, David]
span> "Hark, hark, what shout is that?" Around the Globe 31. [based on article written for the Troilus programme, Shakespeare's Globe, August 2005: 'Saying it like it was' but the precise nature of the typical rhotic consonant remains unclear. It was, however, certainly one of the following:
**The "R" of most varieties of English today: or a further forward sound
**The "trilled or rolled R": , perhaps with one contact , as in modern Scouse and Scottish English
**The "retroflex R": .
*In Early Modern English, the precise nature of the light and dark allophone, variants of the ''l'' consonant, respectively and , remains unclear.
*Word-final , as in ''sing'', was still pronounced until the late 16th century, when it began to
coalesce
Coalesce may refer to:
*Coalesce (band), a metalcore band from Kansas City, Missouri, active from 1994 to 1999, 2005–
**Coalesce discography, a list of Coalesce's albums and songs
*COALESCE, an SQL function
*Null coalescing operator, a binary op ...
into the usual modern pronunciation, . The original pronunciation is preserved in parts of England, in dialects such as
Brummie
The Brummie dialect, or more formally the Birmingham dialect, is spoken by many people in Birmingham, England, and some of its surrounding areas. "Brummie" is also a demonym for people from Birmingham. It is often erroneously used in referring to ...
,
Mancunian and Scouse.
*
H-dropping
''H''-dropping or aitch-dropping is the deletion of the voiceless glottal fricative or "''H''-sound", . The phenomenon is common in many dialects of English, and is also found in certain other languages, either as a purely historical developmen ...
at the start of words was common, as it still is in informal English throughout most of England.
In loanwords taken from
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
, Greek, or any
Romance language
The Romance languages, sometimes referred to as Latin languages or Neo-Latin languages, are the various modern languages that evolved from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages in the Indo-European languages, I ...
, a written ''h'' was usually mute well into modern English times, e.g. in ''heritage'', ''history'', ''hermit'', ''hostage'', and still today in ''heir'', ''honor'', ''hour'' etc.
*With words originating from or passed through ancient Greek, ''th'' was commonly pronounced as ''t'', e.g. ''theme'', ''theater'', ''cathedral'', ''anthem''; this is still retained in some proper names as ''Thomas'' and a few common nouns like ''thyme''.
Pure vowels and diphthongs
The following information primarily comes from studies of the
Great Vowel Shift
The Great Vowel Shift was a series of changes in the pronunciation of the English language that took place primarily between 1400 and 1700, beginning in southern England and today having influenced effectively all dialects of English. Through ...
; see the related chart.
*The modern English
phoneme
In phonology and linguistics, a phoneme () is a unit of sound that can distinguish one word from another in a particular language.
For example, in most dialects of English, with the notable exception of the West Midlands and the north-west o ...
, as in ''glide'', ''rhyme'' and ''eye'', was and later . Early Modern rhymes indicate that was also the vowel that was used at the end of words like ''happy'', ''melody'' and ''busy''.
*, as in ''now'', ''out'' and ''ploughed'', was .
*, as in ''fed'', ''elm'' and ''hen'', was more or less the same as the phoneme represents today, sometimes approaching (as it still retains in the word ''pretty'').
* , as in ''name'', ''case'' and ''sake'', was a long
monophthong
A monophthong ( ; , ) is a pure vowel sound, one whose articulation at both beginning and end is relatively fixed, and which does not glide up or down towards a new position of articulation. The monophthongs can be contrasted with diphthongs, wh ...
. It shifted from to and finally to . Earlier in Early Modern English, ''mat'' and ''mate'' were near-homophones, with a longer vowel in the second word. Thus,
Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
rhymed words like ''haste'', ''taste'' and ''waste'' with ''last'' and ''shade'' with ''sad''.
The more open pronunciation remains in some
Northern England English
The English language in Northern England has been shaped by the region's history of settlement and migration, and today encompasses a group of related dialects known as Northern England English (or, simply, Northern English in the United Kingd ...
and perhaps Ireland. During the 17th century, the phoneme variably
merged
Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of companies, other business organizations, or their operating units are transferred to or consolidated with another company or business organization. As an aspect ...
with the phoneme as in ''day'', ''weigh'', and the merger survived into standard forms of Modern English, though a few dialects kept these vowels distinct at least to the 20th century (see
''pane''–''pain'' merger).
* (typically spelled or ) as in ''see'', ''bee'' and ''meet'', was more or less the same as the phoneme represents today, but it had not yet
merged
Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of companies, other business organizations, or their operating units are transferred to or consolidated with another company or business organization. As an aspect ...
with the phoneme represented by the spellings or (and perhaps , particularly with ''fiend'', ''field'' and ''friend''), as in ''east'', ''meal'' and ''feat'', which were pronounced with or .
However, words like ''breath'', ''dead'' and ''head'' may have already split off towards ).
*, as in ''bib'', ''pin'' and ''thick'', was more or less the same as the phoneme represents today.
*, as in ''stone'', ''bode'' and ''yolk'', was or . The phoneme was probably just beginning the process of merging with the phoneme , as in ''grow'', ''know'' and ''mow'', without yet achieving today's
complete merger. The old pronunciation remains in some dialects, such as in
Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...
and
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
.
*, as in ''rod'', ''top'' and ''pot'', was or , much like the corresponding RP sound.
*, as in ''taut'', ''taught'' and ''law'' was more open than in contemporary RP, being or (and thus being closer to Welsh and General American )
*, as in ''boy'', ''choice'' and ''toy'', is even less clear than other vowels. By the late 16th century, the similar but distinct phonemes , and all existed. By the late 17th century, they all merged. Because those phonemes were in such a state of flux during the whole Early Modern period (with evidence of rhyming occurring among them as well as with the precursor to ), scholars
[Se]
The History of English (online)
as well as David Crystal
David Crystal, (born 6 July 1941) is a British linguist, academic, and prolific author best known for his works on linguistics and the English language.
Family
Crystal was born in Lisburn, Northern Ireland, on 6 July 1941 after his mother had ...
'
Original Pronunciation (online).
often assume only the most neutral possibility for the pronunciation of as well as its similar phonemes in Early Modern English: (which, if accurate, would constitute an early instance of the
line–loin merger
English diphthongs have undergone many changes since the Old and Middle English periods. The sound changes discussed here involved at least one phoneme which historically was a diphthong.
Old English
Old English diphthongs could be short or ...
since had not yet fully developed in English).
* (as in ''drum'', ''enough'' and ''love'') and (as in ''could'', ''full'', ''put'') had not yet
split
Split(s) or The Split may refer to:
Places
* Split, Croatia, the largest coastal city in Croatia
* Split Island, Canada, an island in the Hudson Bay
* Split Island, Falkland Islands
* Split Island, Fiji, better known as Hạfliua
Arts, enterta ...
and so were both pronounced in the vicinity of .
* occurred not only in words like ''food'', ''moon'' and ''stool'', but also all other words spelled with like ''blood'', ''cook'' and ''foot''. The nature of the vowel sound in the latter group of words, however, is further complicated by the fact that the vowel for some of those words was shortened: either beginning or already in the process of approximating the Early Modern English and later . For instance, at certain stages of the Early Modern period or in certain dialects (or both), ''doom'' and ''come'' rhymed; this is certainly true in Shakespeare's writing. That phonological split among the words was a catalyst for the later
foot–strut split
Most dialects of modern English have two close back vowels: the near-close near-back rounded vowel found in words like ''foot'', and the close back rounded vowel (realized as central in many dialects) found in words like ''goose''. The vowel ...
and is called "early shortening" by
John C. Wells
John Christopher Wells (born 11 March 1939) is a British phonetician and Esperantist. Wells is a professor emeritus at University College London, where until his retirement in 2006 he held the departmental chair in phonetics.
Career
Wells ea ...
. The words that were pronounced as something like seem to have included ''blood'', ''brood'', ''doom'', ''good'' and ''noon''.
* or occurred in words spelled with ''ew'' or ''ue'' such as ''due'' and ''dew''. In most dialects of Modern English, it became and by
yod-dropping
The phonological history of the English language includes various changes in the phonology of consonant clusters.
H-cluster reductions
The H-cluster reductions are various consonant reductions that have occurred in the history of English, inv ...
and so ''do'', ''dew'' and ''due'' are now perfect homophones in most American pronunciations, but a distinction between the two phonemes remains in other versions of English. There is, however, an additional complication in dialects with
yod-coalescence
The phonological history of the English language includes various changes in the phonology of consonant clusters.
H-cluster reductions
The H-cluster reductions are various consonant reductions that have occurred in the history of English, inv ...
(such as
Australian English
Australian English (AusE, AusEng, AuE, AuEng, en-AU) is the set of varieties of the English language native to Australia. It is the country's common language and ''de facto'' national language; while Australia has no official language, Engli ...
and younger RP), in which ''dew'' and ''due'' (homophonous with ''jew'') are distinguished from ''do'' purely by the initial consonant, without any vowel distinction.
The difference between the transcription of the EME diphthong offsets with as opposed to the modern English transcription with is not meaningful in any way. The precise EME realizations are not known and they vary even in modern English.
Rhotic vowels
The ''r'' sound (the phoneme ) was probably always pronounced with following vowel sounds (more in the style of today's
General American
General American English or General American (abbreviated GA or GenAm) is the umbrella accent of American English spoken by a majority of Americans. In the United States it is often perceived as lacking any distinctly regional, ethnic, or so ...
,
West Country English
West Country English is a group of English language varieties and accents used by much of the native population of South West England, the area sometimes popularly known as the West Country.
The West Country is often defined as encompassin ...
,
Irish
Irish may refer to:
Common meanings
* Someone or something of, from, or related to:
** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe
***Éire, Irish language name for the isle
** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
accents and Scottish accents; although in the case of the Scottish accent the R is rolled, and less like the pronunciation now usual in most of England.
Furthermore, at the beginning of the Early Modern English period there were three non-open non-schwa short vowels before in the
syllable coda
A syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of Phone (phonetics), speech sounds typically made up of a syllable nucleus (most often a vowel) with optional initial and final margins (typically, consonants). Syllables are often considered t ...
: , and (roughly equivalent to modern , and ; had not yet developed). In London English they gradually merged into a phoneme that became modern . By the time of Shakespeare, the spellings , and perhaps when they had a short vowel, as in ''clerk'', ''earth'', or ''divert'', had an ''a''-like quality, perhaps about or .
With the spelling , the sound may have been backed, more toward in words like ''worth'' and ''word''.
In some pronunciations, words like ''fair'' and ''fear'', with the spellings and , rhymed with each other, and words with the spelling , such as ''prepare'' and ''compare'', were sometimes pronounced with a more open vowel sound, like the verbs ''are'' and ''scar''. See for more information.
Particular words
''Nature'' was pronounced approximately as
and may have rhymed with ''letter'' or, early on, even ''latter''. ''One'' may have been pronounced ''own'', with both ''one'' and ''other'' using the era's long vowel, rather than today's vowels.
''Tongue'' derived from the sound of ''tong'' and rhymed with ''song''.
[Crystal, David (2011).]
Sounding out Shakespeare: Sonnet Rhymes in Original Pronunciation
". In Vera Vasic (ed.) ''Jezik u Upotrebi: primenjena lingvsitikja u cast Ranku Bugarskom''. Novi Sad and Belgrade: Philosophy faculties. P. 298-300.
Grammar
Pronouns
Early Modern English had two second-person personal pronouns: ''
thou
The word ''thou'' is a second-person singular pronoun in English. It is now largely archaic, having been replaced in most contexts by the word ''you'', although it remains in use in parts of Northern England and in Scots (). ''Thou'' is the ...
'', the informal singular pronoun, and ''ye'', the plural (both formal and informal) pronoun and the formal singular pronoun.
"Thou" and "ye" were both common in the early 16th century (they can be seen, for example, in the disputes over
Tyndale
William Tyndale (; sometimes spelled ''Tynsdale'', ''Tindall'', ''Tindill'', ''Tyndall''; – ) was an English biblical scholar and linguist who became a leading figure in the Protestant Reformation in the years leading up to his executi ...
's translation of the Bible in the 1520s and the 1530s) but by 1650, "thou" seems old-fashioned or literary. It has effectively completely disappeared from Modern
Standard English
In an English-speaking country, Standard English (SE) is the variety of English that has undergone substantial regularisation and is associated with formal schooling, language assessment, and official print publications, such as public service a ...
.
The translators of the ''King James Version'' of the Bible (begun 1604 and published 1611, while Shakespeare was at the height of his popularity) had a particular reason for keeping the informal "thou/thee/thy/thine" forms that were slowly beginning to fall out of spoken use, as it enabled them to match the
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
and
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...
distinction between second person singular ("thou") and plural ("ye"). It was not to denote reverence (in the ''King James Version'', God addresses individual people and even Satan as "thou") but only to denote the singular. Over the centuries, however, the very fact that "thou" was dropping out of normal use gave it a special aura and so it gradually and ironically came to be used to express reverence in hymns and in prayers.
Like other personal pronouns, ''thou'' and ''ye'' have different forms dependent on their
grammatical case
A grammatical case is a category of nouns and noun modifiers (determiners, adjectives, participles, and Numeral (linguistics), numerals), which corresponds to one or more potential grammatical functions for a nominal group in a wording. In vari ...
; specifically, the objective form of ''thou'' is ''thee'', its possessive forms are ''thy'' and ''thine'', and its reflexive or emphatic form is ''thyself''.
The objective form of ''ye'' was ''you'', its possessive forms are ''your'' and ''yours'' and its reflexive or emphatic forms are ''yourself'' and ''yourselves''.
The older forms "mine" and "thine" had become "my" and "thy" before words beginning with a consonant other than ''h'', and "mine" and "thine" were retained before words beginning with a vowel or an ''h'', as in ''mine eyes'' or ''thine hand''.
Verbs
Tense and number
During the Early Modern period, the verb inflections became simplified as they evolved towards their modern forms:
*The third-person singular present lost its alternate inflections: ''-eth'' and ''-th'' became obsolete, and ''-s'' survived. (Both forms can be seen together in Shakespeare: "With her, that ''hateth'' thee and ''hates'' us all".)
*The plural present form became uninflected. Present plurals had been marked with ''-en'' and singulars with ''-th'' or ''-s'' (''-th'' and ''-s'' survived the longest, especially with the singular use of ''is'', ''hath'' and ''doth''). Marked present plurals were rare throughout the Early Modern period and ''-en'' was probably used only as a stylistic affectation to indicate rural or old-fashioned speech.
*The second-person singular indicative was marked in both the present and past tenses with ''-st'' or ''-est'' (for example, in the past tense, ''walkedst'' or ''gav'st''). Since the indicative past was not and still is not otherwise marked for person or number, the loss of ''
thou
The word ''thou'' is a second-person singular pronoun in English. It is now largely archaic, having been replaced in most contexts by the word ''you'', although it remains in use in parts of Northern England and in Scots (). ''Thou'' is the ...
'' made the past subjunctive indistinguishable from the indicative past for all verbs except ''to be''.
Modal auxiliaries
The
modal auxiliaries cemented their distinctive syntactical characteristics during the Early Modern period. Thus, the use of modals without an infinitive became rare (as in "I must to Coventry"; "I'll none of that"). The use of modals' present participles to indicate aspect (as in "Maeyinge suffer no more the loue & deathe of Aurelio" from 1556), and of their preterite forms to indicate tense (as in "he follow'd Horace so very close, that of necessity he must fall with him") also became uncommon.
Some verbs ceased to function as modals during the Early Modern period. The present form of ''must'', ''mot'', became obsolete. ''Dare'' also lost the syntactical characteristics of a modal auxiliary and evolved a new past form (''dared''), distinct from the modal ''durst''.
Perfect and progressive forms
The
perfect of the verbs had not yet been standardised to use only the auxiliary verb "to have". Some took as their auxiliary verb "to be", such as this example from the ''King James Version'': "But which of you... will say unto him... when he is come from the field, Go and sit down..."
uke XVII:7 The rules for the auxiliaries for different verbs were similar to those that are still observed in German and French (see
unaccusative verb In linguistics, an unaccusative verb is an intransitive verb whose grammatical subject is not a semantic agent. In other words, the subject does not actively initiate, or is not actively responsible for, the action expressed by the verb. An unaccusa ...
).
The modern syntax used for the
progressive aspect
The continuous and progressive aspects (abbreviated and ) are grammatical aspects that express incomplete action ("to do") or state ("to be") in progress at a specific time: they are non-habitual, imperfective aspects.
In the grammars of many l ...
("I am walking") became dominant by the end of the Early Modern period, but other forms were also common such as the prefix ''a-'' ("I am a-walking") and the infinitive paired with "do" ("I do walk"). Moreover, the ''to be'' + -''ing'' verb form could be used to express a passive meaning without any additional markers: "The house is building" could mean "The house is being built".
Vocabulary
A number of words that are still in common use in Modern English have undergone
semantic narrowing.
The use of the verb "to suffer" in the sense of "to allow" survived into Early Modern English, as in the phrase "suffer the little children" of the ''King James Version'', but it has mostly been lost in Modern English. This use still exists in the
idiom
An idiom is a phrase or expression that typically presents a figurative, non-literal meaning attached to the phrase; but some phrases become figurative idioms while retaining the literal meaning of the phrase. Categorized as formulaic language, ...
"to suffer fools gladly".
Also, this period reveals a curious case of one of the earliest Russian borrowings to English (which is historically a rare occasion itself); at least as early as 1600, the word "
steppe
In physical geography, a steppe () is an ecoregion characterized by grassland plains without trees apart from those near rivers and lakes.
Steppe biomes may include:
* the montane grasslands and shrublands biome
* the temperate grasslands, ...
" (rus
степь first appeared in English in
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
's comedy "
A Midsummer Night's Dream
''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a comedy written by William Shakespeare 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One subplot involves a conflict amon ...
". It is believed that this is a possible indirect borrowing via either German or French.
The substantial borrowing of Latin and sometimes Greek words for abstract concepts, begun in Middle English, continued unabated, often terms for abstract concepts not available in English.
See also
*
Early modern Britain
Early modern Britain is the history of the island of Great Britain roughly corresponding to the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. Major historical events in early modern British history include numerous wars, especially with France, along with the E ...
*
English literature
English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...
*
History of English
English is a West Germanic language that originated from Ingvaeonic languages brought to Britain in the mid-5th to 7th centuries AD by Anglo-Saxon migrants from what is now northwest Germany, southern Denmark and the Netherlands. The Anglo-Sax ...
*
Inkhorn term
An inkhorn term is a loanword, or a word coined from existing roots, which is deemed to be unnecessary or overly pretentious.
Etymology
An inkhorn is an inkwell made of horn. It was an important item for many scholars, which soon became symb ...
*
Elizabethan era
The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The symbol of Britannia (a female personifi ...
,
Jacobean era
The Jacobean era was the period in English and Scottish history that coincides with the reign of James VI of Scotland who also inherited the crown of England in 1603 as James I. The Jacobean era succeeds the Elizabethan era and precedes the Ca ...
,
Caroline era
The Caroline era is the period in English and Scottish history named for the 24-year reign of Charles I (1625–1649). The term is derived from ''Carolus'', the Latin for Charles. The Caroline era followed the Jacobean era, the reign of Charles's ...
*
English Renaissance
The English Renaissance was a Cultural movement, cultural and Art movement, artistic movement in England from the early 16th century to the early 17th century. It is associated with the pan-European Renaissance that is usually regarded as beginni ...
*
Shakespeare's influence
Shakespeare's influence extends from theater and literatures to present-day movies, Western philosophy, and the English language itself. William Shakespeare is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the history of the English language, and th ...
*
Middle English
Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English p ...
,
Modern English,
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...
References
External links
English Paleography Examples for the study of English handwriting from the 16th–18th centuries from the
Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
The Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library () is the rare book library and literary archive of the Yale University Library in New Haven, Connecticut. It is one of the largest buildings in the world dedicated to rare books and manuscripts. Es ...
at Yale University
{{Authority control
History of the English language
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
Languages attested from the 15th century
15th-century establishments in Europe
Languages extinct in the 17th century
17th-century disestablishments in Europe