Global Englishes
Global Englishes
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    • Attitudes to Englishes
    • World Englishes Samples
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    • History of English
    • Language Change
    • English and Education
    • English as a Lingua Franca
    • Language policy
    • The future of English
  • Home
  • About
  • Classroom Resources
    • Attitudes to Englishes
    • World Englishes Samples
    • Global Englishes Talks
    • History of English
    • Language Change
    • English and Education
    • English as a Lingua Franca
    • Language policy
    • The future of English

CLASSROOM RESOURCES ON 
language VARIATION AND change

Changes in English over time

The following are links to the English language evolving over time from 900AD to 1900AD.
900AD
An excerpt from Beowolf 

Hwæt wē Gār-Dena in geār-dagum
þēod-cyninga þrym gefrūnon
hū ðā æþelingas ellen fremedon
Oft Scyld Scēfing sceaþena þrēatum
monegum mægþum meodo-setla oftēah
egsian eorl syððan ǣrest weorþan

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1400AD
An excerpt from Canterbury tales

His Almageste, and bookes grete and smale,
His astrelabie, longynge for his art,
His augrym stones layen faire apart,
On shelves couched at his beddes heed;
His presse ycovered with a faldyng reed
And al above ther lay a gay sautrie,
On which he made a-nyghtes melodie
So swetely that all the chambre rong;
And Angelus ad virginem he song;

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1900AD
An excerpt from The Hound of the Baskervilles

Mr. Sherlock Holmes, who was usually very late in the mornings, save upon those not infrequent occasions when he was up all night, was seated at the breakfast table. I stood upon the hearth-rug and picked up the stick which our visitor had left behind him the night before. It was a fine, thick piece of wood, bulbous-headed, of the sort which is known as a "Penang lawyer."

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The history of English in 10 minutes


Current changes to American English dialects


 Copyright © 2016 Heath Rose, University of Oxford