THE CHRONOLOGICAL DIVISION OF THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH.

Language is a variable social phenomenon. It changes through the time. It is a slow uninterrupted process. Changes are not evenly distributed in time: periods of intensive and vast changes may be followed by the periods of relative stability. Consequently, some changes may effect and even reconstruct the whole gr. type of a language, while others are contributing gradually to the trends existing in a language.

H. Sweet subdivided the history of the EL into 3 periods:

the period of full endings (Any vowel could be found in unstressed endings singan-sunu)
the period of leveled endings (All vowels in the unstressed endings were leveled under the letter e singen-sune)
the period of lost endings (Endings were lost all together sing-sun)

However, being a soc. phenomenon, serving for communication, language in its development is effected not only by its inner laws and principles, but by the changes in the society, by social life of the language community. RUS scholars take into consideration both extralinguistic and intralinguistic aspects. the boundaries are attached to the dates of history:

1. OE Period: 7th c. B.C. - Celtic Invasion (Celts), Celtic Dialects; 7th c. B.C. – 410 A.D. - Roman Invasion (Celts, Romans), Celtic Dialects, Latin; mid.5th c. – late 6th c. - Anglo-Saxon Invasion, Celts, Anglo-Saxons, Celtic Dialects, OE Dialects!; 597 - Introduction of Christianity, Celts, Anglo-Saxons, Celtic Dialects, OE Dialects, Latin; after 8th c. - Scandinavian Invasion, Celts, Anglo-Saxons, Scandinavians (Danes), Celtic Dialects, OE Dialects, Latin, Scandinavian Dialects;

2. ME Period : 1066 - Norman Conquest, Celts, Anglo-Saxons, Scandinavians, Normans, Celtic Dialects, ME Dialects, Latin, French; late 14th c. - English – official L of the country, the English, ME Dialects, London Dialect (standard);

3. NE Period: 1475 - Introduction of Printing (William Caxton), The English, English (NE); 16th – 17th c. - Expansion of the British Empire, The English, English – national L spreading overseas;

4. Modern English Period: 20th c. - English – a global L.

Some modern linguists distinguish Present day E., influenced by AE. The EModE was a time of great historical importance

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