【Comprehensive English Homework】（Score：96）Evolution of English

Nowadays, the English language circles the globe and it is a language of well over a thousand million people all over the world. English has a great power to absorb and integrate other languages, hence it keeps evolving all the time. In a word, the evolution of English is unprecedented comparing with other languages. This short essay only focuses on combing the history of English evolution.

In fact, most of languages vary and develop by cultural communicating. The communicate ways include war, trade, navigation, preaching and so on. Obviously English evolved by these ways, too.

At the beginning, the form of English language is called Old English or Anglo-Saxon language. It is invented by the West Germanic tribes, which have been on the move through Europe for the best part of 1000 years. Finally, they settled in the lowlands of northern Europe, but they were still greedy for land. With the purpose of looking for a better life, they made a sail in the 5th century. And they took their language – the original English.

By the end of the 6th century, these Germanic tribes occupied half of mainland Britain and divided it into seven different countries, until Alfred the Great united the whole of England in 830 CE. Gradually, Old English replaced Old Breton (the Celtic language), a language of Roman Britain (43-409 CE). That time, there existed four main dialects in Old English– West Saxon, Kentish, Mercian and Northumbrian.

There are two significant events in the development of Old English.

The first thing is the Christianity’s spread. In 597, the monk and prior Augustine led a mission from Rome to England, then Christianity was introduced into England, with Roman Culture and Latin. As a result, Old English taken their script system from Latin. Runic alphabets that Germanic used before were replaced by Latin alphabets. With Latin’s curved and bowed looks, it allowed words to be easily written onto pages of parchment or vellum by using pen and ink, which after gathering together into a book could be widely circulated.

Another event is the invasion of Vikings from 793 to 878. The thrilling battle of Alfred the Great with the Vikings left a mark on history. And the most importantly, he signed a peace treaty with Danes, which established a border running up through the country from the Thames to the old Roman road of Watling Street. In the course of time, because of Alfred’s peace treaty, Danes and English began to do business and intermarry. Thus, Old English absorb the Danes’ language. This is another example of English’s extraordinary ability to absorb and to take in words from other languages, adding them to its word hoard and increasing the richness and flexibility of the vocabulary.

From the 8th century to the 15th century, the Old English changed into the Middle English gradually. The Normans invaded England in 1066. In next three centuries, there only existed Old French-speaking kings of England. Because the Norman language (Old French and Latin) from France is mainly spoken by British elites and nobles, while the lower classes continue to speak Anglo-Saxon, the main influence of Norman language is the introduction of many loanwords related to politics, legislation and prestigious social fields. Also, a number of food’s names came from Norman language. Despite being the officially ignored language, English continued to evolve and change, resisting and absorbing the invaders’ language, until English was acknowledged as a language of official business in 1362. Because French was the international language of trade, it acted as a conduit for words from the markets of the East, Arabic words are absorbed into English by trading.

The next period of English history is Early Modern English (1500-1700). In 1476, William Caxton introduced the printing press to England and began to publish the first printed book in London, which strengthened the influence of English. Among the early modern literary works, William Shakespeare's works and the Bible commissioned to be translated by King James I had the greatest influence. Many of these simple grammatical features represent the distinctive features of early modern English.

With the development of English, a clear specification of standard usage has been issued. In 1755, Samuel Johnson published the English Dictionary, which introduced the standard spelling and usage of words. In 1828, Noah Webster published American English Dictionary, trying to establish American English speaking and writing standards independent of British standards. From then on, English language became the English we know today.

By the late 18th century, Britain had spread English through its colonial and geopolitical dominance, making English the first truly global language. In the 20th century, the growing economic and cultural influence of the United States and the worldwide English broadcasting companies made the language spread faster on the earth. In the 21st century, English is spoken and written more widely than any other language. But the history of English isn't over, English continues developing and absorbing other languages around the world.

In conclusion, English is a vibrant and tenacious language. Its development history is tortuous and surprising.