Assignment #4/Early Modern English & Modern English (maria joes sanhueza jofre )

1.Define and explain, The Great Vowel Shift.

-the Great Vowel Shift, explaining much of the non-phonetic spelling of contemporary Modern English.
The Great Vowel Shift was a major change in the pronunciation of the English language that took place in the south of England between 1200 and 1600.The Great Vowel Shift was first studied by Otto Jespersen (1860–1943), a Danish linguist and Anglicist, who coined the term.

2. Name 5 dialects of Modern English.

- American English
- British English
- Caribbean English
- South African English
- Indo-Pakistani English

3. One of the problems with Early Modern English was a lack of uniformity in spelling. Which 2 people (1-English, 1-American) helped establish standardized spelling?



-The orthography in Early Modern English was fairly similar to that of today, but spelling was phonetic and unstable; for example, the word acuity could be spelled either or . Further, there were a number of features of spelling that have not been retained:

The letter had two distinct lowercase forms: as today, and <ſ> (long s). The former was used at the end of a word, and the latter everywhere else, except that double-lowercase-S was variously written <ſſ> or <ſs>.
and were not yet considered two distinct letters, but different forms of the same letter. Typographically, was used at the start of a word[citation needed] and in its interior; hence vnmoued (for modern unmoved) and loue (for love).
A silent was often appended to words. The last consonant sometimes was doubled when adding this ; hence ſpeake, cowarde, manne (for man), runne (for run).
The sound /ʌ/ was often written (as in son); hence ſommer, plombe (for modern summer, plumb).


4. How many countries in the world have given Modern English official status?

-In 53 countries, is the first language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and the Anglophone Caribbean.

5. The most recent statistics show that approximately how many people speak Modern English as a:

I. First language? II. Second Language?

-It is used extensively as a second language and as an official language throughout the world.


6. When was Early Modern English spoken?

-the English language started around 1750: the British settlement of America.


7. How are the use of Pronouns different between Early Modern & Modern English?


-In Early Modern English, there were two second-person personal pronouns: thou, the informal singular pronoun, and ye, which was both the plural pronoun and the formal singular pronoun (like modern French tu and vous or the German du and Sie). (Thou was already falling out of use in the Early Modern English period, but remained customary for addressing God and certain other solemn occasions, and sometimes for addressing inferiors.) Like other personal pronouns, thou and ye had different forms depending on their grammatical case; specifically, the objective form of thou was thee, its possessive forms were thy and thine, and its reflexive or emphatic form was thyself, while ye's objective form was you, its possessive forms were your and yours, and its reflexive or emphatic forms were yourself and yourselves.

In other respects, the pronouns were much the same as today. One difference is that, much as a becomes an before a vowel, my and thy became mine and thine before vowels as well; hence, mine eyes, thine uncle, and so on.

8. Which language families does Modern English belong in?

- Indo-European
- Germanic
- West Germanic
- Anglo-Frisian
- Anglic.

9. Name 4 worldwide uses for Modern English.



10. In your opinion, what was the greatest influence on the spread of Modern English around the world? Why?